SIWI is looking for committed young professionals to provide support to the World Water Week Scientific Programme Committee.
Joining the Young Scientific Programme Committee (YSPC) is an opportunity for young professionals to expand their network and gain valuable experience. As part of the YSPC, you will be a vital part of the seminar team and coordinate the SIWI Seminar Series for World Water Week 2024.
Build your network and experience the world water conference
The YSPC began in 2012 as a complementary initiative to support the World Water Week Scientific Programme Committee (SPC). Selected each year, the group is made up of young professionals aged 35 or under.
The YSPC collaborates with experienced water professionals to develop the SIWI Seminar Series for World Water Week. They bring an important perspective to the work of the YSPC: the perspective of young professionals.
Serving on the YSPC is a valuable opportunity for professionals at the start of their careers to gain greater visibility within the water community while getting to work at the thematic heart of the world water conference.
About World Water Week 2024
In a complex and rapidly changing world, SIWI offers World Water Week as a setting for people to meet, discuss and move forward; an inclusive place of hope and positive thinking; and a safe space where participants can be heard and contribute to discussions.
Each World Water Week comprises a wide variety of sessions, ranging from specialised scientific discussions to broad public policy debates. To create a structured and collective sense of purpose for all these sessions, SIWI focuses each Week on a specific theme, selected both to define and reflect the global agenda. The Week aims to raise awareness of the issue, advance the debate, reach new consensus and learn from different sectors.
The theme of World Water Week 2024 is "Border Bridge: Water for a peaceful and sustainable future". SIWI believes that water is a catalyst for people to achieve peace, co-operation and security, and therefore a sustainable future. The concept of peace and security has a very broad scope: not only in a narrow military/defence understanding of the word security, but more broadly to include human security, food and nutrition security, ecosystem security, as well as water security. The borders to which the title refers can be borders between neighbours, communities, peoples and regions, as well as between nations; the Week will encourage examples and case studies from different levels, with sessions structured on international, regional and local scales.
Seminar Series Titles 2024
The YSPC will work with the SPC to develop the SIWI Seminar Series around the thematic scope: "Bridging Borders: Water for a peaceful and sustainable future“.
List of titles for the World Water Week 2024 Seminar Series:
- The art of water diplomacy
- The water and human security consequences of modern armed conflicts and warfare
- Managing shared water resources for peace and co-operation
- Water security within planetary limits
- Technical solutions for safe water supply to help build stability and peace
- Can drinking water help achieve peaceful results?
- Water for ecosystem security
- Institutions for water, peace and co-operation
- Monitoring and data to support peace and security
Find out more about the 2024 Seminar Cycle
How to register
Young professionals from all sectors encouraged to enrol in one of the nine seminars or to work with the Chair. Please note that applicants to the YSPC must agree to provide minimum inputs in the order of 20 days of 15th January to 30th September 2024 (excluding a mandatory two-day SPC/co-organiser digital workshop in March/April and World Water Week in August). All applicants must be able to allocate this time to the commission.
To apply, fill in the form and include the following documents:
- Your CV (including your date of birth),
- Motivation letter (maximum 1 page) indicating your seminar(s) of interest,
- Letter of recommendation
If you have any further questions about the application process, please email Viktoria Frühling at viktoria.fruhling@siwi.org.
Registration is open from 2 October to 16 of November 2023. Applications must be submitted before the deadline. Incomplete applications will not be considered. YSPC members are appointed in January by SIWI and SPC after all applications have been analysed.
When appointing YSPC members, SIWI emphasises the importance of them reflecting, if possible, the diversity and balance of World Water Week in terms of:
- Geography: Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia.
- Formation: academic/professional, public/private, local/global, business/civil society.
- Subjects: natural sciences, sociology, political science, economics, law, etc.
- Gender.
YSPC tasks and commitments
Committee members serve in their personal capacity. They are appointed for a period of World Water Week. The YSPC will work with the SPC to develop the SIWI Seminar Series, which includes:
- General coordination and communication with SPC/SIWI around the seminars (January to September)
- Screening and categorisation of abstracts submitted to the seminar (January to March)
- Development of the seminar programme (theme, structure, format, selection of presenters) (April to August)
- Upload all the necessary seminar information to the online programme (March to September)
- Act as a point of contact for presenters on content-related issues (April to August)
- Collection of presenters' biographies and photos (April to August)
- Coordination of presentation content with speakers (April to August)
- Promote, together with the SPC, the results of the seminar through appropriate reports, opinion articles, blogs etc. (August to September)
For the Young SPC Member who works alongside the President, the general Terms of Reference, the time required, the conditions of service, etc., are practically the same as for the other Young SPC Members, and the specific duties are:
- On behalf of the President, to monitor the progress of the Seminar Teams.
- Be available to support Seminar Teams that are behind schedule.
- Supporting and sharing the work of the Presidency in general.
- Work together with the SPC Secretary to coordinate the planning of seminars and the work carried out by the other YSPCs.
- During World Water Week: Work with the President to attend as many sessions of the Seminar as possible.
The committee's working language is English.
For more information on the tasks and commitments of the YSPC, the terms of reference can be found here: Terms of Reference.
The deadline is 16 November 2023.
