“Our Future, Our Water, Our Stories”

Purpose of the Competition

The project has two key goals:

1. Inspiring creative engagement – encouraging young people to think imaginatively about the future of water.
2. Supporting research – collecting stories for a dataset used to analyse how young writers talk about water and environmental futures.

This work forms part of the PhD research of Andreas Wagner in the Text and Language Lab, led by Prof. Mahlberg and funded through the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

Collaboration in Birmingham

During Andreas Wagner’s DAAD-funded research stay at the Birmingham Institute of Sustainability and Climate Action, the competition is supported by Prof. David Hannah, who contributes in his role as UN Chair of Water Science.

The competition runs from March 2026 until 30 September 2026.

Partners