Water Security: Researching management, governance and uses of water

Founded in 2011, the Water Security Research Centre (WSRC) brings together researchers from across the University of East Anglia to address the theoretical, practical, and policy challenges of managing and governing water for different human, economic and environmental needs from the local to the global scales.

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Our Research Themes

Water security, WaSH and wellbeing

Researchers engaged with this theme investigate how water security and access to water, sanitation, and hygiene facilities are associated with global and public health, infection prevention and control (IPC), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and behaviour change.

James Bartram - Professor of Public Health and Environment, University of Leeds

Diane Bunn - Associate Professor of Nursing Research

Roger Few - Professorial Research Fellow

Water politics and governance

This theme focuses on the social and political processes influencing transboundary water diplomacy and management, and includes analysis of cooperation and conflict, power, politics and hydro-hegemony, water markets, privatisation, and regulation.

Harsh Vasani - PhD Researcher

Hydro-social cycles and ecosystems

Within this theme, researchers investigate challenges and solutions to uses of water for supporting human activities and environmental processes, with a focus on water allocation and efficiency for river basin management, irrigation policy, and performance, managing the challenges of hydroelectric dams, and reducing pollution and threats to biodiversity.

Richard Cooper - Lecturer in Environmental Sciences

Bruce Lankford - Emeritus Professor in the School of International Development​

Climate risks and water security

Water insecurity is a major risk to the health and well-being of vulnerable populations, superimposed on existing poverty and inequality. Researchers addressing this theme investigate how extreme and variable weather exacerbates water insecurity and focus on how vulnerable communities can be supported to adapt to risks and hazards associated with water insecurity because of climate change.

Teresa Armijos Burneo - Lecturer in Natural Resources & International Development

Roger Few - Professorial Research Fellow

Johanna Forster - Associate Professor in the Environment and International Development

Mark Tebboth - Associate Professor in Environment and International Development

Find out more aboutour current projects.