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The Main Objectives

 Digitalisation OF WATER INDUSTRY BY INNOVATIVE GRADUATE WATER EDUCATION THROUGH THE FOLLOWING THREE ACTIONS:


Strengthen the innovation capacity of the water industry
Enhance digital innovations in curricula during education as a basic method for later implementation and application in business like industry, administration, consultancy

Tackle the digital skills mismatch in the water industry
Establish smart specialization for digital water through the upgrade of curricula in partner universities with participation from industry

Improve social engagement of universities educating water specialists
Improve the orientation of academia towards societal and market needs through internationalization of universities, Digital Water Living Lab and Innovation Camps

Latest activities

Color Line Ferry 23-25.Nov

The first physical meeting of the project was held in Norway, November 2021. A total of 16 project participants attended the meeting.

Key concepts

Work package structures in “Digitalisation of water industry by innovative graduate water education”,
developed by DIGIWATER

digiwater work packages:

digiwater activities:

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Innovation Camps
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Project Partners
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Years

Project partners

  • NMBU
  • TH OWL
  • ITU
  • SUMAQUA
  • KU LEUVEN
  • DOSCON
  • UCY
  • UGAL
  • SmarTech
  • MEMSIS
  • IACO
  • STEB
  • EWA

NMBU

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway
Coordinator: prof. Harsha Ratnaweera

Research team members:

Zakhar Maletskyi, Associate Professor, NMBU
Works on strengthening the research area of membrane processes and assist in coordination of international projects, is involved in teaching and supervision of MSc and PhD programs in engineering and technology
Lars Hem, Adjunct Professor, NMBU
Conducts research on biological treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters, drinking water treatment with regard to humic removal and corrosion control, and corrosion and drinking water quality in distribution systems
Vegard Nilsen, Postdoctoral fellow, NMBU
Interested in all aspects of modelling and computationally oriented problems related to water resources engineering and environmental engineering, is involved in teaching various undergraduate and graduate courses/topics on microbial risk assessment, fluid mechanics and water engineering
Goitom Weldehawaryat, Postdoctoral fellow, NMBU
Works on strengthening the research area of digital tools in the water sector and contribute to the implementation of international projects of the WESH group. Research interests include IoT, Machine learning, and Cybersecurity
Susann Andersen, Project administrator, NMBU
Works with management tools and logistics

TH OWL

University of Applied Sciences and Arts (TH OWL), Germany
Project manager: Prof. Martin Oldenburg

Research team members:

Martin Oldenburg, Professor, TH OWL
Lecturer and researcher with focus on wastewater reuse, simulation of wastewater treatment plants and resource orientated sanitation
Stefan Wolf, Professor, TH OWL
Lecturer and researcher with focus on computer applications in the environmental sciences and in digital learning
Volker Pick, Environmental Engineer, TH OWL
Involved in different teaching activities: land survey, GIS, air pollution control. Involved in different research projects and also in Erasmus Water Harmony
Claudia Steiner, Food Science Engineer, TH OWL
involved in different teaching activities: biotechnology, wastewater treatment, industrial wastewater treatment. Involved in different research projects and also in Erasmus Water Harmony

ITU

Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Turkey
Coordinator: prof. Ismail Koyuncu

Research team members:

Mustafa Evren Ersahin, Associate professor, ITU
Co-director of MEMTEK. Works on anaerobic membrane bioreactor, membrane processes, dynamic membranes etc.
Caner Unlu, Assistant professor, ITU
Principle investigator in MEMTEK since 2018. Works on nanotechnology, chemical modifications of membranes, etc.
Reyhan Sengur Tasdemir, Researcher, ITU
Works on nanotechnology, membrane fabrication, biomimetic modifications, water treatment, water channel proteins etc.
Mehmet Emin Pasaoglu, PhD researcher, ITU
Works on energy recovery from membranes, electrospinning membrane fabrication, membrane module development, electrospinning, etc.
Sevde Korkut, PhD researcher, ITU
Works on membrane characterization, flat sheet membrane fabrication, wastewater reuse etc.

SUMAQUA

Sumaqua, Belgium
Managing director: Vincent Wolfs, Sumaqua

Research team members:

Victor Ntegeka, Postdoctoral engineer, Sumaqua
Expert in flood modelling, GIS, climate change and Big Data. Worked two years for the Joint Research Center of the European Commission in Ispra (Italy), focusing on high resolution gridded dataset development, flood risk management at continental scales, large scale hydrological model improvement and global operational flood forecasting prototype development
Pieter Meert, Researcher, Sumaqua
Works on modelling and analyzing of river systems, including hydrology, rivers and floodplains. Specialized in applications concerning model identification and calibration, statistical analyses, sensitivity and uncertainty analyses and optimization problems
Tim Franken, Project manager, Sumaqua
Expert developer of machine learning techniques, data management and visualisation, optimization algorithms and modelling. 9-year work experiance as Advisor at the engineering company International Marine Dredging Consultants, executed a large number of projects in Belgium and abroad (Australia, Austria, Malawi, UK and Colombia).

KU LEUVEN

Katholieke Universiteit Leuven (KU LEUVEN), Belgium
COOrdinator: Patrick Willems 

Research team members:

Hossein Tabari, Postdoctoral researcher, KU LEUVEN
Contributor to the H2020 projects BRIGAID and Climate-fit.city. Expertise on hydrological extremes and climate, and research interests include past and future climate change impacts on hydrological extremes, atmospheric driving forces of decadal natural variability of hydrological extremes and uncertainty quantification in climate change results
Sotirios Moustakas, PhD researcher, KU LEUVEN
Works on the development of a tool for integrated river basin management and optimization
Parissa Hosseinzadehtalaei, PhD researcher, KU LEUVEN< Focuses on Impact of Climate Change on Precipitation Extremes and Urban Drainage Systems in Europe. Research interests include Climate change impact assessment, Statistical and stochastic analyses of hydrological extremes e.g., urban flooding and drought, Uncertainty analysis, and Hydrological modelling and forecasting /td>
Daan Bertels, PhD researcher, KU LEUVEN
Focuses on the development of Decision Support Systems for Water Management. Research interests include the development of novel modelling techniques, statistical time series analyses of drought and flood conditions, optimization and strategic vision development
Anita Vermunicht, Management assistant, KU LEUVEN
Responsible for the planning of the Bachelor and Master educational program of Civil Engineering, and in charge of the full administration of the Hydraulics Section. Experienced in handling the administration of large EU projects, including H2020 projects
Jimmy Van Criekingen, Technician, KU LEUVEN
Responsible for the development, installation and monitoring of both remote test sites and experimental setups in the Hydraulics Lab of KU Leuven. Experienced in applying state-of-the-art measurement equipment and sensors, data transmission and storage

DOSCON

DOSCON, Norway
Project manager: NatalY Sivchenko

Research team members:

Xiaodong Wang, Coordinator, DOSCON
Coordinates DOSCON’s activities in China. Expertise in water and environmental engineering
Abhilash Nair, Project manager, DOSCON
Focuses on enhancing the removal and recovery of nutrients from wastewater through process monitoring, control, and automation. Research area includes the development of a comprehensive online monitoring system (through a network of physical and soft-sensors) and implementation of optimal control strategies targeted towards improving resource recovery and achieving energy-positive operation. Expertise includes designing optimal control strategies, assembling commercial data-acquisition hardware and software development at DOSCON
Aleksander Hykkerud, Consultant, DOSCON
Focuses on modelling water quality parameters in sewer networks. Expertise in water modelling, data management and acquisition, information technology and software development

UCY

University of Cyprus (UCY), Cyprus
Director: George A. Papadopoulos

Research team members:

Georgia M. Kapitsaki, Assistant Professor, UCY
Has been involved in European research projects (e.g. PaaSage,CyberSafety) and in the organisation and program committees of many international conferences. Research interests include Open source software reuse, Privacy Enhancing Technologies and Service-Oriented Computing and Context-aware services.
Alexandros Yeratziotis, Postdoctoral Researcher, UCY
Co-founder of a startup that offers accessible communication and educational mobile applications for users who are deaf. Research interests are: Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), user experience (UX), accessible computing, user-centered design and usability inspection methods.
Christos Mettouris, Postdoctoral Researcher, UCY
Was involved in a number of projects (CVN-AAL, Asterics-FP7, idSpace-FP7, B3Regions, InnoFun, Prosperity4All-FP7, SCIChallenge-H2020, V-ALERT LLP, VeLoCiTy Erasmus+, World-of-Physics Erasmus+, INFORM and more) and was also involved in the organization of a number of conferences in Cyprus. Research interests include Recommender Systems, Ubiquitous Computing, Model-Driven Development and Context-Aware Computing
Evangelina Vanezi, PhD Researcher, UCY
Works in numerous EU funded projects. Research interests and expertise include Web-based Software Engineering, User Management Systems Development, Privacy in Software Systems, Data Protection in Software Systems, Privacy verification in Software Systems, Formal Methods in Software Engineering Methodologies and Privacy by Design in Software Development.
Thomas Fotiadis, Postdoctoral Researcher, UCY
He is participating in an amount of EU funded projects. Research interests are: Human-computer Interaction (HCI), User Experience (UX), Digital Media, Media Literacy, Human emotional behavior and Online Branding.
Helen Kakos , Research administration and support, UCY
Responsible for administration and support in the Department of Computer Science. Also involved in project management activities.

UGAL

Universitatea “Dunarea de jos” din galati (UGAL), Romania
Project manager: Marian Barbu (UGAL)

Research team members:

George Adrian Ifrim, Associate Professor, UGAL
Research interest includes the modeling and control of biotechnological processes with a focus on of photoautotrophic growth of microalgae and wastewater treatment.
Marian Cracium, Lecturer, UGAL
Participated in EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) project grants for collecting and management of data, at regional and national level, according to the EFSA standards; one of them is building of the first Romanian data repository and transmission of data on chemical contaminants occurrence in food and feed; another is a database on food consumption, based on a national dietary survey, as the first Romanian contribution to the Comprehensive European Food Consumption Database
Dorian Bold, Project administrator, UGAL
Representant of the Research, Development and Innovation Office from “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati. Responsible for the administrative duties related to this project.
Larisa Condrachi, PhD Student, UGAL
Works on the modelling and control of wastewater treatment processes. Expertise on applying modern techniques for process control
Bogdan Roşu, PhD Student, UGAL
Works on the modelling and control of wastewater treatment processes. Expertise on modelling and data processing for environmental processes

SmarTech

SmarTech Automation SRL (SmarTech), Romania
Team leader: Nicu Roman

Research team members:

Laurentiu Luca, Software manager, SmarTech
Expertise on automation and process control (more than 20 years), considering both hardware and software implementation. The main author of the article „Control Strategies of a Wastewater Treatment Plant”, 12th IFAC Symposium on Dynamics and Control of Process Systems, including Biosystems, April 23 – 26, 2019, Florianopolis, Brazil.
Zanet Mitrita, Automation engineer, SmarTech
Automation engineer with responsibilities in the design of industrial automation systems, implementation and commissioning of automation projects, with experience in developing projects for wastewater treatment plants
Marinescu George, Automation engineer, SmarTech
Automation engineer with responsibilities in software development for PLCs, operating interfaces and SCADA systems, with experience in project development of wastewater treatment plants

MEMSIS

MEMSIS Environmental Technologies R&D A.S. (MEMSIS), Turkey
General manager: Turker Turken

Research team members:

Recep Kaya, Project engineer, MEMSIS
Project engineer at MEMSIS since 2018. Works on Environmental Engineering, membrane bioreactors (MBR), membrane fouling, 3D design of treatment processes and CFD simulations of membrane modules
Serkan Guclu, Research engineer, MEMSIS
Research engineer at MEMSIS since 2018. Works on Environmental Engineering, flat-sheet membrane fabrication, electrospinning membranes, nanocomposite membrane fabrication, process development
Ozgun Yilmaz, Environmental engineer, MEMSIS
Environmental engineer at MEMSIS since 2017. Works on Environmental Engineering, environmental biotechnology, ceramic membranes, hollow fiber membrane fabrication
Gokay Simsir, Environmental engineer, MEMSIS
Environmental engineer at MEMSIS since 2017. Works on Environmental Engineering, water and wastewater treatment, membrane processes, project design

IACO

I.A.CO. Environmental & Water Consultants (IACO), Cyprus
Project manager: Ayis Iacovides

Research team members:

Marios Mouskoundis, Geologist, Environmental Hydrologist, IACO
Significant working experience in the preparation of hydrological and hydraulic studies for various developments, as well as in flood risk analysis and prevention schemes. An expert in the use and various applications of Geographical Information Systems (ArcGIS), in conjunction with the application of hydrological, hydraulic and hydrogeological modelling (ArcHydro, HEC-GeoRAS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS, MODFLOW, etc.). A specialist in water resources management and participated as key expert in several related projects such as Horizon 2020 project named Bringing INnovation to onGOing water management (BINGO, 2015-2019)
Elena Nikolaou, Rural & Surveyor Engineer, IACO
Specialist in Water Resources Management, Geographical Information Systems, Geography and Regional Planning and Coastal Zone Management. Has extensive working experience in the preparation of hydrological and hydraulic studies for various developments, as well as in flood risk analysis and prevention schemes. An expert in the use of Geographical Information Systems (ArcGIS), in conjunction with the application of hydrological, hydraulic and hydrogeological modelling (ArcHydro, HEC-GeoRAS, HEC-RAS, HEC-HMS). Participated in several related projects such as Horizon 2020 project named Bringing INnovation to onGOing water management (BINGO, 2015-2019)
Athina Papatheoudoulou, Biologist, Water & Environmental Management, IACO
Biologist, Environmental Consultant of more than 12 years of experience in the organization and carrying out of environmental and water management consulting projects – studies. Has extensive experience and expertise in ecohydrological and hydromorphological assessments of surface waters through participating in extensive monitoring campaigns involving sampling of Biological Quality Elements in rivers, and analysing them in the Lab to reach to the classification status of the surface waters

STEB

Stadtentwässerungsbetrieb Paderborn (STEB), Germany
Project manager: Alexander Bansemer

Research team members:

Barbara Westermann, Chemical Engineer, STEB
Leader of the laboratory at STEB Paderborn. Extensive experience in water quality management
Daniel Plath, Environmental Engineer, STEB
Senior Design Engineer at STEB Paderborn. Experience in European Project Management
Klaus Arnold, IT Expert, STEB
IT expert for programming and integration of software tools into the project

EWA

European Water Association (EWA), Germany
Project coordinator: Bjørn Kaare Jenssen

Research team members:

Johannes Lohaus, Secretary General, EWA
Responsible for the implementation of the strategic goals for the association, the financial stability of EWA and the representation of the association and contact with the medias (PR)
Dr. Noama Shareef, Water policy Officer at the EWA Secretariat, EWA
Responsible for the implementation of the Strategic goals for the association, development of the EWA activities Conferences, Events, and she lead the support of the DIGIWATER Activities from the EWA Secretariat
Carolyne Herten, EWA
Responsible of the communications at the EWA Secretariat, development of the EWA activities, contact with the EWA members and with the Medias

Project Deliverables

  • WP1
  • WP2
  • WP3
  • WP4
  • WP5
  • WP6
  • WP7

WP1

WP1 – Digital water needs analysis

R1.1 Report on stakeholder and needs analysis
R1.2 Report Anchors & Engines for Water Digitalisation
R1.3 Digital Water Roadmap for Education, research and innovation

WP2

WP2 – Digital Water Curriculum

R2.1.1 Report on partners assets
R2.1.2 Report on best practices in teaching digital water subjects
R2.1.4 Syllabi for courses
R2.2.4 E-learning platform specification

WP3

WP3 – Digital Water Living Lab

R3.1 Concepts document

WP4

WP4 – Internal Quality Assurance

R4.1 Quality assurance plan

WP5

WP5 – External Evaluation

WP6

WP6 – Dissemination and Exploitation of Results

R6.1 Dissemination & Exploitation Plan

WP7

WP7 – Project Management

 

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Innovation Camp in Leuven, Belgium

  • First day
  • Second day
  • Third day
  • Last day

First day

After the Digital Water Curriculum Design workshop, we organized an innovation camp for the first demo in Leuven, Belgium between 4-7 October. After registration and meeting on the first day of the camp, Prof. Patrick Willems, Full professor in Urban and River Hydrology and Hydraulics KU Leuven, gave the keynote lecture “Water challenges in Flanders and Europe”. Then Postdoctoral Engineer and General Manager of Sumaqua Dr. ir. Vincent Wolfs created a vision for the digitalization of the water sector for students with his presentation titled “Drought forecasting with AI models”. In the brainstorming session, all participants were divided into three groups. We tried to produce innovative approaches to this crucial question: “How can digital technology tackle floods, water scarcity and poor water quality?”

Second day

The second day of the camp, which was very active, started at 9:00 with a presentation titled “Introduction and demonstration of a virtual tour” by Katharina Pilar von Pilchau, M. Engineer in Department of Environmental Engineering and Applied Science, THOWL. Followed by 4 short courses, two online and two in-person, were held as an introduction to IoT, Big Data and Cyber Security. Daan Buekenhout, Research Associate in KUL and Prof. Harsha Ratnaweera, our project coordinator and Professor in Water and Wastewater Technology at the Faculty of Sciences and Technology NMBU, made in-person presentations. Both presentations were made online. The students were divided into 6 groups of 2-3 people. They started using the innovation canvas model for group work. We closed the day with an excursion to a brewery.
Participating students:
Bahriye Eryıldız and Oğuz Orhun Teber from ITU, Turkey
Laurens Breugelmans and Danitza Salazar Cortez from KU Leuven, Belgium
Charlotte Marie Trovaag and Rasmus Falkeid Hagland from NMBU, Norway
Alexandra Schäfer and Marvin Meyer from THOWL, Germany
Podaru Mihai and Lăbuș Andrei-Petrișor from UGAL, Romania
Andrea Naziri and Theoni Mina from UCY, Cyprus

Third day

On the third day of the camp, Prof. Marian Barbu, Automatic Control in UGAL, gave a course on “Test Platform WWTP”. Then the students continued a group work. After delicious lunch sandwiches, we had an inter-group consultation. At this meeting, students received feedback from the coordinators about their presentations. Then we had a staff meeting and reviewed all work packages. The date of the second innovation camp to be held in Istanbul, Turkey has been clarified. After the program, we had a very enjoyable dinner with the staff and students under the sponsorship of SumAqua.

Last day

On the last day of the camp, students presented their innovative approaches. Experts from our project and KU Leuven took part in the jury. Jury members rated the presentations. At the end of the scoring, two teams were selected as the best presentation. Daan Buekenhout and Kato Schoeters presented a small gift to these successful two teams. We congratulate all participating students for their outstanding efforts. This camp was organized by Daan Buekenhout and Prof. Patrick Willems from KU Leuven and Dr. Ir. Vincent Wolfs and Kato Schoeters from SumAqua. Thank you for this fruitful organization.

EXPLORE THE DIGIWATER WEBSITE AT THE ERASMUS PROJECT PORTAL

Our Specialists

har3
Prof. Harsha Ratnaweera
Project Coordinator
harsha.ratnaweera@nmbu.no

Project ORGANISATION

  • Project Coordinator & Team
  • Project Steering Committee
  • Project Management Committee

Project Coordinator & Team

Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), Norway
Coordinator: Harsha Ratnaweera (NMBU)

Research team members:

Zakhar Maletskyi, Associate Professor, NMBU
Works on strengthening the research area of membrane processes and assist in coordination of international projects, is involved in teaching and supervision of MSc and PhD programs in engineering and technology
Lars Hem, Adjunct Professor, NMBU
Conducts research on biological treatment of municipal and industrial wastewaters, drinking water treatment with regard to humic removal and corrosion control, and corrosion and drinking water quality in distribution systems
Vegard Nilsen, Postdoctoral fellow, NMBU
Interested in all aspects of modelling and computationally oriented problems related to water resources engineering and environmental engineering, is involved in teaching various undergraduate and graduate courses/topics on microbial risk assessment, fluid mechanics and water engineering
Goitom Weldehawaryat, Postdoctoral fellow, NMBU
Works on strengthening the research area of digital tools in the water sector and contribute to the implementation of international projects of the WESH group. Research interests include IoT, Machine learning, and Cybersecurity
Susann Andersen, Project administrator, NMBU
Works with management tools and logistics

Project Steering Committee

#
Partner
Full partner name
Contact person
E-mail
1 NMBU (NOR) Norwegian University of Life Sciences Harsha Ratnaweera harsha.ratnaweera@nmbu.no
2 TH OWL (GER) University of Applied Sciences and Arts Martin Oldenburg martin.oldenburg@th-owl.de
3 ITU (TUR) Istanbul Technical University Ismail Koyuncu sheepcu@itu.edu.tr
4 Sumaqua (BEL) Sumaqua Vincent Wolfs vincent.wolfs@sumaqua.be
5 KU LEUVEN (BEL) KU LEUVEN Patrick Willems patrick.willems@kuleuven.be
6 DOSCON (NOR) DOSCON AS Nataly Sivchenko nataly@doscon.no
7 UCY (CYP) University of Cyprus George A. Papadopoulos george@cs.ucy.ac.cy
8 UGAL (ROM) “Dunarea de Jos” University of Galati Marian Barbu Marian.Barbu@ugal.ro
9 Smartech (ROM) Smartech Automation Nicu Roman nicu.roman@smartech-a.ro
10 MEMSIS (TUR) “MEMSIS Environmental Technologies R&D A.S. Recep Kaya
11 IACO (CYP) I.A:CO Ltd Ayis Iacovides a.iacovides@iaco.com.cy
12 STEB (GER) Stadtentwässerungsbetrieb Paderborn Alexander Bansemer a.bansemer@paderborn.de
13 EWA The European Water Association Bjørn Kaare Jensen bkj@geus.dk

Project Management Committee

#
Partner
Full partner name
Contact person
E-mail
1 EWA European Water Association Bjørn Kaare Jenssen bkj@geus.dk
2 UCY (CYP) University of Cyprus Alexandros Yeratziotis alexis.yeratziotis@gmail.com
3 Sumaqua (BEL) Sumaqua Vincent Wolfs Vincent.wolfs@sumaqua.be

Contact Us

We highly encourage further cross-boundary participation and collaboration, and invite you to get in touch without hesitation – your curiosity and interest is appreciated irrespective of whether you are a student, researcher, executive or a leader in academia, government and an organisation. For more info, please contact any of our coordinators representing a partner or a topic, or the project secretariat.

    

    Reach Us

    Monday – Friday: 8:00 – 18:00 Hrs

    

    we are here

    Water Norway
    Universitetstunet 3, 1433 Ås, Norway

    Phone: +47 6723 1619
    E-mail: waternorway@nmbu.no

    The European Commission’s support for the production of this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the authors, and the Commission cannot be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

    Participant

    Dr. Zakhar Maletskyi

    Ms. Natalia Ilieva


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