Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar, Faculty of Environmental and Urban Change
Graduate Student Scholar

Brian Waters is pursuing a PhD in geography at the Faculty of Environment and Urban Change. He works at the nexus of water security, management, and governance in the informal settlements of Freetown, Sierra Leone. First (water security), he seeks to thoroughly understand the everyday "water lives" of people, what they consider and do to access water, and what barriers hold them back. Second (water management), he researches the values and decisions of those who control access to water. Third (water governance), he investigates how outside interventions affect the incentives and practices of water managers and gatherers.
Brian's research is conducted from the perspectives of Feminist Geography and Political Ecology. He strives to enhance the "user interface" of water security throughout the global south by integrating technology, mixed methods research, and political insights within a framework of human socio-design and systems thinking.
His current roles include:
- Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholar
- CITY Institute Graduate Student Representative
- OneWATER Student Chapter Coordinator
- Harriet Tubman Institute Graduate Research Associate
Themes | Global Health & Humanitarianism |
Status | Active |
Events |
5th Annual Global Health Graduate Scholars Symposium Decentralized Water Markets and Seasonality in Freetown, Sierra Leone, with Brian Waters |
Related Work |
N/A
|
Updates |
York University PhD Researcher Completes Nearly Half a Year of Water Justice Data Collection in Freetown, Sierra Leone | March 23, 2026
2025 Year in Review | December 18, 2025 Seventeen Exceptional Scholars Awarded 2025-2026 Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarships | September 2, 2025 Recap — Fifth Annual Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholars Symposium | January 23, 2025 2024 Year in Review | December 19, 2024 Nineteen Exceptional Scholars Awarded 2024-2025 Dahdaleh Global Health Graduate Scholarships | August 29, 2024 Recap – Water Resource Management in Freetown, Sierra Leone | March 7, 2024 |
You may also be interested in...
New book explores catastrophe and the making of the normal state
As the world reels from catastrophes on multiple fronts, a recent book by Osgoode Hall Law School Associate Professor Saptarishi Bandopadhyay is redefining the role and meanings of disaster in relation to statecraft, says York University’s associate ...Read more about this Post
Spotlight – Valentina De Leon, Addressing Health on a Global Scale
Valentina De Leon, BA (Hons.) Valentina served as a Global Food System & Policy Research Assistant at the Dahdaleh Institute for Global Health Research from July 2023 to August 2024. In this role, she provided ...Read more about this Post
Recap — Colonial Encounters, Human Rights and Mental Health Laws in Canada, Kenya and Australia, with Marina Morrow
On January 15, 2025, Dahdaleh faculty fellow Marina Morrow delved into the intersections of colonial encounters, human rights and mental health laws in Canada, Kenya and Australia. The seminar highlighted how mental health policies and practices ...Read more about this Post
