Dear Colleagues,

We are pleased to announce that the winner of the Water 2021 Young Investigator Award is Dr. Stefanos Giannakis.

Dr. Stefanos Giannakis is a Research Professor at the Polytechnic University of Madrid, Spain. His research and outstanding scientific contribution in the field of water resources is specifically focused on water/wastewater treatment. Dr. Stefanos Giannakis’s research interests are (i) development of novel sustainable water treatment processes, (ii) the fundamentals governing microorganism disinfection, (iii) photochemistry and photobiology of natural waters, and (iv) urban and industrial wastewater treatment by advanced oxidation processes. Dr. Stefanos Giannakis received his PhDs in 2014 (from Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (AUTh), Greece, and Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (UPC), Catalonia, Spain) and has an outstanding publication record, comprising 71 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. Stefanos’s Scopus Scientific Citations number is 1474, and his Hirsch index is 27. Not only is he the No. 5 author in “Solar Disinfection” worldwide, but he is also the No. 4 author in the “Disinfection/Photocatalysis/Inactivation” topic, as seen in Scopus. He was among the first to observe the connection between the disruption of physiological life-cycle activities of bacteria under UVA light and the formulation that this is indeed an oxidative, intracellular process. Dr. Stefanos Giannakis worked on both the chemical and microbiological aspects of the problem, and it would be fair to say that his intuitive and transdisciplinary approach has created a new niche, in which he is already considered an expert. Please join us in congratulating Dr. Stefanos Giannakis for his outstanding achievements.

As the awardee, Dr. Stefanos Giannakis will receive 2000 CHF, an offer to publish a paper free of charge before 31 December 2021 in Water after peer review, and an engraved plaque.

We would like to thank all the nominees from various fields of study for their participation and all the Award Committee Members for their evaluation of the abundant excellent nominations.

Dr. Jean-luc Probst
Editor-in-Chief, Water, on behalf of Water 2021 Young Investigator Award Evaluation Committee.