The International WaterCentre (IWC) is an Australian organisation that works in Research, Education and Expert Services in Integrated Water Management

Water management

Water management is the activity of planning, developing, distributing and managing the optimum use of water resources. In an ideal world. water management planning has regard to all the competing demands for water and seeks to allocate water on an equitable basis to satisfy all uses and demands...

. A joint venture between the Queensland State Government and four Australian Universities, the IWC operates both domestically and on many international water-related projects, specifically throughout South-East Asia and Africa. Queensland State Premier Anna Bligh said the organisation’s international work was a testament to the “value of knowledge held by the IWC” abroad. The International WaterCentre was named in the opening paper of the January 2010 issue of Freshwater Biology

Freshwater biology

Freshwater ecosystems are a subset of Earth's aquatic ecosystems. They include lakes and ponds, rivers, streams and springs, and wetlands. They can be contrasted with marine ecosystems, which have a larger salt content...

 as one of the institutions (alongside The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy

The Nature Conservancy is a US charitable environmental organization that works to preserve the plants, animals, and natural communities that represent the diversity of life on Earth by protecting the lands and waters they need to survive....

, World Water Forum

World Water Forum

Every three years the World Water Council organizes a World Water Forum in close collaboration with the authorities of the host country. The World Water Forum is the largest international event in the field of water—over 30,000 participants from more than 190 countries attended the last...

 and the World Bank

World Bank

The World Bank is an international financial institution that provides loans to developing countries for capital programmes.The World Bank's official goal is the reduction of poverty...

) whose training programs would be the "most workable approach" to "educate a new generation of water scientists and policy makers".

History

Key dates of the International WaterCentre

• The International WaterCentre was established in 2005 through a joint venture between four universities: The University of Queensland, Griffith University, Monash University and the University of Western Australia. The partners came together to focus on leadership and capacity building in the area of Integrated Water Management.
• In 2005, former Queensland Premier Peter Beattie announced a 2.4 million dollar funding boost to the organisation, declaring water management as one of the “greatest challenges of the 21st century”.
• In 2008, International WaterCentre CEO Mark Pascoe was awarded the annual Medal for Management Innovation by the Australian Institute of Management
  Australian Institute of Management
  The Australian Institute of Management is Australia's largest professional body for managers. The sole purpose of AIM is to promote the advancement of education and learning in the field of management and leadership for commerce, industry and government. It is not for profit entity with branches...
  
  .

Philosophy

The International WaterCentre practises an integrated water management approach in all its key activities. This approach:

• Acknowledges the environmental, ecological and human processes that water undergoes from catchment to coast
• Clarifies and manages the multiple values of water
• Considers the impacts of decisions systemically across environment, politics, law, science, culture, engineering, economics, health and society.

Education

The International WaterCentre provides a number of education and training programs through its member universities based in Australia and South Africa.

Postgraduate Education

The International WaterCentre’s flagship program is the ‘Master of Integrated Water Management’. It is a co-badged and co-taught degree between The University of Queensland, Monash University, Griffith University and The University of Western Australia. Commenting on the programs formation, Premier Beattie stated, "Not only will these courses help build local skills in water management, they will also further boost Queensland's international reputation for high quality education."

In South Africa, the ‘Master of Philosophy in Integrated Water Management’ was launched at Monash University, which according to the South African water research commission will support the overworked and under-resourced water sector.

Every year the International WaterCentre awards a small number of scholarships to high quality candidates who are accepted into the IWC ‘Master of Integrated Water Management’ and demonstrate potential to become leaders in water management. International students make up a large portion of the student body.

Training Programs

The International WaterCentre offers a number of non-award training programs, including the IWC Water Leadership Program and tailored training programs for senior water industry professionals. One such program is the government supported Water Sensitive Cities Workshop series, which brought Australian water professionals together to discern major environmental issues and assess progress in creating water-sensitive cities around the country.

Research

Through collaboration with government and its partner universities, the International WaterCentre conducts research on water-related issues and regularly publishes to scientific journals on the subject. International WaterCentre research themes are:
Integrated water management, water sensitive cities, healthy rivers and aquatic ecosystems, water, sanitation and hygiene, and policy-science integration.
In 2007, the IWC established a research and education node in Johannesburg, South Africa, to focus on water challenges through collaboration with local experts. The node has three main functions,

1. Research – Examining specific issues of concern in “contemporary” Africa.
2. Education – Advanced postgraduate study on these issues.
3. Community engagement – Create a more sustainable future in water management involving the community.

Asia-Pacific Knowledge Hub

In 2009 the International WaterCentre was selected to join the ‘Asia-Pacific Knowledge Hubs’ as the Hub for Healthy Rivers and Aquatic Ecosystems. The Asia-Pacific Water Forum’s “KnowledgeHubs” network is designed to improve water security in the Asia-Pacific region through the sharing of knowledge, skills and experience among recognised institutions. The hub focuses on a number of key areas including: generating best practice information on protection of rivers, providing training and postgraduate courses in integrated water management, developing river health monitoring framework and others.

Expert Services

Since operations began in 2005, The International WaterCentre has provided expert services in integrated water management to governments and industry throughout Australia and internationally. Headed by the University of Queensland, the company facilitated the Queensland Water Commission's Expert Advisory Panel for purified recycled water scheme in South East Queensland, the third largest scheme of its type in the world.

Members

• University of Queensland
  University of Queensland
  The University of Queensland, also known as UQ, is a public university located in state of Queensland, Australia. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest and largest university in Queensland and the fifth oldest in the nation...
  
  
• University of Western Australia
  University of Western Australia
  The University of Western Australia was established by an Act of the Western Australian Parliament in February 1911, and began teaching students for the first time in 1913. It is the oldest university in the state of Western Australia and the only university in the state to be a member of the...
  
  
• Griffith University
  Griffith University
  Griffith University is a public, coeducational, research university located in the southeastern region of the Australian state of Queensland. The university has five satellite campuses located in the Gold Coast, Logan City and in the Brisbane suburbs of Mount Gravatt, Nathan and South Bank. Current...
  
  
• Monash University
  Monash University
  Monash University is a public university based in Melbourne, Victoria. It was founded in 1958 and is the second oldest university in the state. Monash is a member of Australia's Group of Eight and the ASAIHL....
  
  

Partners

• South East Queensland Healthy Waterways Partnership
• International Riverfoundation