Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg (TUHH), Institute of Wastewater Management and Water Protection (aww), Germany

Ralf Otterpohl studied Civil Engineering, specializing in Water, Wastewater and Solid Waste Management. His research focused on computer simulation and mathematical modelling of wastewater treatment plants at RWTH Aachen, and he completed a Ph.D. (Dr.Ing.) in this field. He is the founder of Otterwasser GmbH, a consulting firm in Lübeck, Baltic Sea, Germany, specializing in Ecological Sanitation and computer simulation of wastewater treatment plants. In 1998 he was appointed as the director of a research institute of municipal and industrial wastewater management and professor at TUHH, Technical University Hamburg-Harburg, Germany.

Stockholm Environment Institute, Sweden

Arno Rosemarin PhD is currently Senior Researcher Fellow at Stockholm Environment Institute (SEI) and has a multidisciplinary environmental and natural resources background with a speciality in water resources management, limnology and aquatic toxicology. He has extensive international experience working in co-operation with international development agencies, as well as national authorities and industry. His skills include communications, programme development, policy dialogues, capacity building, research management, personnel resources, field and laboratory research, writing, research synthesis, training and capacity building. His work at SEI has created many opportunities for integration of social and environmental considerations into development activities. He is currently Research and Communications Manager for the global ecological sanitation EcoSanRes Programme and was its Programme Director between 2001 and 2006. Previous to this he was Communications Director at SEI, Editor-in-Chief of AMBIO (Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences), Research Scientist at Swedish Environmental Research Institute/MFG and Fish Habitat Biologist at the Canadian Dept of Fisheries and Oceans.

Centre Régional pour l’Eau Potable et l’Assainissement à faible coût (CREPA), Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso

Engineer in hydraulic and rural equipment, with a MSc degree in sanitation and a PhD in water sciences at the University of Montpellier II, France. After having worked for 6 years at the ministry of the development Planning in Togo, Dr. Amah Klutsé is working since 2001 in CREPA headquarter in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. He officiates as research and demonstration projects director. For this reason, he coordinates and follows the research programs and pilot projects on water and sanitation throughout the CREPA’s network CREPA which covers 17 countries of which 13 are operational. He is the focal point in West and centre Africa for the water resources department of the International foundation for Science (IFS based in Sweden). Within this framework, he frames the IFS scholarship grantees and organizes training workshops for young researchers in the formulation and the development of scientific research projects. He made many studies on behalf of the research departments. We was member of the experts group who prepared the communal sanitation strategic plan of Ouagadougou and also worked on the development of the national strategic sanitation policy of Burkina Faso. He is a part-time teacher on the participative research approaches and methods at 2iE (ex EIER /ETSHER), on the environment management and sustainable development at the Senghor University of Alexandria, Egypt and on waste management and valorisation at the University of Lome-Togo.

International Water Association, London, England

Dr. Saywell is the Regional Director for the International Water Association. He manages a range of activities at IWA Headquarters, primarily focusing on regional development and regional delivery, but also advocacy and communications, task group management, technical product development, developing IWA's outreach program and leading its post-disaster management program.

University of Leeds, England, UK

Duncan Mara, who is both a Chartered Engineer and a Chartered Biologist, has been Professor of Civil Engineering at the University of Leeds since 1979. He is also a visiting professor in environmental engineering at the Universidad del Valle in Cali, Colombia. Duncan is one of the country’s leading experts on natural wastewater treatment systems, particularly waste stabilization ponds which he has researched principally in Brazil, Colombia, Kenya and the UK. His research into pond systems in the UK has led to the development of aerated rock filters which, unlike constructed wetlands, are able to achieve low effluent ammonia levels in winter as well as in summer. Current research is centred on the elucidation of nitrogen removal mechanisms and pathways in pond systems.

Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumassi, Ghana

Prof. Dr. Robert Abaidoo has been teaching and conducting research at the Department of Theoretical and Applied Biology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana for the past 24 years. He has taught various courses, including Cell Biology, Molecular Genetics, Microbiology, Scientific Writing, and Project Cycle, undergraduate and graduate students. Robert Abaidoo has conducted research mainly in wastewater, food, and plant-soil microbiology with the objectives of reducing health hazards associated with water and food contamination by microorganisms, understanding microbial processes involved in soil nutrient cycling and availability to plants, and natural resource management processes that lead to soil fertility restoration and enhanced generation of ecosystem services and goods. Robert Abaidoo has published over 50 scientific papers in refereed journals and as book chapters.

Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische Zusammenarbeit (GTZ) GmbH, Eschborn, Germany

Ms. Christine Werner is an avid advocate of ecological sanitation, spearheading the movement throughout her 8 years as a project engineer in a German consulting company and 8 years as a head, planning officer and project team leader in the Germen Technical Cooperation Agency GTZ.

Ms. Werner ‘s specialisation in this sustainable system from 20 years of professional experience in water supply, solid waste management and sanitation, hereof 5 years in Bujumbura, as a laboratory engineer at the University of Burundi.

Sandec/Eawag: Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology, Duebendorf, Switzerland

Mr. Christian Zurbrügg is the Director of the Department of Water and Sanitation in Developing Countries at the Swiss Federal Institute of Aquatic Science and Technology. His research interests focus on the urban environment in cities of the developing world in particular on the challenges with regard to solid waste management, environmental sanitation and water supply. In addition to the technical issues of this domain his interest have comprised the economic, institutional and social issue surrounding sustainable solutions for improving health and wellbeing of the urban population by improved environmental services and infrastructure. His research experience is based on projects in a multitude of low and middle income countries in the Asian, African and Latin American regions.

Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU), Sweden

Environmental Engineering at SLU (Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences) and Agriculture and Sanitation System Technology Expert within the EcoSanRes Programme, Stockholm Environment Institute. He has more than 20 years of research and 40 peer reviewed publications within the fields of agriculture, urine diversion sanitation systems technology, composting, treatment and recycling of urine and faeces and environmental systems analysis. He is also active in education and dissemination and has worked in South Africa, Zimbabwe, Kenya, Uganda, Mexico and India.