In January 2016, the University announced that the proposal for the Future Water Institute was successful. The Institute will be housed in the Faculty of Engineering & the Built Environment with Professor Sue Harrison from the Department of Chemical Engineering as the new director. Recognition as a research institute at UCT is a significant achievement for researchers and an important milestone for the Faculty.

The complexity and uncertainties pertaining to water management in South Africa (e.g. water scarcity, water quality, climate change impacts) provide a major national challenge and can no longer be explained through the lens of single disciplines. The Institute will therefore be a trans-disciplinary research space and is aimed at providing the intellectual framework through which these issues can be addressed, towards the ultimate objective of increasing water sensitivity to underpin improved quality of life and sustainable development in South Africa. Watch this space.