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2025 Summit for Water: Nature-Based Solutions: Science to Policy to Practice

Banner for the 2025 Water Summit: Nature Based Solutions: Science to Policy to Practice. Banner includes event dates and hosts
 

Join WATER Institute for the 2025 Saint Louis University Summit for Water: Nature-Based Solutions: Science to Policy to Practice on March 19 and 20, 2025.

2025 SLU Summit for Water

Saint Louis University’s WATER Institute and the National Great Rivers Research and Education Center (NGRREC) are proud to present the 2025 SLU Summit for Water: Nature-Based Solutions: Science to Policy to Practice.

Join leaders and experts from academia, industry, nonprofits and government at the SLU Summit for Water to share ideas, learn about the latest research, and tackle some of the most critical and persistent challenges facing our most fundamental resource: water. The sixth annual SLU Summit for Water will focus on nature-based solutions and how to translate science to policy and policy to practice, engaging stakeholders across sectors and disciplines to join the WATER Institute’s mission of advancing water innovation to serve humanity.

2025 Summit Highlights

Wednesday, March 19

8 a.m.: Registration Opens

Location: Busch Student Center Main Floor

Registration opens for the in-person summit. Coffee will be available to attendees.

8:30-8:45 a.m.: Summit Welcome and Opening Address

Location: Busch Student Center Wool Ballrooms, Rooms 171-172

Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E., director of the WATER Institute, will welcome attendees and share key announcements.

Michael Lewis, Ph.D., SLU's provost and chief academic officer, will provide the opening address to kick off the 2025 SLU Summit for Water.

8:45-9:30 a.m.: Panel 1: Exploring the Roles of Nature-Based Solutions: Definitions and Implications

This panel session will introduce nature-based solutions and discuss their essential role in addressing today’s water challenges. Nature-based solutions leverage our understanding of natural systems to improve water quality, reduce flood risks, enhance climate resilience, and support biodiversity. Panelists from this session will highlight the importance of implementing nature-based solutions to ensure water access and resilience.

9:30-9:50 a.m.: Coffee Break

Enjoy coffee or hot tea and network with fellow attendees between sessions.

9:50-10:35 a.m.: Panel 2: Science

This panel session will focus on the science of nature-based solutions, and how current research efforts can support the development of new and improved solutions to different water challenges. 

10:45-11:30 a.m.: Panel 3: Policy

This panel session will address the implementation of nature-based solutions in real-world scenarios. Panelists will share their expertise in translating science to policy, as well as discuss how they have dealt with challenges in their work. 

11:30 a.m.-1 p.m.: Lunch

Complimentary boxed lunches and soft drinks will be provided to in-person attendees.

1-1:10 p.m.: Keynote Introduction

Amanda Cox, Ph.D., director of the WATER Institute and associate professor of civil engineering, will share remarks on water security while welcoming keynote speaker, Todd Bridges, Ph.D.

1:10-2 p.m.: Keynote Address from Todd S. Bridges, Ph.D.
Headshot for Todd Bridges

Keynote Speaker Biography

Todd S. Bridges, Ph.D. 

Professor of Practice, Resilient and Sustainable Systems
Institute for Resilience Infrastructure Systems and College of Engineering, University of Georgia

Todd Bridges, Ph.D., is a professor of practice in resilient and sustainable Systems in the College of Engineering at the University of Georgia. Before joining UGA in 2023, Bridges was a research scientist for 30 years with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers (USACE), where for 17 years he served as the Army’s Senior Research Scientist (ST) for Environmental Science. Over his career, Bridges has led more than $250 million in research projects and programs. In 2010, he founded and then led the Corps’ Engineering With Nature program. Among his 100 publications, Bridges led a five-year collaboration across the public and private sectors to develop and publish International Guidelines on Natural and Nature-Based Features for Flood Risk Management. Bridges received a Distinguished Presidential Rank Award from President Joe Biden in 2021 for exceptional leadership, accomplishments and service.


2:05-2:50 p.m.: Panel 4: Practice

This panel session will explore different ways in which nature-based solutions are currently being implemented in the region. Panelists will share their experiences in the field of nature-based solutions applications and highlight the successes and challenges that they have experienced.

3-3:45 p.m.: Panel 5: Nature-Based Solutions for a Dynamic World

This panel session will provide a final reflection on how nature-based solutions may help us address future challenges in a changing planet. Panelists will share their insights and expertise on addressing how nature-based solutions may be implemented in the future, and how they will be an essential tool to address ongoing and future water challenges.

3:45-4 p.m.: Closing Remarks

Dick Warner, senior scientist, National Great Rivers Research; professor emeritus, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Amanda Cox, Ph.D., P.E. director of the WATER Institute, will provide concluding remarks to close the summit's first day.

4-6 p.m.: Networking Reception

Location: Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building, Atrium (First Floor Entrance) and WATER Institute Research Labs (Lower Level).

Attendees are invited to a networking reception in the new Interdisciplinary Science and Engineering Building for light appetizers, wine, beer and non-alcoholic beverages

Thursday, March 20

Zoom Webinar

Please register to receive the Zoom Webinar link. If you have already registered and have not received the event link, please email water@slu.edu at your earliest convenience.

Cost

The conference is free to attend and open to the public.

Registration 

Registration for the summit can now be completed online.

PDH Certificates

We will offer completion certificates to professional engineers for professional development hours for each session you attend on the day of the event. Based on Missouri guidelines, the panels and the keynote presentations will each earn one hour, and each research presentation will earn 0.5 hour. Please indicate during registration that you would like to receive PDH certificates. After the event, we will verify your attendance and follow up with the certificates in PDF format.

Unfortunately, we cannot provide certificates for those who view the recorded content after the summit.

About the WATER Institute

The Water Access, Technology, Environment and Resources (WATER) Institute at Saint Louis University is an interdisciplinary research institute with the mission of advancing water innovation to serve humanity. To learn more, please visit slu.edu/water.

About National Great Rivers

Our mission at National Great Rivers is to study the ecology of the great rivers, the workings of the watersheds that feed them, and the ties to the river communities that use them.  To learn more about our organization, please visit ngrrec.org.  

Questions?

Please contact Amanda Cox, director of the WATER Institute, at water@slu.edu with questions or concerns regarding this event.