The International Water Association has awarded Professor Barbara Evans, from University of Leeds, the IWA Development Award for Research 2017. She has been recognised for her work in increasing our understanding of community-wide approaches to water and sanitation challenges in urban and rural communities in low- and middle-income countries. Professor Evans’ research centres on sanitation, hygiene and water services in the global South, covering water and sanitation in low-income urban communities and rural sanitation. She places particular emphasis on engaging communities in research in an effort to achieve significant change in perceptions and to develop of effective strategies for the management of faecal sludge; alternatives to conventional water-borne sewerage in urban areas; rural sanitation programmes; sustainability and equity in community-wide approaches to eliminate open defecation; and technologies and institutions to link community sanitation and water investments with city networks. As a Pillar co-lead and Work Package Lead in the HyCRISTAL research consortia of the FCFA programme, Professor Evans is spearheading a pilot study to co-produce research for urban WASH infrastructure decision making on a 5-40 year time horizon in two pilot cities of Kampala, Uganda and Kisumu, Kenya. This work is expected to develop tools for integrating new climate science generated by the programme into planning and practice to ensure climate-resilient critical water and public health infrastructure. On receiving the award, Professor Evans was quoted as saying, “Effective, sustainable, safely managed sanitation relies on complex systems of services, infrastructure and institutions, but is also a critical part of the wider system of city and rural management. I am delighted and honoured to accept this award. My work is dedicated to the 4.5 billion people worldwide who lack access to safely managed sanitation.”