As we move through another important year for the water sector, I want to take a moment to extend my appreciation for your ongoing support and share some important updates from Water Research Australia.
Strengthening our research leadership
Our Research Team continues to evolve to meet the changing needs of the research environment and our members. I’m pleased to announce the appointment of Dr Hannah Sassi and Dr Marty Hancock to Senior Research Manager roles. They join our other Research Managers, Dr Zach Powell and Vincent Bianchini, to form a highly skilled and collaborative team ready to support the sector’s research priorities. Hannah will take a particular focus regarding new opportunities, partnerships, and communities of practice. Marty will also take a focus on improving our processes, systems and project management.
We also farewell two valued team members. Sandra Henville will conclude her secondment with us on the 22nd May and return to the Water Corporation recommencing with them at the start of July. Jacqueline Frizenschaf, Senior Manager Research Strategy & Business Development, will finish with us on 29 May. I sincerely thank Sandra and Jacqueline for their dedication, expertise, and impact across multiple strategic projects. Both will be at Ozwater’25 in Adelaide to help transition responsibilities and ensure continuity across projects, partnerships, and member engagement.
We are now recruiting for a new Research Manager. If you know someone with a passion for water science and collaboration, please share our job advertisement on SEEK.
Bringing global insights
Earlier this month, I had the privilege of attending the 14th IWA Water Reclamation and Reuse Conference in Cape Town, South Africa. It was inspiring to learn of the African experience and progress, and also proud to see Australia leading global conversations on water reuse, resilience, and circular solutions. I’ve shared some key reflections here – I encourage you to have a read and explore how these insights might inspire your strategic research journey.
Partnering for Australia’s digital water future
We’re proud to be a founding partner of the newly-launched ARC Research Hub in the Internet of Things for Water, a bold national initiative that brings together 40 industry partners to harness the power of IoT to transform how we monitor, manage, and optimise diverse water sources and systems. WaterRA is already a key knowledge transfer partner, and now we would like to bring together a collaboration of members that have not yet joined the IoT for Water Hub, particularly those that operate in regional and remote contexts. We want to amplify that voice in the Hub and provide the opportunity to co-design research that is relevant tackles your most pressing IoT challenges. I encourage you to find out more and explore current open calls here.
Next Water 2025 – sponsorship now open
We’re excited to announce that sponsorship opportunities for Next Water 2025 are now available. As Australia’s dedicated water research conference, Next Water provides a unique platform to align your organisation with future-focused science, innovation, and collaboration. If you’re interested in sponsoring, please get in touch or visit our website for the full prospectus.
Ensuring member value
Together with our Board and with ongoing member consultation we are carefully and sustainability making changes to our membership categories. We want to reduce the number of categories, introduce more flexibility within them, and make the value proposition clearer for each of these. For example, we are hoping to sustainably and progressively reduce the fee associated with the highest tiers of membership, introduce a value transaction with our research members, and create opportunities for new seed and project funding. To set expectations – this will be a slow process and requires us to bring in new membership and other revenue streams to support the changes.
Thank you once again for being part of the WaterRA BIG Team. I am excited about what we are achieving across recent impactful outcomes on biosolids transformation, recreational access, contaminants of emerging concern, and emissions just to name a few. I look forward to seeing many of you at Ozwater’25, including at our member networking event on Tuesday May 20, and continuing our important work together.
Sincerely,
David Bergmann
CEO
Water Research Australia