Fostering generational cooperation between Generation Z and Generations X & Y on water security - a common global concern of humankind, cooperative so

8059f6e7-8436-4791-b4dc-6dc6bfd5b3ec

Active

EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC
EPSRC

No funds listed.

Sept. 30, 2022

Sept. 30, 2026

The research will challenge the global water security issues confined within state-sovereignty, military security approach from the perspectives of global citizens in particular cohorts of Gen Z X and Y in the context of interlinked emerging global challenges, such as international security, food security, energy security and environment security. The global environment dimensions of water security are not integrated, and sovereignty is no longer capable of providing the primary foundation for freshwater law (Grey & Garrick 2013:3, Magsig, 2017: 388) as a result almost 4 billion people are projected to live in severely water-stressed basins by 2050 according to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD)'s baseline environmental outlook (OECD, 2012 in (Garrick and Hall, 2014: 611). Eighty percent of the global population lives in regions experiencing high threats to water security (Vorosmarty CJ et al. 2010 in Garrik and Hall, 2014:611) 'Both domestic and international water laws and policies are inadequate to meet the challenges posed by this global phenomenon or to adapt to the additional consequences that appear to be inevitable' (Eckstein, 2009:412). For immediate reformulation of international law requires the following framework implications:
-Non-state invasive approach to water and environment
-Financiers' determination to invest trillions in water.
-A global public debate to hasten the process.

These above approaches require a great deal of convincing, including an examination of the evolving nature of collective security and the [revised]role of international water law (Magsig 2011: 343; Magsig 2015: 139). Therefore, there is an urgent need of convincing wider public participation(Gen Z, X and Y) in water security debates which in this 21st century 'has become urgent today in regard to the extent to which the policy makers (The UN security council, G8, NATO) and financiers(WB, IMF and WTO) are ignoring the urgent call from the transdisciplinary scholarships when the water security crises linked to [international peace] and climate change'(Cullet et al.2021:13). The ability to shift debates in the right direction on challenging issues i.e., climate change is evidently prevalent in Greta Thunberg's environmental protest.

Potential Impact:
Water-WISER will train a cohort of 50 British research engineers and scientists and equip them to work in challenging environments both in the low-income settings of rapidly growing poor cities and in the changing urban environment of the UK, Europe and other regions with a historic endowment of aging infrastructure. The vision is for a generation of engineers with the skills to deliver the trans-disciplinary innovations needed to ensure that future water, waste and sanitation infrastructure is resilient to the stresses posed by rapid urbanisation, global climate change and increasingly extreme natural and man-made disasters. Our alumni will address the urgent need to re-imagine urban spaces as net contributors to ecological and environmental well-being rather than being net users of vital resources such as energy, nitrogen, phosphorus and carbon. These new leaders will be an essential resource if the UK is to deliver on its commitment to the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 6 which calls for universal access to safely managed water and sanitation services, within planetary and local ecological boundaries. This next generation of research engineers will enable UK-based engineering consultancies, manufacturers, and utility companies to grow their share of the expanding global market for water and waste services, for example; in the water services industry from 3% to 10% (an increase of £33 billion per annum) by 2030, and attract significant inward investment.
The research which Water-WISER cohorts enable will form the basis of new innovations in the design and delivery of resilient infrastructure and services. Innovations developed by Water-WISER graduates will inform how growing cities are designed and built in the global south and will be used to inform the re-engineering and replacement of the aging infrastructure on which the UK's water and waste services are currently reliant. Our alumni will form the new generation of leaders who will play a central role in securing a larger share of the international water and waste management consultancy market to UK consultancies. The network of expertise and skills created by Water-WISER will enhance potential for collaborations between major UK players (for example strengthening links between UK consultancy, the Department for International Development, and leading UK water agencies such as WaterAid and Water and Sanitation for the Urban Poor) and between UK companies and partners in the global south including international investors such as the World Bank, European Investment Bank, African Development Bank, Asian Development Bank, Inter-American Development Bank and the International Finance Corporation. Graduates of Water-WISER will enter industry, academia and development agencies having spent a substantial period (minimum of six months) embedded in an industry or development partner organisation delivering their field-based research. Water-WISER students will thus gain a unique combination of trans-disciplinary training, field experience and cohort networking; they are destined for leadership roles in UK and international engineering and development consultancies, academia, international development banks, international agencies such as the United Nations and international non-governmental organisations.