Reporter Topic: Global and Regional Water Security: Need for a Systems Based Approach

Reporter: Roger A. Falconer, Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering

Time: 15:00, Oct.27, 2023

Location: Room 109, Academic Hall of State Key Laboratory

Brief Introduction of Reporter

Roger is an Emeritus Professor of Water and Environmental Engineering in the School of Engineering at Cardiff University, a Fellow of the UK Royal Academy of Engineering, a Foreign Member of the Chinese Academy of Engineering. He was President of the International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (2011-15) and was made an Honorary Member in 2017. He graduated from Imperial College with a PhD in 1976, followed by positions at the universities of Birmingham (Lecturer, 1977-86), Bradford (Professor 1987-97), and Cardiff (Professor 1997-2018).

Specialized as an academic and practitioner, he acquired over 40 years of experience in applied research, development and management in water and environmental engineering. He has managed a wide range of research projects on hydro-environmental modelling and has been involved in over 100 Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) studies worldwide. He has published over 450 papers in leading peer reviewed journals and international conference proceedings and delivered over 40 keynote presentations at international conferences and over 560 talks on flooding, water security and tidal energy in over 30 countries. Roger has received many awards for his research impact and project activities, including the prestigious: IAHR Ippen Award, Royal Academy Silver Medal, ICE Telford Premium, and the Chinese Government Friendship Award.

Prof. Falconer's research has continued in the development and application of computer models for predicting flow, water quality and sediment transport processes in coastal, estuarine and inland waters. He has developed three widely used computational hydro-environmental models, namely FASTER, DIVAST and TRIVAST for predicting 1D, 2D and 3D hydrodynamic, pollutant and sediment transport processes in aquatic basins. His DIVAST model provides one of the 2-D engines available within Flood Modeller (developed by Jacobs), which is used extensively in the UK and internationally for flood risk modelling. These models have been acquired by consulting companies and government organisations, for application to over 100 hydro-environmental impact assessment studies worldwide, and by over 60 academic institutions in 18 countries for research studies.