Robert Bos
Robert Bos (Amsterdam, the Netherlands; 1 February 1953) is a Dutch public health biologist (University of Amsterdam) who has held different positions in the World Health Organization in a career spanning over 32 years. His last position was Coordinator of the Water, Sanitation, Hygiene and Health Unit in the WHO Department of Public Health and Environment from 1 April 2009 to 28 February 2013. Since his retirement from WHO he has worked for the International Water Association (IWA) as Senior Advisor on a part-time basis. He was Member (2013-2017) and Chair (2017-2023) of the Supervisory Board of IRC the International Water and Sanitation Centre in The Hague, Netherlands and Co-Chair of the Multisectoral Working Group of Roll Back Malaria (RBM) the Partnership to End Malaria from 2018 to 2020. He has been engaged as a consultant by, among others, the Asian Development Bank (Health Impact assessment in the Greater Mekong Sub-region), the Inter-American Development Bank (the LatinoSan V Conference in San José, Costa Rica), the Italian oil company ENI (guidelines for WASH in low-income communities) and the Governments of Iran and Kenya (Health Impact Assessment). Since 2010 he has been involved in the Singapore International Water Week, and he currently leads the Water Quality and One Health Theme as a member of the Programme Committee of the SIWW2026 Water Convention. Between 2019 and 2022 he was assigned to an Asian Development Bank project on WASH and Health – a Regional TA for which he provided support to activities in Pakistan (including organizing a Water Safety Planning workshop for national WASH practitioners). His latest activities with the International Water Association include assisting in the preparations of a Sanitation Summit and an International WASH Regulators Forum at the IWA Water and Development Congress and Exhibition in Kigali, Rwanda (10-14 December 2023) and the organization of all plenary sessions at the IWA World Water Congress in Toronto in October 2024. He is co-Chair (with Professor Joan Rose, Michigan State University) of the IWA ASPIRE Conference’s Programme Committee – ASPIRE will take place in Christchurch, New Zealand 29 September – 3 October 2025.
Robert holds an Honorary Doctorate in Science from the University of West London, UK and he was awarded a Royal Decoration (Officer in the Order of Orange-Nassau) from the Netherlands in November 2023.
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Andre Bresler
André is a Civil Engineer and Technical Director in the Water Group of GHD, based in their Christchurch office. He started his career in 1992 in South Africa, emigrating to New Zealand in 2009. He is a member of Water New Zealand and a Chartered Member of Engineering New Zealand, and has 30 years’ experience as a design consultant within the water industry. His experience includes project management, design, design review and construction monitoring of water, wastewater, stormwater and irrigation infrastructure projects. André has a good understanding of implementing large infrastructure projects, including provision of Engineer’s Representative services for NZS3910 and 3916 construction contracts.
Olivia Calvert
Olivia is a graduate civil engineer at Vitruvius, where she is gaining experience across a range of civil and water projects. In this presentation, she will share insights from a recent project involving a Section 92 response and AEE addendum for a wastewater biosolids disposal-to-land proposal, highlighting technical assessments, key environmental effects, and collaboration with specialists to address potential impacts.
Kelly Cokorudy
Kelly Cokorudy is a fresh young water professional having worked in the consulting water industry for two and a half years after graduating from the University of Auckland specializing in Civil Engineering. Kelly is passionate about the rising opportunities and challenges we’re facing in the water industry and how we can make a difference to everyday lives. Outside of her 9-to-5, she enjoys going for Sunday mornings run, baking, crocheting, and going on hikes
Belinda Cridge
Belinda is the Technical Lead for Drinking Water Quality and Education at Water New Zealand. She is responsible for supporting drinking water initiatives and overseeing the Water New Zealand education programmes. This involves managing various training programmes, supporting competency frameworks, and maintaining the digital badge programme which recognises and certifies skills in water management.
Belinda brings a robust background in toxicology to her role, having previously worked as a toxicologist with ESR and is focussed on ensuring the safety and quality of drinking water through scientific research and public health initiatives.
Olivia Dean
Olivia is originally from the UK, and is now based in New Zealand. With a background working for Staffordshire County Council (the Lead Local Flood Authority for Staffordshire and The Black Country) and the Environment Agency, Olivia most recently focused on ‘The FAIR (Flood: Aware, Informed, Resilient) Approach to Community Flood Risk’ — one of 25 projects on the Flood and Coastal Resilience Innovation Programme funded by Defra and managed by the Environment Agency. Her role as a Community Flood Engagement Officer on FAIR involved collaborating with communities, local authorities, industry, and researchers, leveraging an ‘Engage, Deliberate, Decide’ approach to community flood resilience.
India Eiloart
India Eiloart is a water resources engineer with a decade of experience in New Zealand’s water industry. For her mahi here and with Engineers Without Borders New Zealand, she was awarded Young Water Professional of the Year in 2019. She has recently become a Chartered Water and Environment Manager with the Chartered Institute of Water and Environment Managers (CIWEM), as well as a Chartered Scientist with the Science Council and Chartered Environmentalist with the Society for the Environment. India currently works as a Senior Technical Advisor at the Water Services Authority – Taumata Arowai.
Simonah Ferreira
Simonah currently works as a Graduate Water Engineer at AECOM. She holds a conjoint degree from the University of Auckland, where she studied Bachelor of Engineering (Honours) and Bachelor of Global Studies. Her Civil Engineering major in water engineering allows her to delve into the technical aspects of flooding and design, while her major in international business and relations broadens her perspective on global challenges, particularly within Asia.
Simonah has actively advocated for women in STEM by working with groups such as WEN (Women in Engineering) and CESA (Civil & Structural Engineering Students’ Association) at the University of Auckland, where she contributes to mentoring programs and industry events.
Rose Kuru
Rose Kuru is a Hydraulic Modeller at Stantec, where she contributes to wastewater network modelling projects, with a particular focus on combined sewer overflow (CSO) analysis in the UK. She holds both a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science from Victoria University of Wellington.
Rose has a strong interest in water asset management, water quality, and flood hazard management, and is passionate about applying data-driven modelling to support sustainable and resilient water infrastructure solutions.
Becky Macdonald
Dr Becky Macdonald is Jacobs ANZ Regional Solutions Director for Water Infrastructure and Principal Wastewater Engineer, based Christchurch. She has worked extensively across New Zealand an Australia on water and wastewater projects, both small and large. She is a Fellow of the Institute of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and Adjunct Professor at Canterbury University.
Marion Savill
Marion Savill is a water scientist with 40 years’ experience. She started her career working with ESR a Crown Research Agency in NZ (1982) where she was awarded Leader Excellence and Business Innovation excellence awards. She worked with them for 27 years before starting her own company Affordable Water working with international agencies investigating microbial techniques.
She is an IWA Fellow (2011 on) and Chair of IWA NZ (2017 on). She has a PhD in Biochemistry and specialised in DNA identification of microbes. Marion was awarded Fulbright and Prince and Princess of Wales Awards. She has been a fixed term faculty member and Associate Professor of School of Public health, University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, USA. Marion was the NZ Acting and Focal Point Co-ordinator for NZ with Korea between 2007-2011 where they designed and held workshops between the 2 countries on both Environment and Renewable Energy.
Marion was on the programme committee for IWA-ASPIRE in Japan in 2011, Beijing 2015 and Kaohsiung 2023 and has been on the science programme committee for Singapore Water Week from 2009-2018. She was on the Programme Committee for Water and Health, Chapel Hill, North Carolina, USA 2014-2016. Marion was Secretary of the IWA Specialty Group Health Related Water Microbiology (HRWM) from 2005-2009, Vice Chair, Chair and Past Chair of HRWM from 20011-2017. She is a strong believer in collaboration uniting skill sets to help solve future issues.
Jennifer Schierhout
Jennifer Schierhout is Manager of Asset Lifecycle at Watercare and leads a team who work with the business to optimise asset lifecycle planning, design standardisation and network performance insight with the aim of enabling decisions which lead to more sustainable whole of life outcomes. Jennifer has over 15 years of experience delivering and Asset management projects and digital products for water in New Zealand, as part of the Water Services Reform program and in her earlier role at Veolia.
Michael Storey
A trusted leader and adviser to the water industry, with more than 25 years’ experience across public and private sectors. I have experience at Board, Executive and Senior Management level, corporate strategy and planning, customer services, research and innovation.
I am a passionate water industry professional who has worked across all aspects of the local and international water sector. I have extensive experience in water quality and public health, customer experience and human-centred design, and have led and managed change in highly regulated environments.
I am a university lecturer, Distinguished Fellow of the International Water Association and have made more than 350 local and international peer-reviewed publications and presentations, workshop and conference presentations to Prime Ministerial level.
Yang Villa
Yang Villa is a consultant to the Asian Development Bank where he facilitates region-wide technical assistance programs and manages the Asia & the Pacific Water Resilience Hub. He has 16 years of experience in the water sector including working for the World Bank and Isle Utilities Asia-Pacific. He has served IWA in various capacities including being the first YWP appointed as an independent member of the Board Committee on Governance, Nominations and Diversity; management committee member of the Intermittent Water Supply Specialist Group; and career building officer of the YWP Steering Committee. A finalist for the IWA Young Leadership Award 2020, Yang was part of the inaugural IWA-Grundfos Youth Action for SDG 6 Fellowship which amplified youth voices at the 2023 UN Water Conference. In 2016 he co-founded the Philippine Young Water Professionals, where he continues to mentor young Filipino water leaders.
Wade Zervos
Wade Zervos is an asset data engineer at Citycare Water with 3 years of experience in his current role. He graduated from University of Canterbury in late 2021 with a Bachelor of Science in Geography with a focus towards GIS. He immediately begun work at Citycare Water by labouring in waterways. In April 2022 a position opened to review CCTV pipe footage in the office. Shortly into this role, he took over the role of managing Christchurch wastewater programmed works. This is still his primary role, but now he also supports water and wastewater asset management nationwide.
