Oxford Part of Water Security Research Hub

UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) is pioneering an ambitious new approach to tackle some of the world’s most pressing challenges through a £200 million investment through the Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) across twelve global research hubs. Over the next five years, these Interdisciplinary Research Hubs will work across 85 countries with governments, international agencies, partners and NGOs on the ground in developing countries and around the globe, to develop creative and sustainable solutions which help make the world (including the UK) safer, healthier and more prosperous. The new Hubs are a key component in delivering the UK AID strategy and puts UK-led research at the heart of efforts to tackle the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

Building on the success of the REACH programme’s work on water security for the poor, a strong Oxford water team led by Katrina Charles and including Cheryl Doss, Dustin Garrick, Jim Hall and Rob Hope will join other researchers from Colombia, Ethiopia, India, and Malaysia under the leadership of the University of Newcastle to create the Hub on Water Security, which will focus on access to a reliable and acceptable quantity and quality of water, and managing water-related risks for all. The United Nations considers water security an intractable challenge that is “the critical determinant of success in achieving most other Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)”. Therefore, this Hub will improve water security through developing and demonstrating a systems and capacity building approach that better understands water systems, values all aspects of water; and strengthens water governance to enable integrated water management.