A group of people stand smiling at the camera outside in the sun. some are holding rounders bats. one is holding a trophy and another is holding a box of chocolates

WIRe Summer Challenge 2025

Following the Annual WIRe CDT One-Day Conference, we went straight into the Summer Challenge with Cohorts IV, V and VI! This year’s Challenge theme was Water Reuse in the UK.

 

The PhD students were split into groups, and each team was tackling a real-life case study on this theme - they were expected to provide technical solutions, publicity campaigns and develop plans for potential research programmes.

 

  • Group 1 was looking into alternative water sources for golf courses in Anglian Water region ⛳
  • Group 2 investigated direct reuse of wastewater for agriculture 🌱
  • Group 3 explored the possibility of direct reuse of wastewater for a new AI centre 💻
  • Group 4 considered how to recharge a reservoir with treated wastewater 💧
  • Group 5 proposed water sources for green hydrogen plants 🏞️

 

To help provide context to the topic of water re-use, on the first day of the Challenge, we had a series of talks by experts in the field:

 

  • Geoff Darch (Anglian Water) discussed supply-demand challenges and the potential for re-use, providing insight to Anglian Water's perspectives and goals looking forward to the future as one of the suppliers for the driest region in the UK
  • Mar Batista Seguí (Anglian Water) introduced the innovation process and challenges - what are the barriers to developing new systems and processes in the water sector?
  • Heather Smith (Cranfield University) looked at the UK's position on water recycling and re-use, emphasising the importance of communications and public engagement
  • Thomas Young (TEP - The Environment Partnership) then rounded off the morning with a discussion around international best practice of water recycling - what is already being done? There are a lot of creative methods to re-use water around the world!
Mar presenting - she is wearing a white shirt and red patterned trousers, standing to the left of a projector screen
Mar Batista Seguí
Geoff is stood with his back to the camera, facing an audience of people sat around round tables. he is wearing a blue shirt and dark trousers
Geoff Darch's introduction
Heather presenting; she is wearing a white shirt and a yellow skirt, stood to the left of a projector screen
Heather Smith presenting
Thomas Young presenting for the summer challenge. He is wearing a light shirt and dark trousers, stood to the left of a projector screen
Tom Young's presentation

The students were then hard at work figuring out how to tackle their own water re-use scenarios.

A group of students discuss their summer challenge scenario. Four students are sat around a table, one of them is speaking to the rest. they all have laptops
The students discussing their summer challenge scenario
A group of students discuss their summer challenge scenario. six students are sat around a table, one of them is speaking to the rest. they all have laptops
A group of students discusses the summer challenge

In the afternoon, Chris Jameson from Inside Edge Media Training delivered a workshop for our PhD students. Chris helped the students understand media strategy, including how to answer tricky questions, make good first impressions, and to channel their 'inner Oprah' in front of the camera. Throughout their PhD journeys, these communication skills will help the students share their research to a range of audiences.

Chris walking towards an audience of people sat around round tables. he is wearing a dark shirt and green trousers.
Chris Jameson's media training workshop
several people sat around tables are pictures laughing
Chris' workshop was an entertaining introduction to media training

The following morning, the groups of students each had the opportunity to meet with experts in the water sector to ask them questions around their scenarios to help them prepare their solutions.

 

After working hard all day, in the afternoon we had the chance to explore the local Nene Park and walk over the Ferry Meadows, which also happened to be a good opportunity to explore the local water infrastructure!

A group of 14 people stand in a row smiling at the camera. they are smiling in the sun. behind them is a lake with a narrow boat on it
Staff and students at Ferry Meadows

On the Thursday of Challenge Week, each group gave Town Hall style presentations. In the audience was a range of experts from industry and academia, as well as Chris Jameson from the media training. The audience asked a wide range of questions, putting the students on the spot, acting as a variety of stakeholders, including concerned members of the public, journalists, industry experts, and charity representatives.

two people sit behind a table with microphones in front of them, the person on the right is presenting to an audience that is off camera.
Students presenting in a Town Hall meeting
three people sit behind a table, presenting to an audience sat in rows in front of them.
The Town Hall audience

Chris Jameson provided feedback on their Town Hall presentations that afternoon – overall our students did really well at using their new media skills!

 

Thursday evening included the annual WIRe CDT rounders match – as always, it got a bit competitive; congratulations to the winning team!

A group of people stand smiling at the camera outside in the sun. some are holding rounders bats. one is holding a trophy and another is holding a box of chocolates
The winning rounders team!

On the final day of the Challenge, each group presented their proposal for their water re-use strategy for their scenarios.

Each group did really well at proposing a method to reuse water to reduce potable water consumption for non-drinking purposes. The presentations also included the production of a video for social media, which were all very creative!

 

Congratulations to Group 1 who won the prize for the Best Summer Challenge Proposal! We were very impressed with their proposal on how to reduce the amount of potable water used for irrigation on golf courses - well done 

Group 2 presenting their summer challenge proposal. on the left of the screen a man wearing a grey shirt and green trousers talks to the audience off camera. two people stand behind him
Students presenting from Group 2. From left to right: Jasper Wressell (Cohort VI), Alan Smalley (Cohort III), Ana Amezaga-Kutija (Cohort IV)
Group 3 presenting their summer challenge proposal. in the centre of the field of view a man wearing a black shirt and grey trousers talks to the audience (off camera). two people stand behind him
Students presenting from Group 3. From left to right: Mohammad Shekofteh (Cohort V), Cerith Rhys-Morgan (Cohort V), Sreelakshmi Babu (Cohort III)
Group 4 presenting their summer challenge proposal. on the left of the field of view a woman wearing a white shirt, brown trousers, and a brown and leopard print headscarf talks to the audience (off camera). three people stand behind her
Students presenting from Group 4. From left to right: Linda Alobaidy (Cohort VI), Raman Suri (Cohort IV), Tomas Hotzel Escardo (Cohort V), Zachary Thomspon (Cohort IV)
A group of six people stand smiling at the camera in a row
The winning team - Group 1! From left to right: Vincent Smith (Cohort VI), Vladislav Dukhovskoy (Cohort V), Polly Grundy (Cohort III), Kaeli Brazier (Cohort IV), Blessing Mobolaji (Cohort IV), Peter Jarvis (WIRe CDT Director)

We hope everyone enjoyed the Summer Challenge this year, we are already looking forward to the next one. A big thank you to our colleagues with Anglian Water for supporting this week, and to Jackie Whelan for making the whole week happen!

A large group of people wearing business attire stand in rows smiling at the camera. They are outside on grass, the weather is sunny with blue skies and behind them is a stately home. Members of the group include PhD students, academic staff and industry partners who are sponsoring students

The Annual WIRe CDT Conference 2025

 

The Annual WIRe CDT One-Day Conference took place 30 June 2025, providing our PhD students with an opportunity to share their research both with each other and industry professionals.

a room full of people sat around round tables facing forward. The people are dressed smartly in business attire
The conference audience

The day began with a keynote talk by Dr Robin Price, Director of Quality and Environment at Anglian Water. Robin discussed his career with Anglian Water and the issues the sector is facing, before highlighting several key areas that rely on the delivery of academically rigorous research to drive the industry forward responsibly and sustainably, including:

 

  • Emerging contaminants
  • Circular economy – recovering resources from ‘waste’
  • Nature-based Solutions
  • Availability of water resources
  • Health of our water assets, such as reservoirs
  • Process emissions
  • Reputation of sector

 

As the students presented their research throughout the day, it was great to see that all these topics are covered across the broad range of WIRe PhD projects!

The conference audience
Robin Price delivering his keynote. He is wearing a dark jacket, white shirt and beige chinos. behind him is a projector screen and pull-up banners advertising the WIRe CDT
Dr Robin Price presenting

The students from Cohort III had the opportunity to present full-length talks highlighting the work they have done over the course of their PhD projects.

Samuel Yeboah Nyarko presenting. He is wearing a dark shirt and stood in front of a projector screen
Samuel Yeboah Nyarko (Cohort III) presenting
Eleyna presenting, wearing a black and white striped dress
Eleyna McGrady (Cohort III) presenting

In the breaks between talks, we had the opportunity to check out the posters produced by students in Cohorts IV and V.

 

As well as producing posters, students in Cohort IV presented 3-minute poster pitches, summarising the work they have done so far!

people in business attire stood chatting holding cups of coffee
Delegates catch up over coffee
People in business attire stand around boards with scientific posters
Poster session discussions
People in business attire stand around boards with scientific posters
Delegates have a chance to view posters
Blessing presenting - she is wearing a purple, orange and green shirt with green trousers. She is stood looking to the left of the image with a projector screen behind her
Blessing Mobolaji (Cohort IV) presenting her poster pitch

Congratulations to the winners of the conference prizes:

 

Best Talk: Mark Powders - Ammonia to energy: A key decarbonisation strategy for the water sector

 

Best Poster Pitch: Ana Amezaga-Kutija - Proactive Management of Dissolved Organic Carbon (DOC) in Drinking Water Catchments

 

Best Poster: Tomas Hotzel Escardo - Advanced sensing and AI for risk detection in rail environments

 

We also awarded the prize for the highest achieving student from our induction semester - well done Lydia Mahan!

Mark Powders (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Mark Powders (Cohort III) wins the prize for Best Talk
Ana Amezaga-Kutija (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Ana Amezaga-Kutija (Cohort IV) wins prize for Best Poster Pitch
Tomas Hotzel Escardo (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Tomas Hotzel Escardo (Cohort V) wins prize for Best Poster
Lydia Mahan (left) shakes hands with Peter Jarvis (right), both are smiling at the camera wearing business attire
Lydia Mahan (Cohort VI) wins prize for Highest Achieving Student from our induction semester

Overall, the day was a great opportunity to hear about the range of research our PhD students are doing - we can't wait to see what they do next! To see all of our students, and their project topics, click here.

A large group of people wearing business attire stand in rows smiling at the camera. They are outside on grass, the weather is sunny with blue skies and behind them is a stately home. Members of the group include PhD students, academic staff and industry partners who are sponsoring students
All delegates of the Annual WIRe CDT One-Day Conference

This was Cohort III’s final WIRe Annual One-Day Conference – their presentations highlighted a wide range of impactful and innovative research. We wish them good luck in the final stretch of their projects!

A group of people wearing business attire stand in a white bandstand smiling at the camera
Cohort III

After the conference, we took a coach to Angle Entertainment, where staff and students had the opportunity to try out axe throwing, escape rooms, and play board games; it was a chance to unwind with some healthy competition!

 

Students from Cohorts IV, V, and VI, stayed in Peterborough to take part in the annual WIRe Summer Challenge - find out more about what we got up this year here!

STREAM and WIRe Symposium at Newcastle University

Newcastle University held its bi-annual symposium recently. Researchers from the university, who are part of the STREAM and WIRe CDTs, provided updates on their project along with outcomes to their peers and academic supervisors. The symposium offered students an opportunity to form new collaborations and network with their peers as well as the academic supervisors. 

WIRe CDT runs from 2019 to 2027 with 60 students recruited across 5 cohorts.

Challenge Week 2021

Challenge week took place this year from September 12th to 17th in Newcastle, alongside the STREAM IDC. It was hosted by Newcastle University. Cohorts I and II came together for the week’s activities. This was a great event as it was the first time our cohorts got to meet in person!

The One Day Conference took place on September 15th at the Grand Hotel Gosforth Park in Newcastle. Many congratulations to Ali Leonard (Cohort II) who won the Best Poster prize. Ali is hosted by Newcastle University and sponsored by United Utilities.

Ali and her winning poster
Wire and Stream students