The International Computing & Control in the Water Industry (CCWI) Conference is one of the most prominent gatherings for academics and industry professionals worldwide. The 21st CCWI, held at the Royce at the University of Sheffield from 1 – 3 September 2025, attracted more than 200 participants.

At the conference, Dr Matt Johns – an Exeter Research Software Engineer with the Centre for Water Systems (CWS) – presented the paper “Water Hammer VR: Immersive Learning Environment for Hydraulic Transient Analysis in Water Distribution Systems.” The work was a product of the Horizon Europe WATERLINE project and co‑authored by Gareth Lewis, Lydia Vamvakeridou-Lyroudia, Slobodan Djordjević, Dragan Savić FREng and Albert Chen.

Dr Johns’ presentation captivated the #CCWI2025 audience, earning him the conference’s #BestPaperAward – a distinction awarded by the scientific committee from among more than 140 papers presented.

It’s been incredibly rewarding to see our VR tool resonate with the water-engineering community. The project reflects an exciting shift toward integrating immersive technologies into technical education, offering new ways to engage learners with complex system behaviours.

Virtual hydraulic lab for Immersive learning

The award‑winning paper showcases how immersive technologies can transform water‑engineering education, making complex hydraulic concepts tangible and engaging for students worldwide.

A New Way to Learn Water Engineering

The paper describes an #immersive learning platform that combines two complementary environments in addition to in-class lectures to help students better understand and analyse water hammer:

Emulative Learning Environment (#ELE) Traditional hydraulic lab experiments in which students vary flow rate to observe pressure surges caused by sudden valve shutdown.

Virtual Reality Learning Environment (#ViLE) A VR application that lets users modify pipe length, diameter, wall thickness, and material – variables that are difficult or impossible to change in a physical lab. Gamified elements further deepen engagement and understanding.

Gamification within the ViLE

Extreme scenarios could be explored in the ViLE

By allowing rapid configuration of these parameters, the #ViLE gives students an unprecedented ability to explore the water hammer phenomenon under diverse scenarios, thereby enriching their professional knowledge at higher education institutions (HEIs).

Article content

Rapid configuration for changing experimental conditions

WATERLINE – A Digital Water‑Education Alliance

The WATERLINE) project (Transforming Advanced Water Skilling Through the Creation of a Network of Extended‑Reality Water Emulative Centres) is a Horizon Europe project co‑funded by the European Commission and UK Research and Innovation. It has created a digital water‑education alliance comprising 15 partners across 10 countries, strengthening capacities for educators and learners alike.

Key achievements include:

Governance framework for sharing knowledge, facilities, and best practices among HEIs.

An innovative curriculum that blends digital skill training with core water‑engineering content to meet the needs of next‑generation engineers.

Three-tiered learning environments that utilise the strengths of diverse techniques ELE, ViLE and ARLE (assisted reality learning environment) to enhance knowledge gain and skill training.

Development of a suite of extended-reality (AR and VR) applications that demonstrate WATERLINE’s concepts in real‑world settings.

The ambassador network consisting of academics and practitioners from multiple countries has been established to promote the WATERLINE approach beyond the project’s lifespan.

The project began in October 2022, is finishing at the end of September 2025, and its impacts are expected to endure. All research outputs are freely accessible on the WATERLINE website and its online learning platform.

Dr Johns’ presentation captivated the #CCWI2025 audience, earning him the conference’s #BestPaperAward – a distinction awarded by the scientific committee from among more than 140 papers presented.

The award‑winning paper showcases how immersive technologies can transform water‑engineering education, making complex hydraulic concepts tangible and engaging for students worldwide.

A New Way to Learn Water Engineering

The paper describes an #immersive learning platform that combines two complementary environments in addition to in-class lectures to help students better understand and analyse water hammer:

Emulative Learning Environment (#ELE) Traditional hydraulic lab experiments in which students vary flow rate to observe pressure surges caused by sudden valve shutdown.

Virtual Reality Learning Environment (#ViLE) A VR application that lets users modify pipe length, diameter, wall thickness, and material – variables that are difficult or impossible to change in a physical lab. Gamified elements further deepen engagement and understanding.

By allowing rapid configuration of these parameters, the #ViLE gives students an unprecedented ability to explore the water hammer phenomenon under diverse scenarios, thereby enriching their professional knowledge at higher education institutions (HEIs).

Article content

Rapid configuration for changing experimental conditions

WATERLINE – A Digital Water‑Education Alliance

WATERLINE – A Digital Water‑Education Alliance

Key achievements include:

Governance framework for sharing knowledge, facilities, and best practices among HEIs.

An innovative curriculum that blends digital skill training with core water‑engineering content to meet the needs of next‑generation engineers.

Three-tiered learning environments that utilise the strengths of diverse techniques ELE, ViLE and ARLE (assisted reality learning environment) to enhance knowledge gain and skill training.

Development of a suite of extended-reality (AR and VR) applications that demonstrate WATERLINE’s concepts in real‑world settings.

The ambassador network consisting of academics and practitioners from multiple countries has been established to promote the WATERLINE approach beyond the project’s lifespan.

The project began in October 2022, is finishing at the end of September 2025, and its impacts are expected to endure. All research outputs are freely accessible on the WATERLINE website and its online learning platform.

Dr Johns’ presentation captivated the #CCWI2025 audience, earning him the conference’s #BestPaperAward – a distinction awarded by the scientific committee from among more than 140 papers presented.

The project began in October 2022, is finishing at the end of September 2025, and its impacts are expected to endure. All research outputs are freely accessible on the WATERLINE website and its online learning platform.