www.unesco-ihe.org/UPDATE-Magazine PAST EVENTS DELFT | 20 JUNE VISIT FIRST COURSE SANITARY ENGINEERING ALUMNI GHANA | 5 AUGUST KNUST WINS TOP RESEARCH SCIENTISTS AWARDS Two scientists from the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology in Ghana were awarded the best research scientists at the First Ghana Research Science Congress under the theme ‘Water, Sanitation and Environment: Securing our Future through Science’. The awarding took place during an official awarding ceremony at the Banquet Hall of the State House in Ghana that was attended by many dignitaries. The event is meant to award scientists for their immense contributions to the development of Ghana. Samuel Nii Odai, Associate Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering and Head of the Quality Assurance and Planning Unit, and Prof. Esi Awuah, a Former Dean and Head of the Department of Civil Engineering received the only awards in the “The Best Research Scientist” category. The two professors from the Water and Environmental Sanitation Centre, KNUST, received these prestigious national awards for recognition of their contributions in the area of Water, Sanitation and Environment. From 1960 to 1961, UNESCO-IHE ran its first course in Sanitary Engineering. Now, 50 years later, three graduates of this European Course in Sanitary Engineering, have returned to Delft to visit their Alma Mater. Bill Ferguson (UK), Erling Solberg (Norway) and Gerard van der Kroon (the Netherlands) were welcomed in the small town on this festive occasion. Their activities included taking a tour of the current facilities, and discussing the Institute then and now, and developments in their field over the last 50 years, with current UNESCOIHE staff and students. See video 50 year Sanitary Engineering www.knust.edu.gh DELFT | SEPTEMBER PhD SEMINAR: OPTIMIZING WATER USE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES From 26 to 30 September the annual UNESCO-IHE PhD seminar was held at the Institute. Current PhD fellows presented the latest results of their work. The yearly event brings together PhD research students in a three-day event and provides a setting for PhD fellows to present their research to their peers and obtain their feedback. The event creates an opportunity for interaction, networking, sharing of information and ideas, and collaboration. The symposium was followed by the SENSE Course on ‘Environmental research in context’ and is attended by more than 60 PhD fellows of whom 20 are from UNESCO-IHE. Download the full programme and selected abstracts AMSTERDAM | 29 OCTOBER - 4 NOVEMBER INTERNATIONAL WATER WEEK Amsterdam RAI organized the first International Water Week in November in Amsterdam with the International Water Association (IWA), the Netherlands Water Partnership (NWP) and Waternet. The theme week offered a range of events and meetings for professionals in water technology and water management, providing a small-scale but real-time showcase of the accomplishments that are possible when good water technology meets good water management. During the week also a fourday young scientists workshop was held on water challenges related to urbanization. The workshop brought together some 35 international PhD students and young professionals from the industrial sector. They were tasked to jointly address global problems associated with the rapid growth of cities around the world. The workshop was scientifically supervised by three professors of water management and several senior water professionals. The workshop outcomes included a joint vision on opportunities to solve urbanization issues. The Young Water Professionals Programme was organized by Waternet, IWA and Amsterdam RAI in collaboration with UNESCOIHE, NWP and the Royal Dutch Water Network. www.internationalwaterweek.com / a.lobbrecht@unesco-ihe.org 24 GHENT | END JUNE PhD RESEARCH FELLOW WINS 3 AWARDS Amit Kumar won an award from the Air & Waste Management Association international doctoral dissertation award 2011 with his PhD thesis in Biological Engineering. The thesis is entitled “Mass transport and degradation of gaseous pollutants in membrane biofilm reactors: an environmental bioprocess engineering approach”. Kumar also received the second poster prize in the category ‘Exploiting the water-energy nexus’, and co-authored one of the winning posters in another category ‘Microbial Resource Analysis’ at the first international symposium on Microbial Resource Management in Biotechnology, held at the end of June in Belgium. Amit Kumar is presently a Marie Curie Intra-European Research Fellow (IEF) at the Pollution Prevention and Control Core in the Environmental Resources Department at UNESCO-IHE. a.kumar@unesco-ihe.org
STOCKHOLM | 21-27 AUGUST WORLD WATERWEEK DELFT | OCTOBER DOORS OPEN TO 155 NEW MSc PARTICIPANTS The World Water Week has been the annual focal point for global water issues since 1991. It is hosted and organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) and takes place each year in Stockholm. This year UNESCO-IHE participated at the Water Week, themed ‘Responding to Global Changes - Water in an Urbanising World’. UNESCO-IHE co-convened the seminar on ‘Pro-Poor Urban Water and Sanitation Provision: how can it be supported by participation, benchmarking and WOPs’ and also co-convened the Asian Development Bank-led Seminar entitled ‘Focus: Eye on Asia’. The Centre for Science and Environment together with the SWITCH project - with UNESCO-IHE as lead partner - were the co-conveners of the Stockholm International Water Institute led workshop entitled ‘Need for a Paradigm Shift: New Technologies and New Lifestyles’. The joint UNESCO-IHE & IHP booth was much frequented by Water Week participants and various UNESCO-IHE alumni. www.worldwaterweek.org See video interviews in the Watercube Thursday 20 October 2011, marked the day that UNESCO-IHE officially welcomed 155 Masters of Science participants from developing countries. Prof. András Szöllösi-Nagy, Rector, welcomed the participants in the auditorium in the presence of many high-level guests, members of the diplomatic community, staff and participants. UNESCO ADG and KNUST Vice-Chancellor Address This year, honorary speaker, Prof. Gretchen Kalonji, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO, welcomed the students on behalf of the UNESCO family and Prof. Ellis, Vice-Chancellor of the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, came on stage to call upon joining efforts in postgraduate education before signing an agreement to establish a joint Masters of Science programme between KNUST and UNESCO-IHE in Water Supply and Environmental Sanitation (KNUST), and an MSc degree in Municipal Water and Infrastructure (MWI), with a specialisation in either Sanitary Engineering or Water Supply Engineering (UNESCO-IHE). Laudatio Chris Kalden Finally Chris Kalden, was called on stage. He retired from the board of the IHE Delft Foundation and the UNESCO-IHE Governing Board last August after 15 years of serving the institute in a governance capacity. He currently serves as the Director of the Dutch Stateforestryservice, which manages 250,000 hectares of nature reserves across the Netherlands. See board member interview on page 5. Guided City Tour The official ceremony was preceded by a guided city tour, and followed by the annual ‘Experience the Netherlands’ reception. During the tour, the new students enjoyed discovering Delft by boat, and getting the best inside information during a guided walk. At the ‘Experience the Netherlands’ reception, all guests were invited to discover the Netherlands through all their senses: tasting typical Dutch food, smelling the sweet odours of Dutch ‘stroopwafels’. See the video on the opening and listen to the speeches. SINT MAARTEN | 12 SEPTEMBER MONACO | 7 OCTOBER RECTOR AWARDED PRINCE ALBERT MONACO PRIZE Prof. András Szöllösi-Nagy, Rector of UNESCO-IHE, was awarded the Water Prize of the Prince Albert II of Monaco Foundation for his contribution to the Sciences and creating a better understanding of the environment. Particularly for being instrumental in reforming the teaching of multidisciplinary water resources for the benefit of developing countries. Over the past 17 years, as Governor of the World Water Council, he drew attention to the issue of water in the world and educated both the general public and policy makers on the subject. The event took place at an official awarding ceremony in Monte Carlo on 7 October, in the presence of 1500 guests from all over the world. Other award winners include: Dr. David Suzuki (Canada), in the category ‘Climate Change’ and Dr. Gretchen Daily (USA), received the award in the category ‘Biodiversity’. The Prince Albert II Foundation is a Monaco-based charity which has donated millions in various environmental projects. The Foundation was initially created in 2006 by H.S.H. Prince Albert II of Monaco and it concentrates on environmental SINT MAARTEN HOSTS GIS AND REMOTE SENSING WORKSHOP protection, sustainable development, climate change and the promotion of renewable energies as well as biodiversity. The Foundation supports also projects which develop water resource management or desertification control technologies. In just three years, the Foundation has extended its international outreach by opening chapters in Europe (France, Switzerland, the UK, Italy and Germany), in Canada and, in 2008, the United States of America. Since its inception, 95+ projects have benefited from Foundation grants totaling more than US$20 million. Read the full article on the UNESCO-IHE website A GIS and Remote Sensing for Infrastructure Management and Disaster Risk Reduction R3I Regional Risk Reduction Initiative project workshop was held on Sint Maarten.The basic GIS training course was given by Zoran Vojinovic, Associate Professor of Hydroinformatics at UNESCO-IHE. The 18 participants included representatives from the Fire Department, the Anguilla Department of Disaster Management, the British Virgin Islands Department of Disaster Management and the Ministry of Public Housing, Spatial Development, Environment and Infrastructure. The islands of Sint Maarten are highly vulnerable to various natural hazards and climate change impacts, also having fragile ecosystems and concentrations of settlements and major functions in low lying coastal areas and other hazard prone locations. This project addresses the risk and exposure of these small islands by providing a network of regional infrastructure, programmes, policies and protocols to strengthen their capacity to predict and prepare for natural hazards, thus improving resilience and reducing risk and subsequent loss. z.vojinovic@unesco-ihe.org 25
http://www.unesco-ihe.org/update-magazine, http://www.knust.edu.gh, http://www.internationalwaterweek.com, a.lobbrecht@unesco-ihe.org, a.kumar@unesco-ihe.org, http://www.worldwaterweek.org, z.vojinovic@unesco-ihe.org,
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