Overview

We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2026 Gerhard Jirka Award for Young Researchers which awards the best presentation given by a Young Professional during the biennial IAHR Europe Division Congress. The announcement was made during the closing ceremony of the 9th IAHR Europe Congress held in Luleå, Sweden last week by the Chair of the congress, Staffan Lundström and the Chair of the Europe Division, Pawel Rowinski. The award was introduced at the 5th IAHR Europe Congress in Trento in 2018 and was created in memory of Prof. Gerhard Jirka. 

For more than 30 years Gerhard Jirka made consistently important and lasting contributions to many areas of hydraulic and environmental engineering. His research always covered a wide range from fundamental studies to the development of engineering methods and hence had both great scientific and practical impact. Gerhard will be remembered not only for his great scientific work and professional engagement, but also as a fine and interesting human being who managed to transfer his vitality, enthusiasm and optimism to all who were around him. 

 Winners

• Matthijs den Dekker (Eindhoven University of Technology) for his presentation "Assessing the Impact of Flexibility on Hydraulic Machine Lifetime"

• Linus Kaminski (Federal Waterways Engineering and Research Institute Germany) for his presentation "Predicting Fish Impact Probability at Rubber Dams Through Numerical Simulation"

 Award Criteria

Evaluation criteria and procedure: 

1. Quality of the research

2. Originality of the research 

3. Relevance of the scientific problem

4. Quality of the presentation  

 Jury

The jury for this edition was carefully selected to achieve a thematic balance across the conference's themes, research activities, and future projections. The selection ensured strong connections to the IAHR, geographic diversity, and adherence to high standards of rigor, while also considering the age and experience of the candidates.

• Dr. Ana Margarida Lopes Saraiva Alves Bento, University of Porto, Portugal

• Annelie Hedström, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden

• Dr. Ing. Elena Pummer, Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU), Norway

• Prof. Dr. Jochen Aberle, Leichtweiß-Institute for Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources, Germany

• Janek Laanearu, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

 Related

IAHR Gerhard Jirka Award for Young Researchers