Webinar Bridging Silos, Skills for Collaborative Impact

Published: Nov 11, 2025

What does it take to work effectively across boundaries and create lasting impact?

Achieving water-sensitive outcomes requires more than technical expertise – it demands collaboration across institutions, sectors, and knowledge systems. And while collaboration is often celebrated, it’s rarely unpacked in terms of the real-world skills needed to make it work across institutional, sectoral and cultural divides. So how do we work effectively across boundaries when each partner brings different priorities, commitments, and ways of working?

Join Clearwater and the National WSUD Community of Practice for this thought-provoking webinar exploring the principles and practices of bridging silos to build collaborative capacity. We’ll start with a deep dive into the principles of cross-boundary collaboration, then hear from practitioners who’ve successfully navigated complex partnerships across public, private and community sectors.

Speakers will share lessons from the field and reflected on the skills and environment that enabled them to foster meaningful partnership and drive long-term, integrated water-sensitive outcomes.

If you’re trying to bridge silos and want practical insights into the skills that make collaboration work, this session is for you.

Learning outcomes

After attending this event, participants should be able to:

Identify and assess key success factors and challenges for complex partnerships in the water sector
Identify the skills, principles and practices of effective cross-boundary collaboration
Better address the practical challenges and enablers involved in bridging silos by applying lessons from national programs and projects to their own environment
Collaborate with peers and stakeholders to further develop meaningful partnerships.

Audience

This webinar is designed for professionals and practitioners across Australia involved in partnerships, projects or programs that cross boundaries – between organisations, sectors, or communities.

It’s especially relevant for:

Local and state government staff
Policy makers and program leads
Water agencies
Researchers
Community organisations
Indigenous and local knowledge holders
Consultants.

Presenters / Trainers

Dr Stephanie Lavau
Senior Lecturer, Interdisciplinary Environmental Practice

Stephanie's research and teaching center on social and cultural dimensions of environmental management, knowledge and governance. Employing primarily qualitative and ethnographic methods, she fosters interdisciplinary dialogues among science and technology studies, human geography, anthropology and environmental sociology. Collaboration—spanning professions, disciplines, sectors, communities and regions—drives both her research and its processes. SDG17 (Partnerships for the Goals) anchors her teaching and research strategy.

Shelley Shepherd
Director, Urbaqua | Program Manager, New WAter Ways (Western Australia)

A passionate advocate for liveable communities responsive to climate and environmental conditions, Shelley excels in collaborative strategy development, facilitating group processes to harness collective intelligence for strategic plans. As Program Manager of New WAter Ways—the WA’s capacity-building body for water-sensitive urban design—she also serves on the Australian Water Association Board and as Deputy Chair of the Perth Water Sensitive Transition Network.

Phillip Pennisi
Urban Water Scientist, Derwent Estuary Program (DEP), Hobart

Phillip co-leads projects identifying urban stormwater pollution sources and their impacts on liveability and community assets like recreational beaches,.His work includes developing and implementing solutions to reduce pollution. His research advances understanding of urban water effects on infrastructure, environment and public health. Phillip bridges the gap between science and policy, translating insights into evidence-based strategies benefiting the environment and communities.

Kristy Good
Environmental Professional

Kristy is an environmental professional with 25 years’ experience in water, wastewater, and stormwater sectors, expertly grasping industry trends and drivers. She specialises in strategies linking green and blue infrastructure to create liveable, resilient and sustainable cities. With proven stakeholder engagement, relationship management and organisation needs analysis skills, she drives capability uplift and improvement. A strategic thinker and influential leader, Kirsty collaborates across sectors to deliver outstanding environmental, social and economic outcomes for communities.