WIF Team Challenge 2025
Briefing Event
This competition aims to bring together young professionals from different organisations across the sector to form multi-stakeholder teams to work on a water-related challenge.
This challenge will enable the participants to work with other young professionals from different stakeholder organisations across the water sector and to:
- gain an understanding of the perspectives and needs of other sector stakeholders
- develop their teamworking skills in a multi-stakeholder environment
- develop their personal network of contacts across the sector & utilise this network for their organisation's and their own benefit
Apply to join the WIF Board. Applications for the role of Non-Executive Director (1-year term) will be open to all 2025 WIF Team Challenge participants.
Entries are invited from young professionals with a degree or equivalent qualification and with at least 1 year's experience of working within the water sector.
The competition will be open to entrants from British Water members only
and will include:
- Water Companies
- Regulators
- Tier 1 Consultants and Contractors
- Academics
- Supply Chain
Member organisations are asked to sponsor between 1-4 candidates to participate in this cross-sector team competition.
Your nominated candidates will be invited to register their interest and will then be considered for selection with
the overall objective of making up diverse, multi-stakeholder teams†.
The topic for this year's challenge will be “What are the emerging trends that will impact the water-energy nexus by 2030?”.
Teams will be asked to identify and pitch an idea around the challenge theme.
Expert speakers will present on this subject at the briefing event to help candidates develop their ideas around the topic.
Challenge Briefing
29 April 2025 | 15.00 -19.00| WSP, Birmingham
Successful applicants will be invited to take part in a briefing session, where they will be given an outline of the challenge, including presentations from industry experts and examples of the topic.
Participants will then be assigned
to their team, comprising 4 cross-sector members†.
Following the presentations, team members will be given two hours to introduce themselves to the rest of their team and to begin to develop their ideas and approach to the challenge
over the coming weeks.
Teams will work together over the following weeks, to develop their idea and finalise their presentation to pitch at the final judging and awards, which will take place on 24th June 2025. It is expected that
the challenge should not occupy more than 8-12 hours of candidates' time outside of the events.
Challenge Judging & Awards
24 June 2025 | 14.00- 19.00 | WSP, Birmingham
The teams will be invited to present their idea to the judging panel and audience at this event. This will be followed by our keynote speaker and the awards presentation.
The Prizes
Prizes will be awarded to the teams that are placed 1st, 2nd and 3rd, with a further prize from our event supporter, WSP, for the team who delivers the most innovative presentation. The winning team will receive vouchers to the value of £100 per
person. 2nd and 3rd placed teams will receive vouchers to the value of £50 and £30 per person respectively.
In addition, we are also offering a number of other exciting prize opportunities for each member of the winning team to participate in, including:
- Lunch with the Water Industry Forum's Board of Directors
- Spot mentoring session with one of our WIF Board of Directors
- A place on the "winners table" at the WIF Annual Dinner, for you and your guest
- Speaking opportunity at next year's WIF Team Challenge event
Entry/Sponsorship Fee
Entry/sponsorship fee is £265 + VAT per person.
The fee will include:
- Your candidate's participation in the team challenge including attendance at the briefing event and judging/awards event
- One free delegate place for each candidate's sponsor at the judging & awards event
Candidate Registration
On receipt of your nominations, we will invite the sponsored candidates to register by submitting a short form with brief details outlining:
- Details of their qualification/s
- Their work experience in the water sector to date
Payment of the competition entry fee will also be required during the registration process.
† Where possible, nominated individuals will be allocated to a team of four, where each member represents a different stakeholder group. Where this is not possible, due to some stakeholder groups being over-subscribed, or when the maximum number of teams has been reached, unsuccessful nominees will be advised accordingly.
