University of Bristol
Based in the heart of the City of Bristol in the southwest of England, the University of Bristol is a thriving international community dedicated to learning, discovery and enterprise.
Role in project
The University of Bristol leads the Aquatest project. It is responsible for the project's overall management and is undertaking a wide range of tasks from the development of the Aquatest device and incubator to conducting an analysis of the evidence for policy.
Those taking part in the project include:
- Centre for Child and Adolescent Health
- Department of Civil Engineering
- School of Chemistry
- School of Law
- School for Policy Studies
People involved
Professor Stephen Gundry
Project Director, Member of the management board
A professor of Environmental Engineering, Stephen Gundry is the Director of the Water and Health Research Centre at the University of Bristol.
He was the coordinator of an earlier research project ‘The policy implications of the contamination of rural water in Kenya, South Africa and Zimbabwe (AQUAPOL)’ and was coordinator of the Aquatest Preparatory Study.
He is a member of the World Health Organization Network to promote home water treatment and safe storage, and the Health-related water microbiology group within the International Water Association. He has worked at the University of Bristol since 2001.
In addition to overall coordination of the project, Stephen leads the engineering design of the device and incubator.
Thom Brain
Assistant Project Director
Before joining the Aquatest project, Thom worked for the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE). He was project manager for HEFCE's core process of distributing £7 billion each year to support higher education at universities and colleges in England.
Gwenda Wedge
Aquatest Finance and Contract Liaison
Gwenda Wedge has worked as a project accountant and programme office manager for a number of financial services organisations. She has worked on many large complex international projects delivering budgets, financial reports and project reporting.
Bina Shah
Project Manager
Bina Shah joined the project in 2011 and brings with her a unique mix of international experience in external and organisational marketing communication with a specialty in alignment of company vision and strategies.
She provides project management support for the development of the commercialisation strategy for the AQUATEST device. A key part of the role is interfacing with academic, business, government institutions. Other responsibilities include providing expertise and guidance on marketing communications strategies and tools.
John Halliwell
Project Officer
John joined the project having previously worked in research support and disability services for the University. He is responsible for planning and managing external dissemination activities for the project and supports the Management Team with administrative and logistical tasks.
Dr Hilary Jeffreys
Product Manager and Research Coordinator
Dr Hilary Jeffreys joined the project in 2009 and left in 2011. She was responsible for coordinating the Aquatest project and managing the delivery of the device. A key part of the role was interfacing with academic, business, government institutions. Other responsibilities included providing expertise and guidance on product development and management.
Prior to the Aquatest project she was responsible for overseeing the quality of clinical and commercial pharmaceutical and biotech production. She has considerable experience of bringing products to market.