 One of the research themes at myHE is aquatic ecosystems and water quality. Water quality issues are a global problem. The diminishing of water supplies, the diminishing of potable water quality, the pollution of waterways and coastal areas all impact upon human societies. In addition to that, we focus quite a lot on wetlands and wetlands ecology and the livelihoods that people get from wetlands, particularly in the global south. Wetlands are diminishing at a steady rate. They've been diminishing at a steady rate for the last 50 or 60 years, maybe even longer. That diminishing of wetland area and wetland quality affects many people. It's very often the rural poor and those who can least afford to be impacted, in fact, are the biggest sufferers here. We focus quite a lot on biogeochemical cycling, the movement of nutrients, the movement of heavy metals through ecosystems, the relationship between wetlands and, for example, nitrous oxide emissions, which is a greenhouse gas. We look at water quality issues, for example, in mine waste from Zambia and what rural wetlands have in mopping up the pollutants but also what is the impact of those pollutants on mine waste. So our mission is to try to support through good research and through good science the development and capacity building and the educational needs of a whole range of countries. We focus on a number of target countries which are particularly in need. At the moment we have a lot of activity, for example in Rwanda. We have activity in Kenya and Ethiopia. The challenges are definitely there. We cannot pretend that there are not serious challenges. The global governance of water still needs some way to go. Individual countries have their technical and their governance and their capacity building issues but you have to just keep on building, building and building in terms of connecting the knowledge with the policy. UNESCO IHE has a very strong network of partners in the globe around the world and we work with them in order to try to solve the issues which they really recognise because they are the partners who are working in the various countries. My blood is diluted by water. We all need water. The ecosystems are dependent on water. Water cannot be disconnected from the landscape and it cannot be disconnected from global governance. Water in fact is everywhere and the more we understand and the more we are enthusiastic about understanding how not only hydrology works but how ecosystems function maybe we can make a small difference to increasing pressures across the world.