2024 OWSD Awardees take on Singapore for water conference and workshop

July 01, 2024

The five early career women scientists awarded for their work in water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) spent a week making new connections and expanding their research horizons.

In June, the five winners of the 2024 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for early career women scientists gathered in Singapore for a week of events related to water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH), the theme of the 2024 award.

Awardees Augustina Clara Alexander (Tanzania), Tasrina Rabia Choudhury (Bangladesh), Lidia Antonella Rivera Peñalva (Honduras), Zubeda Ukundimana (Rwanda), and Shirani Manel Kumari Widana Gamage (Sri Lanka) were invited to attend two days of the Singapore International Water Week Conference (SIWW), a global platform to share and co-create innovative water, coastal, and flood solutions. From June 20-21, they attended sessions on topics including advancements in membrane technology, to emerging contaminants, to new approaches for water quality and management.

The conference was immediately followed by a two-day Water First! workshop led by the COACh programme from the University of Oregon together with the Elsevier Foundation, June 22-23. The five awardees were joined by five additional participants, all early career women scientists from Africa also working in the field of WASH. The workshop focused on building important skills for leadership in STEM careers, with a special focus on publication of research for water scientists led by Elsevier publishers and editors. The workshop included training in negotiation skills and in communicating research to science journalists and policymakers, as well as group discussion about the main water-related issues in the participants' countries and the challenges faced by women in assuming leadership positions to address water issues. At the conclusion of the workshop, the awardees were given special recognition and were presented their awards.

Following the workshop, the two awardees from the Asia Pacific region, Tasrina Rabia Choudhury and Shirani Manel Kumari Widana Gamage, were also invited to stay on for the EcosySTEM Asia Summit for Leaders in STEM, organized by EcosySTEM Asia in cooperation with the Elsevier Foundation. This 2-day leadership summit, from June 26-27, featured sessions on communicating through workplace conflict, personal branding, and inclusive communication in STEM, among others.

"Words can't suffice to express our gratitude to these initiatives of COACh, OWSD and Elsevier Foundation of empowering women in developing worlds," said Zubeda Ukundimana, one of the awardees, from Rwanda. "This awards ceremony and the training were a perfect match. We learned a lot in leadership, communication and negotiation, adding to our STEM skills. Now I can easily negotiate my lab space. I know how to not discredit my message, and qualities of a good leader."