Digitisation for Hydro-Climatic Risk Reduction

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The connected community works towards solutions to reduce hydro-climatic risks such as floods, through joint research on innovative technologies: artificial intelligence, modelling, IoT sensors, smartphone applications, … It will use the knowledge and tools generated by the CC to develop joint activities in the water-climate related MSc and PhD programmes. We will further engage with citizen and stakeholders in order to build a water-smart and climate-smart society, and will involve partners of different universities (Cuba, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Bolivia, Ecuador, South-Africa, Morocco, Palestine, …) and international organisations, such as the UNESCO, WMO, IPCC, UNEP, FAO. … We aim for the joint organisation of summer schools, such as the annual summer course “HydRoData“ led by the UNESCO Chair on Hydroclimatic risk reduction (University of Ljubljana) and Open Water Symposia coordinated by the UNESCO Chair on Open Water Science and Education (Vrije Universiteit Brussel).

Connected Community Activities

Upcoming Activities

Citizen Science for Water Quality Workshop

* June 2, 2025
* VUB Main Campus, Etterbeek, Brussels
* Event Page & Registration

This international event will focus on how citizen science empowers communities to take an active role in water quality monitoring and environmental stewardship. Researchers and partners from JOOUST (Kenya), UCB (Bolivia), and UCLV (Cuba) will share real-world insights and practices from their respective contexts. The workshop highlights how engaging local actors in data collection and co-creating solutions fosters sustainable, inclusive environmental management and policy advocacy. Registration is open until May 23, and participants are welcome to submit presentations.

Interwoven Waters: Art, Nature, and Community Conservation in East Africa

* June 6, 2025
* PILAR, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
* Event Page & Registration

The event Interwoven Waters: Art, Nature, and Community Conservation in East Africa will take place at PILAR, VUB, bringing together researchers, artists, and community actors to explore environmental challenges in the Lake Victoria Basin through a unique blend of science, storytelling, and visual art. The afternoon begins with a symposium addressing issues such as deforestation and water quality, followed by a short film highlighting regional voices and their conservation efforts. The evening continues with an exhibition, showcasing photography and artworks co-created in Kenya and Uganda through participatory workshops, offering a powerful look into how communities connect with and care for their environments. The event is free and open to all, with refreshments provided.

2nd International Drought Symposium

* June 10, 2025
* UNESCO Headquarters, Paris, France
* Event Page & Registration

The 2nd International Drought Symposium, marking 50 years of UNESCO’s IHP, will gather experts to explore diverse aspects of drought and water scarcity. The program includes a keynote address and sessions on drought indices, climate risk assessment, and early warning systems. It also highlights nature-based solutions and innovative monitoring approaches using citizen science, IoT, and remote sensing. The symposium aims to foster knowledge exchange and collaboration for sustainable drought mitigation and adaptation.

HydRoData: Summer School about Hydrology and Data
* September 1–5, 2025
* Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, University of Ljubljana, Slovenia
* Registration Information

Organised by the UNESCO Chair on Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction, this summer school focuses on hydrological data: collection, analysis, modeling, and visualization using R. Open to PhD students, postdocs, and MSc students. 2 ECTS certificate awarded upon completion.
Registration deadline: May 16, 2025

Water Resilience Through Digitalisation

* October 20, 2025
* Santa Maria, Cuba
* Event Page & Registration

Organised by UNESCO-IHP Belgium with EUTOPIA Connected Community partners, this workshop explores the use of IoT, data loggers, AI, and computational tools to enhance water resilience in developing regions. The event fosters collaborative research aligned with SDG 6.

Water Resilience Through Citizen Science

* October 20–24, 2025
* Santa Maria, Cuba
* Event Page & Registration

This extended workshop focuses on how citizen science intersects with water governance and water justice, promoting participatory water management and inclusive decision-making through grassroots engagement and knowledge-sharing.

Past Activities

Second EUTOPIA Groundwater Workshop and Conference

* March 12–14, 2025
* Technische Universität Dresden, Germany

* Event Page

The second edition of the EUTOPIA Groundwater Conference, co-organized by TU Dresden’s INOWAS Research Group and the VUB Department of Water and Climate, focused on evaluating the societal value of Managed Aquifer Recharge (MAR) beyond technical performance. The program included a hands-on training using the INOWAS web-based groundwater modeling platform and a roundtable discussion on socio-economic valuation tools and metrics for MAR. With participation from over 15 institutions across Europe, the event fostered cross-institutional collaboration, knowledge sharing, and critical reflection on the role of groundwater in climate resilience and the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The 12th International Symposium on Managed Aquifer Recharge (ISMAR 12)

* April 28 – May 2, 2025
* Stellenbosch, South Africa
* Event Page

This premier global event brought together MAR experts, researchers, and regulators to discuss technological innovations, hydrogeology, and sustainable groundwater development—especially in the African context. ISMAR 12 highlighted new international partnerships and the critical role of MAR in water-scarce regions.

How to get involved?

Contact Prof. Ann Van Griensven (ann.van.griensven@vub.be), Prof. Marijke Huysmans (marijke.huysmans@vub.be) or Els Decoster, Local Facilitator (els.decoster@vub.be)

Connected Community Members

Lead: Ann Van Griensven (VUB). Email: Ann.Van.Griensven@vub.be: Prof. Ann van Griensven, bio-engineer, obtained her PhD at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB) in 2002 with a thesis titled “developments towards integrated water quality modelling at river basin scale” and continued conducting research on water quality and climate change studies throughout her further career at the University of California, Riverside, and at Ghent University, IHE-Delft (former UNESCO- IHE) and the VUB.
Ann van Griensven is currently professor and head of department of the Water and Climate department of the VUB and Associate Professor of hydrology and water quality in the chair group of hydrology and water resources at the IHE-Delft Institute for Water Education. She is leading a research team on water quality and climate change consisting of 15 PhD researchers and 5 post-doc researchers. In 2022, she became the UNESCO Chair-holder on Water Science and Education at the VUB and in 2023 she obtained an AXA CHAIR on Water Quality and Global Change.
She is the president of Belgian Chapter of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (UNESCO-IHP) and member of the UNESCO-IHP council. She leads the Open Ended Working Group 1 on Science and Innovative Research of the UNESCO-IHP IX Strategic Plan ‘"Science for a Water Secure World in a Changing Environment" . She is also member of the council of the Belgian Climate Center and vice president of the International Committee of Water Quality.
Partner: Marijke Huysmans (VUB). Email: Marijke.Huysmans@vub.be: Marijke Huysmans is Associate Professor in Groundwater Hydrology at the Vrije Universiteit Brussels in Belgium since 2012. She holds a degree in Mining Engineering and a PhD in Geology. Her research focuses on groundwater modelling, geostatistics, drought, groundwater-surface water interaction, climate adaptation measures and sustainable groundwater management. Her research group combines field work, groundwater modelling, model development and geostatistics for assessing groundwater reserves, groundwater recharge, interaction between surface water and groundwater, sustainable groundwater management and potential for shallow geothermal energy. She has been President of IAH-Belgium “the Belgian chapter of the International Association of   Hydrogeologists” from 2016 to 2020. She is also very active in science communication and outreach on groundwater and drought to the general public. She is co-author of a children’s book of water that has been translated into seven languages. She is also active as a policy advisor and was named by the non-profit organisation InspiringFifty Belgium as one of the 50 top female role models in the technology sector in 2022.
Partner: Paul Muñoz (VUB). Email: Paul.Munoz@vub.be: Paul received his civil engineering degree, then obtained an M.Sc. in Water Resources Engineering, followed by a Ph.D. in Water Resources. His doctoral research was titled “Towards the Improvement of Machine Learning Flash Flood Forecasting by Exploiting Ground- and Satellite-based Precipitation Data: A Feature Engineering Approach.” This research was notable for its applied science and innovation.
Paul is currently a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Water and Climate at VUB, focusing on developing multidisciplinary AI applications. He is a selected member of the Young Scientists Programme from Integrated Research on Disaster Risk (IRDR) in China. Additionally, he has received several prestigious scholarships, including the VLIR-UOS Award Scholarship to study in Belgium and a doctoral research grant from the German Academic Exchange Service. In 2021, Paul was honoured with an Outstanding Researcher Award from the Universidad de Cuenca in Ecuador.
His research interests encompass the use of artificial intelligence for real-time hydrological applications, such as flood and drought forecasting, the utilization of remote sensing products for obtaining reliable precipitation data, and the evaluation of high-resolution technologies for precise precipitation estimation.
Partner: Sofia La Fuente (VUB). Email: sofia.la.fuente@vub.be: Sofia La Fuente is postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Water and Climate at the VUB in Brussels. Her investigation focuses on the impacts of climate change on the hydrological cycle of lakes at local, regional and global scales. She did her Master of Water Resources Engineering in Belgium and moved to Ireland for her Doctoral research on the impacts of climate change on lake evaporation. She is currently working in collaboration with international networks such as the Global Lake Ecological Observatory Network (GLEON) and the Inter-Sectoral Impact Modal Intercomparison Project (ISIMIP). She had a very active role as co-chair of the GLEON Student Association (GSA) and she was part of the Lake Expedition 2020, a National Science Foundation (NSF) fellowship based in the US which consisted of a team science interdisciplinary training programme that ran for three years.
Partner: Zainab Zomlot (VUB). Email: zainab.zomlot@vub.be: Dr. Zainab Zomlot is a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Water and Climate at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel (VUB), where she also coordinates the Interuniversity Programme in Water Resources Engineering and the Master's in Sustainable Land Management. She holds a PhD in Hydrology and is recognised for her expertise in groundwater recharge, hydrological modeling, and the application of remote sensing in water resource management. Dr. Zomlot plays an active role in several international capacity building projects, including the Erasmus+ initiatives MONTUS and eMWRE, which focus on strengthening water education and practice in partner countries. She is also a co-chairholder of the Open Water Network, managed by the UNESCO Chair on Open Water Science and Education at VUB. The network promotes joint research and education on open-source software and open-access data for water resources management, aiming to overcome barriers related to software licensing and data availability especially in developing countries through cloud-based tools and global datasets. Her work emphasises the integration of open science and citizen engagement to tackle global water challenges. She is deeply committed to eLearning, education, and capacity building, mentoring students and professionals in sustainable and accessible water management practices.
Partner: Kobus du Plessis (University of Stellenbosch - US). Email: jadup@sun.ac.za: Prof. JA du Plessis has more than 35 years of experience in the field of water engineering in South Africa. He joined the University of Stellenbosch in 2003 and is presently a professor in Hydrology and Environmental Engineering in the Civil Engineering Dept. He specialized in water resource evaluations, flood hydrology and he provides institution support to various local authorities.
Kobus serves as a member of the Executive Committee in the Board of the Institute of Municipal Engineers for Southern Africa (IMESA), where he is the Director for training and skills development. He also serves on the Education and Training Committee of the South African Institute of Civil Engineers (SAICE) and serves on the Editorial Panel of the SAICE journal. He is a former Head of Dept of Civil Engineering at the University of Stellenbosch. He is a fellow member of both SAICE and an Honorary Fellow of IMESA and is a professional registered engineer with the Engineering Council of South Africa.
Qualifications: BEng (Civil), M Eng (Risk management of water resources) and PhD (integrated water demand management in local governance).
Research focus areas: water resource modelling and the impact of climate change on it; observed changes in rainfall; investigation into alternative rainfall data sets to facilitate modelling; flood hydrology, specifically regional maximum floods, but including observed changes to extreme rainfall events.
Partner: Matjaž Mikoš (UL). Email: Matjaz.Mikos@fgg.uni-lj.si: Matjaž Mikoš is a University Board Member and Full Professor in Hydrology & Hydraulic Engineering at the Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering at the University of Ljubljana. He is a hydraulic engineer specializing into river engineering, torrent control and landslide mitigation. As a hydrologist, he specializes into hydro-meteorology, sediment transport, fluvial and torrent hydraulics, and erosion & sedimentation processes. He obtained a doctorate of Technical Sciences (dr. sc. techn. ETH) at the
Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zürich.
Partner: Stefan Catalin (TUD). Email: Catalin.Stefan@tu-dresden.de: Dr. Catalin Stefan is the head of the Research Group on Managed Aquifer Recharge (INOWAS) at the Institute for Groundwater Management, Faculty of Environmental Sciences of Technische Universität Dresden (TUD). Catalin’s research focuses on planning, assessment and optimization of managed aquifer recharge (MAR) applications using physical models and computer-based simulations. Under his coordination, the Research Group INOWAS developed a free web-based platform with a collection of analytical and numerical simulation tools for groundwater modelling (https://www.inowas.com). Since 2019, Catalin is Co-Chair of the Commission on Managing Aquifer Recharge of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH) and since 2016 active member of Groundwater Solutions Initiative for Policy and Practice (GRIPP). Catalin has experience in coordinating and managing international networks and partnerships with regional focus on Central America, Central Asia and Southeast Asia. He currently leads three projects on MAR such as AGREEMAR - Adaptive agreements on benefits sharing for managed aquifer recharge in the Mediterranean region, TERESA - Urban Water Management: German expertise for Kazakh cities and FARM - Promoting sustainable groundwater solutions for rural farming communities in Karakalpakstan, Uzbekistan.
Partner: Gabriele Santin (UNIVE). Email: Gabriele.Santin@unive.it: Gabriele Santin is an assistant professor (RTDb) at the Department of Environmental Sciences, Informatics and Statistics at the Ca’ Foscari University of Venice. He is an applied mathematician with an expertise in kernel methods and machine learning models, with a particular focus on the construction of surrogate models of complex simulations. Before joining the University of Venice, he was a researcher at the Bruno Kessler Foundation in Trento (Italy) and a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Stuttgart (Germany). He is an associate member in the Cluster of Excellence Data-integrated Simulation Science of the University of Stuttgart. He obtained his PhD in Computational Mathematics from the University of Padua (Italy).