We are delighted to announce that several IAHR members have been awarded the 12th Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. 

On 15 June 2026, the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) made its public announcement for the winners of its 12th Award at the United Nations Office at Vienna (UNOV). The announcement took place at the water session of the 69th Committee on the Peaceful Uses of Outer Space (COPUOS).

PSIPW is a leading global scientific award focusing on cutting-edge innovation in water research. It gives recognition to scientists, researchers, and inventors around the world for pioneering work that addresses the problem of water scarcity in creative and effective ways. To this end, PSIPW offers a suite of five prizes every two years, covering the entire water research landscape.

Leading international scientists with a diversity of backgrounds—including chemical engineering, civil engineering, Earth sciences, environmental engineering, physical geography, GIS, as well as hydrology—won the five prizes for a wide variety of relevant, groundbreaking solutions that promise to help provide needed drinking water to people around the world. The winners hail from institutions in Canada, China, Cyprus, Italy, and the United States.

IAHR congratulates the winners of the five prizes, as well as those who were nominated. We extend our special congratulations to the IAHR team led by Mohamed S. Ghidaoui and Silvia Meniconi, who won the Creativity Prize for their work, which involves transforming the time reversibility of hydraulic waves into powerful diagnostic framework to monitor water infrastructure health. 

 IAHR Members Awarded the 12th PSIPW Creativity Prize 2026

This ground-breaking work encompasses fundamental research, technology development, and successful field implementations. The resulting time reversal (TR) technology senses high-speed water-borne waves (km/s), theoretically reverses their chronological order, and re-emits them into a model (this IAHR lecture and vision paper Time reversal of waves in hydraulics: experimental and theoretical proof with applications introduce TR of waves in pipes). This directs focused energy onto pipeline faults and failures with unprecedented resolution, reaching the limits of wave physics. The outcome of this technology is strengthened pressurized pipeline infrastructure monitoring, leading to reduced water, energy, and financial losses, and more reliable condition assessment for water distribution networks and other pressurized fluid systems. 

Research and technology development for TR was funded by Hong Kong’s Research Grants Council (Theme-based Research Scheme, T21-602/15R) and the Innovation and Technology Support Programme (Mid-stream, theme-based, ITS/033/22MS), and the Chinese Estates Named Chair Professorship. The TR technology has since been piloted in water supply and sewerage systems through collaborations with Hong Kong’s Water Supplies Department (WSD), Drainage Services Department (DSD), Airport Authority Hong Kong (AAHK), and Italy’s AcegasApsAmga SpA.

Mohamed S. Ghidaoui led the overall scientific program and core theoretical development of time reversal research. He, in partnership with team members and contributors, pioneered, led, and supervised the research and technology development, including its implementation in Hong Kong, China. Silvia Meniconi, Professor of Hydraulics at the University of Perugia, together with Bruno Brunone, Founder and Director of the Water Engineering Laboratory at University of Perugia, led the laboratory and field-testing activities in Italy, validating the diagnostic approaches in real water-infrastructure applications. This endeavor truly exemplified the power of teamwork, with all nine members contributing to the research and development. This prestigious award will provide the team with crucial encouragement, ammunition, and impetus to sustain their momentum and pursue their next objective: developing long-range wave-based imaging for water infrastructure, thereby achieving our long-term vision of a paradigm shift towards failure prevention in the water field.

Congratulations to all!

 About PSIPW

PSIPW is a leading, global scientific award focusing on cutting-edge innovation in water research. It gives recognition to scientists, researchers and inventors around the world for pioneering work that addresses the problem of water scarcity in creative and effective ways.

To this end, PSIPW offer a suite of five prizes every two years, covering the entire water research landscape.

Nominations are currently open for the 13th Award (2027). Nominations can be made online for all five prizes directly through the PSIPW website. 

 Related

Congratulations to the recipients of the 11th Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water!
IAHR Members awarded with 11th the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water in Vienna