We take the nomination of Best Paper and Honourable Mention very seriously, so the selection process is a bit elaborate. A short list of candidate papers is drawn up by the editors of Water International and forwarded to the WI Editorial Board, which selects the successful candidates. Selection of best papers is based on relevance, rigor, impact and any other factors deemed important by members of the Editorial Board “jury”.
Authors of awarded papers from 2018, 2019 and 2020 will be recognized at the IWRA XVII World Water Congress, to be held on the 50th anniversary of the IWRA in Daegu, Korea, 29 November to 3 December 2021.
The Best Paper and Honourable Mention awards for 2018 recognize two papers that excel at two different levels, one as a big picture review that brings together critical themes of contemporary water knowledge; the other a novel and robust methodology for studying attitudes, behavior and equity implications of low-income households in developed countries. Both exemplify what the International Water Resources Association and this its official journal aim to be — interdisciplinary, multinational, and linking science/technology and policy.
Best Paper Awardee
Water security and the pursuit of food, energy, and earth systems resilience
Christopher A. Scott, Tamee R. Albrecht, Rafael De Grenade, Adriana Zuniga-Teran, Robert G. Varady and Bhuwan Thapa
Water International, 43.8, 1055-1074 doi 10.1080/02508060.2018.1534564
Part of a special issue on the Global Water Security Challenge, this article addresses the emergence and interrelation of food, energy, and water security in terms of resource use and ensuring societal and environmental outcomes. It is a well-written big picture review article that helps make conceptual leaps in a way that makes it a candidate for a foundational text for students and practitioners about the water-energy-food nexus.
Access full article Here.
At the time of writing, all the authors were associated with the University of Arizona and its Udall Center for Studies in Public Policy. Christopher A. Scott, an IWRA Fellow, was the Director of the Udall Center and Professor in the School of Geography, Development & Environment. Since 1 July 2021 he is Professor, Department of Ecosystem Science and Management and Maurice K. Goddard Chair in Forestry and Environmental Resource Conservation at Pennsylvania State University; Tamee R. Albrecht was also PhD Candidate at the School of Geography, Development & Environment; Rafael de Grenade was Research Associate at the Udall Center and is now a Senior Biologist/Environmental Consultant; Adriana A. Zuniga-Teran Is Assistant Research Scientist, School of Landscape Architecture and Planning; Robert G. Varady, an IWRA Fellow, is Research Professor of Environmental Policy, Udall Center; and Bhuwan Thapa was a Ph.D. Candidate at the School of Geography & Development at time of writing, and is now Postdoctoral Fellow, The Center for Agroforestry, University of Missouri, Columbia.
Honorable Mention Awardee
Anna Robak and Henning Bjornlund
Water International, 43.3, 436-459 doi 10.1080/02508060.2018.1446613
Part of a special issue of Water International on Wicked Problems of Water Quality Governance, this article finds from a survey of water supply customers in New Zealand that lower-income households, are likely to invest more in averting perceived poor water quality than more well-off customers. It uses a novel approach with robust methodology, with good documentation and categorization of averting behaviors with an excellent discussion section. The research design has strong potential to be replicated and tested in other localities.
Access full article Here.
This article builds on the Ph.D. work at the University of South Australia of Anna Robak, who at time of writing was Director, Whole of Life Asset Management, at Opus International Consultants Limited, Fredericton, NB, Canada; she is now Director, Research & Innovation, WSP in Canada, also in Fredericton, and Adjunct Professor at the University of New Brunswick; Henning Bjornlund, an IWRA Fellow, is Research Professor in Water Policy and Management at the University of South Australia.
