Initiated as a fellowship programme only for UNESCO-IHE master’s students, EPP was widened in scope and outreach in 2008 to include a three to four-month global fellowship programme, a dedicated IHE exchange programme and a visiting scientist programme. The EPP Fellowship Programme is the core of EPP and currently supports six fellowships per financial year for distinguished students from developing countries, preferably PhD students working on environmental, technical and/or socially relevant topics in collaboration with Eawag staff.

“The EPP Programme strengthens ties with selected academic institutions in the Global South and boosts the desperately needed capacity of qualified experts and researchers in Africa, Asia and Latin America” Christoph Lüthi, Department Head Sandec

To join EPP, the students’ research subjects must be relevant to the developing country and address critical issues, such as problems of water scarcity, environmental pollution, resource exploitation and loss of biodiversity. In their applications they also have to demonstrate scientific excellence. Each fellowship is affiliated with one of Eawag’s research departments.

Over the next two months, we will present portraits of different EPP Fellows, that tell their success stories and experiences at Eawag.