The 3rd WISDOM PhD scientific seminar was held at UNU-EHS for three days from 27 to 29 January, 2010. In the first two days, 14 WISDOM PhD students presented their research findings in poster sessions and oral presentations covering topics from fields of hydrology and hydrological modeling, water quality monitoring and modeling (pesticides and endocrine disruptors), vulnerability assessment to water related hazards, knowledge management, adaptation of local knowledge to a changing environment, policy-making in rural water supply and sanitation. Invited keynote speakers delivered talks on recent developments in flood inundation modeling (Prof Dr Paul Bates, University of Bristol), community based adaptation to climate change (Terry Cannon, IIED) and management of crop health and food safety in international development context (Prof Dr Richard Sikora, University of Bonn). The seminar finished with an open forum collecting many ideas, comments and suggestions on how to relate the research work to IWRM goals, how to disseminate the research findings and to implement them into action successfully. Additionally, on the last day of the seminar, all PhD students participated in training on scientific presentation skills.