Ambassador: Sarah Ward
- Current role:
- Academic (teaching and research)
- Institution:
- University of Exeter
- Discipline:
- Natural environment
Biography
Her career in water management spans over ten years. Her major interests are in transitions to sustainable water use, including alternative water resources, public engagement with such systems and interdisciplinary partnership working between engineers, hydrologists, planners and others, in managing and planning for sustainable water use. She is a member of the International Water Association, IRCSA (International Rainwater Catchment Systems Association) and BHS (British Hydrological Society). Sarah is a very active Chartered Member of the Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) and an Associate of the Higher Education Academy in the UK, where she assists in teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students.
What motivated you to engage with the public?
I was lucky enough to have lecturers during my A-levels who inspired me to follow a scientific pathway. One taught us about climate change – which has become one of the most prominent challenges of the future. Similarly, I would like to inspire students (and teachers and parents!) to make the link between science, the environment and how our daily lives are intertwined with both. I would also like to demonstrate how we can use the sciences to tackle challenges such as climate change and sustainable futures.
Describe the Public Engagement work you have done?
In undertaking my PhD, I began to realise that although communicating with policy makers and practitioners is important, if real changes are to be made from the ‘bottom up’, it is the general public who really need to be engaged, particularly with respect to water consumption and usage. Consequently, one of my personal and career goals is to ‘make a difference to the way people view water.’
In 2007 I participated in the IWA’s ‘World Water Monitoring Day’, a PE event where the water quality of a local river was monitored and I think this would be a great PE event to get HEI’s involved with.
