English resumeEnglish - Foundation for Applied Water Research STOWA
STOWA - Acronym for Foundation for Applied Water Research - is the knowledge and innovation hub for regional water managers in the Netherlands, serving the water authorities and provinces. We help them gain the insights and knowledge they need to tackle regional water management challenges more effectively. We do that by identifying and prioritizing key research questions through dedicated program committees. We commission our research from a range of experts, consultancies, institutions, and universities, and oversee them in their work.
Once the research is complete, we ensure that the findings are shared widely within the broader water management community. We also promote experience and knowledge sharing through events, working groups, excursions, conferences and communities of practice. We work together with ministries, Rijkswaterstaat, municipalities and water companies, among others.
Our research focus
STOWA’s research covers all facets of water management, from flood defense and urban water management to water treatment and systems. Key themes include climate adaptation, flood protection, water quality and ecology, energy transition and circular economy.
The research questions we address span technical disciplines, the natural sciences, governance, legal frameworks and the social sciences. All our work is geared towards providing practical solutions for regional water managers. This is central to our mission as the Foundation for Applied Water Research.
Who we are
As a knowledge organization, STOWA is independent, impartial and transparent. Users of our knowledge can trust that the findings in our reports are objective and balanced. This ensures that our knowledge provides a reliable foundation for improving water management and fostering innovations to meet today’s and future challenges. The regional water managers themselves decide how to apply STOWA’s insights in practice. While STOWA can serve as advisor, we do not play a role as implementors or directors.
STOWA is a non-profit foundation and follows the guidelines for non-profit organizations (RJ-640). Our annual report includes both financial statements and a detailed overview of the foundation, its activities and key statistics.
Mission Statement
STOWA’s fundamental principles are set out in our mission: Defining the knowledge needs in the field of water management and developing, collecting, making available, sharing, strengthening and implementing the required knowledge or arranging for this together with regional water managers.
Research programs
The STOWA works according to the research programs, which will be updated every year. The project coordinators prepare a list of candidate projects, which will be presented to a commission of programming. The commission will deliberate upon the continuation of a candidate project, in the light of the strategy of the STOWA and the financial restraints. The commission holds representatives from the members of the STOWA foundation. If you have an idea for a STOWA project, please write a project proposal and send it to STOWA. Use our special application form.
Products
Products of the STOWA include publications (reports, newsletters), computer programs (models) and databases (e.g. a list of ongoing research programmes by water managers and a literature databank of publications released by the water administrations). All STOWA products are free for STOWA members. There are too many products to list them here, please visit the Dutch part of our website if you want more information (in Dutch).
Finance
The finances required to carry out research programs and to run the STOWA secretariat are obtained from the member water administrations. The annual budget has grown over the passed years and is now estimated at approximately 10 million Euro.
Contact
STOWA
P.O. Box 2180
3800 CD Amersfoort
The Netherlands
Phone: + 31 33 460 32 00
Our general e-mail address is: stowa@stowa.nl