{"id":2490,"date":"2023-03-08T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2023-03-08T00:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/cee\/news\/celebrating-success-with-darja-istenic-during-the-international-womens-day\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T08:13:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T07:13:08","slug":"celebrating-success-with-darja-istenic-during-the-international-womens-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/gwpo-gwp.org\/cee\/archive\/celebrating-success-with-darja-istenic-during-the-international-womens-day\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating Success with Darja Isteni\u010d During the International Women\u2019s Day"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Assistant <\/span>Professor<\/span> Darja Isteni\u00c4\u008d <\/span>works<\/span> in <\/span>the <\/span>field <\/span>of <\/span>ecology<\/span> at <\/span>the<\/span>University <\/span>of<\/span> Ljubljana, <\/span>Slovenia<\/span>. Darja <\/span>s<\/span>tarted <\/span>her <\/span>career<\/span> in <\/span>the <\/span>private <\/span>sector<\/span>, <\/span>researching <\/span>and <\/span>developing <\/span>wetlands <\/span>for <\/span>wastewater treatment in small communities, nature-based solutions for stormwater treatment, and revitalization of water bodies. <\/span>At the university, <\/span>Darja <\/span>focused <\/span>her<\/span> research on zero discharge wastewater treatment systems with willows and resource recovery from wastewater. <\/span><\/span> 

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As Darja described, z<\/span>ero-discharge willow systems are wastewater treatment plants that produce woody biomass and do not discharge to surface or groundwater bodies, <\/span>p<\/span>rovidin<\/span>g <\/span>the highest level of protection. The system also allows for <\/span>a<\/span> high leve<\/span>l <\/span>of nutrient recovery from wastewater. <\/span><\/span><\/p>\n


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As <\/span>a continuation, Darja focused on <\/span>research<\/span>ing<\/span> resource recovery through nature-based solutions as part of national research projects and the Circular City COST action. Since <\/span>she<\/span> consider<\/span>s<\/span> dissemination of research results among scientific networks as well as other stakeholders and the broader public to be extremely important, <\/span>Darja is<\/span> active in networks such as the International Water Association (<\/a><\/span>IWA<\/span><\/a>)<\/a>, the International Ecological Engineering Society (<\/a><\/span>IEES<\/span><\/a>)<\/a>, the International Union of Forest Research Organizations (<\/a><\/span>IUFRO<\/span><\/a>)<\/a>, and the Global Water Partnership Central and Eastern Europe (GWP CEE). <\/span><\/span> 

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Within GWP CEE, <\/span>Darja<\/span> chair<\/span>s<\/span> the Sustainable Sanitation Task Force – a working group that includes small-scale sanitation experts from the region. Since nature-based solutions are a common threa<\/span>t<\/span> in <\/span>her<\/span> work, <\/span>she is<\/span> now acti<\/span>vely <\/span>particip<\/span>ating<\/span> in the establishment and development of a Community of Practise for nature-based solutions in water management<\/a>, which is being launched as part of GWP’s online platform Integrated Water Resources Management Action Hub. With the community, <\/span>they<\/span> pla<\/span>n to <\/span>dissem<\/span>inate<\/span> knowledge about nature-based solutions and empower practitioners for broader implementat<\/span>ion. <\/span><\/span>

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Darja does not just excel in the professional field. She is <\/span>a mother of two <\/span>children<\/span>, <\/span>giving her <\/span>work meaning and motivat<\/span>ion to strive <\/span>for a better environment that we will leave to our <\/span>future generations<\/span>.<\/span><\/span> <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Discover more from Darja\u00e2\u0080\u0099s work<\/span> <\/span><\/h4>\n<\/div>\n
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Links to recent papers<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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