Cooperation and International Networks

In recent years, the ZWU and the scientists involved have gained considerable national and international visibility. Examples include the coordination of numerous EU projects such as DNAquaNet (Leese), MARS and WISER (Hering), participation in the Marie Skłodowska-Curie Innovative Training Networks ATWARM, ATBEST and REMEDIATE with a total of 8 individual projects, cooperation in several DAAD projects with other establishments in Germany with strong water-science reputations, such as TU Berlin and TU Munich, and partners from Egypt, Iran and Indonesia, as well as the coordination of DAAD scholarship programmes and summer schools within the “Sustainable Water Management” programme as part of BMBF’s FONA (Research for Sustainable Development) framework programme. Since 2014, the ZWU has also been a member of the “Water Science Alliance” initiated by the DFG and the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF), with Prof. Florian Leese as a board member (since 2017) and spokesman of the “Water Research Perspective Commission” (since 2018; successor to the DFG Senate Commission on Water Research). It has also been a member of the German-Egyptian Water Cluster founded by the German Science Centre (DWZ) in Cairo and the DAAD since November 2015, and since 2018 of the German Association for Water Management, Wastewater and Waste (DWA). Together with the DWA, the ZWU now regularly organises joint events at the University of Duisburg-Essen, including the “River Basin Management” workshop, which has existed for almost two decades.

Examples of new international cooperation partners include the North-West University in Potchefstroom, South Africa, and the Theodor Bilharz Research Institute in Giza, Egypt (both with the Aquatic Ecology Department), and the University of Cincinnati, USA (with the Instrumental Analytical Chemistry and Mechanical Process Engineering/Water Technology departments).

Last but not least, UDE is regarded by the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina as strong in the field of water science. For example, the ZWU has already held two German-Brazilian workshops with the Leopoldina at UDE. In autumn 2016, one took place entitled “How do we want to live tomorrow? Perspectives on water management in urban regions” and in October 2018 in Ouro Preto, Brazil, on the topic of “Sustainable Water Management in Mining and Post-Mining Landscapes”. The continuation of these joint activities has already been agreed.