Telling their stories - International Water Association

Telling their stories
Our success and the value to
you depends on how you make
use of the network
Dr. Tobias Barnard,
Chair of the YWP Steering Committee
Contents
This update follows on last year’s success of the YWP SG newsletter, written by IWA members that formed the YWP SG
working group. This made us excited to broaden this year’s scope of the newsletter to all areas of the association in which
our YWP members are active.
• Reflections from the YWP Chair – “our success and
the value to you depends on how you make use of
the network”
• YWP coordinator applauds IWA’s YWPs – “Let’s
continue to inspire change together!”
•
IWA’s board of director and Young Water
Professional Emeritus about his mentor – “he
pointed out opportunities, allowed me to take some
initiatives that I would never have dared without
knowing he was standing behind me”
•
New YWP member perspective – “working with
IWA over the last 1.5 years has provided me with a
unique chance to meet and exchange ideas with
some of the leaders in members’ fields”
•
YWPs involved in Specialist groups –
° “I was proud to represent my SG; sharing and
delivering our views and experience on the
subject matter”
° “the best preparation in facing the future
challenges is to learn from those with more
experience and the specialist groups are the
means to do this”
•
YWP conferences –
rd
° The 3 IWA Southern African YWP conference
now provides learning, networking and
accreditation possibilities
th
° The 5 IWA Eastern European YWP conference
put effort in improving the understanding of the
interdependencies of Young and Senior Water
Professionals
2
•
Catching up the YWP award winner – “Since I have
received the award, I have organised a publication
workshop, sat on the programme committee of the
IWA Development Congress as well as started the
formation of a Malaysian YWP country chapter”
•
Skill development workshop – “Every participant
has to bring an unpublished manuscript to the
course and the goal is to make it publishable at the
end of the week”
•
IWA YWP chapter formations – interviews with
chairs of regional and Country chapter
° “Reach out to those you know” first if you are
looking for an active and enthusiastic bunch of
YWPs
° “it is very helpful to have a governing member
that guides the process organising our first small
conference on June 11th 2014”
•
Stay digitally connected – We invite you to be part
of this network, keep track of our activities, news,
posts and different ways to get involved
Message to Young Water Professionals
REFLECTIONS ON BECOMING A YWP
Dr. Tobias Barnard, Chair of the YWP Steering Committee
professionals who I would not necessarily have met at
these events. Nowadays I cannot wait to see these
friends and find myself looking forward to the next IWA
event to catch up with them just as much as sharing
our scientific knowledge.
I have met various professionals of all ages over the
past few years at these events some of whom have
been wonderful supportive mentors. People who
always have time to guide me with my research, who
now collaborate with me, give me guidance on making
the most of my career or who simply sit and chat over
a cup of coffee. If you do not have a mentor I strongly
urge you to get one or two or three ... Get as many as
you need to fully develop yourself and your career.
In the past few years we as YWP network, under the
guidance of previous YWP committees – and with
strong support from its host IWA – have been in the
position to assist our members in starting very active
YWP country chapters across the world. Chapters that
are started by YWPs who understand the need and
advantages of such chapters not only for their country
but also for the water sector as a whole. People who
are so enthusiastic about the future that they selflessly
contribute to the IWA YWP network by arranging
events and conferences in their own countries to give
YWPs not able to travel to the “Big” events
opportunities to also join the YWP family. There are
however still various countries with current and future
members who do not have YWP chapters and we need
your help in getting these country chapters started. So
if you feel up to the challenge contact us and we will
assist you with every step of the process.
As a closing thought, I need to stress one thing.
Although the network is there for everyone to use and
benefit from, our success and the value to you depends
on how you make use of the network. So get involved
and next time you see me at a conference or event
come, say hello, and have a cup of coffee or a glass of
wine with me. Enjoy the newsletter and I look forward
to meeting all of you!
Sitting at the 17th
Symposium of the
IWA Health Related
Water Microbiology
Symposium, I find
myself reflecting on
the past few years as
member of the IWA
YWP. Over the past
few years, we have
been told on many
occasions that we are
the future of the
water sector due to
an ageing workforce and a skills gap in the water sector.
Although this is the daunting truth, I find myself
wondering if we – as a group – can handle this challenge.
Looking at the YWPs presenting their research and
interacting with other YWPs and seasoned professionals
I cannot help but get excited and believe that we are on
the right track to ensure a sustainable future for all.
I remember the first time I attended an IWA conference
and have to smile when I think about the anticipation
and conversation starters that ran through my head
when approaching the leaders in my field. Experts
whose names I have been referencing, standing in front
of me patiently answering my questions and making
me feel at ease. I now realise why networks, such as
the IWA and IWA YWP, are so important for the water
sector, but more important for all of us.
The IWA YWP network and IWA Specialist Groups have
given me various privileges such as travelling the world
to attend the workshops and conferences to present
my work. More importantly, I met colleagues who later
became valued friends, teaching me how to approach
my research on scientifically valid principles to help
answer the needs of the water sector and the
communities who rely on us for providing safe drinking
water and dealing with wastewater. Travelling aside,
making friends at these events opened doors to other
LET’S INSPIRE CHANGE TOGETHER
YWP coordinator: Kirsten de Vette
enthusiasm contributing to the water sector and the
association.
IWA’s YWPs have the common goal to empower the
next generation of water leaders as we feel it is our
responsibility to ensure that the water sector remains
attractive, and is supplied with professional capacity,
that has the expertise and skills to tackle the challenges
this world is facing.
Do you want to become an active in our Global Young
Water Professional Network? Do you share our goal
and would you like to join us? Read this YWP update to
get inspired, read about the possibilities and contact
the YWP team.
Let’s inspire change together!
Young Water
Professionals,
greetings from the
YWP team at IWA HQ
office. We are
extremely excited to
present this update,
as it presents what
our IWA’s YWPs have
been up to!
Receiving the
submissions for this
newsletter it struck
me how much is being done by our YWP members, and
I would like to applaud you for your passion and
3
Avant la lettre
IWA YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONAL EMERITUS
Professor Peter A. Vanrolleghem, Faculty of Science and Engineering, Université Laval, Quebec City, Canada
Looking back (at mid-life
this is what one tends to do
...), I think I could say I was
benefitting of what IWA’s
Young Water Professionals’
are finally getting
increasingly: opportunities!
I want to take this little
contribution to highlight
the opportunities I got as
an IWA Young Water
Professional (YWP), even if
that term didn’t exist at the
time. And I want to thank a
few people for their role in
my development and the
example I take in them to do similar things for the new
generation.
Glen Daigger) who bring me increasingly unexpected
opportunities, now up to IWA’s Board of Director. I’m
just a lucky person to have got these first pushes in the
back from Willy Verstraete!
I am trying to support IWA’s YWP programme of
activities with simple initiatives. In fact, it is the variety
of opportunities that are given to YWPs that make that
more YWPs get involved in IWA. In the end the whole
IWA membership is benefitting from the young
enthusiasm they bring. IWA as an organization that
builds its strength on the volunteering efforts of
members for members, can only strengthen by
widening the “active” membership, and making sure
that the new generation gets involved early as they will
bring new ideas, initiatives, etc.
One of the YWP-geared contributions I am most proud
of is the way the team around the Wastewater
Treatment Modelling seminars in Québec (Canada) has
been able to mobilize a big group of YWPs. In 2008 this
group of not-so-YWPs (Leiv Rieger, Imre Takács, Bruce
Johnson and myself) came up with a new scientific
committee set-up in which a SWP (senior water
professional) is teamed up with a YWP to jointly review
papers (only one review was to be received per team)
and to chair conference sessions. This was quite
interesting learning experience for YWPs and a
stimulating knowledge transfer occasion for the SWPs.
To show you how fast things can go, just mention that
the organization of the next WWTmod seminar in 2014
is now in the hands of two (still-) YWPs who seized the
opportunity and contributed significantly to the
previous WWTmod seminars.
I think that what my PhD supervisor, Willy Verstraete,
did for me was major: he pointed out opportunities,
allowed me to take some initiatives that I would never
have dared without knowing he was standing behind
me to support if it didn’t work as planned, he pushed
me to become member of IWA (over 20 years ago now)
and let me replace him in a European collaborative
action (COST) that made me get in touch with water
profession icons as Mogens Henze, Willi Gujer, Poul
Harremoes, Bruce Beck, Laszlo Somlyody, and last but
not least, Gustaf Olsson, better known as IWA’s
honorary YWP.
Getting accepted and stimulated by such people gave
the confidence to the young professional I was to
develop myself further, getting the thrill (and anxiety)
of being chairman at a conference for the first time,
getting the support to organize a workshop and finally
being invited to join a management committee of an
IWA specialist group. It is hard to imagine how all this
has been very stimulating, confidence-building, and
satisfying. I keep having people around me (Paul Reiter,
As YWPs get increasing places within IWA’s active
membership, I am sure their creativity will lead to
more-and-more opportunities for new YWPs to
contribute and get experience. It is the important role
of SWP’s to stimulate, support and let these initiatives
flourish.
YWP Mentoring
IWA’s mentoring seeks to provide young water
professionals, who have recently entered the water
sector, the opportunity to connect with more
experienced IWA members. This connection is
intended to provide a means to develop a mutually
beneficial relationship that is focused around helping
the young water professional to develop the four
core competency domains: leadership, teamwork,
communication and knowledge development and
application.
4
Getting involved
NEW MEMBER PERSPECTIVE
Ms Laura Underwood – PhD Researcher at University of Edinburgh, Scotland, UK
Beginning a career in
the water industry
can seem like a
daunting task for
recent graduates.
With a number of
specialities available
it can be hard to
define your niche and
interests.
The solution was close at hand as IWA has several
specialist groups operating within the larger IWA
organization. I joined the working group committee late
last year tasked with enhancing the involvement of
young water professionals in these established
Specialist Groups of IWA. We generated our first
newsletter in September 2012 in the hopes of creating
more awareness of the opportunities available to YWP
and of the events on-going around the world.
For Young Water Professionals working with IWA
provides a unique chance to meet and exchange ideas
with some of the leaders in members’ fields across the
globe. At members’ disposal is a large professional
mentoring network working to help solve current
technological issues and innovate for the future of the
field. These networks are critical in career
enhancement and I would urge all new members
out actively seek out your specialist group and get
involved.
I was first introduced
to the IWA Young
Water Professionals
network at their UK-based YWP Conference held in
Exeter. The event allowed current graduates to discuss
their research and meet other current graduates and
water professionals from the regional water treatment
works. Participants were invited to visit a treatment
works and network with potential employers. This
proved to be an invaluable experience to help hone my
own research objectives.
Overall I would say my involvement with IWA is just at
its beginning. I look forward to watching my
professional career co-evolve with my professional
networks to be able to strengthen my commitment to
providing better water treatment technologies for all.
The conference was successful in piquing my interest
but I wanted more. I wanted to find more contacts
within my specific research field of nanotechnologies.
IWA Member benefits:
Specialist group membership
Water 21 membership magazine (6 issues per year)
Yearbook and Online member directory (latter
coming soon)
Specific additional benefits for Young Water
Professionals:
Students receive 50% discount on ONE online journal
IWA guides their YWPs in:
Discount on Conferences, workshops and seminar
registration fees
• Connecting to the Network (their peers, seniors,
and organisations)
• Engaging in Association’s activities, events and
committees and through that acquiring new skills
Discount on IWA publishing books (25%)
IWA recognizes YWPs input:
Discount on Pay-per-view journal articles
• Recognise their contributions and profile them
• Involve in the association’s committees
5
Be part of something special: Specialist
Groups in the IWA
Zaki Zainudin, Associate Professor of Water Quality and Modeling, International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
to surround themselves with individuals of calibre in
the water sector, as this can quickly acclimatize them to
the relevant dynamics, which in turn can be used to
further expand their careers.
Integrated efforts
Being part of the management committee means being
responsible for activities within the SG. Since the SG
members are divided across vast distances, teamwork
amongst members is essential to ensure the benefits
can be shared with all members.
There was an instance where the Watershed & River
Basin Management (W&RBM) Specialist Group (my SG)
was asked to contribute an article on the latest
technological advancements in watershed
management. Feeling that I had some expertise in the
area and can positively contribute to the initiative, I
decided to take on the challenge. After getting the
green light from my fellow SG management committee
members, I composed a draft version of the article.
The article comprised information based on my own
knowledge on the subject matter, information mined
from the literary sources, as well as snippets of articles
from the W&RBM SG newsletter. Once the draft version
was completed, I sent it out to my fellow committee
members for their input. The response was resounding!
My fellow committee members contributed even more
ideas to make the piece even better. Although no major
overhaul was done, the “tweaking” made the end
product much better than the original. I, in-turn,
learned the advantages of international teamwork.
There are various Specialist Groups (SGs, sometimes
referred to as “interests groups”) in the IWA where
members can share and contribute ideas pertaining to
particular of interest in the water field. A management
committee typically oversees the running and activities
of these groups. There are various benefits of joining
the SGs, especially if you are lucky enough to be part of
the management committee. This article describes my
thoughts and views on the matter, being part of the
Watershed and River Basin Management SG.
International links and knowledge transfer
Individuals who seek membership in the IWA typically
seek an avenue for international linkages that enable
collaboration as well as knowledge transfer/sharing.
Since the IWA is a large organization with thousands of
members worldwide, these SGs facilitate networking
among IWA members in view of a particular topic of
interest in the water sector. Becoming a part of an SG
means you are immediately “pooled” to an international
community of people with similar interests.
In this day and age, where geographical barriers can be
easily overcome through technology, the potential
benefits that can be reaped are enormous, particularly
for Young Water Professionals (YWPs) who want to
establish themselves. Communication and
dissemination of information within the SGs are done
through the web, emails, online messages, as well as
audio/video conferencing.
The SGs will usually have a periodic publication through
which activities and events are conveyed to its
members. SG members can take advantage of this
platform to share ideas, work, experience and views.
The exposure will facilitate further collaboration
between specific individuals. What’s interesting is, even
in cases where the topic of discussion may be
fundamental, the approach and views may be different;
due to the diversified backgrounds. The culmination of
such interactions can form the basis for innovation.
Also, interaction with people from all over the world
exposes members to international “good-practice” and
spirit of comradery. This will also help build confidence
among YWPs to share thoughts and ideas with more
established water professionals and in the process,
learn something as well. For YWPs, it is very important
The limelight
The IWA organizes conferences throughout the world.
These conferences enable physical interaction between
participants, facilitate new networking and strengthen
existing ones. Besides the conventional paper
presentations; there are also specialized seminars/
workshops or knowledge sharing sessions, where the
SGs are invited to share their activities/expertise to
participants. To date, I’ve represented my SG to two
such events, one in 2010 (IWA Young Water
Professionals Conference, photo 1) and the other in
2011 (IWA Development Congress, Kuala Lumpur,
photo 2). My SG committee members helped me
develop materials for the event. In the end, it was a
memorable experience as there was only a limited pool
of speakers. Although I’ve been part of such events
before, this was at an international level and I was
proud to represent my SG; sharing and delivering our
views and experience on the subject matter. In
addition, I was also able to establish new linkages with
members from different SGs as well.
In summary, being part of the SGs provides a great
platform for YWPs to share their thoughts and views,
highlight their work, participate in the international
arena and contribute to the worldwide water
community, across a wide range of sectors. Such
activities, enhances professional development and
promotes individual growth.
6
BECOMING PART OF THE SPECIALIST GROUP HAS BENEFITED ME ALREADY
Ms Aisha Mamade, Research fellow at LNEC, Portugal and Secretary (and YWP representative) of the Strategic Asset
Management Specialist group (SAM SG)
In February 2013,
I concluded my
Masters Thesis,
where I developed a
spatial and temporal
forecasting of
consumption patterns
in water distribution
systems. The major
outputs of this work
include the profiling
of network flows at
the District Metered
Area (DMA) level,
as well as a
socio-demographic, billing and infrastructure
framework of each DMA. This was done in
collaboration between the university, the Portuguese
National Laboratory of Civil Engineering (LNEC) and
three national water utilities. Working with these three
different environments allowed me to meet several
established water professionals and gain maturity.
Subsequent to finishing my Masters degree, I was
invited to be the secretary and Young Water
Professional representative of the IWA Strategic Asset
Management Specialist Group, which I promptly
accepted. So far, I feel that participating in the SG has
been improving my networking and communication
skills. Additionally it has been triggering my creativity
as we just launched a new and redesigned issue of our
magazine (http://www.iwasam.org).
Ms Aisha Mamade was recently granted with a
research fellowship at LNEC, where she will be
working on two projects:
I am very committed to continue to take an active role
as YWP and secretary of this group, but would like to
urge and encourage all Young Water Professional
members to do so, and keep contributing with their
knowledge and expertise. I sincerely believe that with
the upcoming challenges in the water industry the best
preparation a YWP can have is to learn from those with
more experience and the specialist groups are the
means to do this.
• iWIDGET (www.i-widget.eu), a European
Commission project aimed at improving water
efficiencies; and,
• iPERDAS (www.iperdas.org, in Portuguese), a
collaborative project designed to help the
participating water utilities reduce water losses
and increase the energy efficiency of water
distribution systems
Specialist Groups
SGs are an exceptionally effective means of
international networking, sharing information and
skills, and making good professional and business
contacts. IWA’s Young Water Professionals can come
forward to join one of the 49 Specialist Groups (SG),
by contacting your relevant SG management
committee, or Hong Li, SG manager (hong.li@iwahq.)
Some selected YWP activities from SGs:
12–14 June 2014
23–25 June 2014
YWP Workshop at the IWA
Activated Sludge Conference,
Essen, Germany
YWP Workshop at the EcoSTP
2014, Verona, Italy
Young Water Professionals lead
organisation of events
OUTCOMES OF THE 5TH IWA YWP EASTERN EUROPEAN CONFERENCE
Dr. Maryna Feierabend, Engineer at Waterleau Group, and edited by Tina Schmiers IWA YWP Team member
Delegate Joel Sepulveda about why attending a
conference is important: to confirm and contrast or
corroborate that the work that you are developing is
the correct way. Before attending the conference you
have to pass a review of experienced scientific and
professional committee and during the conference
you have the opportunity to defend and have a direct
feedback of your own research. Apart from that point
you also have the chance to do establish new
contacts (potential collaborations) and update your
knowledge in many interesting fields.
7
About 160 delegates representing 26 countries
attended the 5th IWA Young Water Professional Eastern
European Conference held on the 26th until the 28th of
June this year in Kiev Ukraine. The Conference provided
a platform for young professionals and postgraduate
researchers from Eastern Europe, CIS and other
countries to present their work, research and
innovations related to advances in water supply and
sanitation, but also in water management in general.
Besides, it was a good meeting point for young and
senior water professionals.
representatives of educational and research
organizations, as well as of both governmental and
private companies active in the Eastern European water
sector. They were very helpful in answering questions,
solving doubts, directing young water professionals in
solving problems and highlighting the importance of
different activities, etc.
The conference was closed by an award ceremony for
the best presentation and the best poster: to M.
Duishonakunov from the Department of Geography,
Justus Liebig University (Germany) for his presentation
“Recent glacier changes and their impact on water
resources in Chon and Kichi Naryn catchments, Kyrgyz
Republic” and to L. Moiseev from
“MosvodokanalNIIproject” (Russia) for his poster
“Radial-flow and horizontal-flow settling tanks: the
relevance of their application”.
The main objective focused on bringing together a
broad range of stakeholders (researchers, managers)
from the water sector in an effort to improve
understanding of the interdependencies of the Young
and Senior Water Professionals and develop a joint
perspective on the common challenges. The conference
showcased innovative solutions and helped forge a
common policy agenda to address the water sector
next challenges. The conference was designed to
achieve this aim with the aid of a ‘senior water
professionals committee’, which included experienced
The 6th IWA YWP Eastern European Conference will
take place in Istanbul, Turkey, at the 28th – 30th of
May 2014. For more information please visit our
website on http://www.iwahq.org/1x6/events/Iwa
Some upcoming IWA Young Water Professional Events
28–30 May 2014
21 September 2014
7–10 December 2014
6th IWA Young Water Professional Eastern European Conference in Istanbul, Turkey
YWP Forum at the IWA World Water Congress in Lisbon, Portugal
7th International Young Water Professional Conference, Taipei, Taiwan
THE IWA YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS (YWPS) REGIONAL CONFERENCE IN
SOUTHERN AFRICA, NOW PROVIDES LEARNING, NETWORKING AND ACCREDITATION
POSSIBILITIES
Ms Nora Hanke, Dr Jo Burgess, Dr Tobias Barnard and edited by Ms Carolina Latorre
The Southern African Conferences have always offered
to professionals of 35 years and under a great learning
experience and more. This year, the 3rd Regional
Conference – held last July in Stellenbosch, Western
Cape – was no exception. Because of the past
conference’s educational nature and high standard, the
South African Institution of Civil Engineering (SAICE)
granted it with the necessary Accreditation Certificate.
Ms Nora Hanke, Chair of the Organising Committee
admitted the decision was made ‘after a fairly short
deliberation’, as testimony of their prestige.
The conference hosted more than 70 speakers and
received 416 delegates from 13 countries. This alone
makes it a great opportunity for YWPs to socialise and
network with employers. The Chair of South Africa’s
IWA-YWPs’ National Committee, Dr Tobias Barnard, said
to be very pleased with the results. He remarked ‘We
have been organising this conference with great
enthusiasm three times and will keep on doing so in the
future’.
Many water practitioners have to maintain their
credentials as Registered Professionals, by certifying
their competences through Continuous Professional
Development (CPD). The IWA YWPs in South Africa
have managed to combine meeting these CPD
requirements with the opportunity of networking and
socialising with your peers.
If you would wish to know more about this or other
Young Water Professionals Conferences in your region,
please visit the Chapter’s website at www.sa-ywp.org.
za/contact.html
8
Recognising excellence
CATCHING UP WITH THE 2012 IWA YWP AWARD WINNER
Dr Norhayati Binti Abdullah, Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) & Ms Carolina Latorre Water
Lawyer and IWA YWP Team member.
– she managed to organize the 2nd IWA-UTM
International Publication Workshop at Universiti
Teknologi Malaysia receiving many international
participants from countries such as Austria, Germany,
Holland, Indonesia, USA, England and South Africa. The
event was a success and enjoyed ‘the immense support
and motivation shown by the IWA mentors for the
workshop; Professor Gustaf Olsson from Lund
University, Sweden and Professor Helmut Kroiss from
Vienna Institute of Technology, Austria’ for which Dr
Norhayati said to be especially grateful.
Nowadays and besides her leading role organizing
these events, Dr Norhayati also serves as Research
Supervisor for various projects undertaken by her
students at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia and has
assumed as Principal Investigator on a research project
about ‘aerobic granulation using industrial-based
wastewater’ funded by the Ministry of Science,
Technology and Innovation of Malaysia (MOSTI).
Additionally, Dr Norhayati told us that she is currently
working to gather YWPs from academia, utilities,
research and consultancy – among others – to create
the Malaysian IWA YWPs Country Chapter in
cooperation with The Malaysian Water Association
(MWA) and Universiti Teknologi Malaysia as part of her
contributions to her country and the Association.
Furthermore and as all of these activities were not
enough, Dr Norhayati has also participated as one of
our Programme Committee members at the 3rd IWA
Development Congress and Exhibition held in Nairobi,
Kenya, this last month. Later, in December 2013, she
will be delivering a lecture at a Workshop on Progress
in Wastewater Treatment and Reuse Technology in Kota
Kinabalu, the capital of the state of Sabah in East
Malaysia. This will be her first lecture on Aerobic
Granulation using Palm Oil Mill Effluent – central focus
of her PhD – for which Dr Norhayati has already yielded
several publications in high-impact factor journals and
won several Best Presentation Awards at national and
international conferences.
It is only August 2013 and with more than half of her
tenure to come as IWA Young Water Professionals
Award Winner we cannot wait to see more about Dr
Norhayati’s inspiring achievements. We also want to
express to her, our gratitude for sharing experiences
and projects, allowing us to give tribute to one of our
great Young Water Professionals.
In the picture: Dr Abdullah receiving the Award from Mr
Glen Daigger, President of IWA, at The 2012 IWA World
Water Congress and Exhibition in Korea.
In 2012, Dr Norhayati Abdullah became the current
holder of the IWA Young Water Professionals Award in
recognition of her excellent work in wastewater
research and her active role in the activities of the
Association. Almost a year after the award, we asked
Dr Norhayati to tell us about her experiences as IWA
Ambassador as well as her current activities and
projects as IWA Water Leader. We have gathered our
findings in this article to share them with our IWA
YWPs’ community.
Dr Norhayati has always had a protagonist role as one
of our IWA Young Water Professionals being actively
involved in the activities and events of the Association
since the year 2000. But, since the Award, she has
been even busier.
Thirteen years after her first steps as one of our young
water leaders, her efforts have resulted into great
career achievements and contributions to the water
sector. Amongst them, Dr Norhayati told us that she is
especially pleased with the widespread adoption of her
recent IWA-UTM International Publication Workshop
activities. In January – a few months after the award
The IWA Young Water Professionals Award
Since 1999, IWA has granted biennially the IWA YWP Award to one exceptional individual member of up to the
age of 35 years old. These young IWA members are recognized water professionals with outstanding career
achievements to date and the potential to play a large and influential role in the water industry in the future.
Throughout their two-years tenure, the award holder becomes an Ambassador for IWA and the IWA YWPs to
display those characteristics in their own work and to inspire new coming water leaders. The upcoming
submission process will open in February 2014 for nominations and the next YWP Award Ceremony will be held
at the 2014 World Water Congress in Lisbon.
9
Empowering Young Water Professionals
PUBLICATION IN ACTION!
Dr Norhayati Binti Abdullah, Senior Lecturer at Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) & Gustaf Olsson, Prof. em.
Industrial Automation, Lund University, Sweden
academia. The collaborative workshops between IWA,
UTM and The Malaysian Water Association (MWA)
encouraged a more vibrant and dynamic scientific
communication and engagement in water sciences
among the selected 30 PhD students, including 20 from
North America, Europe, Africa and Asia, who came to
spend a week at UTM, with most of the participants
receiving the UTM Water Scholarship for travel
expenses. A skills-based approach is offered to young
representatives of the different countries as an
investment plan for future leaders within the water
sector. These workshops have provided exclusive
opportunity for communication and networking
between the participants with different cultures and
countries from various water disciplines.
Quality publication is highly synonymous with the pulse
of academic accomplishments that set the scholarly
measures in academia as well as being indicative for an
institution’s progress in research. Publications in high
impact cited journals demonstrate unique and original
achievements in particular research areas.
In view of this, Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM) in
late 2011 took the initiative to organize a series of
IWA-UTM International Publication Workshops to
provide a platform for strategic actions in publication
within the water science and water discipline involving
water professionals and academia worldwide. The
workshops are important in nurturing and internalizing
the publication culture among young professionals and
Writing a scientific paper is a crucial quality test. Every
participant has to bring an unpublished manuscript to
the course and the goal is to make it publishable at the
end of the week. The paper cannot be only a record of
the work done. Instead it has to bring a clear message,
sell an idea, and attract the reader. We try to understand
what makes us read certain papers and skip others in a
journal. We examine all the ingredients of existing
manuscripts, from the title, abstract and keywords to
methods, language, tables, figures and references. Every
participant has to think about how to express the real
message of the paper in a few sentences.
The facilitators for the one-week workshop included
Prof. Gustaf Olsson from Lund University, Sweden and
Prof. Helmut Kroiss from Vienna Technical University,
Austria.
Workshops for Career Enhancement
IWA is committed to promote workshops to cover
issues related to career opportunities, increasing
participation of YWPs in the activities of the
Association and their involvement in specific regional
issues.
The third workshop will be conducted at UTM in
October 2014 following the huge success of previous
workshops in March 2012 and January 2013. The
workshops have been the model for workshops
elsewhere. The South African Young Water
Professionals are now planning to arrange a similar
workshop.
10
Becoming glocal: globally connected locally
active
BUILDING A NEW YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONALS CHAPTER: GERMANY
Mr Klaus Nelting (MSc) Research Assistant Institute for Water Quality and Waste Management, Leibniz University of
Hanover, Germany. [email protected]
3) How did you formalize the establishment of
the chapter?
As we do have the support of the German Governing
members, formalization of the chapter has not been a
big issue for us. Together with all the other founding
members we discussed our visions for the future of the
Chapter and collected them in a 2-Year-Workplan and
the draft of the Country Chapter Constitution that was
provided by the Headquarter.
4) What is the added value of linking your chapter
to IWA?
With IWA we have an internationally operating
organization behind us. IWA gives us credibility when
promoting the Chapter in Germany. At the same time
access to Water Professionals in other countries are
facilitated by being a part of IWA.
1) How did you come up with the idea to form a
country chapter?
We are very lucky to have strong supporters in the
German Governing member. Our President Prof. Bode
and Vice Secretary Prof. Jardin were truly in favour of
having young professionals on board, so they made a
call for young people who were interested to start up
the YWP Chapter. That’s how the first few of us actually
came together.
2) What would you advise Young Water Professionals
about gathering a group?
You might not know how to begin and what it means to
establish a Chapter. We started by talking about our
expectations and what we personally wanted the
Chapter to be like. For many of us networking as well
as getting an insight beyond our own field of expertise
plays a key role. All in all it is important to realize that
the Chapter can be everything you want it to be,
as long as it works towards the overall goal of IWA
to empower the next generation of water
leaders.
We hope that as many as possible German YWPs will
join our group during the following two years. Activities
that might motivate new YWPs in joining us are:
Regular workshops; Newsletter; Organisation of the 1st
German IWA YWP Conference in June 2014.
5) What (other) organizations supported the
establishment of the chapter, and how did they
support it?
In Germany we have a strong National Water
Association, the DWA (German Water Association). So
far we have managed to go hand in hand with them.
We already organized a small workshop hosted by DWA
and are going to be present at the IFAT trade far
together. At the same time, we do have members from
the DVGW (German Technical and Scientific Association
for Gas and Water).
6) How did you ensure that your YWP country chapter
is well positioned and considered trustworthy in
your country?
The first thing we did after forming the Chapter was
the publication of a small article about it in DWA’s
well-read journal “Korrespondenz Abwasser”. Again
we are happy about the support of our Governing
members.
Besides that we were invited to present the Chapter
during the annual National IWA Assembly.
Now that we are organizing our first small
conference on June 11th 2014, it is very helpful that
we can do it as a Pre-Conference to IWA conference
“Activated Sludge – 100 years and counting”
(www.iwa100as.org).
11
the water sector. Fortunately, we were happily invited
and received so far. Besides that we started up a
newsletter to keep everybody informed about what is
going on.
9) What are you planning to do in the future?
Of course, we will maintain to organize regular
workshops, because they provide a good opportunity to
do some networking.
Moreover we just began to organize the Pre-Conference
mentioned above and hope that it will be a successful
start into a new dimension of joint activities.
7) What are the country specific YWP needs?
With the German Water Association being very active
in our country, we feel it is crucial to work together and
take advantage of the synergies. At the same time we
would like to provide a link between national activities
and the world.
8) What are the activities you have done so far?
We regularly organize small workshops, each time
hosted by another institution or company involved in
Young Water Professional Country Chapters
A YWP Regional / country chapter is a group of
like-minded YWPs covering a range of segments
(utility, research, academia, consultancy etc) that are
interested in initiating YWP activities at country level
and through that contribute to IWA YWP’s goal and
vision, by empowering the next generation of
water leaders and become part of THE global YWP
network.
If you, other IWA YWP chapters, want your chapter
to be profiled as well send your interview, including a
relevant and high resolution picture (of an activity, a
gathering, or steering committee group) to Kirsten de
Vette at [email protected]
12
ESTABLISHING THE NORTH AMERICAN YOUNG WATER PROFESSIONAL CHAPTER
Mr Randolf William Webb, Accenture, USA and Co-chair of the North American YWP chapter
1) How did you come
up with the idea to
form a country
chapter?
When looking at
ways to get involved
with IWA I was
immediately drawn
to the Young Water
Professionals group.
I reached out directly
to the YWP
coordinator, and sure
enough, within a
short time, IWA had
leveraged their
global network to
connect me with Arash Zamyadi, and within weeks we
were formulating our ideas around starting a Regional
chapter!
2) How did you gather enthusiastic people to form a
steering committee of a chapter?
Well, this honestly is an on-going process but I do think
it is very important to gather ambitious people from all
sectors, non-profit, government, academia, and private
sector. This allows us to (1) encourage a culture of
cross-sector collaboration, (2) build our chapter across
sectors, and (3) deliver content and opportunities that
are relevant to all water professionals. With this
ideology, we have made a point in our charter to
always have two co-chairs that come from separate
sectors (currently we have Arash from academia and
myself from the private sector), and to when possible,
have our steering committee consist of at least one
representative from each of the four sectors.
“Reach out to those you know”
I initially reached out to those I’ve worked successfully
with in the past. College friends, current colleagues,
those who I knew I could trust, work well with, and
remain in close contact with. Beyond that we are now
scanning other organizations and reaching out to
individuals we think could provide an interesting or
unique perspective. Those with established relationships
are less likely to leave abruptly. In addition though, by
diversifying our steering committee backgrounds and
providing a unique offering to our members, we hope
to ensure the long-term sustainability of our chapter.
3) How did you formalize the establishment of the
chapter?
We were lucky enough to have the help of the IWA
core staff to aid in organizing our charter documents
rather quickly. In my experience thus far, establishing
the chapter was the easy part and now we have to
work hard to deliver on what we set out in our charter!
4) Why did you link your chapter to IWA?
Linking our chapter to IWA provides an immense
amount of value as it provides us with a platform to
connect our members with water professionals from all
sectors and all continents. There are only a few
organizations out there that can do this, but with IWA’s
global reach and emphasis on spanning the continuum
between research and practice, it was a perfect fit. In
return, we hope that our chapter can help IWA and its
members to be further connected to the global network
of water professionals through an increased presence in
North America.
5) What other organizations supported the
establishment of the chapter, and how did they
support it?
As of now, we have received generous support and
active guidance from the Canadian Association on
Water Quality (CAWQ), the Canadian Water and
Wastewater Association (CWWA), and the USA National
Committee (USANC). With this, they have helped in
refining our chapter charter, the governance structure
of the chapter, and our process for managing finances
and outreach programs. These organizations are the
official country-level representatives of IWA, also known
as IWA governing members.
6) How did you ensure that your YWP country chapter
is well positioned and considered trustworthy in your
country?
Given the great brand that IWA has established for
itself, we are striving to hold ourselves as close as
possible to the same brand, identity, and standards,
and in doing so we hope to be well-positioned for
growing the chapter. To hold ourselves to the same
brand, we created and gained approval for using the
YWP logo, PowerPoint, and newsletter template.
7) What are the country specific YWP needs
and wants?
From my initial discussions, the YWPs in North America
are very keen on being plugged into the global network
of water professionals addressing the global water
challenges. Mike Records (new member of the chapter)
mentioned: “Honestly, the most important thing to me
is being part of an organization that is focused on
contributing to make the world a better place,
especially in places outside of the US where the main
concern isn’t just how much can I water my lawn.”
8) What are you planning to do in the future?
In the near future our focus will be on strengthening
our chapter, meeting our membership growth targets,
and encouraging involvement in IWA YWP and other
IWA groups through outreach events and routine
newsletters. In the long-term we hope to hold the first
IWA Young Water Professionals North America
conference, similar to those held in other countries.
9) How do you ensure continued relevancy and
sustainability of the chapter?
Through our emphasis on cross-sector collaboration
and our unique connection to over 10,000+ water
professionals across the globe, I think we will be able to
provide our chapter with relevant and exciting
discussions and opportunities that keep individuals
engaged, incentivized, and committed to long-term
involvement in our chapter. It won’t come easy though,
so please reach out if you are ever interested in getting
involved, sharing insights, or collaborating between
chapters!
13
Stay digitally connected!
SOCIAL NETWORKS ARE BECOMING AN ESSENTIAL SOURCE FOR INFORMATION,
CONTACTS, LEARNING AND RESEARCH!
IWA is home of about 1500 Young Water Professionals
worldwide from a wide range of professional
backgrounds. Thus, to keep you connected and up to
date has become a great part of our mission.
Today’s presence of IWA YWPs in social media has
reached participants of over 5000 young water
professionals and practitioners - and it keeps growing
exponentially.
We invite you to be part of this network, keep track of
our activities, news, posts and different ways to get
involved.
Where can you find IWA YWPs on Social Media?
Build up your network within our
Linkedin IWA Young Water Professionals Group,
participate in discussions, create Sub Groups & start
new projects with your peers.
Join our Facebook Young Water
Professionals Group, share your experiences, activities
& organise events.
Follow @iwaywp on Twitter to be always up-todate with our news, notifications & opportunity alerts
or post your experiences #iwaywp.
14
SEND US YOUR CONTRIBUTIONS
We want to hear from you! Our aim is to provide continued
updates on what IWA Young Water Professionals are doing
on the IWA YWP web pages www.iwahq.org/communities/
ywp. We will also provide important information, such as
news and YWP events dates.
Let us know what you are up to and we will edit your story
for online publishing. Once a year a selection of the best
stories will form this YWP yearly update that will be
disseminated at key events, and through email. Thus, have
you been:
• Engaging with Specialist groups and their ctivities
° Setting up YWP working groups within SGs
• Planning to organize a workshop or an interesting
outcome to share
• Forming a YWP country chapter and you want to:
° Send in your interview
° Share your activities and ideas
° Gain profile on the website
• Attending / organizing YWP events and you want to send
in your learning.
We welcome all IWA members’ contributions at all times
that we will try to publish online as soon as possible. Please
send to [email protected] and our YWP team will contact
you.
SPECIAL THANKS!
We thank everyone who has supported us in getting this
renewed YWP Update off the ground. Particular thanks go
to IWA Board of Director, Peter Vanrolleghem for his
contribution and support to YWP programme of activities.
We thank the YWP SG working group (Arash Zamyadi,
Katerina Schilling, Laura Underwood, Michael ContiRamsden, Inga Jacobs, and IWA staff Hong Li & Kirsten de
Vette) for agreeing to put their articles together with
further updates on YWP activities in the association. A
further thanks goes to all contributing article writers and
our IWA YWP Team: Kirsten de Vette, Carolina Latorre and
Tina Schmiers.t
15
International Water Association
Address Koningin Julianaplein 2 (7th floor),
2595 AA The Hague
The Netherlands
Telephone +44 20 7654 5500
E-mail [email protected]
inspiring change
www.iwahq.org
IWA Head Office | Alliance House, 12 Caxton Street, London SW1H 0QS, UK | Company registered in England No. 3597005 | Registered Charity (England) No. 1076690