INTERNATIONAL
In order to remain a global leader in the field of water research and education, Water Institute researchers are connecting with leading water organizations from around the world to share their knowledge and innovations.
WORKING WITH OVER
20
leading water organizations from all five continents
2,700+
PAPERS PUBLISHED
by Water Institute members since 2009
63,000+
GLOBAL SCHOLARLY IMPACT
papers cited since 2009
Melting of the Greenland Ice Sheet – The role of phosphorus
Greenland is the world’s largest “non-continental” island, and about 80 per cent of this island is covered by the Greenland Ice Sheet. In recent years, however, the melting of this ice sheet has accelerated, leading to an increased contribution to rising sea levels.
A portion of this increased melting can be attributed to the presence of dark algae on the ice sheet surface allowing sunlight to absorb and warm the surrounding ice, causing melting. Climate change is causing Greenland summers to become warmer and longer than in the past allowing for increased ice algal growth, increased darkening and melting.
Jenine McCutcheon, Water Institute member and professor of Earth and Environmental Sciences, has been studying Greenland’s glacier algae in an effort to understand the role of geomicrobiology in controlling algal growth and constrain the impact of glacier melting on sea-level rise.
“What we’re trying to do is to better understand how algal blooms form, why they form where they do and is there a way to predict how they’ll form in future melt seasons. One season to the next, algal blooms may change and vary in intensity, making them difficult to model year-to-year.”
Jenine McCutcheon
The Water Institute facilitates the Queen Elizabeth Scholars – Advanced Scholars (QES-AS) project ‘Water security as a foundation for healthy communities and sustainable livelihoods’ that supports emerging global leaders from 12 countries in the Global South and Canada to develop research and leadership skills and to build institutional capacity across the QES-AS network.
When COVID-19 restricted student mobility, research programs were abruptly impacted and precipitated creative responses to repatriate scholars, maintain relationships with partner organizations and reimagine leadership development possibilities.
For example, QES-AS scholar Thelma Zulfawu Abu had, prior to the pandemic, collected field data on emergency preparedness for water and sanitation at Kenyan health facilities. When COVID-19 struck, Thelma decided to revisit her interviewees virtually and collected a second set of data during an actual emergency event allowing her to significantly enrich her research. Scholar Ikhothatseng Jacob Greffiths, when faced with a university closure and halt to research, used his extra time to help youth groups and primary schools prepare proposals for infrastructure funding in his home community in Lesotho.
Queen Elizabeth Scholars – Creativity in responding to COVID-19
Water Institute three-day international conference on SDGs and COVID-19
The Water Institute’s 2020 research conference Can we achieve the Sustainable Development Goals in a post-COVID world? took place over three days with participants from five continents. From September 29 to October 1, leading water researchers and practitioners from around the world discussed their work in the context of the coronavirus pandemic and the United Nations' Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
Participants included Water Institute External Advisory Board members, researchers from leading universities and institutes, World Bank experts, and two Stockholm Water Prize winners. Panel discussions reflected on whether the coronavirus pandemic might doom significant progress against the SDGs or spur a systemic shift to more sustainable, inclusive and resilient systems.
Innovative
Discover how Water Institute members are using new technology to create unique solutions to water challenges at home and around the world.
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