Rising Stars

Emma Sherburn

Graduate Asset Management Consultant, Mott MacDonald

Emma is working predominantly in carbon management and net zero for the water sector. She works across a range of projects from existing asset upgrades to water resources management plans (WRMPs) and strategic resource options (SROs) to develop carbon assessments, net zero strategies, and workshops that inform optioneering and investment decisions. Emma is also working in the policy space supporting stakeholders to understand net zero for the water sector and the impacts of future policy and investments on net zero.

Her journey in the water sector started with an undergraduate internship at Anglian Water researching pollution incidence and supporting the Keep It Clear team. This was followed by a further internship at Global Water Intelligence researching the cost of water and provision of services around the world. Emma then returned to Anglian Water, as part of her master’s degree sponsorship at Imperial, where she worked in their Innovation Discovery team.

Emma volunteers as a Trustee at Nottinghamshire Wildlife Trust and is supporting youth engagement across other wildlife trusts as part of this. She is a keen rower, runs a badminton club for her colleagues and enjoys any opportunity to be in nature.

Kathryn Evans

Civil Engineer, Arup

Kathryn is a Civil Engineer based in Arup’s Cardiff office. In 2019, she graduated from Loughborough University with an MEng in Civil Engineering and subsequently joined Arup later that year. Her current role focuses on the Storm Overflow Assessment Framework (SOAF) project in Wales, which aims to investigate and resolve high spilling storm overflows in order to deliver improved local water quality. In addition, Kathryn also helps to investigate the wider benefits that SOAF projects can provide to the local environments and communities across Wales through green solutions. Kathryn also gives hydraulic wastewater modelling support for several sewer catchment studies, which seek to alleviate pressures on key assets.

Kathryn has quickly become a vital part of the Arup water team as she has a keen eye for detail, excellent analytical and modelling skills. She also has a passion for visual communication as she has the innate ability to transform technical information into something which everyone can appreciate and understand which has been crucial when presenting to clients.

Prior to joining Arup, Kathryn was a site engineer for a construction company and she worked across multiple sectors across the UK including nuclear, rail and highways. Outside of work, Kathryn is passionate about collaborating with young water professionals in the water industry and she is also a talented artist.

Mia Tarrant

Hub Process Scientist, Severn Trent

Mia’s career began in 2021 with South Staffs Water as a Water Treatment Scientist. Her role involves ensuring water quality compliance and optimisation across the northern production units, extending to the greater South Staffs Water and Cambridge Water regions during her time on standby. She achieves this by analysing SCADA telemetry data, sampling, internal laboratory testing and data acquisition and analysis. Other responsibilities include tank/reservoir inspections and engagement wsith projects, providing a water quality perspective and advice throughout. Currently she is working on the commissioning phase of long-term project adding second-stage filtration to the treatment works.

Over the next year, she is hoping to gain a deeper understanding of other sectors within the water industry to both improve her own comprehension and to be able to bring back this wider knowledge to her water quality team at SSW, the business as a whole and any future team she may be given the chance to work with.

Mia is passionate about enthusing future generations of scientists and women in the industry and hopes to get involved in the Young Persons Network and Women’s Network. In her spare time, she loves to get outdoors hiking and traveling, learning about other cultures and seeing new places.

Dan Cassidy

Water Technical Officer, United Utilities 

Dan was brought up in the North West of England in a place called Leigh. When Dan left school he signed up for the RAF, which saw him working all over the world. After 11 years in the military, Dan decided that he wanted to be at home more and he started looking for jobs in the North West. Dan secured a position as a Process Controller (Clean Water) with United Utilities where he was sent to college and began his water journey. He found it fascinating that so much actually goes into creating and treating the consistent, safe, and clean water that everyone relies on. Since joining the industry, Dan has found that it is a welcoming place and that in general; everyone is extremely supportive of his personal development – he has had some excellent mentors.

Isla Jones

Scientist, Scottish Water

Isla began her career in the water industry in 2021 as a Science Intern at Scottish Water upon graduating from Heriot-Watt University with a First-Class BSc (Hons) in Biological Sciences. For her efforts, she was offered a position as a Scientist within their multifunctional water testing laboratory.

Isla is now a trained analyst performing both chemical (pH, colour, turbidity, conductivity) and microbiological (including Coliforms and E. coli) analysis, providing a crucial service to ensure public health and protect the environment. Her technical knowledge and strong troubleshooting skills enable her to successfully train others in analytical chemistry methods, promoting the development of her colleagues. Working within a UKAS accredited laboratory, she enjoys the quality aspects of her role – she is skilled in non-conformance investigations and aims to embed changes to help continually improve working practices. Isla has a strong commitment to professional development and strives to obtain Professional Registration with the Institute of Water soon.

Sian Walker

Engineer, WSP

Sian’s journey in the water sector started initially with an Industrial Placement year at WSP (formerly Mouchel) in 2016 as part of the Clean Water Asset Management team. This was followed by a further summer placement, and Sian returned to the team at WSP as a Graduate Engineer in 2018, followed by Assistant Engineer and a recent promotion to Engineer in 2022.

Sian is working predominantly on Northern Ireland Water projects and works across a range of projects such as Water Impact Assessments of new developments, High Demand Modelling and Watermains Rehabilitation. A key part of Sian’s career recently has been to create and develop Client relationships within these projects, holding and attending meetings and workshops regularly, coordinating site visits and motivating and supporting junior members of staff.

Sian has been a member of the Northern Ireland Area Institute of Water Committee for three years, having held the role of Diversity, Equality and Inclusion Representative and this year has also taken on responsibility as the NI Area YPN Rep. Over the next year Sian is excited to gain a deeper understanding of the areas of the Water Industry she does not work in.

Amy Wernham

Resilient Customer Manager: Customer Experience and Strategy, South East Water 

Amy started her career in the water industry in June 2021 when she joined South East Water as the Water Efficiency Lead. Amy had just completed her degree in Comparative Literature with a Year in Journalism and she had previously worked in customer transformation in the retail banking industry. Amy was looking for a role with variety, focusing on sustainability and bringing in my skills in customer behavioural change initiatives. The water industry wasn’t something she was searching for but when she saw the role it captured everything she was looking for, with the added bonus that she loves water!

Amy’s current role as Resilient Customer Manager brings together the water efficiency delivery programme and the vulnerability and affordability strategies, along with the Resilient Customer Strategy. Amy works collaboratively across sectors, water companies, local authorities and third sector groups to develop and deliver strategic objectives.

Amy works on a variety of projects which impact customers directly, improve customer experience and drive behavioural change to reduce per capita consumption. Amy also works on community and stakeholder engagement to increase the number of customers on our Priority Services Register and support tariffs. Amy also works with local councils to implement our innovative data sharing agreements which automatically enrol customers onto our support schemes. Amy led on an innovative project to deliver a water efficiency website for children called AquaSmart which promotes water saving behaviours within the home and raises awareness of the environmental benefits to reducing water usage. This is currently live for everyone to access across the UK and is now being tested with local schools in our area. Amy loves the variety of her role, working to develop both the strategy and delivery programme to best support our customers.

Gulshen Unveren

Assistant Project Manager, Pell Frischmann

Gulshen has worked on a diverse set of projects including energy efficiency, operational optimisation and renewable asset design. She has also designed the delivery strategy for EV Infrastructure Implementation at Pennon Group sites and has been leading the EV Infrastructure deployment across the business.

Prior to joining SWW she worked for KWR, Water Research Institute and Delivered a UNESCO Project on Water and Waste Water Treatment practices in Lagos, Nigeria. Her research was utilised by both KWR and UNESCO, to identify areas of improvement and opportunities for investment in the region. This invaluable experience in international research and project management provided vital technical knowledge of the water sector which she continues to build upon through her current role.

Having a background in Energy and Carbon, she is passionate about the adoption of innovative technologies and practices to aid in making the water industry self-sufficient. She believes that energy efficiency is the key to a more sustainable future for the water industry. Outside of work she enjoys playing tennis, dancing, and reading. She is passionate about travelling and is greatly fascinated by the diversity of our world.