The European Water Association (EWA) awards every two years the prestigious William Dunbar Medal to an individual of a member country in recognition of an outstanding contribution in applied technical development in the water sector. The award is donated by IFAT Munich, and this year winner is Professor Jörg E. Drewes from Germany.

Research and scholarly activities

Jörg E. Drewes is Chair Professor of Urban Water Systems Engineering at the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Germany, where he also serves as the Academic Program Director of the Environmental Engineering Program. He is an internationally recognized expert in advanced water treatment, emerging contaminants, water reuse, and public health protection. In recognition of his accomplishments, he was appointed as one of 9 members of the German Advisory Council on Global Change directly advising the Federal Government (WBGU). Professor Drewes’ research and scholarly activities are closely related to the common theme of energy efficient advanced water treatment systems and water recycling in the context of public health protection. He also has published more than 300 peer-reviewed journal papers and book contributions. Recognizing wastewater as a resource for water, energy and public health data is a guiding theme of his work. His current activities related to wastewater surveillance include not only direct exchanges with decision makers at the federal level (Ministry of Health, Ministry of the Environment and Consumer Protection, Ministry of Education and Research), federal health agencies (Robert Koch Institute, German Environment Agency), but also delivering talks to the general public. Professor Drewes has been a dedicated teacher to educate the next generation of engineers and scientist for more than 30 years. All of his accomplishments make him this year well deserved William Dunbar Medal Awardee.

Voices about the winner

„His extremely comprehensive research achievements, and in particular his current research on the development of wastewater monitoring to combat the corona pandemic, have impressed the EWA committees,“ says Johannes Lohaus, Secretary General of the European Water Association. And Stefan Rummel, Managing Director of Messe München, adds that they are pleased that with the award of the Dunbar Medal to Professor Drewes this year, the forward-looking approach of „wastewater as a source of information“ is receiving attention.

Keynote speeches during IFAT Munich

Prof. Drewes will be giving keynote speeches during IFAT Munich in different activities of the European Water Association. On May 31, during the EWA/DWA Workshop titled “Surveillance of SARS-CoV-2 and its Variants in Waste Water”, he will be giving a presentation on Information flow between operators, health authorities and the public. On June 1st, during the first session of the 20th EWA International Symposium, Prof. Drewes will share his expertise on Value of Water – From Resource Recovery to Understanding Public Health.

The activities programs can be found on the EWA website here.