Northern Ireland New Members' Paper Competition 2026 | BELFAST | IN-PERSON

Hosted by the CIWEM Northern Ireland branch and CIWEM Northern Ireland New Members' Group

Event description

The CIWEM Northern Ireland branch invites you to their annual new members’ paper competition to watch the judging and support the selected finalists.

The event provides an opportunity for new and prospective members of CIWEM to present papers based on the CIWEM Northern Ireland branch chair’s theme for this year’s technical programme, “Northern Ireland, Our Water, Our Environment, Our Place”.

Presentations will be fifteen minutes long with five minutes of question time from the three judges.

Submission of papers to participate in the competition closed on Friday 20 February 2026.

Please report to reception where you can sign in, where you will be collected by one of the Northern Ireland team and shown to the conference room..

CIWEM Northern Ireland branch Awards

The CIWEM Northern Ireland branch is holding an annual new members' paper competition for new student and graduate-level members and those who could become CIWEM members with less than five years of professional experience.

Who should attend the competition finals

• The finalists
• CIWEM members and non-members who wish to celebrate the talented early career professionals in the region
• Those who are in the early stages of their career and would like to find out more about entering the competition in the future

Why you should attend the competition finals

• Support and celebrate the wealth of talent in the region
• Learn more about the projects that are being undertaken in the water and environmental management sector in Northern Ireland
• Opportunities to socialise and network with like-minded professionals and gain CPD

Programme

16:00 Registration, networking and tea and coffee

16:20

Welcome and Introduction from Chair/ Early Careers Chair

16:30

Finalist’s presentations and Q&As

Ewan Kemp | Network Analyst | Northern Ireland Water

Visualising the Environment: Using GIS to Understand Complex Modelling Data

This paper looks to demonstrate how Northern Ireland water is centralising this data and creating tools to showcase it in an understandable way. The paper also looks forward at the direction that data systems are moving in relation to the wastewater industry.

Jordan Robinson | Graduate Scientist | Tetra Tech

Safeguarding Northern Ireland’s Waters: An Integrated Environmental Modelling Approach

This study examines pressures on "Our Water, Our Environment & Our Place" from pollutants entering Northern Ireland’s waterways via assets such as Combined Sewer Overflows (CSOs). RPS and NI Water apply Integrated Environmental Modelling (IEM) across catchments to diagnose the nutrient drivers of algal blooms in Lough Neagh.

Martyna Bochentin | Student Engineer | Design ID

Sustainable Drainage in Urban Development: Professional Perspectives and Policy Implications

This study aimed to investigate how current policies aid the implementation of SuDS and identify challenges and opportunities to improve this implementation.

17:30

Networking and socialising while judges make their decision.

Refreshments will be provided

17:45

Winner announced

18:00 Close

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About the Finalists

Ewan Kemp | Network Analyst | Northern Ireland Water

Jordan Robinson | Graduate Scientist | Tetra Tech

Martyna Bochentin | Student Engineer | Design ID

About the chair and judges

Booking and joining information

This event is open to members and non-members of CIWEM.

Please note there is limited capacity at this event. Bookings must be made through 'My CIWEM' using the above booking link. Non-members who have not registered for the MyCIWEM system can create an account on the booking page in order to reserve their place.

If you have any questions about your booking or would like to cancel your attendance, please contact branches@ciwem.org.

Please note that registrations close at 9:00am, two working days before the event is to take place. If you have not registered by then, unfortunately we cannot add you to the event.

If you have any queries about this event, please contact Ashley Johnston at ashley.johnston@niwater.com.

About the venue and getting there

The event will take place at the Northern Ireland Water Offices, Ground floor conference room in the Woodburn, formerly Asset Delivery building at 40 Old Westland Road, Belfast BT14 6TE.

Please report to reception where you can sign in, where you will be collected by one of the Northern Ireland team and shown to the conference room.

The venue is only 25-minutes’ bus journey and walk from York Street railway station and several buses routes run near the Northern Ireland Water offices from the Europa Bus Centre in Glengall Street.

Travelling to the venue

As part of CIWEM’s commitment to tackling the climate and ecological emergency we would encourage delegates to use the most environmentally sustainable means of transport possible.

By Train

The nearest railway station to the Northern Ireland Water offices is York Street, Belfast BT15 1FX.

By Bus | Coach

Europa Bus Centre, Europa Business Centre, 10 Glengall Street, Belfast BT12 5AH is over 40 minutes by bus from the Northern Ireland Water offices in Old Western Street. Walk from the bus station to Wellington Place where G1 and G2 buses run to Chichester Street, where you change and walk to Victoria Square, Victoria Street where you catch a 12a, 12b or 12c bus to Cliftonville Circus. The Northern Ireland Water Offices are about 10-minutes’ walk from Cliftonville Circus.

By car

If you are coming by car, please consider sharing the journey with others to reduce your environmental footprint.