Introducing WRc Academy - the Water Research Centre’s online, hybrid and in-person training capability

Published on: 11 Jun 2024

Nicola Richter is the Head of WRc Academy

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The water industry and associated sectors face a whole host of challenges over the next few decades, including the impact of climate change on the quality and resilience of water resources; decreasing customer acceptability, affordability and appreciation of the value of water; ageing assets that need to be replaced or renovated more frequently than was planned for; and an ageing workforce, with a decreasing pool of people studying STEM subjects to replace them.

We firmly believe these industry challenges require solutions that will stand the test of time, and that are built on solid scientific and engineering knowledge, experience and know-how.

WRc Academy’s mission, therefore, is to be part of the solution to these critical challenges by building greater expertise and sustainable capability within the water industry and its associated sectors, through impactful training and knowledge sharing.

How will the Academy fulfil this mission, which is becoming increasingly time critical?

WRc has accumulated an unrivalled legacy of almost 100 years’ water sector, environmental and sustainability experience. From that vast store of knowledge, WRc Academy has reflected on the needs of the industry and developed new and exciting hand-picked, problem-focused, expert-led training modules and mentoring programmes to support and guide our clients’ training at the forefront of the drinking water and wastewater industries. Our courses will enable our clients to fill their knowledge gaps, build resilience in their teams and rise to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.

WRc Academy’s offerings are relevant to any stage in a career, whether that’s a graduate just starting out or an experienced professional keen to stay at the forefront of their industry. The courses and programmes are developed and delivered by a team of highly skilled and approachable trainers and technical experts who facilitate the learning, whether that’s in-person or online. Through them our clients are enabled to develop the knowledge their organisations need to find the right solution and meet the water industry’s present and future challenges.

Academy currently has over 30 courses, with an offering that is rapidly growing by the week.

Our courses cover a wide range of topics, including catchment water quality and environmental protection; clean water treatment and supply infrastructure; sewer networks and wastewater treatment; and data and digital assets. We provide the option to learn online (self-paced), live online, or in-person (either at our fully equipped training facility in Swindon or a venue of our clients’ choice), following either an already tried-and-tested course or a bespoke programme tailored to a client’s specific needs and their team’s skill level using examples found in their organisation.

As well as producing in-house courses and training programmes, the beginning of 2024 saw WRc Academy deepen its close ties with academia, including Queen Mary University London (QMUL), the Royal Agricultural University (RAU), Cirencester and Khalifa University (KU), Abu Dhabi. This relationship with higher education supports collaboration among researchers, engineers, scientists, practitioners and academia, as well as supporting the next generation, either via research and training on new and emerging threats to drinking water, full education programmes, such as the RAU’s MBA in Water Management, or supporting students in industry placements to advance their understanding and prospects. The end result of these close relationships with academia will be the development of a suite of educational/training and Continuing Professional Development (CPD) programmes.

Highlights of some of Academy’s recent projects from around the globe...

...include work in partnership with the UK’s Chartered Institution of Water and Environmental Management (CIWEM) on a rolling contract to certify the knowledge of technical staff. The Wastewater Treatment course is designed for operations staff at water companies and regulator officers. Delegates have been learning detailed information required to succeed in their roles and are assessed individually by professional interview.

In the Middle East, WRc was awarded a contract to deliver broad foundational and advance water-related training spanning 16 topic modules, which requires a diverse and experienced WRc team to create a bespoke training programme that is being delivered to over 250 delegates with over 50 in-country training days.

In Europe, WRc sewer expert and trainer Peter Henley, delivered our Sewer CCTV Inspection training in Lisbon, Portugal, upskilling wastewater engineers and strategy managers with a thorough understanding of sewer pipeline survey and condition assessment, ensuring staff can more effectively identify and classify failures, complete compliant reports, and commission and monitor CCTV inspections.

In North America, Nicola Richter (Head of Academy) and Peter Henley are working collaboratively with the National Association of Sewer Service Companies (NASSCO) to further develop the understanding of underground sewer assets through training and technical documentation.

The WRc Academy team is led by Nicola Richter supported by an experienced team of four: Lydia Wood, Opportunity and Project Coordinator, Charlie Asprey, Creative Executive, and Donna Murray and Chloe Coxhill the Course Coordinators.

“Our courses will enable our clients to fill their knowledge gaps, and rise to meet the challenges of today and tomorrow.”

– Nicola Richter, WRc Academy

If you would like to find out more about how WRc Academy can help with your training needs, please visit our course catalogue. For more information about any of our courses or wider services, or if you have a question, please do not hesitate to contact us via academy@wrcgroup.com and we will get back to you promptly.

Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

WRc Academy Courses Brochure

Find out more about our training modules and download the brochure here.

Download the brochure
Created by potrace 1.16, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2019

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Nicola Richter

Head of WRc Academy

Nicola is an experienced stakeholder engagement specialist and facilitates workshops and training to bring technical communities together and share knowledge. Passionate about bringing people together to deliver environmental improvement outcomes, Nicola oversees WRc’s ‘Academy’ programme for knowledge transfer.

2024-06-11 13:45:00