Bio
Dr. Sharon B. Megdal is Director of the Water Resources Research Center and Professor of Environmental Science at the University of Arizona. Her work bridges the academic, practitioner, and civil society communities through water policy and management research, education, and engagement programs. Recognized for her local, national, and international work, Sharon Megdal is widely published and a sought after speaker and has won multiple awards for her contributions to water research and education. Current professional activities include serving on the leadership team for the Water & Tribes Initiative | Colorado River Basin, the Board for the Kasser Joint Institute for Food, Water, and Energy Security, and the Global Leadership Council for the Women in Water Diplomacy Network. Sharon Megdal holds a Ph.D. in Economics from Princeton University.

Talk
World Water Development Report

Bio
Laura Imburgia works as Senior Programme Specialist of the Water and Gender Component of UNESCO World Water Assessment Programme, where she supervises the implementation of water and gender projects, capacity development, policy analysis and advocacy. Laura is an Agronomist, and doctor in International Development with specialisation in irrigation, water governance and gender.

Bio
Dr. Róisín Burke is an Assistant Professor of International Law with the Netherlands Institute of Human Rights, Utrecht University. Róisín’s work has cut across the areas of international criminal law; international humanitarian law; human rights law; women, peace and security; peace operations; peacebuilding; international security law; legal pluralism; and public international law. Over the past couple of years, she led a project related to women in water diplomacy and environmental peacebuilding in the South Caucasus, instigating the Women in Water Diplomacy Network South Caucasus, in collaboration with partners. She has been a consultant on projects related to gender, human rights, IHL, and peace-building with NGOs and international and regional bodies. Previously, she was a Senior Law Lecturer (above the bar) at the University of Canterbury; she has held various legal, consultancy and research posts and worked as a Political Advisor to the Permanent Mission of Ireland to the UN. She holds a doctorate from the Asia Pacific Centre for Military Law and an LLM in International Human Rights Law (Irish Centre for Human Rights), and she is admitted as an Attorney in New York State.

Bio
Heather Tanana (Diné) is a law professor at the University of Denver Sturm College of Law. She is also an associate faculty member with the Center for Indigenous Health at Johns Hopkins University School of Public Health. Heather's research interests revolve around the intersection of environmental and health policy. Much of her work focuses on tribal water issues, from climate change impacts to Colorado River management. She also leads the Universal Access to Clean Water initiative, which seeks to make tangible progress on securing water access for all tribal communities.

Bio
Dr. Corinne Schuster-Wallace is the Executive Director of the Global Institute for Water Security and a faculty member in the Department of Geography and Planning, University of Saskatchewan, Canada. Previous positions include Senior Research Fellow for the UNU Institute for Water, Environment, and Health and the Public Health Agency of Canada. She founded the Women Plus Water community and was recognized as a Water Shero by the Red Dot Foundation in 2023. Her research utilizes a coupled systems approach to water-related human health in rural, remote, and marginalized communities. Coupling environmental and social systems provides a more comprehensive understanding of socio-environmental determinants of health and how inequities and intersectionality affect health and wellbeing. These are critical considerations in building climate resilience and more equitable and sustainable water resources management approaches.