The XIth IAHS Scientific Assembly was held in Montpellier, France from 29th May to 3rd June 2022 with a very rich scientific programme.

The Scientific Assembly was the opportunity to celebrate the 100-year anniversary of the association, to look forward to the end of the Panta Rhei decade which will close in 2023, to envisage progress on the 23 UPHs - Unsolved Problems in Hydrology, and to screen developments of Open Science and support to Agenda 2030 in water-related fields.

There were 600 attendees from 65 countries at this in-person meeting locally organized by a team of scientists from diverse institutions federated by the UNESCO Cat2 Centre ICIREWARD. Covid travel restrictions continued to cause problems for some attendees with about 80 cancellations.

In 2021 the local organising committee decided not to hold the meeting in hybrid mode to encourage attendance and better collaboration. This was generally thought to be a good decision especially for the networking opportunity availed to younger members. Members were delighted to meet again and have the opportunity for discussion and interaction.

IAHS2022 was the first in-person assembly since the XXVIIth IUGG in Montréal in July 2019. The plenary therefore provided an opportunity to celebrate IHP IAHS-UNESCO-WMO medallists and Tison award winners for three years (2020-2022). Our congratulations go to them all.

Left to right: Christophe Cudennec (Secretary General IAHS), Abou Amani (Director, Division of Water Sciences UNESCO), Hubert Savenije (2020 Dooge medallist), Francis Chiew (2022 Volker medallist), Eleni Maria Michailidi (2020 Tison awardee), Taikan Oki (2021 Dooge medallist), María José  Polo Gómez (2022 Dooge medallist), Berit Arheimer (President IAHS), Günter Blöschl (Past President IAHS), Svenja Fischer (2021 Tison awardee), Johannes Cullmann (Director, Climate and Water Department, WMO – receiving award for Harry Lins 2021 Volker medallist), Alexander Ross (2022 Tison awardee), Attilio Castellarin (Editor in Chief HSJ), Salvatore Grimaldi (Vice President IAHS), Bruno Merz (2020 Volker medallist).

Of the 33 SYSTA awards granted to attend the assembly 25 were able to participate. Seven were unable to attend due to visa issues and one withdrew. IAHS organised their flights, accommodation and registrations as well as refunding local expenses up to a maximum total of €2,500. They all spoke highly of the opportunity afforded to them to meet and interact with their peers

The second the Early Career Committee representatives took up their roles during the assembly. IAHS international commissions and working groups, the Editorial Board of Hydrological Sciences Journal and the IAHS Bureau had strategic and operational meetings. WMO and UNESCO took the opportunity to reach out to the scientific community on their latest developments and on science-operational-policy interactions.

IAHS celebrated its 100-year anniversary during the IAHS2022 Scientific Assembly in Montpellier, France. 

The well-attended plenary was divided into three parts:

• Segment 1: Historical recap in building the future, chaired by B. Arheimer, with inputs by G. Blöschl, K. Beven and C. Cudennec
• Segment 2: Future water challenges and scientific opportunities, chaired by C. Cudennec, with inputs by A. van Loon, I. Pechlivanidis, M-J. Polo
• Segment 3: Emerging knowledge, technology, community building, chaired by G. Blöschl, with panelists B. Arheimer (IAHS), A. Amani (UNESCO), J. Cullmann (WMO), H. Makurira (Waternet), M. H. Ramos (EGU), S. Uhlenbrook (IWMI), H. Kreibich (IAHS), M. Sivapalan (IAHS)

During the historical recap we heard from Günter Blöschl about the history of the association including information on the PUB and Panta Rhei decades as well as lessons learned from the UPH process.

Christophe Cudennec produced 10 posters about IAHS history for the event (one for each decade) and detailed the growth and development of the Association.

During 'Future water challenges and scientific opportunities' we heard from Anne Van Loon about the Panta Rhei working group ‘Drought in the Anthropocene’ and Ilias Pechlivanidis about ‘Flooding beyond Prediction’ before María José Polo Gómez spoke about co-development with stakeholders and engaging citizens including the IAHS CandHy working group.

The audience were then invited down for a pop-up session to talk for 2 minutes on their thoughts for the new decade and many took the opportunity.

Finally a panel of IAHS Officers and invited sister organisations (WMO, UNESCO, WaterNet, WMO and IWMI) chaired an interactive session on ‘Emerging knowledge, technology, community building’ inviting provocative questions from the audience.

The XIth IAHS Scientific Assembly opened on Monday 29th May at Le Corum in Montpellier, France. Over 600 hydrologists are excited to be back at a fully in-person meeting with a week of collaboration and interaction around scientific oral presentations and posters.

The event was kicked off with a presentation by Professor Eric Servat (University of Montpellier and Director of Research at IRD) of the IAHS2022 local organising committee.

This was followed by a presentation by Heidi Kreibich, Chair of the 5th biennium of Panta Rhei about the progress made during the decade.

Berit Arheimer, President of IAHS, described her vision for the Association and launched the call to update three main documents during the assembly:

IAHS Declaration on water security

Revisiting the IAHS culture

Producing the IAHS Equality, Diversity and Inclusion statement of commitment.

We look forward to a week of excellent presentations.

IAHS would like to draw attention to a PhD-course, “The 13th Annual Catchment Science Summer School”. It runs Aug 28-Sept 2, in-person at the University of Birmingham UK.

Course details and registration information can be found at https://water.usask.ca/hillslope/teaching/catchment-summer-school/home.php.

The instructors include Profs: Jeff McDonnell, David Hannah, Chris Soulsby, Doerthe Tetzlaff, Ilja van Meerveld, Jan Seibert & Stefan Krause.

It is with deep regret that we inform you of the passing of Frances Watkins. After 27 years dedicated contribution to IAHS and its official journal, Hydrological Sciences Journal (HSJ), Frances Watkins retired in 2021.

Pictured left to right - Sara Rafferty (HSJ Editorial Assistant), Günter Blöschl (President IAHS), Christophe Cudennec (Secretary General IAHS), Attilio Castellarin (Editor-in-Chief HSJ), Frances Watkins (HSJ Editorial Manager), Helen Houghton-Carr (Company Secretary IAHS), Kate Heal (Treasurer IAHS), Claire Lupton (Executive Secretary IAHS) and Eilise Norris (Managing Editor Agriculture, Environment and Water for Taylor & Francis) in 2019.

Frances oversaw the publication of over two-thirds of HSJ pages and tirelessly mentored HSJ Authors, Associate Editors, and Editors. Frances achieved all this with her characteristic warmth and empathy, making the HSJ Editorial Team feel like a welcoming family. All the IAHS staff, HSJ Editors and Associate Editors, IAHS Officers past and present, and HSJ Authors will miss her dearly.

The IAHS Ltd office are in contact with Frances’ family and is collecting IAHS memories of Frances to pass on to them. Contact us via [email protected] if you would like to add a memory.

To create an enduring legacy of Frances’s immense contribution to HSJ, the Co-editors proposed to the Bureau establishing an annual Frances Watkins Memorial Award, to be given to a paper whose structure, presentation and writing are exemplary. The winning paper would be Open Access, with the fee for this covered by IAHS.

The Bureau accepted this proposal, and the first award (early in 2023) will be for a paper accepted in 2022.

IAHS would like to draw attention to a PhD-course in Quantitative Isotope Hydrology, to be held 17-21 October 2022 in Copenhagen. The course will be taught by Paolo Benettin (Laboratory of Ecohydrology, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland) and Scott T. Allen (Dept. of Natural Resources and Environmental Science, University of Nevada, USA). Both have specialized in the quantitative use of stable isotope tracers. 

The course will be held at the Department of Geoscience and Natural Resource Management, located in Øster Voldgade 10, 1350 Copenhagen K, Denmark.

There is no course fee, but participants have to pay their own travel, food and accommodation.

More information and an option to sign up for the course can be found at this link: https://phdcourses.ku.dk/DetailKursus.aspx?id=109293&sitepath=NAT.

The course is hosted by IAHS Internationnal Commission on Tracers member Søren Jessen ([email protected]) from University of Copenhagen to whom questions can be addressed.

Best wishes
Soren

A contribution to United Nations Water Conference 2023

Within the framework of the 25th Ordinary session of the Intergovernmental Council of the UNESCO Intergovernmental Hydrological Programme (IHP),  IAHS will contribute to the scientific side event “Science for a Water Secure World in a Changing Environment - A contribution to Water Conference 2023”, scheduled to take place on 25 April 2022, in hybrid mode in Paris and online. 

The recently released Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report (2022) highlighted that increases in frequency and intensity of extremes have reduced food and water security, hindering efforts to meet SDGs. Furthermore, the IPCC report also emphasized that risks in physical water availability and water-related hazards will continue to increase, with greater risk at higher global warming levels. The report also expressed high confidence that the projected changes in the water cycle, water quality, cryosphere changes, and increases in droughts and floods will negatively impact natural and human systems.

IHP’s 9th phase (2022-2029) Science for a Water Secure World in a changing Environment seeks to ensure that “By 2029, the Member States have the knowledge, sound scientific and research capacity, new and improved technologies, and the management skills that allow them to secure water resources for human development and healthy of ecosystems within a sustainable development context.” 

The proposed scientific side event is organized to discuss and shape the science contribution to IHP-IX (2022-2029) “Science for a Water Secure World in a Changing Environment” as well as to feed into the scientific research agenda for the Water Conference 2023. The side event will build further on the achievements of the recent 9th World Water Forum (March 2022) and the Dakar Declaration, that urges the need for a ‘Blue Deal’ for water security and sanitation for peace and development, through enhanced international cooperation towards solving the water resources challenges under a changing climate. 

The event is structured around three panels on:

-     Science Policy
-     Water Education and Capacity Development
-     Scientific Research and Innovation 

The event is hybrid (online and physical speakers) and is open to all.

To participate either physically or virtually, please register.

IAHS will be represented by Berit Arheimer (IAHS President ), Christophe Cudennec (IAHS Secretary General ) and Nilay Dogulu (IAHS Chair Early Career Committee).

The abstracts submission deadline for 12th International Workshop on Statistical Hydrology (STAHY2022) has been extended to Friday 15th April. The International Commission on Statistical Hydrology (ICSH) of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) invites researchers to submit abstracts for presentation at the 12th International Workshop on Statistical Hydrology (STAHY2022), which will be hosted by the University of Cagliari in Chia, Sardinia (Italy), 17-20 September 2022.

Link for abstract submission: https://sites.unica.it/stahy2022/abstract-submission/  

Web site: https://sites.unica.it/stahy2022/  

Expression of Interest: If you are interested in participating to the workshop, please send an email to [email protected] at your earlier convenience, under the subject “Expression of Interest for STAHY2022”, including your name, surname and contact details (i.e. affiliation, email and preferred telephone number). We will be keeping you updated with the latest workshop news (dates, venue, deadlines, agenda, etc.)

This event is eligible for SYSTA travel awards. Note that an abstract must already be submitted to be considered for an award. The closing date for SYSTA applications is now 18th April 2022 (GMT).

For questions do not hesitate to contact the organizing committee at [email protected]  

The International Commission on Statistical Hydrology (ICSH) of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS) invites researchers to submit abstracts for presentation at the 12th International Workshop on Statistical Hydrology (STAHY2022), which will be hosted by the University of Cagliari in Chia, Sardinia (Italy), 17-20 September 2022.

The STAHY2022 workshop will bring together experts and young scientists alike for vibrant scientific discussions and debates on advanced statistical methods for hydrological applications. New insights and new approaches to characterize hydrological processes considering climate and global changes, inter- and intra-annual variability, statistical projections, and seasonal predictions are particularly welcome. Possible themes of interest are (but not limited to):
- Characterization and modeling of extreme hydrological and meteorological events, including e.g.: flood and precipitation frequency analysis, analysis of compound extremes, hydrological design and risk assessment with event based and continuous simulation approaches;
- Hydrological forecasting and nowcasting, including e.g.: data assimilation techniques, methods to merge different forcings, characterization of different sources of uncertainty;
- Drought characterization and forecasting, including e.g.: methods for drought frequency estimation and intensity identification, monitoring and early warning of drought events;
- Frontiers in hydrology, such as statistical applications to socio-hydrology and eco-hydrology, rainfall-triggered landslides;
- Hydrological applications based on big data, including e.g.: data mining techniques, information theory, artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques;
- Scaling approaches in hydrology, fractals and multifractals.

Deadline for abstract submission: 1st April 2022

Link for abstract submission: https://sites.unica.it/stahy2022/abstract-submission/ 

Web site: https://sites.unica.it/stahy2022/ 

Expression of Interest: If you are interested in participating to the workshop, please send an email to [email protected]  at your earlier convenience, under the subject “Expression of Interest for STAHY2022”, including your name, surname and contact details (i.e. affiliation, email and preferred telephone number). We will be keeping you updated with the latest workshop news (dates, venue, deadlines, agenda, etc.)

This event is eligible for SYSTA travel awards. Note that an abstract must already be submitted to be considered for an award. The closing date for SYSTA applications is 5th April 2022 (GMT).

For questions do not hesitate to contact the organizing committee at [email protected]