UK project to reduce PFAS pollution is awarded Stockholm Junior Water Prize

27.8.2024 23:29:00 EEST | Business Wire | Press release

Christopher Whitfield and Wenqi (Jonathan) Zhao from the United Kingdom receive the prestigious Stockholm Junior Water Prize 2024 for their work on PFAS pollution in the Thames Basin. HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden presented the winners with their award during a ceremony at World Water Week in Stockholm.

Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) pollution is a growing concern worldwide. Focusing on the Thames Basin in the United Kingdom, where there are with no equitable solutions to the problem, Whitfield and Zhao developed a geospatial neural network, predicting PFAS values to within 10 percent of experimentally validated values.

For this, they were announced the winners of the Stockholm Junior Water Prize, an international competition where students between the ages of 15 and 20 present solutions to major water challenges.

Speaking on winning the prize, Zhao said, “We are very proud to have won this prize. It has been an amazing stay here in Sweden with so many new friends”.

The Jury noted that Whitfield and Zhao “find a way to take data and turn it into actionable knowledge. [They have] identified PFAS hotspots using machine learning, field tested their results, developed a cost-effective filtration system, and reached out to local governments and environmental organizations to raise awareness.”

The winners were presented with their prize during an award ceremony at World Water Week by HRH Crown Princess Victoria of Sweden, the Prize’s Official Patron.

The Diploma of Excellence was awarded to Shanni Valeria Mora Fajardo and Rosa Mendoza Sosa from Mexico for their work on how to reuse inked water with homemade filtration to produce veggie gardens.

The People’s Choice Award went to Manoel José Nunes Neto from Brazil, completing the line-up of winners.

The Stockholm Junior Water Prize has been organized every year since 1997. It is hosted by the Stockholm Water Foundation, with Xylem as Founding Partner.

“Innovation is paving the way to a more water-secure world, and the next generation are accelerating progress. The Stockholm Junior Water Prize competitors are an inspiring example of the ingenuity and passion young innovators bring to the table. On behalf of Xylem, I’d like to congratulate all those who took part in this year’s competition,” said Austin Alexander, Vice President of Sustainability and Social Impact at Xylem.

Read more about the winning projects:

View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240827691002/en/

Contacts

Andreas Karlsson
Head of Communication, Stockholm International Water Institute
Email: andreas.karlsson@siwi.org, Mobile: +46 (0) 720 506078

About Business Wire

For more than 50 years, Business Wire has been the global leader in press release distribution and regulatory disclosure.

www.businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Rochester Electronics Launches Localized E-Commerce Experiences Across Key Global Markets6.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

Rochester Electronics today announced the launch of fully enabled e-commerce capabilities across its regional websites, allowing customers in key global markets to search for, source, and purchase authorized semiconductors in their local language. While Rochester's regional sites previously offered localized content and product information, they now support a complete end-to-end purchasing experience. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261006914131/en/ Rochester Electronics Launches Localized E-Commerce Experiences Across Key Global Markets The newly upgraded platforms are now live in Portuguese (Brazil), Spanish (Mexico), French, German, Italian, and Polish, complementing Rochester’s existing full e-commerce platforms in English, Chinese, Japanese, and Korean (South Korea). Customers can now complete transactions directly through their local sites, simplifying sourcing, improving efficiency, and reducing process

Xsolla Shows Brand Owners How to Create Value for Video Players at Brand Licensing Europe With Rewarded Marketing6.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

Xsolla, a global commerce company, today announced it will be at Brand Licensing Europe 2026 at ExCeL London, October 6 to 8, to show brand owners how to engage with video game players by creating quest-based programs and value new users actually value. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261006443167/en/ Graphic: Xsolla Video games are one of the largest categories of entertainment spending in the world, yet most brands still treat the category as an experiment: a one-off promotional stunt or a single media buy, not a lasting engagement program. The traditional formats brands default to were never built for players. Interstitial pop-ups disrupt gameplay, banner ads go unnoticed, and in-game activations remain cumbersome and expensive to execute. The idea is already proven in games, where players have purchased, collected, and valued digital items for years. The relationship between players and games is built on t

New Global Survey Finds Majority of VMware Users Are Choosing Alternative Paths for Cost Control, Roadmap Flexibility and Better Support6.10.2026 16:00:00 EEST | Press release

Rimini Street, Inc. (Nasdaq: RMNI), the Software Support and Agentic AI ERP Company™ and the leading third-party support provider for Oracle, SAP and VMware software, today announced findings from the 2026 IT Virtualization Survey – What’s Next for VMware Users, a new global survey of nearly 300 VMware user organizations conducted by Unisphere Research on behalf of Rimini Street. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261006014490/en/ New Global Survey Finds Majority of VMware Users Are Choosing Alternative Paths for Cost Control, Roadmap Flexibility and Better Support Cost Cited as the Number One Factor in Seeking Alternative VMware Solutions Key Findings: 90% of respondents said they are considering alternatives to VMware due to higher licensing costs, while 54% cited the end of perpetual license support as another reason to evaluate other options. The research shows that cost remains the leading driver of virtuali

illumynt Launches Talorem ® , Bringing Engineering Rigor to Smarter Technology Reuse6.10.2026 15:38:00 EEST | Press release

illumynt, a technology-driven lifecycle management company serving AI infrastructure, hyperscale, OEM and enterprise environments, today announced the launch of Talorem®, its proprietary technology platform designed to bring greater precision, intelligence and recovery value to the management of advanced computing assets. Talorem is illumynt’s proprietary technology platform for engineering-grade testing, refurbishment, recovery, grading and asset intelligence at scale. As the technology foundation behind illumynt’s advanced computing lifecycle operations, Talorem brings together OEM-grade testing and qualification, clean room component recovery, centralized grading infrastructure and analytics to create greater intelligence at every stage of the asset lifecycle-enabling faster processing, more accurate grading and higher recovery value. “Talorem represents how we believe technology lifecycle management needs to evolve,” said Jörg Herbarth, CEO of illumynt. “The more precisely we can i

Corpay Cross-Border Extends Exclusive Partnership with WBSC6.10.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release

Corpay, Inc.*, (NYSE: CPAY) a global leader in corporate payments, is pleased to announce that Corpay’s Cross-Border business has entered into a long-term agreement to extend their successful and exclusive collaboration as the Official Foreign Exchange (FX) Payments Provider of the World Baseball Softball Confederation (WBSC). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261006279113/en/ Since 2022, Corpay Cross-Border has delivered a range of corporate foreign exchange payment solutions to the WBSC, the international governing body for Baseball/Softball. With this multi-year extension, the WBSC and their members around the globe will continue to benefit from Corpay’s comprehensive currency risk management solutions and award-winning global payments platform. “Over the past four years, we’ve had the privilege of serving as the Official FX Payments Provider for the WBSC,” said Brad Loder, Chief Marketing Officer, Corpay Cro

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom