Leeds Beckett University - City Campus,
Woodhouse Lane,
LS1 3HE
Pioneering Access-to-Water Technology Features in “UN at 75” Sustainability Book
Researchers from Leeds Beckett University have contributed to a landmark publication to celebrate both the 75th year of the United Nations (UN) and advances in engineering sustainability over this period.
Dr Andrew Swan (Reader in Civil Engineering) and Visiting Professor Pete Skipworth have pioneered a remote monitoring system for hand pumps in the Global South that seeks to support the delivery of a number of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).
The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is publishing a new book in November to celebrate both the 75th year of the United Nations and the progress in engineering sustainability over this time. The book emphasises the ICE’s and UN’s shared commitment to shaping a better future and addresses the diverse challenges that lie ahead. These challenges are informed by the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), the UN agencies involved in implementing them, and the ways in which engineering can provide rigorous, long-term solutions.
This publication features an article from Leeds Beckett’s Dr Andrew Swan and Visiting Prof. Pete Skipworth (M.D. of Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd), alongside contributions from a host of UN agencies, as well as prominent organisations such as WaterAid and Oxford University. The book highlights engineering’s vital impact in areas such as health and sanitation, human rights, the climate, urban growth, economic development and agriculture.
The article by Dr Swan and Prof Skipworth relates to their collaborative MANTIS (Monitoring and ANalytics To Improve Service) system. The MANTIS system has previously been deployed to monitor hand water pumps in both Sierra Leone and Gambia. These authors with the support of Dr Anne Schiffer (Leeds School of Arts) and other staff at Environmental Monitoring Solutions Ltd have recently been awarded £86k through Innovate UK’s Phase 1 Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF), to assess the feasibility of transferring the MANTIS technology to the Indian subcontinent.
Dr Andrew Swan is a Reader in the School of Built Environment, Engineering and Computing at Leeds Beckett University.
Dr Andrew Swan
Dr Swan is a Reader with over 30 years of postgraduate experience. He has worked in both industry and academia on a range of domestic and international engineering projects, including an extended VSO placement as a researcher at the Institute of Water and Sanitation Development, Zimbabwe, Africa. Dr Swan has secured funding awards from the EU FP7, Innovate UK, GCRF, British Academy/Leverhulme and Erasmus+ funding mechanisms. This funding has supported formal collaborations with four universities in Brazil, Italy and Spain and three UK-based companies. Dr Swan has served as Principal Investigator (PI) on nine research/enterprise projects with a combined value of £544,000. These research activities have spanned across Africa, India and South America. These projects have enabled Dr Swan to generate strong research outputs in terms of research student completions and academic publications.
