The Cyprus Young Water Professionals (CYWP) announce its newly elected Steering Committee. The CYWP was created through and with the support of the Cyprus Water Association (CWA) and is the country chapter of the International Water Association’s (IWA) Young Water Professionals Network. The CYWP aims to establish and operate an active IWA YWP chapter in Cyprus that contributes to young water professionals’ knowledge and provides a platform for networking and a hub for information on water related matters.

The new committee consists of:

Pavlos Pavlou (Chair of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is currently working as a Research Engineer II at the KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence of the University of Cyprus. His research interests focus on the design, modelling, monitoring and optimization of water networks as well as environmental modelling and simulation.  He holds a B.Sc. degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Cyprus (2016) and a M.Sc. degree in Environmental and Urban Water Engineering from the Technical University of Denmark (2018).

Maria Christofi (Vice-Chair of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is a Water Systems Engineer in the British Forces Cyprus, working for SMC JV. As an engineer she has led her team on technical and organizational matters completing high-profile projects, regarding potable and non-potable water infrastructure. Her expertise in the industry encompasses the update and upkeep of various water infrastructures, including the Symvoulos reservoir, aquifer management, reverse osmosis process and wastewater treatment plants. Various large projects she has completed include the construction of anti-erosion gabions, the installment of a HDPE pipeline using Horizontal Directional Drilling and the erection of Glass-Fused-to-Steel tanks. She holds a B.Sc. in Geography and a M.Sc. in Civil Engineering from University College London (UCL). Maria is also a PhD Candidate, working on her postdoctoral thesis from Saint Louis University, focusing her research on the preparation of university students to enter the water industry.

 Dr Sophocles Sophocleous (Secretary of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is the Managing Director of Digital Insights Data Consulting Ltd, a data analytics consultancy in Cyprus. He holds an EngD in Water Engineering from the University of Exeter, where his research focused on data-driven methods for optimizing the calibration of hydraulic network models and speeding up leakage detection and localization in water networks. Sophocles has extensive experience as a Water Network Modelling specialist in the UK Water Sector, with his current work focusing on the development of advanced analytics and digital twin models for water utilities.

Nikoletta Tsiarta (Member of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is currently a Research Associate at the Water Treatment Laboratory-AQUA of the Cyprus University of Technology (CUT). She received her BSc in Environmental Science and Technology from CUT and her MSc in Biological Sciences: Limnology and Oceanography from the University of Amsterdam (UvA). She was also awarded a pre-doctoral Marie Curie Fellowship at the Catalan Institute for Water Research (ICRA) in Spain in collaboration with the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering of the University of Zagreb, Croatia (ITN, NOWELTIES, H2020, EU). Her research focuses on the degradation of persistent organic micropollutants from secondary wastewater effluents, phytoplankton communities in aquatic freshwater systems, and applied environmentally friendly chemicals to mitigate eutrophication in lakes.

Alex Zakheos (Member of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is a cultured, multi-disciplined electrical engineer with years of hands on experience from young. Currently enrolled in his master’s degree at KIOS CoE in Intelligent Critical Infrastructure Systems and a part-time research engineer focused on water network hydraulic modelling, monitoring and optimisation. Also an established developer in the field of wave energy converters – currently driving forward his company, Sea Wave Energy Ltd on the forefront of the industry and a globally recognized technology developer.

Dr Charalampos Konstantinou (Member of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) received his first degree in Civil Engineering from NTU of Athens in 2015 focusing in hydraulics and environmental engineering, and his MSc in Environmental Engineering and Business Management in 2016 from Imperial College London. He received his Ph.D in 2020 from the University of Cambridge, where he continued his research as a research associate until August 2021. He is currently a research associate at the University of Cyprus. His expertise, scientific contributions and research interests include (a) the application of microbially induced carbonate precipitation (MICP) for water resources problems; (b) the study of the fundamental problem of fluid flow in porous media of controlled mechanical and hydraulic properties with focus on groundwater hydrology; (c) the numerical, statistical and machine learning modelling of pipe breaks in water supply networks and (d) the stochastic processes in hydrology and climate.

Constantinos Efstratiou (Member of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is a Construction Supervisor at Roikos Engineering Consultants S.A. For the past 2,5 years, he has been working in the construction of a sewage system in East Limassol, and he has recently joined another project team, supervising the installation of water pipeline for the water supply of large developments west of Limassol. He holds an MSc in Civil Engineering & Sustainable Design and a BEng in Civil Engineering. He has previously worked in government and private development projects where he gained knowledge in site assessment, planning, cost estimation, infrastructure developments and water supply schemes.

Dr Katerina Charalambous (Exiting Chair/Mentor of the IWA CYWP Steering Committee) is a Resident Engineer at the Water Board of Larnaka. She has a background in civil and environmental engineering and her doctoral thesis focused on stormwater management in semi-arid environments. She has professional experience in the water research sector, on EU-funded and national projects, as well as experience in the consulting sector on the effective and efficient management of water utilities and the reduction of non-revenue water. She is currently responsible for the successful implementation of EU-funded projects on the Green and Digital transition of the Water Board of Larnaka.