6 November 2025

 

A pioneering collaboration to help make both farming and water management more sustainable and better prepared for climate change will be the subject of a free lecture at the Royal Agricultural University (RAU) next week.

Delivered by Professor Kiran Tota-Maharaj, RAU’s Professor of Water Resources Management and Infrastructure, and Andy Blackhall, Managing Director of the Water Research Centre (WRc), the lecture will introduce Microbial Electrosynthesis (MES), a cutting-edge technology that could transform how we deal with wastewater and resource shortages.

In MES systems, specialised microbes work with electricity to break down wastewater and convert pollutants into valuable products, such as clean water, nutrients, and even renewable fuels.

By turning a waste problem into a resource opportunity, this revolutionary technology could help solve three global challenges at the same time - the Water-Energy-Food (WEF) Nexus – cleaning and recycling wastewater, using and storing renewable electricity efficiently, and returning nutrients back to farming systems.

Professor Tota-Maharaj, who, alongside his research, leads on the University’s sectorial MBA in Water Management, said: “The partnership between the RAU and WRc is helping to make agriculture, farming, and water systems more environmentally sustainable and better equipped to face climate change.

“Our research is focused on addressing major challenges that connect water, energy, and food, none of which can be managed properly in isolation, and a key part of this work is using nature-based solutions to treat wastewater so that clean water and nutrients can be recovered and reused for farming.

“By combining our scientific research here at the RAU with WRc’s practical experience, we are developing and testing innovative real-world solutions that are resilient to climate pressures.”

Through sustainable recycling of wastewater, researchers hope to be able to create more circular systems where water and nutrients return back to the farm instead of being wasted. This not only improves soil health and supports crop growth, but importantly it reduces pressure on natural water supplies.

The free Water, Wastewater, Everywhere – Every drop counts! lecture, is the last of a series of free lectures held throughout this year to celebrate the 180th anniversary of the RAU. It will take place in the University’s Boutflour Hall, at its Cirencester campus, from 6pm to 8pm (doors open at 6pm with the lecture starting at 6.30pm) on Wednesday 12th November.

It is open to all and tickets are free but please visit https://water-wastewater-everywhere-every-drop-counts.eventbrite.co.uk to reserve your free tickets.

Originally established in 1845 as the Royal Agricultural College, the first agricultural college in the English-speaking world and with just 25 students, the Royal Agricultural University gained its university status in 2013.

To celebrate its 180th anniversary, the institution - which now has around 1,100 students at its Cirencester campus as well as more than 3,000 studying worldwide with its many international partners - has had a calendar of events taking place throughout the year including this lecture series.

Other events have included the unveiling of a new sculpture made especially for the anniversary, a Community Open Day, and a global online party for the University to celebrate with its international partners.

Professor Peter McCaffery, who became Vice-Chancellor of the RAU in 2021, said: “As we celebrate our 180th anniversary this year, we also celebrate that our University is as relevant today as it was when it was founded, back in 1845, to help meet a national emergency – how to feed the country at a time of burgeoning urbanisation and industrialisation.

“We are immensely proud of the contribution our world-wide family of 17,000+ alumni have made as leaders, entrepreneurs, and innovators in agriculture and the land-based sector and each year we seek to equip a new generation of graduates to help address the global challenges that face us today – climate change, food security, sustainable land use, biodiversity loss, and heritage management.

“Our influence and impact continue to be felt locally, nationally, and globally, and we fully intend to continue to punch above our weight in the future as we have done for the past 180 years.”