University of Bristol (co-ordinator)

The Engineering Management Group within the University of Bristol (UK) are the project co-ordinators.  Dr. Stephen Gundry, a senior lecturer with Bristol is the project co-ordinating scientist.  Stephen has previously co-ordinated several EU-funded research projects in southern Africa, including most recently, the AQUAPOL project.  Stephen is an active member of the WHO Network to Promote Home Water Treatment and Safe Storage and the Health-Related Water Microbiology group within the International Water Association.

Also based within the Engineering Management Group is Dr. Terry Long, a Chartered Chemist and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry.  Terry formerly managed the English Environment Agency's field instrumentation research and development and is an ex-director of SWIG, a water sensor technology transfer company.

Department of Geography, University of Southampton

Together with colleagues in the GeoData Institute, Dr. Jim Wright at University of Southampton is contributing towards the back-end management systems that form part of the test. Southampton are also assisting University of Bristol with the overall project co-ordination. As well as having relevant expertise in Geographical Information Systems (GIS), Jim previously worked with many of the current team on the AQUAPOL project ( www.bristol.ac.uk/aquapol).






The Aquaya Institute

"Aquaya" (www.aquaya.org) is a applied research organization based in San Francisco, California that is dedicated to studying and promoting evidence-based solutions to water quality problems in developing countries. Aquaya's research spans three subject areas that are essential for reducing the global burden of waterborne disease: (1) technical innovations that improve access to safe water; (2) implementation strategies that promote scalable and sustainable water interventions; and (3) assessment methodologies that clarify the impacts of water and sanitation initiatives on long-term user health. This research provides results for policy analysis and publication in peer-reviewed journals as well as for the design of on-the-ground implementation strategies.



The World Health Organization (WHO)

The World Health Organization (WHO - www.who.int) is the United Nations specialized agency for health. WHO's objective is the attainment by all peoples of the highest possible level of health. WHO works on aspects of water, sanitation and hygiene with the objective of reducing water- and waste-related disease and optimising the health benefits of sustainable water and waste management. Its work includes: articulating consistent, ethical and evidence-based policy and advocacy positions; managing information by assessing trends and comparing performance; catalysing change through technical and policy support; negotiating and sustaining national and global partnerships; setting, validating, monitoring and pursuing the proper implementation of norms and standards (e.g. Guidelines for Drinking-water Quality); stimulating the research, development and testing of new technologies, tools and guidelines. The Water, Sanitation, and Health Programme of WHO (www.who.int/water_sanitation_health) is coordinated by Dr Jamie Bartram. The other staff involved in the project is Mr Federico Properzi, environmental engineer with background in drinking-water quality monitoring.




Royal College of Surgeons Ireland (RCSI)

Dr. Ronan Conroy of the Dept Of Epidemiology & Public Health Medicine is providing statistical guidance for the project. His research interests lie in low technology sustainable solutions to health problems in developing countries. Email: rconroy@rcsi.ie







Cell-Life

Cell-Life is a pioneering initiative that provides effective technology-based solutions for the management of HIV/Aids. Our primary function is to address logistical challenges in developing countries, such as the provision and distribution of Anti- retroviral treatments, continuous patient monitoring and communication of relevant data. This is achieved through the use of innovative software supported by existing technologies such as mobile phones and the Internet.

Access to clean water is universally important, but people living with HIV/Aids are particularly vulnerable to waterborne disease. UNAIDS recognises that the provision of clean water must be part of an overall HIV care, treatment and support package, and Cell-Life is committed to developing solutions to support all aspects of this.

We are a sustainable, not-for-profit company with experience and understanding of the unique challenges facing the implementation of e-health systems working in the public health sector in Africa. Our practical insights and research enable us to develop context-specific, cost-effective solutions.

Melissa Loudon completed her Bsc. Geomatics at the University of Cape Town in 2005, and is currently working at Cell-Life as a software developer. Cell-Life's work for AQUATEST will form part of her Masters, where she is investigating the use of open source GIS, open standards and mobile phones for water resource monitoring in the developing world.

Chemunex-SA

Chemunex SA are a French company with extensive experience in the water testing sector. They bring commercial expertise to the project, particularly in areas such as scanning and flow cytometry and defined substrate technology.

University of North Carolina

Prof. Mark Sobsey at University of North Carolina is renowned for his expertise in health-related water microbiology. As well as reviewing some of the existing low cost testing technologies for WHO, Prof. Sobsey has been closely involved in the International Network to Promote Home Water Treatment and Safe Storage (see links page). Further details of Prof. Sobsey’s work are available from his web page.

Institute of Water and Sanitation Development

The Institute of Water and Sanitation Development are a Zimbabwean NGO with extensive experience of water-related research, education, and action in southern Africa. They are particularly involved in assessing the current need for a new low-cost test.

CSIR Environmentek

Martella du Preez is a senior scientist with CSIR's operational unit Natural Resources & the Environment Pretoria, South Africa (mdupreez@csir.co.za). Martella has a wide range of relevant expertise in water microbiology. She will be contributing to aspects in regard to manufacturing and possible environmental impacts encountered during the project. She has previously worked with many of the current team on the AQUAPOL project (www.bristol.ac.uk/aquapol/).





Civil and Environmental Engineering Department, Massachusetts Institute of Technology

Together with colleagues Amy Smith (Mechanical Engineering) and Chris Carr (Aeronautics and Astronautics), Susan Murcott ( cee.mit.edu/index.pl?id=2700 ) and her associates at Massachusetts Institute of Technology are providing a review of current incubation practice and innovation in low cost innovation using phase change materials. Murcott's expertise is on water and sanitation in developing countries, with current field projects in Ghana and Nepal ( web.mit.edu/watsan).

Chris Carr is a Postdoctoral Associate with Harvard-MIT Division of Health Sciences and Technology. His current primary research focus is on early instrument development of a life-detection instrument for Mars, in conjunction with planetary scientist Maria Zuber at MIT and molecular biologist Gary Ruvkun at the Massachusetts General Hospital. For the last few years he has worked to support international development activities at MIT through the MIT International Development Initiative ( web.mit.edu/idi/) and testing of a novel non-electric incubator for low-cost water testing.





Oxfam GB

Oxfam GB has been a major player in the water and sanitation sector for the last 30 years and has been involved in developing a number of new approaches and equipment to increase the effectiveness of emergency response. Andy Bastable is the head of OxfamGB's Water and Sanitation Department and has been working in the emergency water and sanitation sector for the last 22 years.

National Institute of Water and Atmospheric Research, New Zealand

NIWA is a highly successful, internationally respected research organisation and New Zealand's leading provider of environmental research and consultancy services.  Dr. Graham McBride of NIWA has a longstanding research interest in microbiological criteria, statistics and microbial risk analysis.  He is the author of the textbook Using Statistical Methods for Water Quality Analysis: Issues, Problems, and Solutions, published by Wiley, New York in 2005.

For details of those involved in the Aquatest2 project that forms the next phase in this research programme, please click here.