William Dunbar Medal
Award
The William Dunbar Medal is awarded in recognition of outstanding contributions in applied technical development in the field of sewage and waste treatment and disposal.
Donated by IFAT, the World's Leading Trade Fair for Water, Sewage, Waste, and Raw Materials Management, organized by Messe München, the award has been adopted by the European Water Association (EWA).
The medal is awarded every two years to an individual from an EWA member country and is presented by the EWA President. Originally, the Dunbar Medal was handed over during the gala dinner of IFAT's opening ceremony, but in recent years it has been presented at conferences such as the EWA Brussels Conference and the EWA/ÖWAV Joint Conference.
The award includes a certificate and a gold medal, which bears William Dunbar's portrait on one side and the logos of the EWA and IFAT on the other.
The medal is awarded in memory of William Philips Dunbar (1863-1922), a pioneer in public health and sanitation. As Director of the Government Hygienic Institute in Hamburg, he played a key role in combating the 1892 cholera epidemic. His improvements in the detection of cholera and other waterborne pathogens, together with his pioneering work in urban sanitation, helped shape modern water and wastewater management and earned him international recognition that continues to this day.
Awardee 2025
Professor Jules van Lier
Professor Jules van Lier, a renowned expert in wastewater treatment and environmental engineering, is a full professor at Delft University of Technology and also holds a position at UN-IHE in the Netherlands. He earned both his MSc and PhD from Wageningen University and has dedicated his career to advancing cost-effective solutions in anaerobic treatment, resource recovery, and water reuse. With over 300 scientific publications, he has made significant contributions to the field and served as chair of the IWA Anaerobic Digestion Specialist Group. He is also a member of the IWA Fellow Programme, and his online course on anaerobic treatment is widely respected.
On May 28th, during the EWA/NWA Spring Seminar in Oslo, he received the prestigious William Dunbar Medal in recognition of his achievements. (see picture below)
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Arthur Guischet, Prof Jules van Lier, Collin Davis (Messe München) and Harsha Ratnaweera -
Award winners
| Year | Award Winner | Country |
|---|---|---|
2025 |
Professor Jules B. van Lier |
NL |
| 2023 | Professor Hallvard Ødegaard | NO |
| 2021 | Professor Jörg E. Drewes | DE |
| 2019 | Prof. Emeritus Jean Berlamont | BE |
| 2017 | Prof. Dr. Milenko Roš | SI |
| 2015 | Prof. László Somlyódy | HU |
| 2013 | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Karl-Heinz Rosenwinkel | DE |
| 2012 | Philippe Duchène | FR |
| 2010 | Prof. OBE, PHD, FCIWEM, CWEM, CEnv Peter Matthews | UK |
| 2008 | Prof. Jiri Wanner, MSc, PhD, DSc | CZ |
| 2005 | o. Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Dr. techn. Helmut Kroiss | AT |
| 2002 | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Rolf Kayser | DE |
| 1999 | Prof. Mogens Henze | DK |
| 1996 | Prof. Dr.-Ing.E.h. Klaus R. Imhoff | DE |
| 1993 | Geoffrey Ashworth Truesdale | UK |
| 1990 | em. o. Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Franz Pöpe | DE |
| 1987 | Prof. Dr.-Ing. Wilhelm von der Emde | AT |
| 1984 | Herbert A. Hawkes | UK |
| 1981 | Prof. Dr. sc. nat. E.A. Thomas | CH |
| 1978 | Dr. Ir. Aale Pasveer | NL |
| 1975 | Dr. A.L. Downing | UK |