Darja Istenič

Darja Istenič, PhD, is an assistant professor in the field of environmental engineering at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering and the Faculty of Health Sciences at the University of Ljubljana, Slovenia. She started her career in the private sector with research and development of treatment wetlands for wastewater treatment in small communities, nature-based solutions for stormwater treatment and revitalisation of water bodies. At the University, she focuses her research on resource recovery from wastewater through nature-based solutions such as zero discharge willow systems, algae technologies and green walls. She also studies water management in urban catchments and is involved in national and international research projects and consultancy. She is an active member of the International Water Association (IWA) Resource Oriented Sanitation Working Group, the International Ecological Engineering Society (IEES), the International Union of Forest Research Organisations (IUFRO) and the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE). Within GWP CEE, she leads the Sustainable Sanitation Task Force - a working group that includes small-scale sanitation experts from the region and manages an online Community of Practice for Nature-based Solutions in water management.