Career
Opportunities
The GroundwatCH programme provides excellent career opportunities for graduating students
Most of the alumni are now developing careers oriented towards water sustainability in a variety of locations around the world, within the private and public sector as well as academia. Since the graduation of the third cohort in September 2019, there are 51 alumni of this program.
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Apart from those graduated in 2019, 88% of the alumni are currently employed
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From those, 54% work in a variety of consultancy companies, international development institutions, governmental agencies and research centers.
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Including Deltares, ERM, World Bank, Institute for Water Modeling in Bangladesh, Helmholtz Centre for Environment Research UFZ, Instituto Privado de Investigación sobre Cambio Climático, IGRAC
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The other 46% are PhD candidates in prestigious universities and institutions around the world
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Including Universiteit Utrecht, Universidad Politecnica de Catalunya, Czech Technical University in Prague, Universidad Autonoma Nacional de México, Belgium Nuclear Research Center, Korea Institute of Science and Technology
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Seinab Bohsung
Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources, Germany
Supervising scientist for the remediation of mining legacies
Guilherme Nogueira
Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research - UFZ
PhD student- Imaging flow dynamics and resulting reactivity in the transition zone between streams and riparian aquifers
Claudia Ruz Vargas
International Groundwater Resource Assessment Centre
Researcher, supporting the Global Groundwater Monitoring Network
One possibility is to follow an academic career, as the demand for scientists that are able to perform research and teach on climate change impacts on freshwater resources in general and groundwater resources in particular, including existing feedback mechanisms, is rapidly increasing. Some graduates may become PhD fellows and/or researchers/lecturers at universities, international research institutes or environmental organisations. Research linked to the implementation of global change adaptation solutions enhancing freshwater availability will be particularly appealing.
In addition, GroundwatCh graduates are likely to be employed by regional or country-based water authorities and related governmental agencies, environment and water institutes, geological surveys, as well as water supply companies and international (non-governmental) organisations (e.g. UNEP, WMO, WRI, IIED, WWF). This is supported by the fact that governments and public and private water actors are becoming increasingly aware of the fact that:
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groundwater is a critical resource in the adaptation to global and climate change and freshwater availability needs to be guaranteed in the future;
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the exploitation and management of this resource, and the implementation of solutions, need to involve well-trained experts in the field.
Private consultancy companies working in groundwater exploration, resources management or climate adaptation, will also be seeking professionals with a strong educational background, with advanced skills and competencies in the field, making GroundwatCh graduates highly suitable for the job.
Vacancies
There are a couple of websites that list job vacancies and PhD positions in water and environment. A decent overview is given at the Earthworks-jobs website. The jobs found on the Josh's Water Jobs website are related to water and internationally focused. There are two broad categories that are highlighted, namely Water (policy, governance, law, economics, management, finance, advocacy, science, communications, etc.) and WASH (water, sanitation and hygiene). See the most recent posts below and click for more info.