Dr. Shirish Singh is a qualified and experienced water and sanitation researcher/professional with a proven track record on strategy/programme/project development and management and possess a PhD degree in sanitary engineering and pollution control from the University of Natural Resources and Applied Life Sciences (BOKU), Vienna, Austria. He has more than 25 years of professional experience in the WASH sector, particularly in South Asia, working with academic institutions, international development organisations, private consulting firms and UN agencies in different capacities, and is experienced working in multidisciplinary culture.
He is Senior Lecturer/Researcher at IHE Delft Institute for Water Education and is responsible for coordinating and teaching in several face-to-face and on-line modules; conducting research and mentoring of MSc thesis as well as developing and implementing projects. He is currently coordinating and implementing – (i) “Humanitarian Sanitation Knowledge Hub” project (USD 1.2 million) (ii) “Transfer of the new MSc Program in Sanitation to South Asia and Sub-Sharan Africa” project (USD 6.2 million) and (iii) “Accelerating the Impact of Education and Training on Non-sewered Sanitation” project (USD 5 million). He completed several tailor-made trainings on sanitation/faecal sludge management (FSM) and provided advisory support for planning, design and construction of 60 m3/day capacity Faecal Sludge Treatment Plant in Rohingya Camp in Cox’s Bazaar, Bangladesh.
Prior to joining IHE Delft, he worked as Head of Urban WASH programme at Practical Action South Asia Regional Office, where he managed the WASH programme by developing the programme strategy and business plan to contribute to national and international goals. He also worked for several years in consulting sector in planning, designing and implementing water and sanitation projects. He enriched his knowledge and skills on technical/engineering aspects of project design and implementation working in the consulting sector, while working in the development sector for almost a decade, he enhanced his skills on community development and integrating social aspects and other cross-cutting issues in projects.
Dr. Singh has been engaged in the urban sanitation sector piloting and demonstrating city-wide inclusive sanitation and FSM and has contributed to recognizing the importance of FSM in Nepal and Odisha, India. He has also successfully planned and implemented a number of DEWATS - decentralized wastewater management systems (mainly constructed wetlands), developed a manual on constructed wetlands for waste water treatment and contributed to the technology transfer of DEWATS (focusing on anaerobic wastewater pre-treatment and constructed wetlands) in Pakistan.
Research Summary
Dr. Singh is interested in carrying out research in sustainable business models in urban sanitation/FSM and enhancing capacity of professionals in the urban sanitation sector through education and training.
Publications
A complete list of publications can be found in Google Scholar.