Reflections from 2017 Emerging Water Professionals

“I’m Safaa Aldirawi from Palestine. I’m an Australia Awards scholar Studying Master of Integrated Water Management with International WaterCentre at University of Queensland. I’m doing Water, Sanitation and Hygiene (WASH) courses as a stream of MIWM which is highly related to the issues in my home country particularly in the water sector. Attending International Riversymposium and Environmental Flows Conference and Being a part of the Emerging Water Professionals Program provided me a great opportunity to expose to new ideas and studies related to the environmental issues. It was a great time for learning a lot from global expertise and experience in sustainable and resilient river management, meeting new friends and building networks.  As I’m working now on the proposal for the final project next semester, meeting experts helped me to improve my idea for the research. Attending several sessions about sustainable development goals gave me a deep understanding which helps me to build my research question and objectives for my final project.”

“I’m Mehedi Hasan currently studying at UTS with the DFAT sponsored Australia Awards scholarship. I came from Bangladesh, a land of rivers. The economy of the country is vastly dependent on the river. Rivers are the lifeblood of my country. However, availability of water in many rivers relies on the seasonal variation, scarcity during dry seasons and abundance during monsoon seasons. As a result, the country experiences both droughts and floods almost in every year.  At the early stage of my professional career, my activities were mostly focused on technical aspects. Providing technical solutions to water-related problems was my passion. After attending the IRS 2017, I have realized that technical solution is not always feasible but other factors like social and political aspects should be considered for sustainable management of water. I have learned how people engagement in river basin management can make success stories.  Murray Darling Basin management and Colorado River restoration are two of the live examples of such achievements.  I also learned about the upcoming challenges on water security, food security, energy security and their mitigation strategies. The necessity of ensuring environmental flows for the conservation of ecosystem is another topic that attracted my interest during the symposium.  The most important part of the EWPP was getting to know the other delegates from different parts of the world. The networking session was interesting and its application in personal and professional field will foster the leadership development. The breakfast session was really a fabulous opportunity to meet the special persons in the water sector. Experiences shared by current water leaders will help me achieve my career goals in the water sector.  I would like to thank DFAT for giving me the opportunity of attending such an amazing event. Personally, I would like to express my gratitude to Vanh Mixap for all types of coordination. I’m always interested to go for such events in future.”

“My name is Chimfwembe Lesa, currently pursuing a master of engineering in geotechnical and environmental engineering at University of Technology Sydney (UTS). I have a mining engineering background and serve as a regulator of mining industry operations at the Ministry of Mines back in my home country Zambia. My experience in the just concluded 2017 IRS and EWPP provided an overwhelmingly inspiring experience from the interaction with senior water professionals. The mentor advice that I want to embrace was emphasized on remaining a resilient and focused emerging professional, and developing good social skills that leverages ambition and progression. I also took away some good insights of networking, and the importance of building a professional and strategic network. The opportunity to interact with EWPP colleagues and other conference delegates strengthened on my ability to network. The overall experience improves my level of confidence that will be critical to identifying myself as a leader of change to drive developmental agendas.”

“Dear IRF and DFAT, My name is Thu Ha Nguyen. I was a lecturer at the Ho Chi Minh City University of Technology in Vietnam before being awarded the Australia Awards Scholarship from DFAT to be a Ph.D. student at the University of Sydney. Although my Ph.D. research quite details about sediment transport in natural waters such as rivers and oceans under effects of biological matter, I am very interested in general issues in the global water sector and how are experts from all over the world collaborating to solve these complex problems. Attending the EWPP and IRS, I hoped to gain some helpful knowledge and experience to help to solve the very challenging issues in my home country Vietnam when I return after the Ph.D. study. In fact, I have brought home more than that. I have had great opportunities to talk with and learn from so many experts in the water sector that I could not imagine before. I have also strengthened my networking skills, becoming more confident through the networking workshop I attended. The EWPP coordinator, Vanh Mixap, organized the program so logically and effectively that I was kept busy and happily forced to communicate and do networking most of the time.  I thank IRF and DFAT for granting me the chance to participating in the IRS and EWPP, and also thank Vanh for all her support.”