Tag Archive for: OWN

Earlier this year, Louise Slater and Kathryn Pharr, the Oxford Water Network (OWN) chair and coordinator respectively, stepped down from their positions. After three years at the helm, Louise is stepping back to focus on her research on Dynamic Drivers of Flood Risks , while Kathryn has taken up the role of Senior Policy Analyst for International Climate Action with WaterAid. On behalf of OWN, we want to thank them for the excellent work they did shaping and leading the network.

We are pleased to introduce the new team leading the network: Katrina Charles and Saskia Nowicki are co-chairing OWN, and Pan Ei Ei Phyoe has taken up the coordinator role.

Dr Katrina Charles‘ research focuses on environmental health risks, using interdisciplinary approaches to analyse how we construct our understanding of environmental health risks, and how to communicate those risks to affect change. With her research team, which includes expertise in water quality, health and social sciences, and through partnerships with UNICEF and governments, she is leading work on drinking water quality and climate resilience that will help progress towards the Sustainable Development Goal for safe drinking water quality for all (SDG 6.1). Katrina has a track record in delivering real-world impact advancing water security through large interdisciplinary programmes, such as REACH and Water Security Hub. She aims to ensure that OWN is supporting Oxford’s water researchers to achieve impact through strengthening relationships with partners policy and practice.

“I am excited to bring my experience of developing science-practitioner partnerships to the network, to support and promote the role that Oxford research has in tackling global challenges in water security, from the SDGs to climate adaptation.”

 

Saskia Nowicki works on environmental health risks and management trade-offs. She applies an interdisciplinary systems-based approach to research, drawing on her background in environmental science, with specialisation in water security. Her postdoctoral work with the REACH water security programme focuses on drinking-water safety in low-income contexts. She is working on collaborative projects in Kenya, Ethiopia, and Bangladesh – using mixed-methods to seek insight for systems change at scale.  Saskia joined the OWN in 2015 when she arrived at the School of Geography and the Environment (SOGE) for her MSc in Water Science, Policy and Management (WSPM). During her DPhil, she joined the leadership team as the early career researcher representative. Now, with her role as co-chair, she is working to encourage engagement in the network and foster connections across the social and physical sciences.

“Water is an inherently interdisciplinary topic and everyone who works in this space deals with systemic complexity in some form. With the OWN we can foster knowledge exchange and collaboration to better engage with this complexity.”

Given her background in engineering, Pan Ei Ei Phyoe is passionate about bridging the gap between water research and technology and broader policy goals, and she is particularly interested in the links between water systems and climate change. She finally completed her MSc in Water Science, Policy, and Management at the University of Oxford, where she focused on the climate communication network and how it affects water management decisions in the Turkwel river basin in Kenya. She also earned a master’s degree in water resources engineering from the University of Stuttgart, where she focused on reservoir management, notably numerical modelling of the Schwarzenbach hydroelectric dam’s hydrodynamic system. As part of her policy consulting work with the Alliance for Global Water Adaptation, she is currently supporting the organisation of the first-ever historical water and climate pavilion during COP26 in Glasgow. She’d previously worked on integrated water resources management (IWRM) projects in Myanmar, the Netherlands, and the UK.

“Water has always been an interdisciplinary subject and a connector that intertwines all sectors. The OWN can serve as a collaborative and bridging environment, with excellent networks and connections, providing access and opportunities to all of the university’s cutting-edge science, technology, innovative policies, and practical solutions in water-related research and education.”