Together with Daud Mohammed Hamidi from Durham University, GSD Assistant Professor Marco J Haenssgen has won a £15,730 Global Challenges Research Fund (GCRF) award from the Royal Academy of Engineering to explore the uses and social development consequences of low-cost clay-based water filters that can be produced by potters locally. As one-third of the Afghan population does not have access to even basic drinking water services and the poverty rate reaches 55%, the project aims to provide local means to overcome constraints to accessing improved water sources that otherwise remain systemically out of reach.