We are delighted to announce that UWE Bristol has been awarded £233,000 through Ofwat’s first Water Efficiency Lab competition, becoming the lead researchers and supporting the development of the Water Warriors project. The successful bid was led by Dr Sara-Jayne Williams at UWE Bristol underpinned by her previous research with children, working in partnership with project leads Water Research Centre (WRC), Yorkshire Water, Southwest Water and Anglian Water.
“Children already have powerful ideas about environmental change and can be hugely influential within their families and communities. This project puts them at the centre, helping turn their ideas into practical actions that can support more sustainable water use. We’re working with an incredible team across research, practice and the creative sector, and I’m excited to get started.”
– Dr Sara-Jayne Williams
Water Warriors highlights the importance of engaging future generations not simply as recipients of information, but as active participants in shaping more sustainable ways of living. The project will explore how children can play a meaningful role in shaping sustainable water futures, bringing together academic research, sector and educational expertise to better understand how water behaviours are formed and influenced.
With a child-centred approach, the research recognises that future generations have significant care and capacity for influence – qualities that remain underutilised and underexplored in current approaches to water efficiency and broader environmental action.
While children should not be expected to carry responsibility for solving global challenges, their voices, ideas, and everyday practices are an important part of wider collective efforts. Water Warriors seeks to understand how young people engage with water, sustainability, and care for the planet, how these perspectives can be supported and amplified, and how they can inform more effective, long-term change.
The research takes a values-led approach, focusing on how early experiences and education can help nurture long-term behaviours towards water stewardship. By exploring how awareness, responsibility, and practical action develop over time, the research led by UWE Bristol within the Centre for Environment, Society and Resilience (CESR) will contribute to more inclusive and impactful strategies for improving water efficiency. Professor Jo Barnes, Co-Director of CESR, said:
“This is an excellent win for Sara and for CESR. Building strong partnerships with industry and communities is central to both this project and our wider strategy, and will help ensure the work achieves meaningful intergenerational impact by empowering schoolchildren to influence water use within their families, now and in the future.”
What is the Water Efficiency Lab?
Run by Ofwat and Challenge Works and supported by Arup and Isle Utilities, the Water Efficiency Lab aims to fund the most promising solutions for cutting demand among both households and businesses.
A total of £25 million will be available through annual WEL competitions between 2025-30. Each competition will explore a different theme, which is designed to target funding towards the key challenges and most critical barriers to water efficiency.
The first competition focused on innovations that give people and businesses the insights they need to better understand their water usage and the tools to take action to reduce it – helping cut their bills, preserve water resources and protect the environment.
What’s next?
Working collaboratively across the partnership, the project will engage children, families, carers and teachers in co-creating child-centred resources. These will reflect children’s voices and lived experiences, while supporting educators to bring curriculum subjects to life in more meaningful and engaging ways.
Find out more
The full list of all 7 winners is available on the Fund’s website. For more information on the first Water Efficiency Lab competition and all of the Water Innovation Fund Challenges, head to https://waterinnovation.challenges.org/.