Two WEM’s Master’s students, Ms. Rafia Sarfaraz, and Ms. Jannat Murtaza, recently participated in a two-week academic exchange at Macquarie University a public research university in Sydney, Australia, from 9 to 20 February 2026.  They both are recipients of fully-funded scholarships under the gender component of the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Cities Improvement Project (KPCIP), supported by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Asian Infrastructure Investment Bank (AIIB). They are among the 30 talented young women from the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province of Pakistan who have to contribute to human resource development and improve urban infrastructure and service delivery in the province.

The exchange was made possible through the academic collaboration between Prof. Sangam Shrestha, Professor at the Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (FCEE) and Co-Director of the AIT Global Water and Sanitation Center, and Dr. Bandita Mainali, Senior Lecturer in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Macquarie University.

Designed to strengthen institutional collaboration, the short-term exchange gave the students firsthand experience of advanced research environments. Throughout the program, Ms. Rafia Sarfaraz and Ms. Jannat Murtaza engaged in laboratory visits, faculty discussions, and academic briefings aligned with their specialization in water engineering and environmental systems.

The experience underscored the importance of integrating engineering analysis with sustainability principles, an approach increasingly vital in addressing global water challenges, and enabled them to compare research practices across institutions.

This exchange program at Macquarie University seamlessly bridged my current research with emerging global opportunities, providing both the expert feedback and professional network needed for my next career stage.

– Ms. Rafia Sarfaraz

Although my time at Macquarie University was short, but it proved to be a transformative experience and a significant step in my personal and academic growth

– Ms. Jannat Murtaza

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