CIWEM Conversations: A fellow and a graduate discuss career paths and diverse viewpoints

31 October 2025

Honorary fellow Nicci Russell and graduate member Ryan Gunning compare perspectives, in the latest instalment of this interview series

Nicci Russell is chief executive of Waterwise, the UK’s leading independent voice on water efficiency. She has over 20 years’ experience in the water sector across government, regulators and Waterwise, which she co-founded in 2005. She was made an honorary fellow of CIWEM in 2018.

Ryan Gunning is a water resources permitting officer on the nationally significant infrastructure projects permitting team at the Environment Agency (EA). Prior to joining the EA’s graduate scheme in 2024, he was part of an industry-sponsored research programme investigating sustainable fuel alternatives for the maritime industry. He joined CIWEM as a graduate member in 2024.

--

Nicci Russell: How do you think the water sector is doing in terms of sustainability?

Ryan Gunning: There's a lot that we need to do to improve. and there's a drive towards investment: thinking about how we get ourselves out of this mess that we’ve got into with such poor public perception of the water sector.

NR: That negativity has consequences – it really affects people’s willingness to engage with water efficiency measures.

RG: People see a leaky water main and think, ‘Why should I make an effort?’

NR: That’s why we set Waterwise up 20 years ago an independent voice on water efficiency. We’re saying, ‘Look, we are running out of water, we all need to something about it, regardless of what the water companies do on leakage and rivers and all that other stuff’.

RG: That makes sense. With both energy and the environment, it feels like people are changing their behaviour. It may be small things like switching lights off and recycling, but people are a lot more conscious. There could probably be a drive to get people more water conscious too.

NR: Sustainability hasn’t always been on the table since I’ve been in the water sector, but now we are all taking it really seriously. So that’s definitely been a change in the time that I’ve been involved. Now it’s just working out a fair way to pay for it – and obviously we need to aim higher, but at least it’s part of the discussion now.

RG: I like thinking about the big picture across the whole of society, seeing what the opportunities are. As we’re transitioning to cheaper sources of energy and seeing our energy bills fall, might people be prepared to pay more for water?

NR: That kind of systems thinking is going to be absolutely crucial because there’s no way we’re going to fix this climate and nature mess otherwise. It’s brilliant that you have that big picture approach early in your career – not everybody has.

RG: I like that I’m involved in these huge infrastructure projects, even if I’m a small cog. At the moment I’m working on a water abstraction permit for the construction of a new nuclear power station. Infrastructure needs to balance growth with sustainability: we need to consider the environment and make sure that we do it in a timely manner, because we've got all these climate targets that are just around the corner.

NR: It’s the case for water as well. By 2055, we're projected to have a shortfall of five billion litres daily.

RG: I want to get into policy in the future. I've always been fascinated with it since doing my masters, where I did a report on the implications of electric car ownership on things like the electricity grid, road tax receipts and energy security.

NG: It looks like your studies have been really relevant to what you've done next. Whereas mine – even having gone into politics, I'm not sure my social and political sciences degree massively helped me. Don't get me wrong: it definitely hasn't hindered me and going to Cambridge obviously helped (and I'm very proud that I went there from a state school), but a lot of my stuff has been learned on the job.

RG: It's not necessarily always what you learn though, but the transferable skills as well. They can still be crucial.

NR: I’ve worked really hard in my career and latterly, I've had a bit more of a plan, but often it's been more about something fortuitous. Someone might say, ‘Are you interested in this job?’ It’s a really different career path from yours, isn’t it? All those people applying to research programmes and the EA graduate scheme, and you got through, it’s amazing. My path was so haphazard, and yours feels really structured.

RG: I’ve never thought about it like that – I feel a lot more comfortable now! I've always known that I'm interested in energy technologies and services, and that's since developed into an appreciation for public sector. I feel a real pride working for the benefit of other people. What keeps you motivated?

NR: Social justice – always. My whole upbringing was activism in the Labour Party from when I was 15 and that led to working for Margaret Beckett, in opposition and then in government. Social justice is a key element in water efficiency as well; it's the people without privilege that are going to suffer the most when the water runs out. It’s trying as much as I can to keep things fair that keeps me motivated.

One of the other things that I'm really passionate about is equity, diversity and inclusion. There's been progress in the water sector – for example, when I was first involved in water we didn't have any women CEOs or CEOs of colour and now we do – but there's still loads to do.

RG: I was a visiting lecturer at Chester University during my time in academia, teaching life cycle assessment on a master’s research programme. I was going through different impact factors such as air quality and human health and it was so interesting to hear how people from different places assign different impacts based on their experience. For some of my students from European countries, climate change was a key impact factor, while for some of the students from other continents, the effect on human health was higher priority. If you don’t have those voices in the room, you lose those different perspectives.

NR: We work really hard on this at Waterwise – I don’t speak on all-white panels because it doesn’t seem right for just white people to be speaking on a subject that affects everybody. One of the important slogans – it’s originally from the disability community – is, ‘Nothing about us without us’.

RG: If you just bring people with the same life experiences , you’re always going to reach the same consensus – and it might not be the best consensus.

NR: The sector is getting better at that but certainly the executive teams look less like the people they serve than the people that are going out knocking on doors and doing the work on the ground. There’s still work to do.

--

Join the CIWEM Member Platform and find a mentor or mentee.

Get the latest CIWEM news and analysis with our free monthly The Environment newsletter – subscribe here.

Jo Caird is editor of The Environment

---