Rachael McDonnell provides water expertise at Abu Dhabi’s Crown Prince Court

Dr Rachael McDonnell was recently an invited speaker at a workshop on ‘Policy options for food insecure countries’ held in Abu Dhabi on 19-20 November 2012. The event was hosted by the Crown Prince Court and organised by the policy think tank Chatham House. She contributed to important discussions on the role of innovations in science/technology and policy for improving water management in food production systems.

Africa Water Stewardship Scholarship quenches thirst for knowledge

Cliff Nyaga, beneficiary of the Coca-Cola Company funded Africa Water Stewardship Scholarship, reflects on his first term studying the MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management.

The hidden resource: groundwater’s role in achieving water security

Groundwater is critical to global water security. This was the clear message Professor Richard Taylor delivered at a seminar in Oxford on 13 November. Water stored underground provides around 36% of the world’s domestic supplies, and 42% of all irrigation water. Use of groundwater could also prove a useful adaptation to climate variability and change.

Jim Hall’s work on coastal flood risk wins Lloyd’s Science of Risk Prize

A paper co-authored by the Director of the Environmental Change Institute, Professor Jim Hall, has been awarded the Lloyd’s Science of Risk Prize in the Climate Change category at a ceremony held at Lloyds of London on 29 November 2012.

UNESCO Chair says extraction, more than climate change, is causing rivers to run dry

In a guest lecture at Oxford University on 29 October, Professor Quentin Grafton explored reasons behind reduced river flows in four river systems. Though it may be tempting to blame climate change, high levels of water extraction may more accurately explain why rivers are running dry

Oxford water alumna features in Financial Times magazine

Kelsey Leonard, who last month received an MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management, featured in the Financial Times Magazine on 24 November 2012. In September Kelsey became the first Native American woman to be awarded a degree from Oxford Unviersity. She is an enrolled member of the Shinnecock Indian Nation of Southampton, New York.

Award-winning programme uses carbon credits to deliver safe water in Kenya

LifeStraw® Carbon for Water is an innovative public health programme which distributes water filters to households in Western Kenya and is funded by carbon finance. Dr John Haskew, at the Department for Public Health, is leading research to evaluate the programme’s impact on diarrhoea, dysentery and dehydration among children under five and people with HIV.

Mobile money and water services in East Africa

The unprecedented growth in Africa’s mobile communications sector offers new opportunities to address the continent’s persistent water service challenges, claims a new article published in Water International, a collaboration between past and current students at the School of Geography and the Environment.