Future Water Institute UCT

Our Director and Senior Research Officer recently joined the "Collaboration on nature-based solutions for sustainable cities (CONSUS)" team in Tshwane, Gauteng, as facilitators in their workshop for arts-based approaches to future visioning for a Water Sensitive Tshwane. 🌿💧 See link for more details on the CONSUS project: https://lnkd.in/e--kBwRU #UrbanResilience #CONSUSProject #NatureBasedSolutions #WaterSensitiveTshwane #FutureVisioning Kirsty Carden amber abrams Maya Pasgaard Ida Breed Michelle Greve Kathy Berger Tania Plessis Hazel Shirinda

Last week, our team set up an exhibit at the UCT plaza to engage students around resource recovery from wastewater and water sustainability. This initiative supports the "Sustainable Water Management" theme in transforming UCT into a ‘no-drop wasted’ campus by seeking to embed a more holistic approach to water management in line with Water Sensitive Design (WSD) principles. 💧🪴 This contributes UCT’s Vision 2030 and UCT’s environmental sustainability strategy. The project focuses on 5 key themes and consider the environmental, financial and social impacts associated with these themes: Energy, Carbon footprint, Water, Waste Management and Wildfire in UCT - A transdisciplinary community of practice to work in a coordinated manner across these various research themes. 🌍

Project update on "Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) and the microbiome". 📢 This week our team was out in the field, basking in the sun and braving the wind, sampling groundwater near the coastal recharge basin at Koeberg Nature Reserve. Investigating the groundwater microbiome at aquifer recharge sites. Overall the project aims to determine the microbial biodiversity of recharge water and the receiving aquifer system (the microbiome). Follow along for further milestones! #aquiferhealth #waterquality #ecosystemservices A mention to our partners: BRGM | Centre for Bioprocess Engineering Research | City of Cape Town | Umvoto | France in South Africa 🌟

"Nature-based solutions for African Climate Resilience", aiming to enhance the capability of future professionals and current environmental specialists and engineers (through professional development courses) for facilitating climate resilience in Africa 🌿🌍. In collaboration with Institute for Water Research (IWR), Rhodes University, École Polytechnique de Thiès, Université Cheikh Anta Diop de Dakar (UCAD), Delft University of Technology, AgroParisTech, INRAE Occitanie-Montpellier, European Union.

Day 2 of the NEU - Water Project (Phase 2) launch at the WASA Conference in Stellenbosch 💧 Future Water met with partners from HAMBURG WASSER, HafenCity Universität Hamburg (HCU), URBANWaters and Ardhi University (ARU) in partnership with the Stellenbosch Municipality, and joined for a tour of the Water Hub in Franschhoek on Friday. The Water Hub is a living laboratory, testing nature-based solutions (NbS) by treating contaminated water from an informal settlement and reusing this water to safely irrigate local food gardens. 🌊🌿 Emily Nicklin Kevin Winter

See the launch of a new online seminar series on using speculative fiction in research, policy, and activism. 📽️🌍 Join the team as they explore futures shaped by AI, automation, synthetic biology, surveillance capitalism, space exploration, nanotechnology, and integration into the global industrial economy. Subscribe at AppliedAfricanSF.com to stay informed about upcoming events and posts. Don’t miss out on these insightful sessions! #SpeculativeFiction #Research #Policy #Activism #AppliedAfricanSF

Interested in water-related social and environmental justice and arts-based research methods? The MOOC “Arts-based research methods towards water justice”, highlights key aspects of water justice coupled with hands-on experience from a range of powerful arts-based methods such as poetry, cellphilms, murals, fibre arts, photovoice, human-centred design, comics, an online museum, and art exhibits, which are shared by leading researchers and practitioners from Canada, South Africa, and Egypt. Expected learnings are around developing an understanding of the various key aspects of water justice including indigenous law; indigenous and local knowledge; water narratives; water resilient cities; ecological literacy; ocean care; flood and drought resilience; water and sanitation challenges and solutions; inclusive water governance; local water users’ perceptions; and resisting extractive industries. Furthermore, understanding water justice in relation to participants’ contexts, rights, and responsibilities around water; how water policy can be influenced through arts-based methods; the benefits of arts-based methods and research approaches; and overall, designing a context-specific arts-based research project aligned with water justice. The course is aimed at adult learners in formal (e.g., University) and informal contexts; professors; researchers; practitioners; non-profit staff members; and policymakers. The course will cover 12 modules over 36 hours, with 2-3 hours per module. To receive a digital certificate, users are required to complete all quizzes with a minimum of 80% and submit all 12 module studio assignments. Sign up (QR Code below) and engage in research methods actioned through various art forms and join a community of creative thinkers. This course was made possible through partnerships and funding among the following research groups, and funders: Funding for the MOOC provided by Rhodes University ESRLC; Materials from the course are derived from the Confluency Colloquium, Hosted by the University of Cape Town (UCT)'s Future Water research institute in partnership with the Factor-Inwentash Faculty of Social Work, University of Toronto, supported by the Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC-CRSH).

Join the University of Cape Town's UCT Division of Environmental Health as they celebrate World Environmental Health Day! "Creating Resilient Communities through disaster risk reduction and climate change mitigation and adaptation." 🌿🌍 They've interviewed faculty and students to dive deep into what this means for UCT and our communities. Follow @UCT Environmental Health Division for more updates and watch the full interview below! #EnvironmentalHealth #ResilientCommunities #ClimateChange #DisasterRiskReduction

Day 1 of the NEU - Water Project (Phase 2) launch at the WASA Conference in Stellenbosch 💧 Members of our research institute is off participating in the launch of our project: Nature Engineered Urban (NEU) Design for Water Recycling and Reuse at the Water Security in Africa (WASA) Conference. What is NEU-Water? 🌿 The focus is on developing solutions and processes that promote the reuse of stormwater and greywater as part of water-sensitive urban development, while addressing challenges faced by dense, low-income urban areas in Southern Africa, where access to water infrastructure is limited. The project demonstrates innovative concepts for mixed stormwater and greywater recycling in Franschoek (Waterhub), South Africa, and stormwater management in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. #WaterSecurityinAfrica #NEUWaterResearch #watersensitiveurbandevelopment NEU-water: https://lnkd.in/dZQ7jTyt Future Water: https://lnkd.in/dtfqdkgg Kirsty Carden Kevin Winter Victor Parry, PhD Emily Nicklin

🌟 Reminder: Postgraduate Scholarship Opportunity Available! 🌟 The Future Water research institute at UCT is still inviting dynamic and motivated postgraduate students to join our diverse, multi-disciplinary team. Our research supports UCT's Khusela-Ikamva initiative, focusing on sustainable water management. We have fully and partially funded positions available until June 2026. Don’t miss out! The application deadline is 1 October 2024. See the advert below and please share with your networks! 🌍 Contact person: amber.abrams@uct.ac.za #MScOpportunity #Sustainability #UCTKhuselaIkamva