Prof Philippe Gourbesville

President, International Association for Hydro-Environment Engineering and Research (IAHR)

Philippe is professor of Hydroinformatics at Polytech Nice Sophia, the graduate school of engineering of Université Côte d’Azur, France, since 1997. He graduated from Louis Pasteur University, Strasbourg (France) in 1993 and started his career as hydraulic engineer in a French consulting company and was involved in projects in Europe, Africa and Asia.

After joining University Côte d’Azur (former University of Nice Sophia Antipolis) as associate professor and professor in 2006, he managed a wide range of research projects on hydro-environmental modelling within different frameworks including 16 European Commission projects as member, work package leader or coordinator.

In 2004, he coordinated a consortium of 5 Europeans universities, 9 international institutions, 60 water sector industrial actors for establishing the EuroAquae joint M.Sc. on Hydrodroinformatics and water management. This M.Sc. was the first jointly awarded in Europe under the Erasmus Mundus framework and has received continuous support from the European Commission for two decades. This program has welcomed about 3.500 students from more than 80 nationalities who joined the M.Sc. or attended some of the various regional activities organized by the consortium such as HydroEurope, HydroAsia and HydroLatinAmerica.

In 2012, Philippe initiated the Tianjin International Engineering Institute (TIEI) at Tianjin University (TJU), China and served as French director of the school that was the first Chinese institution to be accredited by French Government for engineer title.

He regularly advises international institutions, public bodies and consulting companies on water related projects and serves as legal expert for several major flood events. In 2015, Philippe was one of the founders of the Asian Water Council (AWC) promoting innovative solutions for water issues in Asia and currently serving as Vice President.

In addition to IAHR activities, he is actively engaged at the national level with the Societé Hydrotechnique de France (SHF – French Hydrotechnic Society) as a management board member, division chair and initiator of the SimHydro biannual conferences since 2010. Philippe is currently serving as associate editor for the Journal of Hydroinformatics, Journal of Hydraulic Engineering, River, and as co-editor in chief for La Houille Blanche / Hydroscience Journal. He has published extensively in the field of water engineering, crisis management and resilience assessment.

Philippe received several awards from scientific and professional organisations including the “Grand Prix de l’Hydrotechnique” award from SHF in 2011 and he is currently an invited/honorary professor in 16 universities and institutes in Europe and Asia mainly.