In September, the Collaborative Water Program will welcome back 36 students to complete Waterloo’s most interdisciplinary graduate program when they participate in the program’s Water 602 course. Traditionally taking place at various locations through the Grand River watershed, this year’s iteration of WATER 602 will take the core elements of the course online.
“The centre-piece of WATER 602 is a group project in which students work with community members on an interdisciplinary water problem,” said Simon Courtenay, professor in Waterloo’s School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability, and WATER 602 course co-instructor with Simone Philpot, Post-doctoral Fellow at the Conflict Analysis Group in Systems Design Engineering. “We have 10 fantastic community partners who have stepped up with ideas that they will begin discussing with groups of 3-4 students over the next couple of weeks.”
Working with faculty members, peers, and community members, students will make a real-world contribution to a water management issue – all online. Together, in interdisciplinary teams, students will learn the merits and limitations of their own disciplinary contributions and those of their partners from other disciplines.
“Students will get a great real-life experience of the importance of an integrated research approach to addressing water issues,” said Courtenay. “Partners include provincial and regional government, environmental non-governmental organizations, industry and consulting firms. Students will come away knowing how to work in diverse teams and with community partners, including learning how to hear what their partner really needs and how to communicate their expertise in a way that can be heard and will have impact.”
The Collaborative Water Program is jointly offered by 11 University of Waterloo departments and schools, making it the most interdisciplinary graduate program focusing on water in Canada. Since its inception in 2013-14, 341 students have enrolled in the program – including the newest cohort of 48 students who will participate in WATER 601 in the winter term.
WATER 602 course instructors: Simon Courtenay and Simone Philpot with Teaching Intern Torben Russo.