~ FREE & ZOOM WEBINAR ~

IAHR Global Water Security Webinar on
Climate Resilience and Hydro-Environmental Modelling

Monday, 22 June 2026
07:00 New York | 12:00 London | 13:00 Madrid | 19:00 Beijing

Registration of the Webinar

Following the success of the previous 8 webinars on global water security, each attracting a global audience of several thousand page views, the IAHR Technical Committee on Global Water Security is now organizing the 9th webinar on “Climate Resilience and Hydro-Environmental Modelling” on 22 June 2026.

As climate change intensifies the frequency and severity of floods, storm surges, water pollution, and ecosystem degradation, there is an increasing need for advanced hydro-environmental modelling approaches that can support resilient and adaptive water management. At the same time, rapid developments in artificial intelligence, real-time monitoring, and data-driven techniques are creating new opportunities to improve environmental prediction, disaster preparedness, and decision-making for global water security.

This webinar will feature two leading international experts in hydro-environment engineering and research. Professor Joseph Hun-wei Lee from Macau University of Science and Technology will deliver a keynote presentation on “Hydrodynamics for Climate Resilience: Global Challenges and Emerging Technologies”, highlighting recent advances in hydro-environmental modelling for adaptive water security management, including storm surge and urban flooding forecasting, eco-environmental systems research, and the evolving relationship between hydrodynamics theory and AI-based approaches. Professor Reza Ahmadian from Cardiff University will present “Hydro-environmental modelling for Water Security: combining physical understanding with data driven intelligence”, focusing on innovative process-based and data-driven modelling frameworks for water quality prediction, hydro-epidemiology, and environmental monitoring to support human health and environmental resilience.

Professor Qiuwen Chen from Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute will chair this webinar.

Speakers

Program

Welcome remarks

• Qiuwen Chen | Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Director of Center for Eco-Environmental Research; Co-Chair of IAHR GWS TC

Keynote speeches

• Hydrodynamics for Climate Resilience: Global Challenges and Emerging Technologies
  Joseph Hun-wei Lee | Macau University of Science and Technology and China Three Gorges University

• Hydro-Environmental Modelling for Water Security: Combining Physical Understanding with Data Driven Intelligence
  Reza Ahmadian | Cardiff University, Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering; Co-Chair of IAHR GWS TC

Closing

• Qiuwen Chen | Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute, Director of Center for Eco-Environmental Research; Co-Chair of IAHR GWS TC

Abstracts of the Presentations

Hydrodynamics for Climate Resilience: Global Challenges and Emerging Technologies (by Joseph Hun-wei Lee): In this talk I would like to share some recent research on hydro-environmental modeling for adaptive water security management to enhance climate resilience in coastal cities: (i) storm surge and urban flooding forecast for disaster management; (ii) emerging technologies for inter-disciplinary eco-environment systems research; and (iii) the role of hydrodynamics theory vs the AI-research paradigm using the example of a swirling confined turbulent buoyant jet.

Hydro-environmental modelling for Water Security: combining physical understanding with data driven intelligence (by Reza Ahmadian): Global water security extends far beyond water availability and quantity, encompassing water quality, public health, and environmental resilience. This presentation explores recent advances in process based and data driven hydro epidemiological and hydro environmental modelling aimed at reducing risks to human health through two international applications.
One part of the presentation focuses on the simulation of faecal indicator organisms (FIOs) in coastal waters and demonstrates the importance of improved bacterial decay formulations for enhancing predictive accuracy. The work also evaluates the contribution of dimensionality reduction techniques in supporting efficient and reliable real time prediction systems.
Another part presents and evaluates a multistage, data driven framework that integrates unsupervised clustering, supervised classification, and simplified physical diagnostics to identify mixing and stratification regimes in small shallow lakes and reservoirs using real time monitoring data. Together, these studies demonstrate how combining process understanding with modern data driven methods can strengthen environmental prediction, improve decision making, and contribute to global water security.

About the Speakers

Professor. Joseph Hun-wei Lee is the 4th President of Macau University of Science and Technology (2021-2025) and Past President of IAHR (2019-2023).  He is the founding editor-in-chief of the Journal of Hydro-environment Research (Elsevier), and has received many awards that include the ASCE Hunter Rouse Hydraulic Engineering Award, the China State Scientific and Technological Progress Award (Principal Investigator), and the 2024 Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water.  He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (UK) and the Hong Kong Academy of Engineering, and an Honorary Fellow of the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers.
Professor Lee’s research focuses on the theory of buoyant jets and its environmental applications, eco-hydraulics related to dynamics of algal blooms and red tides, AI and real time environmental forecasting systems and urban flood control to address climate change impacts.  He has pioneered the WATERMAN coastal water quality forecast system for smart water management; and in recent years has led 3D hydro-environmental modeling and field monitoring research in Macao to enhance climate resilience for coastal cities.

Professor. Reza Ahmadian is Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering and Director of Engineering at School of Engineering, Cardiff University. He has more than 20 years’ of experience in hydro-environmental modelling focused on global water security, improving human health and environment and migration to net zero through implementation of three modelling themes: (i) hydro-epidemiology and water quality modelling; (ii) flood risk management; and (iii) run-of-the-river hydro-power and tidal energy. This has led to further research in autonomous monitoring and development of digital twin for the environment. Reza is the Chair of the International Association for Hydro-environment engineering and Research (IAHR) Global Water Security Technical Committee. He is the past Chair and a member of the leadership team of the IAHR UK chapter.

Related Events

Related links

• IAHR Technical Committee on Global Water Security