Lydia S. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia new Watershare Programme Director

Lydia S. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia will be the new Programme Director of Watershare, succeeding Theo van den Hoven, who has retired after 37 years at KWR. Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia has an engineering background, with expertise and research interests focused mainly on computational modelling and hydroinformatics across a wide range of subjects: Water Supply and Distribution Systems, Smart Meters, System Dynamics Modelling, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Serious Gaming, the Circular Economy and Artificial Intelligence techniques for Water Systems. Below she introduces herself.

I have an engineering background, with expertise and research interests focused mainly on computational modelling and hydroinformatics across a wide range of subjects: Water Supply and Distribution Systems, Smart Meters, System Dynamics Modelling, the Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Serious Gaming, the Circular Economy and Artificial Intelligence techniques for Water Systems. Before joining KWR I was, beginning in 2003, a Senior Research Fellow at the University of Exeter, UK. Prior to that, I was a Lecturer at the Technical University of Athens (1990-2003). Over the course of many years, I have also developed an extensive track record and expertise in international grants and projects: organising and winning bids, managing, advising, guiding and supervising teams of researchers, evaluating proposals and projects, and being involved as a stakeholder in consultation groups. Since 2013, I have been in the leading group of the ICT4WATER cluster, and have an active role in WssTP where I lead the Water & Energy Working Group.

Before joining KWR, I knew of Watershare by reputation and had worked with Watershare partners in international projects. I had the impression that Watershare was chiefly about sharing tools for the water technology domain. This is a very limited view, but it reflects what most ‘outsiders’ think about Watershare. Our vision for Watershare should be to establish it as a global network of excellence, bringing together researchers, practitioners and water utility operators to collaborate, communicate and exchange knowledge, encompassing water technologies and innovation, taking advantage of our potential and expertise.

To achieve this, in consultation with our partners and with your help:

• We will gradually grow by inviting more countries and selected top organisations (R&D and operators) to become members.
• We will increase the quality of applied research by endorsing technologies and tools with high excellence standards.
• We will build a profile as a major global water network, by expanding and coordinating the themes of our joint research and tools to encompass the whole value chain of water and the water-energy-food Nexus.
• We will respond to current and crucial challenges: Climate Change risks and impacts, Circular Economy, Digital Water and Water 4.0, the IoT era and their implications for the water sector.
• We will strengthen our influence by working closely and interacting with other networks (e.g., IWA, IAHR, GWRC, EC, ICT4WATER cluster) and additionally using digital means to do so.
• We will jointly develop a brand name for excellence in the water domain at a global scale.

The 2019 Watershare Annual Meeting will take place in Yokohama on 12 July 2019. The meeting is organised back-to-back with the 11th International Symposium on Water Supply Technology (9-11 July 2019), which is co-organised by our Watershare colleagues at JWRC. I am looking forward to the annual meeting and to jointly discussing our vision in more detail, and the means and steps to achieve it.

I am looking forward to meeting you in Yokohama and jointly developing Watershare.