On 6 December, two events organised by ifak were held at the Universidad del Valle in Cal/Colombia as part of the BMBF-funded workshop "REDU - Urban Drainage Network - Red de Drenaje Urbano". In a morning event, Dr Manfred Schütze and Catalina Vieira of ifak, together with MSc. Julián Reyes of TU Dresden, provided an overview of scholarships for students and researchers in Germany. Catalina Vieira and Julián Reyes also integrated their own experiences as Colombians doing research in Germany. Questions from the audience were addressed ina discussion session.
An afternoon seminar "Water management in the City", well attended by almost 40 participants from research and application practice, provided an overview on some issues currently being addressed in research and practicein Germany: After a presentatoin on modelling supporting urban water management by Dr Schütze (ifak), Regina Gnirss (Berlin Centre of Competence for Water) discussed challenges and solutions of drinking water and water management in Berlin in her presentation "Semi-closed water cycle". Julián Reyes (TU Dresden) presented results of his ongoing research on the evaluation of Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems (SUDS). Finally, Catalina Vieria (ifak) provided a summary of the main outcomes of a workshop held in Bogotá in the preceding days.
With both events, ifak fosters the links between Colombia and Germany within the field of urban drainage and urban water management.
The presentations (in Spanish language) are available on request from Dr Manfred Schütze (manfred.schuetze@ifak.eu).
