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Water Engineering and Development Centre

Important information for authors

  • Click here for the Call for Contributions
  • To find out how to submit an extended abstract or poster, click here
  • To find out more about how abstracts, posters and presentations are reviewed, click here.
  • Download Guidance for Authors and Presenters (PDF)
  • Download Guidance on Preparing Presentations (PDF)
  • Download The Conference Abstract Template (docx)
  • Download The Poster Template (docx)
  • Download The Presentation Template (pptx)
  • Download United Nations List of Low- and Lower-Middle Income Countries
  • Download WEDC Guide No. 10: How to use, cite and reference literature effectively

The different types of conference presentations

There are three types of delegate presentations:

  • Themed presentations: The presenter records a ten minute presentation based on a peer- reviewed extended abstract closely related to one of the conference themes. This is followed by live interactive questions and answers from the audience for a further ten minutes. Three similar subjects are grouped together in each one hour session.
  • ‘Espresso’ presentations: The presenter records a five minute presentation based on an abstract on a relevant topic related to the title of the conference, although this does not have to strictly adhere to the main conference themes. The abstract will be reviewed principally for relevance, comprehensibility and length. Espresso presentations are followed by five minutes of questions and answers, and up to five presenters will be grouped together in each one hour session.
  • Poster presentations: Posters are displayed throughout the conference in our Poster Gallery. The presenter is available at fixed times to talk informally to delegates. If you wish to show a video instead, please submit your contribution as an espresso presentation.

There are also plenary presentations, agency events, discussions and exhibitions occurring throughout the conference, which will be detailed in the timetable shortly before conference opens.

Please bear in mind that all presentations will feature in the Conference Proceedings along with the recordings from the conference and stored within Loughborough University's Institutional Repository indefinitely, as a publicly accessible resource. Authors will be asked to consent to this. However, if as an author you are not willing for this to happen, then you should not submit a presentation this time. You may, nonetheless, participate without featuring in the Proceedings provided that you are not a presenter or contribute to the session discussions.

Extended abstracts

Presentations may be direct accounts of projects or programmes that aim to share both successes and failures of approaches or field experiences including lessons learnt; they may also introduce new knowledge developed with clear, rigorous methodologies and analysis.

This year, for themed and espresso presentations, we invite you to submit 'extended abstracts' of your chosen subject using the template provided on our website. For themed presentations, the abstract should not exceed two pages and should closely address an aspect of one of the themes listed below. You will be required to select one of the themes when you submit the abstract through our conference system. If you have an alternative topic, still relevant to the focus of conference, you will also be required to submit an abstract selecting the espresso option as you do so.

Important note: An abstract will be automatically returned without review if it is not relevant to the focus of the conference or does not conform to the template or exceeds two pages, including references, and contact details.

Choosing a subject

The WEDC Conference has a focus on water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH). It is important that authors demonstrate that this is recognised, as papers outside these topics are not relevant to the audience.

  • Climate change (e.g. weather extremes – floods and droughts – and water resources management, including but not limited to topics related to fundamental understanding, remote sensing, modelling and management strategies)
  • Integrating disaster risk management into WASH interventions
  • Sanitation systems and services (including household and peri-urban approaches and faecal sludge management)
  • Rural water supply (e.g. approaches to sustainability and serving the hardest to reach communities and households)
  • Groundwater resources (hydrogeology, modelling, geogenic contamination (arsenic and fluoride) and contaminant transport)
  • Innovations and advances in biowaste, wastewater treatment and waste to energy technologies (e.g. anaerobic digestion, composting, thermochemical processing, resource recovery and circular economy concepts, end-use applications)
  • Urban water management
  • Institutional development and programme management
  • Data analytics, machine learning/AI applications in WASH

Theme Leaders first ensure that all extended abstracts meet minimum standards of literacy and relevance, they conform to the template, and do not exceed two pages including any references and contact details. Subject to these requirements, the abstracts are then peer-reviewed by a panel of reviewers with broad experience of the water, sanitation and hygiene, water hazards, water quality and hydrodynamics sectors. If your abstract is of interest to the panel, but requires clarification in some areas, you may be asked to resubmit the abstract, having taken into consideration the notes provided by the Theme Leader and Editor.

If your abstract is selected, you will be invited to prepare a recorded presentation for inclusion in the conference programme. If not selected, you may be invited to submit an espresso slot presentation or a poster for display in the Poster Gallery.

One of the objectives of the conference is knowledge sharing, based on a range of experience, practice and/or research. Abstracts with a focus on experience and practice may refer to reports on activities, projects or programmes including lessons learnt. More research-focused abstracts should outline a clear methodology, a strong evidence base and data analysis components. They should also demonstrate critical thinking.

If an abstract is deemed not relevant to the subject of the conference it will be rejected.