Alumni Award

UNESCO-IHE is proud to have 15,000 alumni around the world, forming one of the largest global water networks. Alumni are the Institute's best ambassadors; they use the knowledge they have acquired to implement solutions for the benefit of society, providing the leadership required to address water and environmental challenges in a cooperative and cross-sectoral manner.

Their positive career development, increased professional network, and improved competences, show the benefit of following an academic programme at UNESCO-IHE.

To celebrate the accomplishments of its alumni, UNESCO-IHE launched the annual Alumni Award that was given for the first time in 2013.

The UNESCO-IHE Alumni Award will be given to an alumna/us who is at the height of her or his career and has proven to be a role model for other water professionals, by demonstrating the impact of her/his work in a water related field, to improve people's quality of life.

Do you know an alumna/us who meets the criteria and deserves to win the award or are you proud of your own achievements that can inspire other professionals and would like to nominate yourself?

If the answer is yes, we would like to invite you to share your experiences with us by filling out the registration form, including a motivation letter and CV for the Alumni Award 2016.

The call for nominations closed last 31 May. In September 2016 the awarded alumna/us will be announced. The call for nominnation for the 2017 award will be open next September.

The award winner will be granted a one week visit to the Netherlands to follow a tailor-made programme and to attend the Award Ceremony that will take place at UNESCO-IHE in October, as part of the annual celebration of UNESCO-IHE Alumni Day and Opening of the Academic Year.

Every year the jury faces the difficult challenge of selecting one candidate among all the high qualify alumni that are nominated. As a result of that, in 2016 we would like to conduct interviews (by skype or phone) with the shortlisted alumni, so that we can include their accounts of the impact of their work on our website and through social media channels.

Guidelines Alumni Award

When nominating a candidate, it is important to explain why you feel that this person, or yourself, should be eligible for the Alumni Award 2016. Alumni who have been nominated previously can be re-nominated.

Nominations for the alumni award 2016 can be sent from March until 31 May 2016.

The award winner will be granted a one week visit to the Netherlands to follow a tailor-made programme and to attend the UNESCO-IHE Alumni Award Ceremony at the Institute on 13 October 2016, as part of the annual celebration of the UNESCO-IHE Alumni Day and the opening of the Academic Year.

Shortlisted alumni will be interviewed and their stories will be published on UNESCO-IHE website and disseminated through different alumni channels.

Award Ceremony 2016

The award ceremony will take place on the annual celebration of the Alumni Day and the opening of the Academic Year at UNESCO-IHE in Delft on 13 October 2016.

Awarding Ceremony 2016

20 October | 17.30 hrs

UNESCO-IHE Auditorium

Westvest 7, Delft

Rules & Regulations

The Selection Committee is authorized to select a candidate. The Selection Committee consists of a member of the Rectorate, the Alumni Officer, a Communication Officer, a Professor, a Lecturer, an alumna/us working at UNESCO-IHE a PhD fellow and an MSc student.
Alumni working at UNESCO-IHE are not eligible to receive the alumni award.
It is not possible to share the prize.

Nominee Criteria

To be eligible for this award, candidates:

must be UNESCO-IHE (IHE) alumna/us that have obtained an academic title (MEng, MSc or PhD) at UNESCO-IHE (IHE). Please check your programme at who is an UNESCO-IHE (IHE) alumna/us.
must be able to demonstrate the impact of her/his work in a water related field to improve people’s quality of life.
must have been a proven role model for other alumni and other water professionals.
must have been a worthy ambassador of UNESCO-IHE.
preferably, have demonstrated a progressive and/or innovative approach to developments in the water field.

Nomination Process

Nominate an alumna/alumnus by filling out the online form or
Nominate yourself by filling out the online form and mention 2 references and their email addresses
Describe the achievements of the alumna/us or yourself in a motivation letter of 500 words (place, action, impact). If you are nominating yourself, spell out your achievements proudly - you are up against stiff competition! Do not just send in your CV - it will be dismissed without a motivation letter.
Submit the form
After submission of the form a confirmation will be sent
A member of the selection committee can contact the nominator or references to request for extra information
The winner will be informed in September to arrange logistics for the awarding ceremony

Previous alumni award winners

Alumni award winner 2015

Ms. Irish Frida Josh has been National Director of Hydraulic Projects and Public Works for the Undersecretary of Water Resources in Argentina since 1999. Under her administration 371 hydraulic projects were completed and implemented in Argentina. She was also Professor of Fluvial Hydraulics at La Plata National University, Hydraulic Department of Engineering Faculty, where trained several generations of Argentinian water professionals.