Recording
Agenda
Tatiana Panteli, Head of EuroTech Brussels Office
Irina Pavlova, Brussels Liaison Officer, Disaster Risk Reduction, UNESCO
Cutting-edge research made in Europe
The future of Europe’s rivers
Tom Battin, Head of River Ecosystems Laboratory, EPFL
Clustering microplastics in water with ultrasound
Yali Tang, Assistant Professor, Power & Flow Group, Eindhoven University of Technology
Cold plasma technology for water treatment and materials processes
Kasidapa Polprasarn, PhD Student, Plasma Physics Lab, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Tracing the links: Water, sanitation, and global health threats from antimicrobial resistance and infectious strains
Patrick Njage, Senior Researcher, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark
Panel discussion
- Bertrand Vallet, Policy Officer, Ocean, Seas and Waters, DG RTD, European Commission
- Jesper Borg Christensen, Head of Research & Education, Water Valley Denmark
- Eran Friedler, Head of Technion Water Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
- Claus Homann, Chief Strategic Officer, Aarhus Vand
- Daphne Keilmann-Gondhalekar, Research Scientist, Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich
Revealing and honouring the winners 2024
Our expert speakers
Click on the photos to know more about the speakers’ backgrounds.
Tom Battin
Head of River Ecosystems Laboratory, EPFL
Tom Battin is Full Professor in environmental sciences at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale Lausanne (EPFL) where he directs the River Ecosystem Laboratory. Before he took this position, he was Professor in Limnology at the University of Vienna, Austria. He is fascinated by the biogeochemistry and microbial ecology of high-mountain streams. Over the last twenty years, he has pioneered this fields and contributed to a better understanding of the role of streams and rivers for the global carbon cycle. More recently, his research has focused on climate-change impacts on the microbiome and carbon cycling in the world’s glacier-fed streams.
Tom Battin
Head of River Ecosystems Laboratory, EPFL
Jesper Borg Christensen
Head of Research & Education, Water Valley Denmark
Jesper Borg Christensen is Head of Research, Education and Funding at Water Valley Denmark. Water Valley Denmark is a foundation which promotes open innovation within water technology between companies, utilities and knowledge institutions. Jesper has a Political Science master degree from Aarhus University, and has worked with business development within food and water for 18 years.
Jesper Borg Christensen
Head of Research & Education, Water Valley Denmark
Eran Friedler
Head of Technion Water Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Eran Friedler is a Professor in the Faculty of Civil & Environmental Engineering at the Technion. He is the head of The Grand Water Research Institute, Technion.
Friedler studies, develops, and integrates alternative water sources into the urban water cycle as a means to improve the sustainability of urban water use. He also studies sewer networks. Friedler has published over 90 papers in peer-reviewed journals, numerous conference papers, several book chapters, and co-authored a book entitled "Greywater Reuse" (CRC Press). He supervised 36 MSc students, 6 PhD students, and two international postdocs.
Friedler is an Associate Editor of Urban Water. In 2018 he was the co-chair of the IWA 15th Specialised Conference on Small Water and Wastewater Systems & the 7th Specialised Conference on Resources-Oriented Sanitation. He was the 2017 International Honorary Member of the American Academy of Environmental Engineers and Scientists. In 2021 together with colleagues Friedler was awarded the Water Europe SMEs Award at Water Innovation Europe for R&D on atmospheric moisture harvesting. Since 2023 he has held The Henry Goldberg Academic Chair, Technion.
Eran Friedler
Head of Technion Water Institute, Technion – Israel Institute of Technology
Claus Homann
Chief Strategic Officer, Aarhus Vand
Claus Homann is the Chief Strategic Officer at Aarhus Vand in Aarhus, Denmark. The focus of his work is development of production capacity and process optimization in water, wastewater, and resource recovery systems. He is also responsible for the implementation of our international strategy, Innovation and Living Labs including Business development.
He is Innovation Council Member at Water Valley Denmark and Danish Industry Water (DI-vand) where key players in the water industry co-create the future related to water, digitization and UN development goals. He also serves as board member at the Stockholm Water Foundation (SWF) and Stockholm International Water Institute (SIWI) Board since 2020.
Claus Homann is also a past member of the 2016-18 Board of Trustees for the Water Environment Federation (WEF) in USA.
Throughout his career, he has worked as an advisor and consultant on numerous Danish and international environmental and organizational development projects in more than 15 countries.
Claus received his B.S. in civil engineering from Horsens Technical University and his E_MBA in Change Management from the Aarhus School of Business. Additionally, he has taken courses in orchestrating winning performance (IMD Schweiz), international organizational consulting and leading meaningful change (Institute, Belgium).
Claus Homann
Chief Strategic Officer, Aarhus Vand
Daphne Keilmann-Gondhalekar
Research Scientist, Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich
Dr. Daphne Gondhalekar is an urban planner and research scientist at the Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich, Germany. Her research focus is integrated urban planning, Water-Energy-Food Nexus, and multi-stakeholder processes in India, Niger, Ghana and Germany. She holds a Ph.D. in Ecosystem Studies from The University of Tokyo and a Masters and Bachelor in Architecture and Urban Planning. Prior to joining TUM, she worked as a Postdoctoral Associate at the Department of Urban Studies and Planning at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), USA and Center for Development Research (ZEF), University of Bonn, Germany.
Daphne Keilmann-Gondhalekar
Research Scientist, Chair of Urban Water Systems Engineering, Technical University of Munich
Patrick Murigu Kamau Njage
Senior Researcher, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark
Current position
Senior Research Scientist at the Research Group for Genomic Epidemiology, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark.
Involved in research, teaching and capacity building integrating microbial genomics and mathematical modelling to provide innovative solutions and tools towards reduced incidence of infectious diseases and antibiotic resistance. Currently involved in novel efforts to incorporate complex and unstructured data using predictive machine learning, network analysis and other advanced modelling approaches for improved risk assessment, source attribution, identification of virulence genes, and transmission of antimicrobial resistance.
Education
PhD (Food Microbiology and Biotechnology), Master of Statistics (Biostatistics), MSc (Food Microbiology and Biochemistry) and Bachelor of Science (Food Science and Technology, First Class Honors)
Research
Orcid: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4364-5314
- Published or co-published 86 peer reviewed international publications, 1 book, 2 book chapters and 21 international conference presentations.
- Co-applicant in 10 past and 3 current funded projects
- Fourteen awards and prizes.
Patrick Murigu Kamau Njage
Senior Researcher, National Food Institute, Technical University of Denmark
Tatiana Panteli
Head of EuroTech Brussels Office
Tatiana is passionate about knowledge and people. That is why most of her career has been devoted to academia and working with great minds. Her studies include Philology (South Federal University), MBA (Henley Business School, University of Reading, UK), MS in European Studies (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgium), PRINCE2 and Innovation Management (Erasmus University Rotterdam). Being open-minded and curious, Tatiana travelled the world studying and working in such countries as Russia, the UK, Cyprus and Belgium. Tatiana also believes in the importance of living sustainably supporting this professionally through involvement in Climate Change Solutions Ltd, UK and promoting sustainability as a guiding principle within EuroTech.
Tatiana Panteli
Head of EuroTech Brussels Office
Irina Pavlova
Brussels Liaison Officer, Disaster Risk Reduction, UNESCO
Irina Pavlova-Depret is a seasoned expert in international cooperation for environmental sciences. After earning her PhD on the impact of climate change on landslide activity, she pursued a career within UNESCO’s Natural Sciences Sector. Irina has led and contributed to numerous international projects on sustainable development, climate change adaptation, and disaster risk reduction across Europe, Central and Eastern Asia, and sub-Saharan Africa. In her current role as Project Officer at the UNESCO Liaison Office to the European Union in Brussels, she coordinates EU projects and fosters relationships with EU scientific and development institutions in the field of Natural Sciences.
As a physical geographer, Irina emphasizes the critical role of water in sustainable development. Through her work, she advocates for the integrated management of transboundary aquifers and the implementation of nature-based solutions to address environmental challenges.
Irina Pavlova
Brussels Liaison Officer, Disaster Risk Reduction, UNESCO
Kasidapa Polprasarn
PhD Student, Plasma Physics Lab, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
- Bachelor's degrees in Applied Physics, Thailand
- Master's degree in Physics, University Paris-Saclay, France
- PhD student in Physics at École Polytechnique, specialized in In-situ Raman spectroscopy for Plasma–liquid interactions.
- Research experiences related to Plasma Physics and their applications including Plasma diagnostic, Plasma simulation,
Plasma activated water, laser-Plasma and Plasma nano-synthesis material.
Kasidapa Polprasarn
PhD Student, Plasma Physics Lab, Institut Polytechnique de Paris
Yali Tang
Assistant Professor, Power & Flow Group, Eindhoven University of Technology
Yali Tang received her PhD degree in chemical engineering in 2015 at Eindhoven University of Technology in the Netherlands. She stayed in the same team for roughly 1.5 years as a postdoc researcher. There she built expertise in computational fluid dynamics and fluid-solid interaction. Since April 2017 she became an assistant professor at the department of mechanical engineering, with a research interest on application-driven fundamentals of multiphase flows especially in energy applications. She is an Early Career Editorial Board member of Chemical Engineering Science journal. She is an active member of the J.M. Burgerscentrum, which connect the fluid mechanics community in the Netherlands.
Yali Tang
Assistant Professor, Power & Flow Group, Eindhoven University of Technology
Bertrand Vallet
Policy Officer, Ocean, Seas and Waters, DG RTD, European Commission
Bertrand Vallet is engineer in water treatment, with a master and a PhD in wastewater treatment and modelling. He is currently policy officer at the European Commission in the Directorate General for Research and Innovation in the Unit Oceans, seas and waters. He has more than 20 years of technical and policy experience in the water sector.
Bertrand Vallet
Policy Officer, Ocean, Seas and Waters, DG RTD, European Commission
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