Dr Heidi Snyman

 Director: Water-Centred Knowledge

Dr Heidi Snyman is a professional Natural Scientist with 15 years experience in the wastewater sector. She established the ERWAT Chair in Wastewater Management and worked as a waste specialist for a global consulting engineering company. She is a Past President of WISA and a member of the management board of the Sludge Management Specialist Group of the International Water Association (IWA). The Water-Centred Knowledge unit that she manages strives to focus on the development and protection of internal and external knowledge resources. These knowledge resources are both explicit, documented knowledge and tacit (subjective) knowledge. Management of knowledge in the WRC will therefore entail all of the processes associated with the identification, sharing and creation of knowledge. This will require systems for the creation and maintenance of knowledge repositories, and for the support of the cultivation and facilitation of the sharing of knowledge and organisational learning. Internally, for the WRC to succeed in knowledge management, it has to view knowledge as an asset and to develop organisational norms and values, which support the creation, and sharing of knowledge, both internally as well as externally. Dr Snyman’s responsibilities include developing knowledge management capabilities, in terms of technology and fundamental business processes in order to contribute to the effectiveness of the WRC. Her Key Strategic Area also strives to package information in a format that is understood by a broader audience including our major stakeholders. The development of technical and management project briefing notes is an example of a new innovative knowledge dissemination tool which was recently implemented.

heidis@wrc.org.za