Professor Michael Templeton, Imperial College London

Research Chairs and Senior Research Fellowships 2021-22

Professor Templeton aims to address engineering challenges that currently stand in the way of achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goal of universal access to safely managed sanitation. There is a need for more affordable, easier-to-assemble, better-performing septic tank designs and modular methods for treating faecal sludge in rapidly urbanising cities and emergency settings. Robust scientific understanding of the processes underlying sanitation challenges is crucial, but this must be balanced alongside the needs, desires and constraints of end users. There is a need for fresh, creative thinking to bring down both the capital and operational costs of sanitation in humanitarian and development settings, and to make sanitation a more hygienic and dignified experience. In this Research Chair, Professor Templeton is partnering with Oxfam and Water For People, two of the leading international organisations which are implementing sanitation for the world’s poor. Their sanitation teams in countries including Rwanda, Uganda, Ethiopia, India and Bangladesh will work with Professor Templeton and his research group from Imperial College London to co-devise and test solutions for making sanitation more sustainable, safer, cheaper, and more efficient.

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