 Good afternoon. Dear participants, honored guests, colleagues, good afternoon. It's my pleasure to welcome you to the graduation day of the Erasmus Moodles Master Programs, Blackwisk Management, and Groundwatch. I now give the floor to the director of IHE, Professor Eddie Moodles. Thank you very much. And I would like to welcome all of you, also those that are online. I think it's always a special day than at the end of the day when we're seeing a lot of people very nicely dressed up here. A lot of expectations, I think, as well. And I think those expectations are also based on the fact that I think this is also a sort of a ceremony where we try to celebrate a couple of things. One is, of course, that this will be a new phase for a lot of you over here. But also quite important for us is the collaboration that we have with the different institutions to Europe. And we very much are supporting this collaboration and would like to strengthen this even further. So for us, having you here from all parts of the world, traveling around Europe, coming back to Delft, leaving Delft again and going somewhere else. But hopefully in the end, and that's my hope, is that you always become one of the water leaders that we urgently need in the world. With what you see happening at the moment in different countries all over, you see that there are a lot of disasters coming. It's not only about those disasters. It's also about the needs. The needs that are there already for some time, but those needs are increasing. We see climate change making it even more difficult to comply to those needs. And we think that with your help, we hopefully are able to solve that. So that's why I count on you. And that's why I'm so happy that you're here today and that we can celebrate this end of a journey together with you. But like I said, I also hope that this is the start of a new journey. And that you will show us how we should do that. So with that, I would like to welcome everybody, also your supporters, also the people who made this possible here, both family that missed you for some time, but also people from administration in the different parts where you were to make sure that you had a room, that there was a classroom, that there was a laptop, that there were people that were in the same room to share knowledge. And I hope that you will continue doing this. So with that, I would like to give the floor back to Anik, who will guide us to today's ceremony. And I hope you will enjoy that. Anik. Thank you, Adi. I would now like to invite my colleague, Dr. Vishwa Patashivya, to come. Thank you, Anik. Graduating students, I see many happy faces, the family members, colleagues, ladies and gentlemen. Today is a happy day. Happy day because 50 of you are graduating from two programs, flood risk management and ground watch. And next year, we'll have graduation of four programs. And I guess it will be about 100 students. When you started about 13 years back, we could never imagine this kind of numbers. So I'm very happy about that. I hope that you are also happy. And I'm sure that these graduating students, you'll be using your new knowledge as a weapon to solve the problem of water. Today, the 10th batch of flood risk management students are graduating. And with this one, I think we have about more than 200 flood risk in the world working in all countries, all continents, in different organizations, solving global water challenges, global flooding issues. I'm very happy about that. And when I meet other colleagues from other organizations in different conferences and meetings, and when they talk about this program, whoa, I feel that maybe this program has an impact. There are many people who talk about this and they are happy about it. So the program is also well known. There are many who are talking about this. So that's very good. And also to let you know that European Commission has leveled this program sometimes back as a success story of their Erasmus program. So we are very happy about that. I also take this opportunity to thank the European Commission for funding this program. And I would let you know that also we are happy that they have funded us again, flood risk management and also ground watch, my colleague Tebo is here. So both programs are funded to run for about five, six more years. So we'll have this show even in the future coming years. So that's very good. I think I take this opportunity also to congratulate this students of flood risk management and ground watch. I think collectively you'll all contribute to solving global water challenge and you'll carry your flag in the future in all parts of the world. Congratulations. Thank you. Please, Vishwa, you can stay on stage and I ask Professor Eddie Morse to join him. Because now we proceed with the first part of the awarding ceremony. First the IHE group. I will call out the graduates names. And one by one you can come to the stage and receive your diploma and we have a photo moment. The first we start with Ms. Christiana Tragato dos Santos from Brazil with distinction. Mr. Nabil Cortiani from Tunisia. Let me continue. Mr. Emil Oosterhuis from Netherlands. Shibashi from Ethiopia. Congratulations to the first graduates. We now continue with the next speaker, Professor Krebs, Peter Krebs, from TUD Braestem. Thank you very much. It's nice to be here, main head director. Dear colleagues and friends, dear family members, dear students, you are the main actress of today. So I will address some words to you. Probably when you received that you were successful when you received the message that you were successful with your application and this was very competitive among hundreds of applications you were chosen to be the students funded by the Erasmus program, you were starting to hesitate. Is it worthwhile doing this? Because you saw this complexity, you can't go through more complexly organized master courses than the Erasmus courses. Three or four different universities, three or four different times you have to look for an apartment and for accommodation and you're on your own. You leave your friends at home and you come to a completely new environment, most of you to a new continent which you haven't experienced before. So is it worthwhile doing so? But then obviously, since you are here, you said yes to that question because you're very engaged with water and you see water as one of the most important, not elements in a chemical sense, but elements as a basics of life which is indispensable. And that's why you wanted to come here to Europe in order to go through this course and to take all the load onto you. We have more pressing water problems than in any other times. We are overusing resources. We are deteriorating their qualities. We are adding new chemical substances literally every day to surface and groundwater. This is a real channel. We want to keep and we want to improve water security and water safety. Now groundwater and managing extremes since flood risk management turned out not to be a flood related course only but it also started to engage with droughts which is very important from my perspective. So dealing with groundwater and extremes are two of the main aspects of the most important aspects of this when we talk about water security. We try to teach you methods and what I have seen in a summary this morning really convinced me that we were successful. This is not always clear when you look at the faces in the lectures but today it became clear that methodology wise you are extremely well equipped. I heard also some feedback that the topic is rather narrow but yes, but it's just the case. Method wise you're equipped with an extremely large methodology toolbox which you can apply to different areas and what we have seen in the lectures of this afternoon that is really true. They were not concentrating on what was taught in the Erasmus courses. So take home, there is no tailor-made solution. There are tailor-made methodologies to come to a tailor-made solution and the solution may look very differently depending on where you implement it. But the course is not only about water and science and methods, the course is also and equally important about coming together from all the continents of the globe becoming friends within a relatively short time and very convincingly you were showing this with your videos of this earlier afternoon where you showed us that you really had a good time. So it's about tolerance against or with other cultures, with other people around the world, with other countries. It's about open-mindedness and please bring that home. Also, this is a factor that is needed more urgently than ever before and try to make and advocate that water is not the reason for separating countries but for unifying countries. So it's an element of peace, it's not an element of war. Although there are always the rumors that next wars are about water, I'm not convinced. Next pieces should be about water and you are the important people bringing that to all the parts in the world. Now we are going to leave Delft, maybe you're going to leave Europe, maybe you're going back home, maybe you're looking for a PhD somewhere in Europe, I don't know, but you split, you disperse, but you became a member of a huge family at the same time. And I wish you all the best to keep this family membership to bring this message also out there into the world. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Thank you very much. And I'll call back director and Vishwa to say it. Can we go with the awarding? Ms. Betul Aslanthas from Turkey. Oh, she's not here. Then we continue. Mr. Sherefdin Hula-Milikam Babalola from Nigeria. Mr. Mohamed Ahmed Mohamed Ibrahim Elgora from Egypt. Ms. Doreen Baudra Holson from Germany. Mr. Bashir Hussainli from Azerbaijan. And from Nigeria. I'm Shia Khalid from Pakistan. Now continue with the next speaker from the University of Barcelona, Professor Allen Bateman. Hello. Dear parents, dear colleagues, we had to congratulate the students today. I'm very happy because they finish finally. We have, I don't remember, about 10 years is the first batch. And I feel very emotional because I never think that this happened 10 years during, it's so hard. Perhaps 200 students, I don't know, more than 200 students. It's a lot of people, it's a lot of people. And I don't prepare nothing for today because this is 10 years and you don't have to prepare nothing. But I remember my first speech is compare your life with rivers. And all the people, oh my God, rivers and life are the same. Yes, your life is like rivers. It's like rivers because rivers change during the tragic. In some way this is gone. In some way it's very hard with hydraulic jumps like in your life, like in your life. You born very up in the mountain and go to the sea and when you are right to the sea, you become. Yes, life is like rivers. I also, perhaps the fourth batch, I speak about the Beatles. Oh yes, the Beatles, very interesting the Beatles because they have a lot of words that perhaps help you in your life. Like imagine that someone sings today or other other sentences that are very interesting. Then I feel a little bit sad because life is passing so fast and for you also, like pass so fast, you have to do a lot of things now. Don't do it tomorrow, do it now. Okay, and I perhaps is the sentence that you heard when you were very little. Make the things now. Yes, you have to do now because the future is tomorrow. Years pass very fast. Well, I only say that have good life, love equations, please. Yes, I know that you don't like equations but are my family. And perhaps you, I wish you the best of the life in the future. Okay, thank you very much. Good day on stage. And I'll ask the director and Vishwa. Mr. Andres Philip Cortes Moreno from Colombia. Mr. Brooklyn Subhiyam, Elavos Chagan from India. From Greece. Mr. Adriana Tarkya Hurtado from Mr. Thomas Paolo Suniga De Leon from the Philippines. Thank you, gentlemen. You can take a seat again. We now continue with the next speaker. I would like to invite Dr. Simon Wushan from the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. The floor is yours. Yeah, good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen. Dear graduates of both studies. It's really a privilege to be here at this special day for you. As we could see from the presentation and the program that we had before, a lot of good memories will remain with the good interpretation of FRA students. But you should be aware that together with these memories you obtain also very good competence. You are actually able to work in every kind of working or other environment and improve that during your study, during finding your staying, during organizing your life in different countries at different universities that you visit. And one thing is certain. If you decide to remain in the field of flood risk management or water management in general, you won't run out of challenges. This year, I don't know, we had a major flood in Slovenia one month ago. Almost one-third of Slovenia was heavily damaged. But last year we were talking about extreme droughts. Most of general public forgot what happened last year and, of course, think of water management problems only in terms of the excess of water quantities in terms of floods that we are facing this year. And every such event proves that it is extremely difficult to have a sort of a common understanding of, let's say, flood risk-related processes. It is very difficult to communicate these problems with general public. And here I see the major role of you as an expert in this field that you will be able to help build a society that will be less vulnerable and more resilient to all these events. Maybe as a suggestion for your future career, I think that the thing that Professor Alan said before to compare life with the river is a very good one. So go with the flow and let yourself be surprised by the life that is in front of you in terms of the professional challenges and, of course, in every other sort of personal lives. And at the end, I would just like to congratulate you and wish you all the best in your future life. Eddie and Vishwa, can you join me? Ms. Christina Unger from Kazakhstan. Ms. Livia Beatriz Marchado de Almeida. Take a seat. One more person who we would like to ask your attention. Ms. Zagar Almadyan from Iran, please come to the stage. Now, she is almost finished. We wish her the very best of luck in completing the final steps towards the graduation. She has a little extension to the program, but we wish her all the best. I'll come to the awarding part for the Groundwatch graduates. I would like to ask her on stage for a short introduction. Thank you, Nick. They are guests, they are colleagues, of course, they are graduates, and in particular, they are groundwatches. I'm very happy, as we are all, it's a word that comes back a lot, but I am very happy that we are already at the seventh graduation day of Groundwatch, and that is a lucky number. And indeed, Nico, this morning already mentioned that you're lucky, but I think more than luck, it took you blood, sweat, and tears to get where you are now, and in that sense, you all really deserve great compliments. Some of you are still in the middle of that process, so maybe a little more anxious than others, but as a dear colleague of ours, you used to say, in the end, it will be fine. And that, in fact, has quite a deeper meaning than we often think about. It's a process. Basically, it seems forever ago, but it was two years ago you came to Lisbon, but there is a little bit more about that, and it was still COVID time. Omicron, lockdown. It seems to really talk about those times, but they do remind us on how fragile we are and also how we are actually shaping or perhaps misshaping the world. We heard a bit about that as well, and we could read in Science Advanced yesterday that, in fact, it said there that the Earth is beyond six to the nine planetary boundaries, and freshwater access is actually one of those boundaries. And, yeah, of course, I quote, they mentioned, Earth is now well outside of the safe operating space for humanity, very dramatic. But the good news is that there is still time. Time is running out, but there is still time, and we need you more than ever to deal with the issues that lie ahead of us. So today here you are at the end of your journey, to your journey, or almost at the end of that journey. And it is a very important chapter in your life, of course. You have finalized a two-year master's study in which you have gained knowledge and skills in a field that is very precious to all of us, namely that of the largest liquid freshwater reservoir on Earth, that of groundwater, and it is invisible, but then, of course, also important. You belong to a group of about 150 ground watches at the moment. We are also growing, and you are selected from a group of over 5,000 applicants over the past eight years. So you are also, in that sense, a group that has that privilege but also has deserve. And, of course, that the successful addition of groundwater is always, also, thanks to the partners and the staff, the scientific and sport staff, they are always there to guarantee the success. And also the many associated partners, of course, on board. We have over 40 associated partners in a big network global. And many of you have actually joined them for thesis or internship basis. And as, actually, Vishwa was mentioning, we are also happy to announce that we are going to continue to grow and be with each other over the coming years thanks to additional funding by the EU and other donors. So now that you are officially going to be a groundwater, of course, you will also be the ambassador of groundwater itself, because with this diploma comes great responsibility. You shall share your thoughts, your plier thoughts, your ideas, knowledge and skills with respect to transparency and how to protect the freshwater reservoir and how to optimize this resource in a changing and a growing world. You will share that knowledge with others because that is the whole philosophy behind these programs that we try to disseminate and build skills that can then be further built by you. So it is now your moment, and it is your time indeed to become world leaders or leaders or any way you want to call it, but some type of road you will have in your future professional life, whether it is in academia, whether it is in private or governmental sectors. This is the moment that we will wait, actually, for the ideas that you bring and the initiatives that you will take. So having said that, please go ahead and do that but do it in the role that suits you best and that you feel most comfortable with. So good luck with that, and we will be with you. We are proud of you, thank you. Thank you, Tibor. May I ask Eddie to join Tibor on stage? Mr. Mohamed Alkoud from State of Palestine. Ms. Deborah Ayole Dele from Nigeria. Ms. Sarata Darbu from Gambia. Ms. Tasnia Ayusha Esa from Bangladesh. Payless Yoga from Germany. With Mrs. Montesinos on stage, Dr. Teresa Taylor from University of Lisbon. Good afternoon, dear IT director, dear colleagues, dear students, and your families who are following online. It's a pleasure for me today to share the stage with you, to celebrate your graduation and success of flood risk and ground watch programs. European Commission evaluated these programs and get us extra five years of funding and that makes us very happy. I'm aware, and now I'm addressing these words specifically for ground watches, I'm aware that for ground watches the first semester in Lisbon is never particularly easy. Not to say particularly difficult. A school of engineering, too many tests and assignments, not to mention that we're still wearing masks and giving hybrid classes which for me are more difficult than in Zoom. After listening to you this morning I believe you had very little time to socialize in Lisbon and to discover a beautiful and historical city in the welcoming small country, Portugal, that has been opened to the new world particularly to the global south since the 15th century. For ground watchers in Lisbon is always the first step stop in Europe. And for many of you, the first time you leave, you are away from home, you are away from your family and your comfort zone. But Europe also represents for you as it represented for me and for us all a land of opportunities. And now after the two years moving from Lisbon to Delft and to Dresden going forward and backwards and also with an important stop for socializing in Dinha for two weeks during the field work I believe that you are all now better prepared to face the major challenges of your life and looming over your future. Coming from Portugal where surfing is becoming almost as popular as football I would like to remind you that in your lives there will always be waves some rather big and if you think about Covid or the heat waves or social waves or even the war but the important thing is that you are ready to learn or to surf them and learning to surf the waves of life means learning to adapt to changes and challenges rather than trying to resist and control them. The climatic crisis which flooded recently Central Spain in Madrid Greece or Libya but left western Iberian peninsula still counting the raindrops continuously raises awareness through the importance of groundwater to make groundwater more visible like Tibor already said today is also now in her hands and I trust you can make it a toast to the ones that are here today and to the ones who couldn't come like Christian and Rodrigo that wish you all the best and also a toast to Luís our former coordinator who is not anymore with us so enjoy life and count with us Tibor and Eric and you please join me Mr. César Augusto Espinosa from Colombia Ms. José García Salazar from Argentina from Zambia we continue with the last group of the broadwatch to trace the group so I ask back to the stage Professor Krebs I don't know whether you prepared a separate speech for this group but I think we can just go ahead and award the diploma thank you Tibor and Eric please can you join Professor Krebs Mr. Olavala Yoshua Abidakou Ms. Mehak Hamid Mr. Chibuke Emmanuel Orazulike from Nigeria I ask your attention they are all part of the groundwatch group they finished however they have to be a bit more patient before graduating we wish them the very best of luck on the completion of the towards the diploma awarding I will now call you one by one to stage Tim Ms. Tania Stefania Agudelo Mendieta from Colombia Jiang from China apologies for the program for today I hope you enjoyed it and with this I would like to take the opportunity to thank everybody for doing that part especially a big thanks to our party universities and for the ladies of the planning office who made sure you have your diploma today congratulations I would like to stress that this diploma is a unique issue handle it with care in case of losses you cannot be given a new one the institute does not hold copies we therefore strongly advise you to make a photo copy PDF scan of your diploma and diploma supplement for safety after this ceremony ends I ask you to please leave with us after the portage leaves the auditorium and we then group outside the building for group pictures and now give the floor back to the director for which she dealt to close the room thank you very much I would like to congratulate all of you I think you did very well so I would like to give you a hand of applause and like I said in the beginning I'm really proud of this collaboration that we have through Europe but I'm also very proud to hear all the countries that are coming from so many parts of the world and I hope that you will also go back either to those parts or other parts and you will take up this role this water leader role that we really need and leadership for us is that and I hope that we helped you to at least know what methods you can use but also that you then stand up what you know about and speak out to others and help them actually to find a good way where you can go I also think that by that you got some privileges and the privileges is among others which your diploma that is there but you also got responsibilities in there and that's about this speaking up I think the this with a river is a very nice one and I think like what's said sometimes it's rough, sometimes it's easy you go with the flow but that can be a hard way to go for and that's why we also gave you this book it's a small booklet that was with small stories and poems in there that were made by predecessors of yours but also by other people in the water sector so I hope that in the time that you either want to relax or that you have a rough time and maybe you will find a story in there that will inspire you and will help you also to find your way forward again so with that I would like to thank you all again I also would like to thank all the people that helped making this possible and I would like to invite you first for the picture in the later on for drinks and a bite thank you