Here are a few examples of impacts arising from the research that has been supported by this Research Chair, as of March 2026:

• Our work on Tiger Worm Toilets has been cited in an International Code Council (ICC) standard for private sewage disposal systems that will incorporate vermifilter toilets as an option for the first time. The draft standard is currently under public consultation until the end of April 2026. More information can be found here: IS-PSDS - ICC.  We believe this can play an important role in the acceptance and scaling up of this technology globally.

• Our work on optimising pyrolysis of faecal sludge has been incorporated into operations by Water For People’s partners in Uganda, who have also been quantitatively evaluating the benefits arising from this collaboration. As a result of the changes to process control and operations that they have incorporated, they have reported improvements including briquettes with 50% higher calorific value and less ash content, allowing longer burning and less smoke, and therefore customer retention for the briquettes has improved from 40% to 75%. They estimate that 60 tons of waste are now being diverted from open dumping annually. We believe this important demonstration and quantification of the benefits under real-world operational conditions will be helpful to provide confidence and encourage wider application of this approach to faecal sludge treatment globally.

• Our work on sanitation stakeholder analysis in Kazakhstan was cited in that country’s Voluntary National Review report that was submitted to the United Nations earlier this year as part of their tracking of progress towards the 2030 Sustainable Development Goals. We believe this work, one of the few published studies in Kazakhstan on sanitation, has shone a light on important challenges being faced by some households in Kazakhstan as a result of the very cold winters there and highlighted ways that stakeholder groups (e.g. NGOs, service providers, government agencies) can work together to address them.

• A Gulper 4 manual pit emptying pump was sent to Nepal, where colleagues from the Nepal Engineering College impressively constructed a revised version using locally available materials, the main difference being construction of the frame from wood instead of stainless steel. The pump was then tested and demonstrated for local authorities in a number of households in Gulariya municipality, and a new business has since been formed to manufacture more pumps in-country. We are continuing to work with them to investigate how best to scale up the use of the pump within faecal sludge management chains across Nepal. They have created a nice video to summarise their work in Gulariya, which you can view here: https://youtu.be/NLKk_c9PSgE?si=q5tXUc_s7ERRA2yH

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