Harsha Ratnaweera is a Professor in Water and Wastewater Technology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences. He has also worked as the Director of International Projects and Innovation while in service for 20 years at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research. He holds a PhD degree in Civil Engineering (1992) from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology, and an MSc (Hons) in Chemical Engineering (1987) from the National Technical University of Ukraine KPI.

Prof. Ratnaweera’s research areas are on surveillance, modelling, control and optimization of treatment processes. He represents Norway in the Council of the European Water Association and is a Management Committee member in the IWA Particle separation specialist group. He has organized three international conferences on Particle Separation, Water Management in Cold Climates and on Cyber Security in Water Infrastructure. He has worked as an advisor/consultant to the World Bank, UNECE, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORAD and SIDA in several countries. He leads the Water Harmony network, a consortium that currently includes 45 universities from 30 countries.

Jay Bhagwan, is the Executive Manager of the key strategic area of Water Use and Waste Management at the South African Water Research Commission. With his nearly 25 years knowledge and experienced gained in implementation of water and sanitation projects, he has played and participated in the shaping of national and international water policy and legislation.  He has and holds many national and international advisory. He has been instrumental in driving the area of Off grid sanitation and Faecal Sludge Management and has pioneered a lot of work and the international series of very successful FSM conference. He is the chair of the newly establishes SG on NSS.

Professor  Mahesh Jayaweera obtained B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Saitama University,  Japan and carried out collaborative work with more than ten countries. He, at present, works as a professor in Environmental Engineering at the University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka. He is a Charted Engineer, a member of Institute of Engineers, Sri Lanka, a member of The Institute of Environmental Professionals, Sri Lanka and a life member of Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of Science. His areas of expertise are Environmental  Pollution Control, Wastewater Engineering, Solid Waste Management, and Noise and Vibration Control and he has been engaged in such disciplines for more than 25 years. Presently, he works as an adviser on environmental related work for the Ministry of Megapolis and Western Development. He has carried out research in diverse areas and published more than 70 journal and conference papers.

Miriam Otoo is a senior economist at the International Water Management Institute (IWMI). She also leads the Resource Recovery and Reuse research group at IWMI, which has worked over 15 years on the interface of sanitation, waste, agriculture, health and environment. She holds a PhD in Applied Economics from Purdue University, USA. Her work aims at understanding the linkages between sanitation and agriculture to enhance food security via the analysis of business opportunities in the waste reuse sector in Africa, Asia and Latin America. To this, her research specifically focuses on business solutions for waste management and resource recovery and reuse in developing countries, economics of carbon and nutrient recovery for agriculture, and rural-urban food systems in developing countries.

Pallavi Bishnoi holds a Masters degree in Environment and Water Resources Engg from Virginia Tech, USA and a PGD in Env Law and Policy from NLU, Delhi.

She has worked extensively on sludge to energy projects at Norway, DC Water USA and Thames Water UK. She co-founded a startup for Sustainable Solutions in India which has been running successfully over the last 4 years. Pallavi has undertaken various Wastewater treatment projects across the country. She was awarded Top 10 Women Entrepreneurs by DST, GoI and IUSSTF in 2017.

She also works as a Water Expert for the World Bank’s Water Resources Group 2030 for developing Multi-Stakeholder Platforms (Public, Private, NGOs and Academia) for Integrated Sustainable Water Resources Management in India.

Dr. Rose Kaggwa has worked in various management levels within National Water and Sewerage Corporation (NWSC) and is currently the Director Business and Scientific Services responsible for Water Quality Management, Training and Capacity Development, Research and Development and External Services which is the NWSC Consultancy arm. She has over 26 years’ experience in the water sector.
Rose has interfaced with various players in the water sector and has spearheaded partnerships in several countries that include: Bangaladesh, Kenya, Ghana, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Nigeria, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Trinidad and Tobago, India and Zambia. She has been a key player in the various performance improvement approaches applied in the NWSC at both managerial and supervisory level and has with her great multi-tasking and networking abilities, led the NWSC consultancy unit for the last 13 years. She has served as the Second President for the African Water Association Scientific and Technical Committee since 2014. She served as the Vice President for the UNESCO – IHP Advisory Committee for Human settlement, water and sanitation in 2016 for two years. Rose has won several international awards that include: winner of the International Water Association Woman in Water Award 201, Outstanding Woman/Power Africa Utility 2017, Water Leaders Award 2017 presented at the 7th Edition of the African Leadership Association Award, Mauritius, Award of Excellence in Quality Management for 2015, 2016 and 2017 by the World Confederation of Business. She is also an International Water Association fellow.
Dr. Rose has been instrumental in establishing the African Professional Women’s network under the African Water Association as well as the chapter for Uganda. Her passion is capacity development and she has been instrumental in raising the profile of women and girl child in the water and sanitation sector. She has greatly supported the NWSC initiatives of the School and Water Sanitation clubs and the Young Water Professionals.
She holds a Bachelor of Science Degree in Industrial Chemistry (Honours) from Makerere University, Uganda, a Master of Science degree in Water Quality Management, Limnology and wetland ecology (with distinction) and a doctorate in Environmental Resources from UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, The Netherlands.

Rosie is passionate about human rights, gender equality and leadership. She has worked in development for two decades including six years living and working in the eastern islands of Indonesia. Rosie has worked at WaterAid Australia since its inception in 2004. She was Director of International Programs prior to becoming Chief Executive in 2016. Rosie’s leadership manifesto focuses on being an authentic, servant leader and a commitment to pushing beyond her comfort zone in all aspects of her life; this is where she believes she learns most and performs at her best.

Rosie serves on the Board of the THREE Foundation and is a Founder and Committee Member of the newly formed Not in My Workplace, a group of executive leaders working to addressing workplace harassment and abuse across all industries in Victoria. Rosie has recently discovered adventure and obstacle racing and electric bikes which keep her sane and healthy. She is also a shamelessly proud mum of two boys.

Head, Dept. of Civil Engg., Indian Institute of Technology, Madras, (November 2004 – Feb 2008)

Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (September 2000 onwards).

Associate Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (May 1995 to August 2000).

Visiting Scientist, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, USA, (January -December 1994).

Assistant Professor, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (January 1991 – May 1995).

Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology Madras (July 1987 – December 1990).

Dr S K Weragoda has specialized in water and used water treatment and currently serving as the Project Director of China Sri Lanka Research Grant Project, Sri Lanka. Further, he leads the team attached to the Water Safety Plan (WSP) Advisory Unit. He has has been trained by the WHO as a WSP master trainer and auditor.

He has obtained his BSc (Hons) degree from the University of Peradeniya and M Eng degree on Water and Wastewater Treatment from the AIT, Thailand. Then, he has read his PhD in Saitama University, Japan.

He has involved in water treatment plant design, construction and operation in 15 years. He has served as the chief design and process engineer of few major and several medium scale water and wastewater treatment facilities. Further, he also serves as a visiting Lecturer in many universities. He has already secured over 50 conference and journal publications under his name.

Lecturer and researcher at Pontifical Catholica University of Peru. With experience in socioeconomic and environmental studies. Strong skills in participatory research methods (quantitative and qualitative). Researcher and consultant in different social issues like sustainable livelihoods for peasant communities, rural development, poverty, socio-environmental conflicts, climate change, water resources management and governance and sustainable and resilient cities.

Sofia Castro is a Phd student of Paris 1, Pantheon- Sorbonne. She is an economist with Masters in Geography with mention in-development and emergent countries of Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (France) and Master in Environmental Development of Pontifical Catholica University of Peru (PUCP).

Chief Executive officer/Director of Lanka Rain Water Harvesting Forum (LRWHF) since its inception in 1996. LRWHF is a non government no profit organisation working to promote Rain water Harvestign for domestic use in Sri Lanka.

Hydrobiologist with a PhD in Environmental Science, from University of Kelaniya, Sri Lanka on M.Sc. in Aquatic Resource Management from King’s College  London, B.Sc ( Honours) in Applied Biology from University of Wales, UK.

Chartered Member, Institute of Biology, UK

Member– Sri Lanka Association for Fisheries and Aquatic Resources ( SLAFAR)

Member  –, Sri Lanka Association for Advancement of   Science (SLAAS)

Member of the Ministerial Committee for Developing Policy and Strategy for Rain Water Harvesting in Sri Lanka 2005

Past President (2008-20012), Secretary General  (2003-2008), Director Women’s programme (2001-2003of International Rainwater Catchments Systems Association,

Author of several books on Rain water harvesting

Published more than 25 research papers at national International Forum’s