THE WATER NODE 2012 emulates ECRAAL’s own flexible format as a platform for the research community beyond EU borders: to build their capacity to participate in relevant EU funded projects, and; to facilitate, foster and strengthen dialogue between the international research community, stakeholders and policy makers in the EU. This international, multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural conference addresses the EU’s international activities concerning water and aims to put international co-operation in research and innovation at their core. The rationale is visually represented by THE WATER NODE CLOCK:  each component is a node in itself – the ECRAAL platform itself being the node at the heart of the clock – and the subjects identified are purely indicative in order to be inclusive as well as to inspire and accommodate the ideas and input of the researchers.  Thus, THE WATER NODE CLOCK conjures up the all-encompassing challenge of assembling and integrating the various nodes.  THE WATER NODE 2012 addresses the theme of water specifically from the optic of international co-operation in research and innovation. Given that our membership base spans the research and higher education communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America, this conference has four objectives:·         To contribute to international co-operation through basic trust building activities between research and higher education communities;·         To raise awareness of the international co-operation potential of EU research and higher education policy and funding instruments ;·         To identify, stimulate and disseminate results of research and projects eligible for funding in the last years of FP7 or through other appropriate EU funds;·         To build ECRAAL’s critical mass of members from the research and higher education communities in Asia, Africa and Latin America.THE WATER NODE CLOCK conjures up the all-encompassing challenge of assembling and integrating the various nodes, with the ECRAAL platform itself being the node at the heart of the clock. The format is flexible in order to encourage multi-cultural and multi-disciplinary participation. There are 9 nodes on:  Water diplomacy; Food production; Hydro energy; Maritime safety & security; Comparative North/South water research; Soil conservation; Resource consumption & efficiency; Women & water; Water scarcity & droughts.To register please check on our page of the event