Programme

Eveline Volcke is a professor at Ghent University, Belgium. She is the founder and head of the ‘Biosystems Control (BioCo)’ research group, focusing on efficient and sustainable process design and control. Eveline has a specific expertise in biological wastewater treatment. She aims at process optimization through physical-based modelling and simulation, data treatment techniques and experimental studies.

Eveline has been an active IWA member for almost 20 years. She is an IWA Fellow and has served in the IWA World Water Congress Programme Committee since 2015.

IWA Fellow, Water Engineer, Founder of Advanced Water Management Centre and Academic at The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia. Have been active in IWA for a long time, including on the PC of the last three WWCE, chairing the last one in Tokyo and co-chairing this one with Eveline Volcke.

Dr. Buddhika Gunawardana obtained her B.Sc. with honors in Civil Engineering from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka, and her M.Eng. and Ph.D. from The University of Auckland, New Zealand. She at present works as a Senior Lecturer at the Environmental Engineering Group, Department of Civil Engineering of University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. Dr. Gunawardana is a life member of Sri Lanka Association for the Advancement of Science, an associate member of Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka and a member of The Institute of Environmental Professionals, Sri Lanka. Her current research interests include groundwater & surface water pollution with emerging contaminants, pesticides, PAHs and heavy metals; soil pollution with organic/inorganic contaminants; persistence, transformation, transport of organic contaminants; use of micro-and nano-materials for environmental remediation; and development of cost-effective remediation techniques for treatment of potable waters and soils contaminated with emerging contaminants. Dr. Gunawardana carried out collaborative research with more than five countries, and she is currently continuing research on the above-highlighted areas at Ph.D., M.Sc., and undergraduate levels

Amy Pruden is the W. Thomas Rice Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on bringing a microbial ecological perspective to understanding and advancing design and management of drinking water, recycled water, and wastewater systems. Pruden serves as an Associate Editor for the journal Environmental Science & Technology and has published more than 125 peer-reviewed manuscripts and book chapters, with particular emphasis on antibiotic resistance and opportunistic pathogens. She is currently the principal investigator on a U.S. Centers for Disease Control-funded contract to investigate the fate of antibiotic resistant pathogens and antibiotic resistance markers in recycled water systems as well as Co-PI an NSF Partnership for International Research and Education grant investigating the how different socioeconomic, water sanitation, hygiene, water treatments and other factors influence the metagenomic profiles of various antibiotic resistance genes in wastewater treatment plants. Pruden currently serves on the National Academies Committee on the Management of Legionella in Water Systems. She received her PhD in Environmental Science from the University of Cincinnati.

Aaron is an internationally recognised expert in sustainable water management. He has worked in the UK and Australia across NGO, consulting, industry, academic, regulatory and government roles. This has included projects integrating water and energy efficiency, climate change adaptation and resilience and water sensitive urban design/ integrated water management. He led development of the award winning 2017 Water Efficiency Strategy for the UK and co-authored the 2009 Water Resources Strategy for Wales. He is a Fellow of the RSA, a Trustee of CIWEM and Secretary of the International Water Association Efficient Urban Water Management Specialist Group.

At the University of Victoria I lead the Public Health & Environmental Engineering (PH2E) Lab and work at the crossroads of environmental and public health engineering. This includes the development and evaluation of water and sanitation/wastewater technologies, field- and operator-appropriate water/wastewater/faecal sludge quality analytical methods, and functional ecology characterisation of biological treatment systems for safeguarding the health of the public and the environment. My activities are focused both on low resource contexts and industrialised countries with projects ranging from the development of methods for monitoring and control of disinfection by products in Canadian municipalities to the delivery of safe water/sanitation for humanitarian relief.

Qing Hu is Professor in School of Environmental Science and Engineering, Southern University of Science and Technology (SUSTech), Director of Engineering Innovation Center of SUSTech (Beijing), Dean and Founder of Beijing Huanding Environmental Big Data Institute (known as HD Environmental Consortium). She Obtained her Ph.D. degree in Environmental Pollution and Hydrology in 1998 at Imperial College London，UK. She received the China top-tier Awards of National Science and Technology Progress Award in 2017. Her current research includes the applications of big data and other advanced technologies in environmental field, wastewater treatment engineering, city sustainable development planning, environmental engineering, green and sustainable soil remediation, environment-related standards\policy\strategy, green&clean technology, circular economy, etc.

Eiman Karar is an environmental scientist with vast experience in multilevel governance of natural resources. She is advisor to UN Environment in Sudan around peace building through natural resources management, consulting to the UN Environment and UNESCO Category 2 Regional Center for Capacity Building in Water Harvesting, Sudan; trainer; to the Hague Academy for Local Governments on Water Multi level Governance and Institutional reforms and advisor to UNICEF Sudan; developing a national strategy for community management of rural water supply facilities. She is Executive Board Director of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) and member of Programme Scientific Committee member of the WWW. She is the editor of the Springer open access book entitled:” Water Governance for the 21st century”, 2017.

Industrial PhD at Aalborg University and Skanderborg Forsyning A/S, Denmark (2016-2019). Currently employed at Silhorko-Eurowater A/S, as Product and Process Manager of biofiltration technology for production of drinking water. Board member of the Young Water Professionals Denmark and the IWA Specialist Group of Design, Operations and Maintenance of Drinking Water Treatment Plants. Research interest: drinking water production, design and operations of biofilters, start-up period of new biofilters, and manganese oxidation through physicochemical and biological pathways.

Prof. Innocent Nhapi is an expert in sanitary and environmental engineering and a registered Professional Engineer from Zimbabwe. His work experience include 10 years as a municipal engineer, University of Zimbabwe, UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, University of Rwanda, WaterNet and is currently a Full Professor with Chinhoyi University of Technology. His professional interests include water and wastewater treatment systems, water distribution, stormwater and urban drainage, policy analysis and institutional reforms, and water utility management. He has extensively published in these areas and is a reviewer and editor in related journals. He has done consulting services for international organisations such as the World Bank, Global Water Partnership, Grid Arendal, Infrastructure and Cities for Economic Development, Water Utility Partnership, UNESCO, UNICEF, etc.

Jacob Kwasi Amengor is a young water professional from Ghana. He has a Bachelor of Science Degree in Water and Sanitation. Jacob is a RECIRCULATE Project Ambassador with Lancaster University Environment Centre, a member of the International Water Association and the 2018 IWA Young Leadership Award Winner. He works as an Assistant Water Quality Assurance Officer with the Ghana Water Company Limited. He has established a social enterprise, iWASH Africa, with focus on provision of tailor-made integrated solar water systems and improved sanitation systems for rural communities. He serves as the co-chair of the IWA Young Water Professional Chapter in Ghana.

Karsten Arnbjerg‐Nielsen is professor at the Technical University of Denmark. He focusses on research that aims at understanding climate change impacts and how these should be integrated into the formation of sustainable and smart liveable cities, i.e. cities that uses water in an intelligent way to become more resilient to climatic extremes and provides ecosystem services to the inhabitants with minimal resource consumption. The main research areas include use of statistics for process identification and modelling of precipitation extremes and urban drainage modelling, risk assessments and risk management of flooding, and climate change impacts.

Nilo Nascimento is Civil Engineer (Federal University of Minas Gerais, in Brazil, 1982). He holds a master’s degree in applied hydrology (École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, 1985) and a doctorate in environmental sciences (École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, France, 1995). He is full professor at the UFMG Department of Hydraulics and Water Resources Engineering and has 24 years of research experience on urban drainage, with focus on flood studies and on blue and green infrastructure. He served as UFMG Deputy Director of International Relations (2012-2014), as Dean of the UFMG Graduate Programme on Sanitation, Environment and Water Resources (2015-2018) and as member of the IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage (2006-2012). He is member of the editorial board of the Urban Water Journal.

Mari ASAMI, Dr. is currently a chief senior researcher at Department of Environmental Health, National Institute of Public Health, NIPH, Japan and a professor of Research Center for Water Environment and Technology, the University of Tokyo (Affiliate). In 2002- 2004, she was a deputy director at Division of Water Supply, Department of Health, and Office of Health Science, Minister’s Secretariat, Ministry of Health, Labour and Welfare. She is a member of IWA, Japan IWA national committee, Japan Society on Water Environment and she has been devoted herself into risk management of water supply and international activities as a co-head of WHO Collaborating Centre for Community Water Supply and Sanitation.

Linda Åmand is presently Production Manager of the Käppala WWTP in Stockholm (560 000 pe). This includes overall responsibility of operations, maintenance and optimisation of the plant performance in the short and long term. She has a background within applied research within digitalisation of wastewater utilities and a PhD in Electrical Engineering at Uppsala University, focusing on control, mathematical modelling and instrumentation.

Linda Li is an Engineer-In-Training at Dillon Consulting and a graduate from the University of Waterloo. She conducted her Master’s research on sustainable treatment of municipal wastewater in cold regions. Since joining Dillon in 2017, Linda has been heavily involved in projects related to industrial wastewater treatment, international drinking water treatment process design, and municipal wastewater plant construction and upgrades. Linda worked in Canada’s Northwest Territories assisting Indigenous communities with drinking water programs. Linda is a dedicated member of the Water Environment Association of Ontario and serves on the Young Professionals Committee. She also serves on Water’s Next Selection Committee for the Canadian Water Summit. As a Young Professional who is passionate about knowledge sharing, Linda has been a guest lecturer at Ryerson University and a panelist at University of Toronto. Outside of work, Linda enjoys backpacking, rock climbing, and exploring food and cultures.

A chemical engineer at UNL (National University of the Litoral), Santa Fe, Argentina; He is the president of AFERAS (Federal Association of Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities) of Argentina; president of ADERASA (Association of Potable Water and Sanitation Regulatory Entities of the Americas); and a member of Reg-Net (International Network of Drinking-water Regulators) of the WHO (World Health Organization). He was the secretary of University Coordination of the UNL; the secretary of Environment of the Municipality of Paraná (Entre Ríos) and the director of the Strategic Development Plan of the city and also has worked in the pharmaceutical and biofuel sector.

Per Halkjær Nielsen is a Professor in Environmental Biotechnology and heading the Center for Microbial Communities at Aalborg University, Denmark. The main research activities are related to structure and function of microbial communities in engineered ecosystems, primarily related to used water treatment, biological recovery of resources (such as phosphorus) and bioenergy production. Uncultured microorganisms are investigated by various omics methods (metagenomics, metatranscriptomics, metaproteomics and metabolomics) in combination with single cell microbiology, e.g. by using microscopy and tracers. The main focus of his research is on organisms involved in biological P-removal, N-removal and organisms causing foaming and bulking. In addition, he also conducts research on medical microbiology and structure and function of extracellular polymeric substances with main focus on proteins such as functional amyloids.

Peter Vanrolleghem obtained his degrees in Bio-engineering and PhD in Environmental Technologies from Ghent University (Belgium). After a professorship in bioprocess modeling at that university, he immigrated in 2006 to Quebec (Canada) as holder of the Canada Research Chair in Water Quality Modelling. He is full professor at Université Laval’s Civil and Water Engineering Department and his research team, modelEAU, focuses on urban wastewater systems and tackles challenges such as nutrient removal and recovery, fate of micropollutants and emissions of greenhouse gases, by developing and using mathematical models, automated monitoring stations, process control and in-house pilot- and full-scale experimental work.

Shane Morgan is a water industry professional with 20 years’ experience in both New Zealand and Australia. He has held roles in the public and private sectors, with experience in innovation management, planning, design, operations, and construction commissioning. Previously Watercare’s Wastewater Operations Manager, Shane was appointed Chief Operations Officer in January 2018. Shane is responsible for the operation of Watercare’s water and wastewater assets, networks and treatment facilities, asset management, maintenance and asset integrity functions, and operations control centre.

I am Professor at BITS Pilani K K Birla Goa campus, Goa India. The focus of my laboratory is on Sustainable Development Goals with major emphasis on Clean water and Sanitation. Through our research projects we demonstrated single household vertical wetlands based domestic wastewater treatment, single household empowered septic tank (Electrochemical + Vertical wetlands) for domestic wastewater treatment, 100 people equivalent empowered septic tank for domestic wastewater treatment. Our other projects focuses on anaerobic digestion of different wastes and Terra Preta Sanitation.

Prof. Thammarat Koottatep is a Professor at the Department of Energy, Environment, and Climate, School of Environment, Resources and Development, Asian Institute of Technology, Thailand. He lectures in Environmental Engineering and Management Program.

Mrs. Munk has worked with cities across the world to address complex issues of climate resilience through integrated planning, including Copenhagen, New York City and Washington D.C. Today Mrs. Munk leads the Ramboll resilience practice in North America and the Liveable Cities team in Boston and NYC.

Titilola Bright-Oridami is an Engineer with the Lagos Water Corporation. She has been deeply involved in Engineering design of water supply and distribution systems. She has managed several water supply and distribution projects in the past which has boosted water supply to many parts of Lagos Metropolis. She Is a graduate of Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from Ahmadu Bello University Zaria, MSC in Water Resources and Environmental Engineering from the University of Lagos

Xia Huang received her PhD degree in 1988 from Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan. She joined the Tsinghua University and got the full professor position in 1997. Now she is a Director of Water Environment Division at School of Environment, Director of State Key Joint Laboratory of Environment Simulation and Pollution Control, Tsinghua University, China. She is a fellow of IWA and Chair of Management Committee of the IWA Specialist Group on Membrane Technology. Her main research interests include membrane based technologies for wastewater treatment, novel nutrient removal processes, bio-electrochemical technologies for wastewater treatment and resource recovery. She is an Executive Associate Editor-in-Chief of “Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering“, Associate Editors of “Environmental Science: Water Research & Technology, and “Water Science & Technology”. She has published more than 250 peer-reviewed articles, and was awarded 2009 ES&T and 2018 ESWRT best papers, the 2nd Class of the State Science and Technology Progress Award thrice. She was also awarded by the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars and the Yangtse River Scholar reward.