His Majesty King Carl XVI Gustaf and his oldest daughter, Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden attended together the Stockholm Water Prize Symposium on Wednesday. Together father and daughter participated in the seminar “Balancing Green and Gray – Getting On Nature’s Good Side”. The workshop was held at the City Conference Centre in Stockholm and is part of the World Water Week.
The seminar began with the opening of this year’s recipient of the Stockholm Water Prize, Professor Bruce Rittmann and Professor Mark van Loosdrecht. Professor Rittmann spoke on the topic “With help from our little friends” and Professor van Loosdrecht on the theme “Managing microbes”. Then, followed lectures which were held by prominent researches such as Dr Sunita Narain, Dr Claudia Sadoff, Dr Therese Sjömander-Magnusson and UNESCO Director-General, Audrey Azoulay.
Her Royal Highness is the patron of the Stockholm Water Price Prize, and it was the Crown Princess who handed out the prize. The award for 2018 went to Caleb Liow Jia Le and Johnny Xiao Hong Yu. The Stockholm Junior Water Prize is an international science prize aimed at young between the ages of 15 and 20, collecting imaginative young minds from around the world, around 30 countries, and encouraging their continued interest in water and sustainability issues.
Each year, participants from around 30 countries participate in this prestigious competition organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute during the annual international water week.
Photo: Jonas Borg / SIWI / Stockholm International Water Institute
The Crown Princess is the patron of the award and has been that since 1994, and the ceremony is something that is enrolled in her calendar every year. However, it is not every year that she is joined by one of her family members. This year the seminar extracted some extra attention when His Majesty the King also attended.
Professor Rittmann is famous for his work in biofilm and its use in the cleaning of contaminated water, soil and ecosystems. Professor van Loosdrecht has created a drainage technique developed together with the Delft University of Technology Link to the website, the Dutch Foundation for Applied Water Research (STOWA) link to another website, opens in a new window and Royal HaskoningDHV link to another site.
The seminar was a part of the World Water Week 2018. From 26-31 August, experts, decision-makers and innovators from all over the world meet in Stockholm to discuss water issues under the World Water Week, a global water conference organised by the Stockholm International Water Institute.
