A network of water scientists and labs collaborating to advance water science
Research into water is different from the investigation of other substances because it so aptly reflects some as yet hidden principles and laws of nature. Many of them show to be utterly neglected or even banned from the standpoint of conventional (academic) sciences since they do not conform to their mechanistic and reductionist models. These profound features are investigated by mostly unconventional water scientists and demonstrate the hidden order of nature, its intelligence, and its sensitivity.
In this field, valuable time, money and resources are lost on inefficient use of human capital, equipment and available expertise. Lack of collaboration, interaction and coordination cause preventable mistakes.
The World Water Lab intends to optimize available global potential, to increase efficient use of funds, to fill this gap of human knowledge about water and related natural aspects by joining forces, and to become stronger together to accelerate a scientific revolution across all sciences.
In cooperation, water scientists could turn the new chapter of water science for the benefit of all of humanity and the planet. In such collaboration, the advance of our understanding, development of novel solutions and beneficial water usage would take new levels of speed and depth.
Why is there a need for collaboration?
Expertise
- Water science is multidisciplinary, one cannot have expertise in all
- Fundamental, theoretical and experimental science require different skill sets
- Different experiments require different equipment and expertise
- Setting up and following protocols require specific experience and expertise
Quality/Results
- Lack of collaboration can lead to wrong conclusions
- Correct analysis and interpretation requires experience and tools
- Protocols need to be checked, verified and reproduced
- Single approaches can lead to errors
Costs
- Cost of equipment is significant
- Steep learning curves for new experiments (time and money)
- Lab set up takes a significant amount of money
- Need to spread currently dispersed funds wisely
- Better opportunities to attract funds together
- Sharing human capital brings less costs and risks
Speed
- Testing hypotheses from various angles will be faster and bring more insight
- Patience is required, results don’t come instantly, collaboration improves efficiency
- Less time spent on learning curve
Credibility
- Water science, especially in its less conventional branches, can be controversial; it needs to become stronger to establish a new scientific field
- A shared knowledge base, WaterWiki, publication database will give credibility
- Preserve history of what we collective know and have built up (urgency)
- Keep/collect/preserve what water science has achieved in its long history, wisdom from the older generation, protocols, equipment, set ups, theoretical considerations
Stability
- Build a long term vision to bring stability in the field to be able to do fundamental
and explorative research (without losing the pioneering mindset!) - Preparing a strong fundamental theoretical basis for new science
- A harbour for building long term research lines
- Becoming less dependent on individuals and individual labs by having the stability in
the collaborative network (hosted by the World Water Community) - Building a new way of doing science
Education/Awareness/Service
- Need for a collectively shared new scientific foundation
- Creating WaterWiki, Water (University) curriculum is a collective effort
- Need for a collectively developed quality mark (World Water Label) to educate
consumers/entrepreneurs on the implications of research results - Need to increase public water awareness (events, interviews, webinars, stories)
- Enabling access to high-quality water science, research and testing for
entrepreneurs/businesses and organizations
Potential impact
- Understanding water will advance many fields (biology, chemistry, physics, weather/climate, earth sciences, ecology, health, agriculture, nourishment, industry, economy, metaphysics, psychology and consciousness, etc.)
- Water is the key to solutions and revolutions in many applications (energy, health, agriculture, climate, life, nature)
Your benefits upon joining (individual scientist, lab, entrepreneur, inventor)
- Stronger reputation as a group, trust and credibility
- Access to experts from other fields
- Access to other perspectives outside conventional science
- Visibility (for funders and amongst each other, knowing what is happening and what everyone is doing)
- Access to resources (equipment, etc.)
- Shared ‘burden’ to build your field (together each achieves more)
- Ability to take on and participate in bigger projects (larger than you can start alone)
- Build education together to bring in and interest new and young people
- Raise the quality of your research (reproducing/replicating work, falsification, developing hypotheses and protocols, new ways of doing science, theoretical understanding)
- Access to a flexible (scientific) workforce (less human resource risks)
- Reduced expenditure (shared resources, expertise, etc.)
- Increased efficiency (shorter learning curve, use of expertise, etc.)
- Being able to focus on what you are good at and what you like to do
- Less overhead cost and time (shared admin, financials, marketing, etc.) (>50% is often spent on getting funds)
- More peace and funds to do fundamental research and explorative research
- Being part of a community, more fun
Do's
- Create an open, transparent, harmonious culture with respect, open discussions, positive criticism, including many perspectives
- Act based upon common drive, intrinsic motivation, shared vision and positive impact (and not to focus on intellectual property, contracts, publication pressure)
Membership Core Values
- We are open.. open to new ideas, open to other views, new people…
- We are transparent… in our communication, in our business, as well as within ourselves, we are becoming pure, free from our patterns and filters
- We are respectful… to other views, to other people, to water and nature
- We are critical and self critical… we need to think twice, we need to be extra precise, because our field requires this
- We are engaged… with our whole heart and being, because we love what we do
- We are humble… we are aware that we don’t know it all, and that nature is so magnificent
- We are in awe of the wonder of Water
Membership Behavior
- We expect you to live your essence… to be yourself, and do what fits your being
- We expect you to actively participate… with your unique voice and personal story
- We expect you to share meaningfully… your work, resources, and your thoughts
- We expect you to contribute valuably to the whole… always taking into account the bigger picture of the World Water Lab and what we are trying to accomplish together
Why the World Water Community?
- World Water Community is a foundation with a mission to harbour World Water Lab and keep going for years to come, independent of individuals, specific labs or locations
- Community brings in all perspectives, bridging water guardians, wisdom keepers, scientists from different disciplines, consumers, entrepreneurs, businesses, organizations, etc.
- Community brings in valuable expertise (marketing, financing, social media, product manufacturing)
- Community has outreach, visibility (marketing channels, social media)
- Community platform enables discussions amongst all who are interested without borders
- Community brings transparency for donations and crowdfunding
World Water Community platform has all required functionalities
- Project management system (time tracking, tasks, financials, projects, workspaces, CRM, private chat, and much more)
- Shared knowledge base for creating WaterWikis, publication lists
- Crowdfunding platform
- Member blog posting, groups, discussions, forums
- Marketplace for resources and services and products/solutions
- (Member generated) lab and organization listings
- Member search to find each other based on expertise and background
- Learning management system for (member generated) courses
- Events calendar and booking system
- Range of software tools for event organizing, video conferencing, etc.
