2013-2017
Prof. Savenije was born in 1952 in the Netherlands and studied at the Delft University of Technology, in the Netherlands, where he obtained his MSc in 1977 in Hydrology. As a young graduate hydrologist he worked for six years in Mozambique where he developed a theory on salt intrusion in estuaries and studied the hydrology of international rivers. From 1985-1990 he worked as an international consultant mostly in Asia and Africa. He joined academia in 1990 to complete his PhD in 1992. In 1994 he was appointed Professor of Water Resources Management at the IHE (now UNESCO-IHE, Institute for Water Education) in Delft, the Netherlands. Since 1999, he is Professor of Hydrology at the Delft University of Technology, where he is the head of the Water Resources Section.
In 2008 he received the Henry Darcy Medal of the European Geosciences Union for outstanding contributions to Hydrology and Water Resources Management.
In 2010 he received the 'Leermeesterprijs' (Master Award) of the TU Delft, which is an annual award for the most distinguished teacher.
In 2014 he was elected 'Fellow of the AGU' for groundbreaking contributions to our understanding of hydrologic process organization at the macro-scale.
In 2015 Prof. Savenije is awarded the Alexander von Humboldt medal by the European Geosciences Union "for outstanding research in developing regions for the benefit of people and society in the field of hydrology and water resources".
Prof. Savenije has published widely in the fields of hydrology, estuary hydraulics and water resource management. In 2005 he published a book on "Salinity and Tides in Alluvial Estuaries" (second & revised edition freely downloadable). He is chief executive editor of Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (HESS) and editor in chief of Physics and Chemistry of the Earth. He is Past-President of Hydrological Sciences of the European Geosciences Union (EGU), and Past President of the International Commission on Water Resources Systems of IAHS. Since 2013 he is President of IAHS (the International Association for Hydrological Sciences).
He has worked as hydrologist and water resources engineer in many different parts of the world and particularly in Africa, Asia and South America.