Season's greetings from IAHR!
Dear Members, Colleagues & Friends,
IAHR wishes you season’s greetings and all the best for the coming year 2026!
We thank you for your engagement, dedication and continuous support during 2025. This year we celebrated the 90th anniversary of our association, with pride about our long history and what we are today: IAHR is a prestigious organisation representing over 5300+ water professionals from 100 + countries and 6 regions in different technical fields covering the whole water cycle, with 127 Institutes Members, 59 Young Professionals Networks - representing over 2500 young professionals - 4 official Regional Divisions and 26 Technical Committees and Working Groups.
… and we continue growing!
Highlights from 2025
In 2025 we started the Global Platform of National Water Associations which is bringing together already 14 associations and hundreds of associated members from the globe! The platform is open to new associations, please invite yours to join!
In 2025 we consolidated the IAHR Label for Water Training and Education jointly with UNESCO. This Flagship Initiative of UNESCO-IHP is dedicated to recognisinghigh quality education and training programmes in the water sector. The label aims to support and bring visibility to programmes that are deeply needed to prepare the next generation of water professionals.
We established the IAHR Global Water Awards and the first ones were given during the 41st IAHR World Congress in Singapore in June this year!
We launched the new IAHR Training Courses Series to bridge the gap between theory and real-world applications. The courses are open to all and free for IAHR members.
We hosted over 20 events attended by 8000+ participants including a successful 41st IAHR World Congress and the 6th IAHR Young Professionals Online Congress, numerous webinars, courses and other events.
We initiated a new mentoring programme for young professionals.
We continue to publish 6 prestigious journals and our trade magazine Hydrolink.
We published new Open Access IAHR Water Monographs.
We published two major reports:
The Global Water Institutes Report. From data to decisions: Accelerating the digital transformation, and
The Global Water Innovation Report, which shares the main priorities for water innovation, as identified by national water associations.
Our library of resources continues growing with hundreds of congress proceedings, and webinar and courses recordings.
We continue advancing the Strategic Plan and the key priority thematic areas.
What’s next in 2026?
2026 will be rich with plenty of activities. We look forward to welcoming you in any of the Regional Congresses and Technical Conferences that will be held during 2026:
9th IAHR Europe Congress in Lulea, Sweden | 09-11 July 2026
25th IAHR Asia Pacific Congress in Incheon, Korea | 19-22 July 2026
32nd IAHR Latin American Congress in Valparaiso, Chile | 19-23 October 2026
7th IAHR Africa Congress in Kigali, Rwanda | 08-11 December 2026
And the biennial IAHR Technical Conferences such as Ice, Hydroinformatics, Coastlab, Hydraulic Structures, River Flow and Ecohydraulic, W.A.T.E.R. and Hydraulic Machinery.
Last but not least, we are excited to announce that preparations for the 42nd World Congress in Bari, Italy are already underway! This will be a major event in the global water agenda bringing together the scientific community, policy makers and solutions providers. In Singapore, during the last world congress, we launched the “Road to Bari” to streamline actions and activities of IAHR communities according to our strategic plan. The main objective is to deliver results and solutions to address the priority water challenges identified by peer experts, decisions makers, engineers and solutions providers. In addition, Bari is a gem in the Adriatic Sea full of historical heritage which you should not miss!
Get involved!
We look forward to continue working with you in 2026! Please do share your ideas, proposals and projects with us!
Our Technical Committees and Working Groups are open to all members! We are always welcoming new proposals of groups and activities such as monographs, special issues, special sessions, courses, etc.
Together, we can continue to advance the field of hydro-environmental engineering and create innovative solutions that address the global water challenges of today and tomorrow!
Best wishes,
Philippe Gourbesville IAHR President