Global water issues are becoming increasingly complex and often require a collaborative approach across a breadth of disciplines. Facilitating collaboration and promoting innovation in interdisciplinary research is part of the Water Institute’s mission. One of the ways this is accomplished is through the Water Institute’s Seed Grant Program.
The program awards a total of $150,000 annually, with competitions generally held during the fall and winter terms. The goal is to catalyze interdisciplinary collaboration, facilitate interaction with international authorities, and to encourage the development of research proposals.
The Water Institute has awarded four teams a combined total of $75,680 during its most recent winter 2017 Seed Grants Program application round:
Polymer/graphene nanocomposite membranes to enhance demineralization of waste water
- Pu Chen (Chemical Engineering)
- Alireza Zehtab Yazdi (Chemical Engineering), Juewen Liu (Chemistry), Mohtada Sadrzadehz (University of Alberta)
Integrated assessment of agricultural best management practices and phosphorus runoff
- Peter Deadman (Geography and Environmental Management)
- Johanna Wandel (Geography and Environmental Management), Merrin Macrae (Geography and Environmental Management), Derek Robinson (Geography and Environmental Management), Roy Brouwer (Economics), Stephen Murphy (Environment, Resources and Sustainability)
International symposium on the development of government, insurance and building code policies to support innovation in flood damage reduction
- Elizabeth English (Architecture)
- Brent Doberstein (Geography and Environmental Management), Carrie Mitchell (Planning), Shona van Zijll deJong (Laurentian University)
Stormwater management and nutrients control in extreme events: Mobilization of knowledge on the reduction of nutrient loading from urban non-point sources under climate change
- Mahyar Shafii (Earth and Environmental Sciences)
- Philippe Van Cappellen (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Chris Parsons (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Fereidoun Rezanezhad (Earth and Environmental Sciences), Bryan Tolson (Civil and Environmental Engineering)
The winners of the fall 2016 term were announced in November.
Project teams must be led by a Water Institute member and demonstrate an interdisciplinary approach, involving a minimum of three departments or two faculties per team.