Water Challenges

Wetskills-Romania 2022
2022-03-13 - 2022-03-25 | Bucharest, Romania
For The Sixth Time To Romania!
Romania has a very diverse landscape and water system, with high mountains and the largest Delta of the European Union: Danube Delta. Romania faces challenges in water and wastewater, in both large urban areas as well as remote rural villages, and has a large water management experience of dealing with floods and droughts. And the country itself is inspiring and various: From the booming big Bucharest with its historic buildings and churches, immens large People’s Parliament and the Old City with bars, pubs as heart of the City to idillic smaller cities and villages in epic Transylvania and more low and dry Wallachia (border to Bulgaria) and the Europe’s largest bioreserve Danube Delta.
Wetskills Foundation is inviting students (Bachelor (final year), Master and PhD) and Young Professionals from universities and organisations worldwide with a passion for Water and SDGs, to join this great and proven event and apply for Wetskills-Romania 2022 (period: 13-25 May 2022).
Wetskills Foundation and partners will organize the Wetskills Challenge for the sixth time in Bucharest, Romania. This Wetskills edition in Romania will be hosted by Politehnica University of Bucharest. Other main partners of this event are University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest and Technical University for Civil Engineering in Bucharest, the Romanian Water Association, Apele Romane and the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands.
This edition of Wetskills will start on 13 May 2022, and will take place in and around to the great city of Bucharest. During the 2-weeks program the participants will in international, multidisciplinary teams on real-life water cases. The finals and awarding ceremony will take place during the ExpoApa Water Conference and Exhibition in the Palace of Parliament of Bucharest (23-25 May 2022).
For more information and regristration: https://wetskills.com/event/wetskills-romania-2022/

Kick off | WUR Student Challenge - Nature Based Solutions Challenge
2022-02-22 16:00 - 17:00 UTC
Will you design and implement a nature based solution, and positively contribute to the climate, biodiversity, and quality of life? In the Nature Based Solutions Challenge, you are challenged to come up with a nature-based solution and to implement it. A jury will select the teams that receive funding (2500 euro) and mentoring from experts to make their project into a success!

The challenge
Nature based solutions are actions to protect, sustainably manage, and restore natural or modified ecosystems, that address societal challenges effectively and adaptively, simultaneously providing human well-being and biodiversity benefits. Nature-based solutions are part of the answer to the biggest challenges of the 21st century, being climate change and biodiversity loss.
In this challenge, your team will work on a nature-based solution in a local context addressing climate change mitigation, climate change adaptation and biodiversity restoration, and thereby improving the quality of life. Furthermore, societal and economic impact are to be addressed too.
Who
You can participate with a team of up to 5 members. It’s recommended to form a team of students with different disciplinary backgrounds. Fresh graduates are welcome to join the Challenge, though the graduation should take place not earlier than academic year 2020/2021. Fresh graduates should not exceed 20% of team members.
For more information and registration, take a look at the website.

Wetskills-Romania 2021 #denktankdroogte
2021-09-12 - 2021-09-24 | Bucharest, Romania
Romania has a very diverse landscape and water system, with high mountains and the largest Delta of the European Union: Danube Delta. Romania faces challenges in water and wastewater, in both large urban areas as well as remote rural villages, and has a large water management experience of dealing with floods and droughts.
And the country itself is inspiring and various: From the booming big Bucharest with its historic buildings and churches, immens large People’s Parliament and the Old City with bars, pubs as heart of the City to idillic smaller cities and villages in epic Transylvania and more low and dry Wallachia (border to Bulgaria) and the Europe’s largest bioreserve Danube Delta.
Wetskills Foundation and partners will organize the Wetskills Challenge for the fifth time in Bucharest, Hungary. This Wetskills edition in Romania will be hosted by the University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest. Wetskills Foundation partner with other Romanian academia Politehnica University of Bucharest and Technical University for Civil Engineering in Bucharest. Other main partners are Romanian Water Association, Apele Romane and the Embassy of The Kingdom of The Netherlands.
This edition of Wetskills will start on 12 September 2021, and is in and around to the great city of Bucharest. During the 2-weeks program the participants will work in international, multidisciplinary teams on real-life water cases. The finals and awarding will be an hybrid workshop with livestream on 23 September.
The drought related case that is part of the waterchallenge #denktankdroogte is case 4: Virtual Water flows between Romania and Hungary
Is it possible to use water on places when you are not present at that moment? Yes, it is! A virtual water flow is embedded water in products that are produced (with water use during the production process) at location A and consumed (with the embedded water in that product) at location B. Import and export mean a flow of virtual water as well. The Water Footprint, the method that determines the freshwater use in production processes, is an excellent tool to provide insights in the virtual water flows between continents, countries and/or river basins. How can we use the virtual water flow between Romania and Hungary for improving the sustainable freshwater use in both countries?
This case is first part of the CaseBooster programme, where the virtual water flows between the countries will be determined. With the provided information a practical case will be set up for Wetskills in Hungary or in Romania. So, detailed information will be provided in a later stage.
Wetskills Foundation is inviting students (Bachelor (final year), Master and PhD) and Young Professionals from universities and organisations worldwide with a passion for Water-Energy-Food, to join this great experience. Apply for Wetskills-Romania 2021 (period: 12 – 24 September 2021).
For more information and registration: https://wetskills.com/event/wetskills-romania-2021/

Wetskills-Hungary #denktankdroogte
2021-08-22 - 2021-09-03 | Hungary
Wetskills Foundation will organize the Water Challenge for the second time in Budapest, Hungary. This event’s theme is Liveable Rivers in a Green Economy. It will be part of the Wetskills Europe Tour with three events on a row: Hungary, Denmark and Romania.
This edition of Wetskills will start on 22 August 2021, and is in and around to the beautiful city of Budapest along the Danube River. During the 2-weeks program the participants were working in international, multidisciplinary teams on real-life water cases. The finals and awarding will be an hybrid workshop with livestream on 2 September.
Are you a student or young professional from Hungary, Europe or other parts of the world, and do you want to make a difference in the water & sustainability sector? Would you like to experience working in an international team and experiencing the culture of Hungary? Do you want to work on challenging water-energy-food issues and get to present your ideas? Then this is your chance!

The drought related case that is part of the waterchallenge #denktankdroogte is case 4: Virtual Water flows between Romania and Hungary
Is it possible to use water on places when you are not present at that moment? Yes, it is! A virtual water flow is embedded water in products that are produced (with water use during the production process) at location A and consumed (with the embedded water in that product) at location B. Import and export mean a flow of virtual water as well. The Water Footprint, the method that determines the freshwater use in production processes, is an excellent tool to provide insights in the virtual water flows between continents, countries and/or river basins. How can we use the virtual water flow between Romania and Hungary for improving the sustainable freshwater use in both countries?
This case is first part of the CaseBooster programme, where the virtual water flows between the countries will be determined. With the provided information a practical case will be set up for Wetskills in Hungary or in Romania. So, detailed information will be provided in a later stage.

For more information and registration: https://wetskills.com/event/wetskills-hungary-2021/

ClimateCafe Grensmaas #denktankdroogte
2021-06-21 - 2021-06-25
ClimateCafe Grensmaas, is onderdeel van het onderzoeksprogramma LivingLab Grensmaas: http://www.livinglabgrensmaas.nl/. In dit ClimateCafe gaan we kijken naar de balans tussen droogte, biodiversiteit, overstromingen en percepties rondom de Grensmaas. Dit doen we met stakeholders, onderzoekers, bedrijven en young professionals/studenten. In vijf dagen gaan we de gezamenlijk het Grensmaas gebied leren kennen en gaan we integrale oplossingsrichtingen zoeken.

Datum: 21-25 juni 2021
Inschrijven: https://climatecafe.nl/event/climatecafe-grensmaas/ of http://www.livinglabgrensmaas.nl/climatecafe-2021.html
Case owner: Het LivingLab Grensmaas onderzoeksprogramma

Online ClimateCafé Gothenburg & Mölndal #denktankdroogte
2021-06-07 - 2021-06-11
Are you concerned about how climate change will affect Gothenburg and Mölndal and want to know what we can do about it?
This online Climatecafé is a collaboration between Mölndal’s water council, Gothenburg University, Hanze Univeristy of Applied Sciences, Gothenburg Museum of Natural History, County administrative board of Västra Götaland,Water district authority of Skagerrak and Kattegat and HDK-Valand – Academy of Art and Design.
In this Climatecafé you will go on virtual field trips, have different workshops, learn and help us approach local climate challenges. Together we will tackle water related issues from multiple angles and raise awareness. Using multiple tools and methods, such as ClimateScan, storytelling, art and design thinking!

For more information: https://climatecafe.nl/event/climatecafe-gothenburg-molndal/
Date: 7-11 June 2021
Register: https://forms.gle/WPUjKy5sTDqopeee9

10x Texel #denktankdroogte
2021-06-01 - 2021-08-31 | Texel
Texel is voor zoetwater volledig afhankelijk van regenwater en de drinkwaterleiding van het vaste land. Voor de landbouw geldt een permanent onttrekkingsverbod waardoor de kans op droogteschade en verzilting groot is. Om duurzame en rendabele landbouw op het eiland mogelijk te houden willen de boeren zelfvoorzienend kunnen zijn wat betreft zoetwater. Tijdens de winter valt er genoeg zoetwater en wordt er zelfs 44 miljoen kuub in zee gepompt. Acacia Water gaat samen met de boeren en overheden op zoek naar oplossingen voor het watertekort. Maar, Nederland is groter dan Texel, hoe kunnen de Texelse boeren een voorbeeld zijn voor de rest van het land? Wij zijn op zoek naar 10x Texel – Help jij mee? 10x Texel is een multi-generation challenge, studenten, junioren en senioren kunnen meedoen.

Inschrijven kan via de aanmeldknop; aanmelden kan tot 1 juni. Op 7 juni wordt bekend of je mee kunt doen met de challenge.
Data: Vrijdag 18 juni zal de kick-off zijn. Het bezoek aan Texel inclusief overnachting is op 8 en 9 juli. De afsluiting zal zijn op vrijdag 27 augustus. In het totaal zullen het 10 dagen zijn, voornamelijk op vrijdagen.

Foto via HHNK

Waterbesparend 50L-huis #denktankdroogte
2021-05-27 - 2021-05-28
50L Home is een wereldwijd actiegericht platform dat twee urgente wereldwijde uitdagingen aanpakt: waterveiligheid en klimaatverandering. Het 50 Liter huis staat symbool voor het verlagen van het drinkwaterverbruik naar 50 L per persoon per dag. Ook in Nederland wordt droogte een steeds prangendere uitdaging, en zijn waterbesparende maatregelen daarom van belang. Bovendien moet er hoop gebeuren wil het gemiddelde Nederlandse watergebruik van rond de 121 L per persoon per dag, naar 50 L kunnen komen! Daarom hebben waterbedrijf Dunea, ingenieursbureau Arcadis, innovatieprogramma VPdelta en proeftuin The Green Village hun krachten gebundeld voor een Nederlands 50 Liter huis consortium, waarin zij zich samen hard maken voor dit thema en het verder ontwikkelen van oplossingsrichtingen.

Datum: 27 – 28 mei 2021
Inschrijflink: https://createtomorrow.nl/sign-up/

ClimateCafé Groningen #denktankdroogte
2021-05-25 - 2021-05-28 | Groningen, Groningen, Nederland
In het ClimateCafé Groningen brengen studenten en jong professionals oplossingen in kaart voor het tegengaan van negatieve effecten van een veranderend klimaat op de leefbaarheid in stedelijk gebied. Specifiek wordt ingegaan op het functioneren van groenblauwe oplossingen voor het tegengaan van droogte en hoe bewustwording bij inwoners voor de effecten van droogte kan worden vergroot.

Datum: 25 – 28 mei 2021
Inschrijven: https://climatecafe.nl/event/climatecafe-groningen/
Case-owners: Gemeente Groningen en waterschap Noorderzijlvest

Kick-off event #denktankdroogte
2021-05-17 12:30 - 13:30
Op maandag 17 mei vindt de online landelijke kick-off plaats van de DenkTank Droogte 2021. Tijdens dit evenement worden de vakjuryleden van de DenkTank bevraagd over het thema droogte. In de vakjury zitten: voormalig dijkgraaf Tanja Klip-Martin, ondernemer Ap Verheggen en wetenschapsjournalist Rene Didde, en adviseur bij de staf deltacommissaris Dolf Kern.
Wil jij ook geïnspireerd raken, meer horen over droogte in Nederland en weten welke Water Challenges er aan komen? Meld je dan aan voor de kick-off!

NB: Bij de inschrijving, krijg je direct de uitnodiging voor het evenement gemaild. Als je het niet in je inbox ziet, kan het in je spambox terecht zijn gekomen.

Foto via H2O magazine

ClimateCafé Zwolle #denktankdroogte
2021-05-17 - 2021-05-22
In het ClimateCafé Zwolle brengen studenten en jong professionals oplossingen in kaart voor het tegengaan van negatieve effecten van een veranderend klimaat op de leefbaarheid in stedelijk gebied. Specifiek wordt ingegaan op het functioneren van groenblauwe oplossingen voor het tegengaan van droogte en hoe bewustwording bij inwoners voor de effecten van droogte kan worden vergroot.

Datum: 17 mei – 22 mei 2021
Inschrijven: https://climatecafe.nl/event/climatecafe-zwolle/
Case-owners: Waterschap Drents Overijsselse Delta, Climate Campus Zwolle, Hanzehogeschool Groningen, Waterprof

Als u nieuwsgierig bent naar de eindpresentaties van de studenten kunt op vrijdagmiddag 21 mei van 14.00-15.00u de bijeenkomst digitaal bijwonen. U kunt inloggen via de onderstaande link.
https://tinyurl.com/mz79wmjk
