Future students

The Water Institute is pleased to launch its Fall 2025 WaterTalks, a three-part speaker series showcasing fresh perspectives on some of today’s most pressing water challenges. This year’s talks will span topics from groundwater use and the water–energy–food–poverty nexus in South Asia to advancing environmental justice and strengthening resilience to hydroclimate extremes.

Dr. Bryan Grimwood, Professor in the Department of Recreation and Leisure Studies (RLS) in the Faculty of Health, has been awarded approximately $380,000 in funding from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (SSHRC) to lead a new research initiative entitled Tourism, ruination, and regenerative futures that rethinks tourism’s role in landscapes marked by environmental and cultural ruination.

What happens to communities when the fish disappear? For millions of small-scale fishers (SSFs) worldwide, this isn’t just a question—it’s a daily reality. SSFs support the livelihoods of 120 million people globally, yet these vital ecosystems are on the brink of collapse due to declining water quality, pollution, and climate change.

From modelling floods and droughts to managing watersheds and tracking climate change, today’s environmental challenges require faster, more powerful computing. Now, researchers at the University of Waterloo and across Canada have a new tool to help solve them: Nibi, Waterloo’s newest high-performance supercomputer.

What started as a personal curiosity during a California drought has become a global, interdisciplinary research journey for Isabel Jorgensen, PhD candidate, School of Environment, Resources, and Sustainability - Collaborative Water Program, Water Institute. 

Lake Winnipeg has been experiencing increasingly severe algae blooms since the 1990’s, earning it the title of “Canada’s Sickest Lake”. This “illness” stems from excess nutrients, primarily phosphorus and nitrogen, running off from agricultural lands, urban areas, and wastewater treatment plants. These nutrients result in various water quality problems, including excessive algae growth, which can block light, deplete oxygen levels, and release toxins into the water.

A recent visit to Germany’s Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) has opened new doors for collaboration between researchers at the Water Institute and colleagues at one of Europe’s top technical universities.