Skip to main content

Site navigation

  • University of Technology Sydney home
  • Home

    Home
  • For students

  • For industry

  • Research

Explore

  • Courses
  • Events
  • News
  • Stories
  • People

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Study at UTS

    • arrow_right_alt Find a course
    • arrow_right_alt Course areas
    • arrow_right_alt Undergraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Postgraduate students
    • arrow_right_alt Research Masters and PhD
    • arrow_right_alt Online study and short courses
  • Student information

    • arrow_right_alt Current students
    • arrow_right_alt New UTS students
    • arrow_right_alt Graduates (Alumni)
    • arrow_right_alt High school students
    • arrow_right_alt Indigenous students
    • arrow_right_alt International students
  • Admissions

    • arrow_right_alt How to apply
    • arrow_right_alt Entry pathways
    • arrow_right_alt Eligibility
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for students

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Apply for a coursearrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt
  • Scholarshipsarrow_right_alt
  • Featured industries

    • arrow_right_alt Agriculture and food
    • arrow_right_alt Defence and space
    • arrow_right_alt Energy and transport
    • arrow_right_alt Government and policy
    • arrow_right_alt Health and medical
    • arrow_right_alt Corporate training
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Tech Central
    • arrow_right_alt Case studies
    • arrow_right_alt Research
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for industry

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Partner with usarrow_right_alt
  • Explore

    • arrow_right_alt Explore our research
    • arrow_right_alt Research centres and institutes
    • arrow_right_alt Graduate research
    • arrow_right_alt Research partnerships
arrow_right_altVisit our hub for research

For you

  • Libraryarrow_right_alt
  • Staffarrow_right_alt
  • Alumniarrow_right_alt
  • Current studentsarrow_right_alt

POPULAR LINKS

  • Find a UTS expertarrow_right_alt
  • Research centres and institutesarrow_right_alt
  • University of Technology Sydney home
Explore the University of Technology Sydney
Category Filters:
University of Technology Sydney home University of Technology Sydney home
  1. home
  2. arrow_forward_ios ... Newsroom
  3. arrow_forward_ios ... 2023
  4. arrow_forward_ios 07
  5. arrow_forward_ios From theory to practice – exploring sustainable solutions in WASH

From theory to practice – exploring sustainable solutions in WASH

28 July 2023

PhD candidate Naomi Carrard is passionate about water, sanitation and hygiene (WASH) sector engagement and building connections with sustainability transformations.

Photo of Naomi Carrard

Naomi Carrard's research investigates ways to bridge conceptual thinking about sustainability with what people are doing in practice on the ground, particularly focusing on the challenging development space in WASH.

The transdisciplinary inquiry documented in her thesis explores how WASH professionals can translate and implement sustainability concepts in sectoral research and practice.

I chose to undertake my doctorate at ISF because the transdisciplinary approach to research really resonated with me.

– Naomi Carrard, ISF

Naomi explains that she hopes that "daily practices, actions and programs of work that are undertaken in WASH continue to address the important challenges of services for people." Naomi's research aims to strengthen this work by also bringing in imperatives around water resources, local environments and wider global sustainability challenges. 

"I chose to undertake my doctorate at ISF because the transdisciplinary approach to research really resonated with me", Naomi says. 

"I was able to be quite ambitious in my scope and conceptualisation, bringing together different methods and ideas to tackle a complex challenge. I was supported to find ways to tell a story and knit connections together, and ISF’s encouragement of publication through your PhD is another real asset associated with the program."

Naomi Carrard represented ISF in the 2020 UTS 3-Minute Thesis final, it was a way to look at her PhD from a different perspective. 

The judges praised Naomi for her "screen presence" and her ability to condense her extremely complex area of investigation into a Plain English description.  

In her presentation, Water and Sanitation: Services for People and Planet, Naomi says that her research is "...about how we can realise people's human rights to water and sanitation in a way that strengthens, rather than threatens, our environmental integrity."

Naomi explains the future of water...in three minutes

Imagine a world where 2 billion people live without safe, reliable drinking water at their home, and 4.5 billion people live without safe sanitation. That's the world we live in right now.

Imagine a world where passionate, smart, creative people are working to address this challenge. People in governments, people in civil society, the private sector, community advocates and also researchers (like me). That's also the world we live in right now.

Now cast your mind forward to time when these numbers look a whole lot better. Millions - or billions - more have safe water and toilets. And I ask you to consider, in this future, what does the natural environment look like?

In one possible scenario, cities drink, but groundwater is depleted. We deal with the pathogens  contained in faecal waste, but we also dispose of its valuable (and scarce) nutrients. Nutrients which are essential for food production.

In another scenario, we seek win-wins. We manage our water to ensure everyone, everywhere has safe water to drink, without compromising the resource on which this depends. We treat our waste to be safe, and also support food security.

The decisions we make now, and in coming years, will determine which future we create. And I'm hoping you agree with me that the second is the one we want.

My research is about this future. It's about how we can realise people's human rights to water and sanitation in a way that strengthens, rather than threatens, our environmental integrity. 

I'm inspired by a framework that's about achieving social foundations while not transgressing ecological limits - go search for 'planetary boundaries and donut economics' if you want to know more.

What this framework makes clear is that we have to do things differently. Historically we have exceeded our planetary limits and  failed to meet basic needs.

So I’m exploring - through three transdisciplinary studies - how the water and sanitation sector can shape a better future.

First, I analysed literature and identified four future priorities, including strengthening the links between household water supply and water resource management sectors, and scaling-up reuse.

Second, I addressed a gap in global monitoring frameworks, establishing that 80% of  people in Asia-Pacific countries rely on groundwater as a source of drinking water. Using systems thinking tools, I considered how water and sanitation professionals can better engage in sustainable groundwater resource management.

Third, I investigated an innovative resource-oriented sanitation system in Sri Lanka to find out what it costs to achieve the kind of circular system we saw in the image of our preferred future…and what it takes from a governance perspective to make these kinds of systems the norm.

Weaving these studies together, I hope that my research provides signposts for those of us passionate about people having safe water and sanitation, and a sustainable environment.

If we make good choices now, I think we can achieve both.

RESEARCH OUTPUTS

Entrepreneurs help equality by improving access to WASH - ISF project, 2012-2017

Read more about Naomi and see her publications here

Naomi's supervisors

Professor Juliet Willetts

Emeritus Professor Cynthia Mitchell

Share
Share this on Facebook Share this on Twitter Share this on LinkedIn
Back to ISF news

Acknowledgement of Country

UTS acknowledges the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation and the Boorooberongal People of the Dharug Nation upon whose ancestral lands our campuses now stand. We would also like to pay respect to the Elders both past and present, acknowledging them as the traditional custodians of knowledge for these lands. 

University of Technology Sydney

City Campus

15 Broadway, Ultimo, NSW 2007

Get in touch with UTS

Follow us

  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • Facebook

A member of

  • Australian Technology Network
Use arrow keys to navigate within each column of links. Press Tab to move between columns.

Study

  • Find a course
  • Undergraduate
  • Postgraduate
  • How to apply
  • Scholarships and prizes
  • International students
  • Campus maps
  • Accommodation

Engage

  • Find an expert
  • Industry
  • News
  • Events
  • Experience UTS
  • Research
  • Stories
  • Alumni

About

  • Who we are
  • Faculties
  • Learning and teaching
  • Sustainability
  • Initiatives
  • Equity, diversity and inclusion
  • Campus and locations
  • Awards and rankings
  • UTS governance

Staff and students

  • Current students
  • Help and support
  • Library
  • Policies
  • StaffConnect
  • Working at UTS
  • UTS Handbook
  • Contact us
  • Copyright © 2025
  • ABN: 77 257 686 961
  • CRICOS provider number: 00099F
  • TEQSA provider number: PRV12060
  • TEQSA category: Australian University
  • Privacy
  • Copyright
  • Disclaimer
  • Accessibility