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Work Plan

Six work packages over 36 months.

The project is structured in six work packages (WPs) over 36 months. Months are counted from the start of the project (M1).

  • Lead: UNC · M1–M36

    WP1: Project Management and Coordination

    UNC

    The overall objective of WP1 is to ensure the efficient and timely coordination of the AWARE project from the outset, facilitating a successful multi-actor approach across a consortium of six partners representing four EU states as well as Turkey and Brazil. The Project Coordinator oversees scientific and technical management, budget resource allocation, and collaboration with the Project Management Board, while a comprehensive risk management process guards against delays, budget deviations, and partner underperformance. Regular meetings, virtual or in-person, keep the consortium aligned on progress against the project's milestones.

  • Lead: UNC · M1–M34

    WP2: Method Development

    UNC

    WP2 develops the standardized LCSA method at the heart of AWARE, led by three key researchers each focusing on one sustainability dimension: environmental (LCA), economic (LCC), and social (S-LCA). Building on an extensive literature review and the coordinator's own prior experience, preliminary rules are defined for each dimension before being integrated into a unified LCSA approach. The method passes through iterative cycles of feedback from the external Scientific Advisory Board and from stakeholders, is refined using early results from the study case applications in WP4, and culminates in a final, standards-compliant method accompanied by public guidelines for practitioners.

    Shape the method with us

  • Lead: ICRA · M1–M33

    WP3: Study Cases

    ICRA

    WP3 coordinates the collection of quantitative data from the project's core study cases — spanning urban, industrial, and agricultural WRR&R interventions in Greece, Portugal, Brazil, Turkey, and Spain — as well as additional cases identified through stakeholder engagement. Each partner establishes direct contact with local stakeholders such as plant managers, users, and authorities, conducting the interviews and surveys needed for the LCA, LCC, and particularly the S-LCA inventories. Close interaction with WP2 iteratively refines the data inclusion, exclusion, and quality criteria that inform the method itself, with all collected data organized into a shared, publicly accessible database.

    See the study cases

    Your scheme could be a study case

    We are looking for additional water reuse schemes in the urban, industrial and agricultural sectors. If you manage or know of one, we would like to hear from you.

    Propose a study case

  • Lead: UNC · M16–M33

    WP4: Application

    UNC

    From month 16, WP4 applies the developing LCSA method to all study cases under UNC's step-by-step guidance, using conventional practices without water reuse as a reference comparison. This is the first transfer of the method from its developers to the wider consortium for practical application, generating valuable feedback that clarifies and strengthens the methodological instructions before the final version is applied. Alongside demonstrating the method, WP4 analyses the results — especially from the S-LCA and interviews — to identify the social and economic factors most crucial for the acceptance of water circularity interventions by stakeholders.

    See the study cases

  • Lead: UNC · M10–M36

    WP5: Simplified Method and Web App

    UNC

    WP5 translates the full LCSA method into a simplified, publicly accessible web application, coordinated by UNC with the support of an external subcontractor. The work identifies which inputs are critical enough to require user data and which can be safely set to sensible default values, distinguishing between sectors, plant types, and technologies. Following a beta release, stakeholders test the application and provide feedback through interviews and questionnaires, which feeds into refinements ahead of the final public release — extending the reach of LCSA to non-experts in water utilities, companies, and local governments.

    About the web app

    Be among the first to test it

    The simplified online version of the method will open for testing in early 2028.

    Test the web app

  • Lead: HMU · M1–M36

    WP6: Dissemination and Exploitation

    HMU

    WP6 secures a multi-actor approach throughout the project's lifetime, engaging external stakeholders to supply additional case studies, contribute feedback to the co-development of the method, and eventually adopt the AWARE method and web application themselves. Actions include a project website and social media presence, regular newsletters, local workshops and webinars held in each partner country at every stage of method development, conference presentations, peer-reviewed scientific publications, and dedicated dissemination activities for citizens and local communities — culminating in a final event in Rome presenting the completed AWARE method and its applications.

    Join the network

    Join the network

    Utilities, companies, authorities, researchers and communities can shape the method and test the tools.

    Become a stakeholder

Timeline

  1. WP1: Project Management and CoordinationM1–M36
  2. WP2: Method DevelopmentM1–M34
  3. WP3: Study CasesM1–M33
  4. WP4: ApplicationM16–M33
  5. WP5: Simplified Method and Web AppM10–M36
  6. WP6: Dissemination and ExploitationM1–M36
The six work packages across the 36 months of the project. Months are counted from the project start (M1 = May 2026).