This prestigious award recognises internationally outstanding research of exceptional merit at the interface of microbial ecology and water and wastewater treatment.

Cresten Mansfeldt is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil, Environmental, and Architectural Engineering and the Environmental Engineering Program, and an Affiliate Faculty member of BioFrontiers at the University of Colorado Boulder. He leads the Creative Microbial BioMaintenance for Greener Environments and Municipalities (CMBM-GEM) laboratory.

He receives the ISME/IWA BioCluster Rising Star Award in recognition of his research on incorporating biological processes into the resilience of the built environment, at the intersection of environmental microbiology and environmental chemistry. His laboratory has made foundational contributions in three areas: managing pathogens and novel contaminants in urban water systems; characterising disaster-related chemical contamination resulting from wildland–urban interface wildfires; and pioneering risk assessment frameworks for synthetic biology and emerging bioproducts.

Min Zheng is a Scientia Associate Professor at the University of New South Wales (UNSW), Australia, and an Australian Research Council Early Career Industry Fellow. He receives the ISME/IWA BioCluster Rising Star Award in recognition of his research bridging microbial ecology and environmental biotechnology to develop sustainable solutions for water and wastewater treatment.

One of his most notable contributions is the discovery and characterisation of Candidatus Nitrosoglobus kelleri, a highly acid-tolerant ammonia-oxidising microorganism that redefined the known pH limits of nitrification and opened up new possibilities for energy-efficient biological nitrogen removal. By integrating microbial ecology, process engineering and pilot-scale validation, his work has established the scientific foundation for acidic partial nitritation–anammox systems and other low-energy nitrogen removal technologies.

The award ceremony was held at the 15th IWA World Water Congress & Exhibition in Glasgow, where Cresten Mansfeldt and Min Zheng presented their latest research.

The ISME/IWA BioCluster established the ISME/IWA BioCluster Award to recognise the importance and impact of interdisciplinary research at the interface of microbial ecology, water and wastewater treatment, and engineering sciences. The award is a collaboration between the International Society for Microbial Ecology (ISME) and the International Water Association (IWA).

First established in 2016, the award is presented every two years. The review committee was composed of Glen Daigger, Phil Hugenholtz, Per H. Nielsen, Cindy Smith and Michael Wagner. Previous recipients of the award are listed here.