WaSo Asia annual meeting was held from 1^st to 4^th July at the University College of Southeast Norway in Bø in Telemark, followed by the annual progress meeting with Norad in Oslo.

The main issues of the meeting were:

1. Administrative issues and follow up of the reporting for FY2016.
2. Updating status and activity plan, and reviewing the outcomes and outputs of the projects.
3. Summer school, fellowships and supervision training
4. E-learning
5. Curricula development

During the meeting, 2 sessions of training on how to become an ideal supervisor was conducted by Professor in mental health at USN Robert Bongaard. During these sessions we had the opportunity to go through the supervision guidelines made by the project, and got valuable inputs for a second version of these guidelines.

All the secretaries also had a joint secretary meeting during our time in Bø, where joint challenges and best practices were discussed. This is the first time all secretaries from both WaSo Asia and WaSo Africa met in person.

While the coordinators and some of the secretaries attended the meeting with Norad in Oslo, the Post Docs and the rest of the secretaries had a guided tour in Oslo, before joining the rest of the group for dinner in the evening.

During the three weeks from June 18 to July 8, 2017, the best students from Bangladesh, Belarus, Germany, Canada, Kazakhstan, China, Kenya, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, USA, Tajikistan, Uganda, Ukraine, South Sudan, South Korea, Sri Lanka and Japan participated in the international summer school “Water Harmony” in the framework of the project “Water and Society”.

This year we set a record with 66 participants! Organizers believe the unification of young water professionals from different parts of the world brings unique fruits: from the establishment of intercultural dialogue to joint scientific work in the future.

The students attended the course of THT-311 (Water Resources Management and Treatment Technologies) at NMBU. In being acquainted with modern and high-tech enterprises, an excursion was organized to the Lillestrøm drinking water treatment plant, showing the needs of Oslo city in Norway. At the end of the summer school at NMBU, the participants took the exam. The examination commission consisting of teachers from NMBU and teachers from other countries under the guidance of Professor Harsha Ratnaweera.

At USN, the WaSo students followed a 5 ECTS course, 4330 “Water Quality Challenges”, with a working load of 150 hours in total. The course covered the following topics: Ecotoxicology, Groundwater, Cyanobacteria – ecology, toxins and health concerns and Ecological Purification Technology. All students delivered the mandatory assignment within due time in August. The students will receive a transcript of records and a Diploma from USN/WaSo-project.

The closing of the summer course was a festive ceremony in one of the oldest NMBU’s auditoriums, where high-ranking guests gave motivational and inspirational speeches. Graduate students and students at NMBU prepared the festive closure dinner, which marked the end of the 2017 Summer School at NMBU and USN.

The project participants wish all the best to graduates of “International Water and Society Summer School” and invite to follow the news at our Facebook page.

WaSo Africa annual meeting was held from 4th to 8th of November at the Imperial Resort Hotel in Entebbe and the Imperial Royale Hotel in Kampala, Uganda. The meeting was hosted by Prof. Edward Kirumira from Makerere University and Prof. Yacob Atito from Addis Ababa University.

The main issues for the meeting were:

1. Review of the Narrative report, Implementation plan, accounts and budget.
2. Workshop on supervision
3. Group work on achieving WaSo KPIs (Key Performance Indicators)
4. Detailed plan for the next 6 months
5. Project management tools

9 students from the WaSo partner universities have together with 17 students from the Water Harmony II project attended the intensive course on Water Supply System and Water Management at HSN and NMBU 25th June – 16th July 2016, organized through the WaSo project.

At NMBU the students attended the course THT-311 “Water Resources Management and Treatment Technologies”, and also attended an additional course of lectures at the University College of Southeast Norway (USN, Bø, Telemark). Each student had the opportunity to work with modern analytical equipment. In addition, they worked with programs for modeling water treatment systems.

At the end of the course, the students prepared team projects dedicated to the modernization of the existing water treatment plants, which was defended in front of colleagues and teachers.

The inception meeting for both WaSo Asia and WaSo Africa was hosted by the University of Peradeniya in Kandy, Sri Lanka from 13-15 January 2014.

A joint kick-off for the two WaSo projects was held at the University of Peredeniya in Sri Lanka in January 2014 with representatives from all eleven partner institutions