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

Interactive Brokers Expands AI Integration Capabilities – Adding ChatGPT and Grok to Its Growing Suite of Agentic Trading Tools22.6.2026 17:00:00 EEST | Press release

Interactive Brokers (Nasdaq: IBKR), an automated global broker, today announced the expansion of its agentic trading capabilities with the addition of ChatGPT and Grok, further broadening a growing ecosystem of AI platform integrations that began with Claude. Available through certified AI connector marketplaces across multiple leading platforms, these integrations allow clients to research, analyze, and generate instructions with speed and efficiency to uncover new trading and investing opportunities instantly. With this release, Interactive Brokers also extends the selection of products available for order instructions to include support for options, futures and futures options in addition to equities and ETFs. “We continue to see growing interest from investors in using artificial intelligence as a more natural way to interact with financial markets,” said Milan Galik, Chief Executive Officer of Interactive Brokers. “Adding ChatGPT and Grok, together with support for options and fut

IQM Named Among Quantum Collaborators in HPE's New Hybrid Quantum-HPC Platform22.6.2026 16:22:00 EEST | Press release

Hewlett Packard Enterprise has named IQM Quantum Computers among the companies collaborating on its hybrid classical-quantum computing platform, announced at HPE Discover Las Vegas. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260622035759/en/ IQM Radiance quantum computer at HPE Discover Las Vegas 2026 IQM, a global leader in full-stack superconducting quantum computers, is contributing superconducting quantum processor technology to the effort, in which HPE is integrating multiple quantum modalities with its Cray supercomputing infrastructure. This collaboration strengthens IQM's global expansion plans as the company prepares for its planned Nasdaq listing through a merger with Real Asset Acquisition Corp. (Nasdaq: RAAQ). For IQM, HPE's selection places the company at the center of one of the computing industry's most significant efforts to bring quantum and high-performance computing together, an integration widely rega

Return Abuse Goes Mainstream as Nearly Half of Consumers Use AI in Return Claims, New Riskified Research Finds22.6.2026 15:30:00 EEST | Press release

Riskified (NYSE: RSKD), a global leader in ecommerce fraud detection and risk intelligence, today released a new global report, “Rewriting the Rules on Returns”, exploring how consumer attitudes and behaviors around ecommerce returns are evolving in the age of artificial intelligence (AI). The Riskified-commissioned study, conducted by eTail Insights, is based on a survey of 2,091 consumers across seven countries, alongside in-depth interviews with senior leaders from many of the largest retail companies in the world. The research finds that return abuse behaviors are increasingly normalized, while nearly half of consumers already use generative AI tools to assist with return or refund claims. At the same time, merchants are responding by tightening return policies, shortening return windows, and deploying advanced AI detection to better distinguish between legitimate behavior and abuse patterns. Key Findings Nearly half of consumers (50%) report using generative AI tools such as ChatG

Forrester Unveils Agendas For 2026 Technology & Innovation Forums In North America And EMEA22.6.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release

Forrester (Nasdaq: FORR) today announced the full conference agendas for its Technology & Innovation Forum Central (Austin, September 14–15, 2026), Technology & Innovation Forum EMEA (London, September 30–October 1, 2026), and Technology & Innovation Forum East (New York City, November 4–5, 2026). This year’s theme, “The IT Singularity,” dives into the new AI era in which AI has become ubiquitous and no longer a competitive advantage on its own. To succeed, technology leaders including chief information officers, chief data officers, and chief AI officers need to integrate AI into their operating models, modernize software development and IT operations, strengthen data and governance practices, and align technology investments with business strategy. Across the Forums, tech leaders and their teams will learn how to scale AI responsibly, accelerate delivery, and strengthen executive confidence in an increasingly autonomous, AI-driven environment. Key sessions include: The AI Voyage — Fr

AdvanCell Establishes U.S. Global Headquarters and Secures Flagship Manufacturing Facility in Greater Boston to Drive Growth Strategy22.6.2026 15:00:00 EEST | Press release

AdvanCell, a clinical-stage radiopharmaceutical company developing innovative targeted alpha therapies for cancer, today announced the establishment of its U.S. Global Headquarters in the Greater Boston area, and the lease of a new 128,000-square-foot facility that will become the Company’s U.S. flagship manufacturing center supporting its long-term growth and commercialization strategy. The expansion marks an important milestone in the Company’s evolution into a U.S.-based radiopharmaceutical company with integrated operations spanning North America and Australia. The investment reflects AdvanCell's strategy to expand its U.S. presence and build the infrastructure needed to support the development and future commercialization of ADVC001 and its Lead-212 targeted alpha therapy pipeline. Located in Greater Boston, the Innovation Park campus owned by IQHQ provides access to a world-class life-science ecosystem, supporting the next phase of the Company’s growth. The Andover facility will

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