Prof Eugene Cloete, Director of the UP Water Institute. Water is a key resource for both economic growth and social well-being in Africa.

Since its official inception in January this year, the University of Pretoria Water Institute (UPWI) has had unprecedented success in realising its aim of providing a sustainable research and education platform for meeting the water challenges facing South Africa and the African continent.

The University of Pretoria (UP) is recognised internationally for the significance of its water research -its expertise in this area is also regarded as the most prominent in South Africa. This reputation has enabled the Institute to attract some of the foremost water professionals in the country to its multi-disciplinary team that includes members of the SERA Water focus area.

UPWI is led by Prof Eugene Cloete, the Head of the Department of Microbiology and Plant Pathology at the University of Pretoria. Prof Cloete and Dr Pete Ashton of the CSIR, jointly lead the SERA Water focus area. The Institute's multi-disciplinary team includes Ashton, Prof Anthony Turton of the CSIR, also a member of the SERA Water focus area team, and Prof Willie Grabow and Dr Aris Georgakakos of the Georgia Institute of Technology in Atlanta, USA - all of whom have pre-eminent expertise in their respective fields. UP has appointed Turton as an extraordinary Professor and has reappointed Ashton.

The strength of UPWI's high level of human capital is affirmed by the appointments of Prof Cloete to the Board of the International Water Association and of Dr Jaqui Goldin as the Head of the African Water Issues Research Unit (AWIRU). In addition, AWIRU's recent incorporation into UPWI bodes well for the Institute's vision of building high-level networks and alliances. Developing multi-disciplinary research activities within an African context will focus on the effective utilisation of water as a scarce resource.

Capacity building initiatives are another primary focus of the UPWI that have gained significant momentum with 45 students currently enrolled at the MSc and PhD level. The inclusion of students from Kenya, Eritrea, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Lesotho, Namibia, Nigeria, Canada, Germany and Mozambique, is significant given the skills shortage across the continent. The Department of Water Affairs has also provided 15 scholarships to the University for students studying in this field.

With water issues being a specific concern for the developing world, the UPWI has made great strides in reaching out to the rest of the African continent. In April Cloete was invited to give a talk on Water and Health at an African Academies of Science Conference in Dakar - a follow-up meeting will take place in November. Earlier this year, the Institute organised and hosted an international workshop on global trends in water management that was attended by over 300 delegates and featured ten international speakers.

In its first ten months of operation, the UPWI has demonstrated its potential to be a leading research and education organisation, and an asset to South Africa and the continent as a whole. With the introduction of short courses, and the launch in 2008 of a joint MSc degree with Georgia Institute for Technology, the Institute is geared to be a sustainable and influential mechanism for the continuous development of related professionals. Government agencies, regional and national water resources centres, industry, and the academia will benefit from this human capital capacity.