The Stephen E. Coleman Best Paper Award is given biennially to the best paper submitted to the River Flow Conference Series and authored or co-authored by a young researcher. 

This award was established by the IAHR technical committee on Fluvial Hydraulics in September 2014, in memory of Prof. Stephen E. Coleman (1966–2012). 

Prof. Coleman is remembered for his outstanding and original contributions to fundamental and applied research in the fields of river mechanics and environmental fluid mechanics and his devotion and enthusiasm in the training of the new generations of hydraulic engineers and scientists.

Who can be a candidate?

The first author of the paper is a young researcher* who will present it orally at the River Flow Conference.

The young researcher applied for the award when submitting the paper.

* a young researcher is defined as a M.Sc. or Ph.D. student or a researcher who has completed his/her Ph.D. no more than three years before the date of the conference in which the award will be given. The time used for parental leaves is not counted for the definition of young researcher.

Submission of papers

The submitted paper should be a full paper or an extended abstract of at least four (4) pages. 

Selection procedure

The selection of the best paper is done by the Stephen E. Coleman Award Committee composed by members of the Leadership Team of the IAHR technical committee on Fluvial Hydraulics. 

2026 winner Stephen E. Coleman Best Paper Award for Young Researchers

Ricardo Rebel, Germany, lead author of the article “First DNS of sediment transport with microscopically realistic sand grains”, co-authored by Fröhlich, J.

2024 winner Stephen E. Coleman Best Paper Award for Young Researchers

Dr. James Lofty, United Kingdom, lead author of the article “A plastic tipping point: The influence of biofouling on the settling orientation and velocity of plastics”, co-authored by P. Ouro & C. Wilson.

2022 winner Stephen E. Coleman Best Paper Award for Young Researchers

Liliane Gonthier, Canada, author of the paper "Fluvial erosion of cohesive glacial sediments: clays and tills from the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence Lowlands".

2020 winner Stephen E. Coleman Best Paper Award for Young Researchers

Emeline Perret, France, lead author of the article "Estimating time-varying stage-discharge relations in rivers with aquatic vegetation", co-authored by Jerôme Le Coz & Benjamin Renard.