In April of 2015, the D1 team traveled to South Korea for the 7th World Water Forum. Here they attended presentations on global water governance and established new contacts with representatives from UN organizations as well as members of water partnerships to be studied in the third phase of the D1 Research Project. The team discussed the role of partnerships with these new contacts, both partnerships' past and in particular future role in sustainable development. During the conference, amongst other political declarations, the establishment of new partnerships as well as the continuation of existing partnerships were announced. Of note was the emphasis that various actors’ placed on ensuring that local conditions were considered in order to improve the chances for successful implementation. This emphasis was applied to both partnership as well as broader development activities and corresponds with a primary research finding of the second D1 research phase. While this aspect has been heard at previous conferences, the frequency with which it was mentioned at the 7^th World Water Forum was particularly noticeable.

The D1 team also visited the UN Office for Sustainable Development (UNOSD) in Incheon near Seoul prior to attending the conference. Here they discussed the role of partnerships for achieving sustainable development and reported their previous project findings on the conditions for success of these partnerships.