Achievements

Since its inception in March 2011, the GIWS has established itself as one of the premier research-intensive institutions locally (ranked #1 in Canada) and globally (ranked #18) in the field of Water Resources as per the 2018 Academic Ranking of World Universities and in InCites. GIWS is a one-stop-shop for water security research at the University of Saskatchewan (USask) and manages individual research programs of more than 86 faculty members from 21 academic units. It is also the home of the Global Water Futures (GWF) program funded by the Canada First Research Excellence Fund (CFREF), Government of Canada, which is the largest university-based freshwater research program in the world. Since 2011, GIWS has recruited 15 core faculty members (7 faculty via the Canada Excellence Research Chair program and 8 faculty via the Global Water Futures Program), which is roughly equivalent to creation of a new department.

In last 7 years, GIWS has secured $263.5 million research grants and contracts, and witnessed an exponential growth in its stature, and in the recruitment and training of highly qualified personnel including 477 graduate students, 136 postdoctoral fellows, 114 research associates and scientists, and 432 research assistants. 

For an institution of only 7 years in existence, it is unprecedented to have five Royal Society of Canada (RSC) Fellows, five American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fellows, two Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSBAIPW) winners, one Einstein Professor Chinese Academy of Science (CAS), and president of the 7500-member Hydrology Section of the AGU. 

The PSBAIPW is a scientific prize with a focus on innovation and rewards the efforts made by scientists around the world towards sustainable availability of potable water and the alleviation of the escalating global problem of water scarcity. Dr. John Giesy is the Einstein Professor, which
is awarded by CAS each year to only 20 distinguished international scientists actively working at the frontiers of science and technology. Dr. Jeffrey McDonnell is the president of the AGU Hydrology Section.

Timeline of Achievements

The following timeline shows the sequence of achievements of GIWS since September 2010 to date.

(Click on the image to view it at full size)