FWR Committee welcomes new Chair

Ethny Childs

29 February 2024

FWR Committee welcomes new Chair

We are delighted to announce that Simon Spooner has been appointed the new Chair of the FWR Committee, supported by Oliver Grievson as Vice Chair. The FWR Committee is leading the FWR Community, an innovative and independent-thinking community of water professionals offering guidance and strategic thought leadership for our work in the water sector. The Community will use an integrated, systems-thinking approach to water issues, with careful consideration of their interactions with other environmental disciplines such as land and air.

The IES would like to thank Eric Valentine for holding the position of Interim Chair for the FWR Committee to oversee the transition of FWR joining the IES family.

Meet the new Chair - Simon Spooner

Simon Spooner is Associate Director and fellow for Water Quality and Carbon at AtkinsRéalis. He has 30 years' experience in water quality and water resources management covering modelling, regulation and policy, working with UK water companies and also overseas - especially during more than 10 years in China, leading EU, World Bank and UK government cooperation projects in urban environment development and water policy. He is an honorary professor at Nottingham University (UK and China campuses) and has authored and edited reference works for OECD and EU, as well as Foundation for Water Research publications.

Meet the new Vice Chair - Oliver Grievson

Professor Oliver Grievson is an Associate Director in Regulatory Monitoring at the Global Engineering Consultancy, AtkinsRéalis, as well as being a Royal Academy of Engineering Visiting Professor in Digital Water at the University of Exeter. Oliver is a multi-award winning technical leader in regulatory monitoring, helping clients with issues around water & wastewater monitoring. He currently holds four professional charters and five fellowships.

Oliver also volunteers in many roles in the industry including as the Chair of the IWA Digital Water Programme, Director of SWIG. and regularly publishes around the subject of Digital Water and instrumentation. He has been involved in the Foundation for Water Research for over ten years and also serves as the Chair of the Sustainable Wastewater Management Panel.

The Committee are informed by three Technical Panels. Given the broad nature of the water sector, these three Technical Panels not only focus on issues that fall in their remit, but also explore the areas of crossover between the panels, as well as with other specialisms and disciplines. In recognition of the need for a joined-up approach to the issues facing the water sector, collaboration will be a fundamental aspect of the work of the Technical Panels and they will seek to engage with external organisations where appropriate.

Find out more about the technical panels and FWR Community

Get involved in the work of the FWR Community

Keep up to date with the work of the FWR Community by signing up to our free dedicated newsletter.
If you are a water professional and are interested in getting involved in the work of the FWR Community, contact Ethny Childs (ethny@the-ies.org), Communities & Partnership Lead at the IES.
The Community will have a collaborative ethos and welcomes partnership with other organisations in the sector who are strategically aligned. If you are interested in partnering with the FWR Community, contact Ethny Childs (ethny@the-ies.org),

Analysis from the archive

Analysis: Interview with our first two REnvTechs

Analysis: Environmental targets consultation: IES response