First prize will include a travel grant and coverage of accommodation and venue expenses. Other finalists will have the opportunity to have their articles published on the Global Water Forum and in a subsequent publication.
"Water, Food and Energy:
Understanding and Managing the Risks and Trade-offs",
9-13 June 2014, Oxford University
More than a third of humanity lives in regions with less than one million litres of fresh water per person per year. Population growth will increase water demand, while global food demand by 2050 could increase by 50 per cent and total primary energy use by as much as 80 per cent or more. While both food and energy growth will require increased water use, this does not necessarily mean greater regional water insecurity as it will depend on where the growth occurs, and how it is managed.
In recognition of these issues, The Australian National University (ANU)-UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance has invited a select group of leading researchers and practitioners from different disciplinary backgrounds to attend a workshop at the University of Oxford in June 2014. This group of approximately 35 people will evaluate the risks and trade-offs across food and water, food and energy, and energy and water. The Workshop will consist of a dialogue and a series of deliberations on a set of questions. Potential outputs include: a 'Policy Forum' type paper authored by participants, an edited book, a special edition of a peer-reviewed journal, among others.
The 2014 Emerging Scholars Award
The GWF is pleased to offer an early-career researcher or practitioner full participation in the workshop at the University of Oxford as first prize for the 2014 Award, including coverage of accommodation costs and a travel grant. All ten finalists will be offered the opportunity to publish their entries on the Global Water Forum site and in a dedicated publication during 2014.
Participants are required to:
-submit a maximum of 4,000 words article relevant to the theme 'Water, Food and Energy: Understanding and Managing the Risks and Trade-offs'. Entries may focus on the trade-offs across water-food-energy, water-food, and/or water-energy.
-be a PhD recipient or PhD candidate and be under 36 years of age on the date of submission.
In addition to full participation in the Oxford Workshop proceedings and subsequent outputs, first prize also includes a travel grant (the equivalent of return economy-class travel from winner's primary location up to the value of AU$1500 and subject to the approval of the workshop steering committee), 5 nights accommodation (including breakfast) at St Hugh's College, Oxford University, and all venue costs (including the workshop lunches and a workshop dinner).
The publication collating the ten finalists' entries is planned to be a book, subject to securing the participation of a suitable publisher. Coordination of the book publication arrangements will occur in the second half of 2014.
Applications open on January 22nd 2014 and close on April 22nd 2014. All submissions and enquiries should be directed to emergingscholars@globalwaterforum.org.
Submission requirements
Submissions to the Award will be consistent with the purpose of the associated Workshop: "to understand the key regional threats to water security in the context of projected food and energy demand growth."
In line with this theme, submissions should address one or more of the following three criteria:
~catalogue existing risks and insecurities
~develop innovative ways of evaluating the trade-offs
~propose approaches, pathways, and actions to generate appropriate adaptive responses
Eligible submissions to the Award will belong to one of the following (or combination thereof) three categories:
-Research — original research related to water-food-energy issues undertaken by the author.
-Case studies — an overview of a field-based project or projects that the author is or has been involved in, describing the challenges, successes, lessons, etc.
-Review and synthesis — insightful, evidence-based comment on current or future water-food-energy issues.
Submissions may involve issues that are already prominent in public discourse, or issues that the author believes should be prominent.
All entries should be written for a multi-disciplinary audience and be to a high academic standard commensurate with publication in a peer-reviewed journal.
A maximum 200 words abstract (additional to the stipulated word limit) should be provided.
All articles should be original pieces of work, the entirety or excerpts of which should not have been published elsewhere in other formal publications. Improved or more recent versions of institutional working or discussion papers may be accepted upon the discretion of the judging committee. The authors will be responsible for any copyright violations associated with their entries.
Judging criteria
Submissions will be judged on the following criteria:
-originality of thought or approach
-written expression, including the accessibility of the article to a multidisciplinary audience
-clarity and soundness of argument
-adherence to the submission criteria
Put simply, we are looking for well-written, interesting articles that present innovative research, significant insights, or compelling arguments related to the trade-offs between water, food, and energy and the associated policy processes. Moreover, the articles have to be accessible to readers who do not work in a specific field and, more importantly, the general public; highly technical articles lacking clear explanations will not advance far in the judging process.
Past students, collaborators, and/or colleagues of Professor Grafton, Dr Pittock, and Dr Connell, as well as employees of United Nations Organisations will not be eligible for first prize. They may, however, be eligible to be selected as one of the other nine finalists.
Other information
The 2014 Emerging Scholars Award is judged by the steering committee of the Oxford Workshop, including leading water researchers from the Australian National University: Professor Quentin Grafton, Dr Jamie Pittock, and Dr Daniel Connell.
All announcements regarding the outcomes of the Award will be made through this page. Due to the high volume of entries we apologise that we are unable to personally inform each entrant of the outcome of their submission.
Selected finalists will be required to provide:
~proof that they were under 36 years of age on the date of submission (e.g. scan of driver's license or passport), and
~proof of enrolment in or completion of a PhD program (e.g. link to institutional profile page).
The Global Water Forum Emerging Scholars Award is sponsored by the UNESCO Chair in Water Economics and Transboundary Water Governance at the Australian National University.
Terms and conditions
The Global Water Forum, UNESCO, and the Australian National University take no responsibility for the contents of Emerging Scholar Award entries which are published on the Global Water Forum. Whilst the Global Water Forum endeavours to ensure that all published articles are original content, the authors are responsible for the contents of articles and any copyright violations or legal consequences arising from the contents. Please see the Global Water Forum's general terms and conditions here. The organising committee reserve the right to adjust any of the arrangements discussed on this page at any stage.
