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The 25th IAHR Asia and Pacific Division Congress will take place from 19 to 22 July 2026 in Incheon, Republic of Korea, under the theme “Hydro-environments in the Era of Climate Change and AI”.

IAHR will convene the 25th Congress of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research – Asia and Pacific Division from 19 to 22 July 2026 at Songdo ConvensiA, Incheon, Republic of Korea.

Hosted by IAHR and organised by the Korea Water Resources Association (KWRA), IAHR-APD 2026 will bring together the hydro-environment community across Asia and the Pacific to exchange knowledge, present research, and discuss practical responses to the challenges facing water systems in a changing climate and rapidly evolving technological landscape.

The congress will be held under the theme "Hydro-environments in the Era of Climate Change and AI", reflecting two major forces shaping the future of hydro-environment engineering and research: the increasing impacts of climate change on water systems, and the growing role of artificial intelligence, digital tools, monitoring technologies and data-driven approaches.

 A Broad Technical Programme

The IAHR-APD 2026 programme includes keynote lectures, oral sessions, poster sessions, special sessions, master classes, institutional meetings, a technical field trip and an exhibition.

The technical themes cover a wide range of areas, including climate change adaptation and mitigation, water resources, the water-energy-food nexus, urban flooding, hydro-hazards, fluvial processes, river engineering, ecohydraulics, environmental hydraulics, coastal and estuarine systems, remote sensing, field monitoring, hydroinformatics and AI-driven modelling of hydrologic and hydraulic systems.

Keynote lectures will address topics including nature-based coastal defence, pollutant mixing in rivers, climate change impacts and flood adaptation, spatial field monitoring for coastal protection, and interdisciplinary knowledge for the implementation of nature-based solutions.

 Climate Change, AI and Regional Resilience

Climate change is a central focus of IAHR-APD 2026. The congress programme reflects growing concern across the Asia-Pacific region about floods, droughts, extreme rainfall, coastal risks and other water-related hazards.

At the same time, the programme highlights the increasing importance of artificial intelligence, digital twins, smart monitoring, advanced hydrological survey technologies, hydroinformatics and data-driven modelling. These tools are becoming increasingly relevant for flood prediction, water quality monitoring, infrastructure management, climate resilience and decision-making across the hydro-environment field.

 Special Sessions and Focused Dialogue

IAHR-APD 2026 will include a series of special sessions addressing specific scientific, technical and regional priorities. These include groundwater systems under climate change, ecological river health, nature-based flood management, water culture and river ethics, catchment digital twins, water security under climate change, AI applications for water management, flood risk modelling, sponge cities and hydroinformatics by and for young professionals.

A High-Level Panel on “Pumped Storage Hydropower: Development Pathways and Challenges in the Asian Region” will address the role of pumped storage hydropower in the water-energy transition, with attention to development pathways, hydraulic and operational challenges, environmental considerations and regional research needs.

 Master Classes and Professional Exchange

The congress will also feature master classes on advanced and emerging topics in the field. These include computational fluid dynamics, turbulence modelling, artificial intelligence and quantum computing; nature-based solutions for flooding and water management resilience; and advanced hydrological survey technologies.

These activities will provide additional opportunities for technical learning and exchange among researchers, engineers, practitioners, students and early-career professionals.

 Exhibition: Innovations in Hydro-Environments

IAHR-APD 2026 will include an exhibition under the theme “Innovations in Hydro-Environments”, held jointly with the 2026 Smart Water Grid International Conference.

The exhibition will bring together companies, research organisations, universities and professional bodies working on smart water systems, water quality and flow monitoring, AI-driven solutions, unmanned platforms, watershed management, spatial information, infrastructure safety, carbon neutrality, river management and hydro-environmental research.

 IAHR Institutional Presence

In addition to the scientific and technical programme, IAHR-APD 2026 will serve as an important institutional moment for IAHR in the Asia-Pacific region.

The programme includes the IAHR Council Meeting, the IAHR-APD Executive Meeting and the IAHR Nature-based Solutions Working Group meeting. Through these exchanges, IAHR will continue to support regional collaboration, technical exchange and professional engagement across the hydro-environment community.

Through IAHR-APD 2026, IAHR reinforces its role as a global platform for research, engineering and knowledge exchange in support of more resilient, sustainable and better-informed water systems.

 Related

25th IAHR-APD Congress, July 19-22, 2026, Incheon, Korea
Asia and Pacific Division