SureNexus project presentated at the 7th IWA International Conference on Ecotechnologies for Wastewater Treatment

The UNESCO Chair on Sustainability (UPC) participated in the 7th IWA International Conference on Ecotechnologies for Wastewater Treatment—ECOSTP 2025 (Stockholm, 23–26 June 2025), organized in the KTH Royal Institute of Technology. The team presented the SureNexus AI tool for WEFE Nexus modelling, outlining its data integration pipeline, scenario analysis features, and decision-support capabilities for technology selection.

Our participation took place on Tuesday, June 24, during the session from 11:00 to 12:30, chaired by Xavier Flores Alsina, alongside Erika Cristina Francisco, who will host the next ECO-STP edition. We presented the work titled “An Innovative Methodology for Technology Selection Utilizing Artificial Intelligence within the WEFE Nexus Framework”, co-authored by:

Jordi Morató, Olga Lucia Sánchez, Brent Villanueva, José Luis Martin, Joan Garcia*, José Luis Pérez* & Pau Fonseca*

In the afternoon, we held a meeting with Constantinos Notsopoulos from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), a partner in the SureNexus project, to discuss ongoing collaboration and upcoming project activities.

During the last day of the IWA ECO-STP conference in Stockholm, we attended the specialized course on “Mitigating N₂O Emissions from Wastewater Treatment.” The course provided an in-depth overview of the mechanisms behind nitrous oxide (N₂O) production in biological treatment processes and highlighted innovative strategies to monitor, control, and reduce these emissions. It was particularly valuable for understanding both the scientific and operational challenges associated with N₂O mitigation, as well as the role of advanced modelling and sensor technologies in achieving climate-resilient wastewater treatment systems. The session also facilitated exchange among researchers and practitioners working on cutting-edge solutions for greenhouse gas reduction in the water sector.

Eco-STP 2025 aims to bring professionals from both academia and industry to discuss cutting-edge technologies in both municipal and industrial wastewater treatment including water, energy and material recovery, sustainability and governmental decision mechanisms.

The conference program includes keynote presentations, plenary sessions with presentations of recent research results, poster pitch presentations, specialised courses, workshops including ongoing EU Europe projects, panel discussions, technical study visits and social programmes.

The conference aims to bring together researchers from different disciplines, technology providers, consulting engineering firms, utilities and other relevant societal actors to jointly discuss and explore the latest findings on processes, methods, and technologies for innovative solutions in a Water-Wise World.

Some of the key topics are:

• Resource recovery for circular cities

• Centralized and decentralized ecotechnological and management alternatives

• Water Reuse

• Digitalization

• Sustainability, techno-economic and social impacts

The conference was organized by two established and pioneer research groups at KTH Royal Institute of Technology and Mälardalen University, Sweden.