Water, sanitation, and hygiene, FHNW School of Life Sciences

Our focus is on improving access to safe water, sanitation and hygiene in international development and cooperation. Our research covers drinking water supply, hygiene, and sanitation in households, communities, and institutions. We collaborate with NGOs, universities, authorities, and vocational training centers to evaluate and implement WASH innovations and evaluate the sustainability of WASH interventions.

Our projects include guidelines for context-specific handwashing infrastructure, and developing innovative handwashing water recycling systems for schools and health care facilities without access to clean water. The development of sustainable handwashing infrastructure management is a key part of these projects. Our water supply projects focus on resource-efficient and gravity-driven technologies for household, community, and institutional water supply and disinfection. At a larger scale, we work on strengthening the resilience of large-scale WASH infrastructure. 

In the sanitation field, our focus is on nature-based wastewater treatment solutions for institutions and small communities using a combination of anaerobic processes, constructed wetlands, and biological wastewater treatment. We support the establishment of wastewater analysis labs and provide training in infrastructure evaluation and analysis, as well as project planning. We also evaluate waterless sanitation technologies for households and communities. Effective management is a crucial aspect of all our WASH projects.

The number of humanitarian emergencies caused by conflict, natural disasters, and human-made disasters is on the rise, affecting one in every 23 people in the world.

Provision of water, hygiene, and sanitation services essential for survival and disease prevention. The emergencies increasingly impact urban areas with complex interdependent infrastructure, making humanitarian assistance challenging. Climate change and prolonged emergencies exacerbate the vulnerability of affected populations. The sustainability of the WASH interventions becomes essential also in the humanitarian context.

We partner with humanitarian organizations and authorities to generate evidence on the effectiveness and sustainability of WASH technologies and interventions in emergency contexts. Our focus is on evaluating innovations in the WASH sector, integrating interdisciplinary approaches, and providing technical backstopping support to humanitarian organizations and authorities.

We partner with universities to support the development of WASH curricula and courses, focusing on topics such as Water Supply, Sanitation, Hygiene, WASH in Emergencies, Sustainability and Resilience, and Water and Health.

Our activities include providing training and teaching materials for students, teachers, and practitioners, both in-person and online, and developing teaching capacities with partner universities. Additionally, we establish applied research collaborations, conducting laboratory analysis of water and wastewater quality, implementing technology and impact evaluation concepts, and maintaining research networks.