Theme 1

Human-water relationships

This theme focuses on bringing together the past and the future, knowledge and experience, with the goal of enhancing enlightened human-water relationships.

1.a. Dialogue of knowledge: academy and traditional hydro-environment engineering knowledge
1.b. Hydro-environment cultural heritage
1.c. Hydro-environment engineering history
1.d. Sustainable Development Goals
1.e. Gender balance, youth involvement and leadership
1.f. Flood management risks from coincident calamities

Theme 2

Snow, river and sediment management

This theme addresses the main management challenges related to the first steps of the water cycle: snow and river processes and their impact on reservoir management.

2.a. Snow assessment and impact on fluvial processes
2.b. Sediment transport in rivers: processes, monitoring and modeling
2.c. Watershed erosion processes and soil conservation
2.d. River morphodynamics and hydraulic-structure effects
2.e. River sediment management, basin-scale interactions and impact on the coast
2.f. River conservation and restoration: nature-based solutions
2.g. Sedimentation in reservoirs

Theme 3

Environmental hydraulics and urban water cycle

This theme addresses the environmental aspects as well as the urban use of water and its subsequent treatment and reuse.

3.a. Ecohydraulics
3.b. Mixing processes
3.c. Transient flows and pipeline hydraulics
3.d. Sensors, monitoring and management strategies in urban water and wastewater systems
3.e. Restoration of water systems in a changing climate
3.f. Desalination and water treatment
3.g. Advanced treatment processes for wastewaters
3.h. Water recycling and reuse
3.i. Industrial flows

Theme 4

Hydraulic structures

This theme addresses the design and performance of hydraulic structures, focusing on structures related to the water path from snow to sea.

4.a. Hydro-environment historical structures: management and restoration
4.b. Aging hydraulic structures: upgrade and retrofit towards more sustainability
4.c. Recent advancements to more reliable, sustainable and resilient hydraulic structures
4.d. Sustainable renewable energy solutions
4.e. Nature-based solutions as a way towards sustainability
4.f. Large scale tests and field data – towards the ultimate validation of hydraulic structures design
4.g. Case studies

Theme 5

Water resources management, valuing and resilience

Within the framework of sustainable water management, this theme focuses on improving resilience, valuing water, and mechanisms to improve cooperation and water governance.

5.a. Water resources planning and management under increasing uncertainty and climate change
5.b. Alternative water resources
5.c. Advanced water resources systems analyses: improving resilience
5.d. Water and circular economy: valuing water
5.e. Water-food-energy nexus: sustainability of water resources
5.f. Water use efficiency
5.g. Cooperation, governance of water and transboundary catchments
5.h. Conflict resolution and stakeholder participation in water management

Theme 6

Computational and experimental methods

This theme focuses on the development and application of both experimental methods and new technologies to improve knowledge of water processes.

6.a. Computational methods in fluid dynamics and hydro-environmental problems
6.b. Computational methods in sediment dynamics
6.c. Computational methods in fluid-structure interactions
6.d. Computational and experimental methods: towards composite modeling
6.e. Optimization methods and uncertainty assessment
6.f. Artificial intelligence in hydro-environment engineering
6.g. Big data, data mining and high-performance computing under hydroinformatics
6.h. Instrumentation, experimental facilities and field experiments
6.i. Water from above: remote sensing and drones technologies

Theme 7

Coasts, estuaries, shelves and seas

Within the framework of sustainable goals, this theme focuses on those aspects of the coast, estuaries, shelf and seas that are most related to IAHR.

7.a. Hydrodynamics, sediments, and ecosystem services
7.b. Water quality and pollution
7.c. Coastal erosion
7.d. Resilient coastlines in a changing climate
7.e. Estuaries and shore protection and restoration: green coastal infrastructure in climate change scenarios
7.f. From the inner shelf to the coastal zone: ecosystem challenges in a changing climate
7.g. From Snow to Sea: the future of the Mediterranean Sea

Theme 8

Extreme events: from droughts to floods

This theme addresses extreme events, the occurrence and severity of which is expected to increase in the coming years as a result of climate change (among other aspects).

8.a. Droughts prediction and management; impacts of climate change
8.b. Tsunamis, storm surges and effects of tropical storms under rising sea levels
8.c. Flood risk assessment, mitigation and adaptation measures
8.d. Urban flood management
8.e. Flood recovery and resiliency
8.f. Impact of global change on extreme environments (cold/arid regions)
8.g. Adaption to climate change: guidance to engineering design