17.30-19.00
Part of the Skoll Centre’s Research for Action Seminar Series
Alex Fischer, Smith School of Enterprise and Environment
Heloise Greeff, Institute of Biomedical Engineering
A multi-disciplinary impact research approach to improve drinking water institutions through hand pumps in rural Kenya and Bangladesh
Since 2010, the Smith School has collaborated with Engineering Sciences in a programme of impact research and implementation. A diverse team has been designing and testing innovative applications for movement sensors, machine learning techniques and institutional economics to improve water resource management and water service delivery in Kenya, and more recently, Bangladesh. As part of a wider team of researchers, Greeff and Fischer coordinate their work with multiple partners including the REACH water security for the poor research programme, UNICEF country programs, the Governments of Bangladesh and Kenya, and local drinking water service companies. They will discuss the approaches to manage research accountable to both short-term direct-impact outcomes for the handpump users and to academic demands. This session is an opportunity to discuss and compare the findings between the two country sites, learn about how new sensor technologies are being used to leverage social and environmental value for existing institutions and the accidental infrastructure outcomes that have resulted from these efforts.
