Department of Geography ETHZ

BACKGROUND OF THE PROJECT
THE PARTNERS
PROJECT GOALS
PLAN OF ACTIVITIES
ORGANIZATIONAL STRUCTURE

EDUCATION

RESEARCH

IHP UNESCO

MOBILITIES
LOGISTICS
IMPACTS
FUTURE PROJECTS

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

LIST OF ACRONYMS

The education of young process-oriented hydrologists is not covered systematically by the present university system in Slovakia. Hydrologists actively engaged in science usually come with an educational background from various university courses, including geography, hydrogeology, forestry and engineering hydrology.

The concept of the Institutional Partnership project is rooted in an analysis of the present state of hydrologic education and research, which was formulated international meetings organized by Dr. Sevruk in Bratislava. In order to respond to future needs in the field of an environmentally sound, integrated management of water resources, the need for new educational initiatives in hydrology, which match international standards and the transfer of international expertise in postgraduate education and research has become apparent. The project idea was accepted by the Swiss National Science Foundation (SNSF) within its Cooperation in Science and Research program with the CEEC/NIS.

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The long-term aim of the project is to establish an educational and research oriented Institutional Partnership in Hydrology (IP). The IP was formed with the methodological support and expertise of the GI ETHZ under the coordination of Dr. Boris Sevruk. It is based on the institutionalization and intensification of the existing informal cooperation among the four institutes. The IP represents one of the first organized attempts in Slovakia to integrate the research and educational potential of academic, non-academic and university institutes into a science-based education at a university. It is anticipated, that it could serve as a pilot initiative for other scientific disciplines.

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The activities planned within the project were aimed at creating an environment which would consistently lead the partners to concentrate on the integration of know-how in the education process and on the efficient use of funding and joint research activities. The following goals were set:

 to establish an organizational structure for cooperation among the Slovak partners

 to organize joint graduate and postgraduate education by the participating Slovak institutes

 to support the mobility of teachers and students

 to promote future participation in EU research and educational programs, the International Hydrology Program of UNESCO (IHP), the Operational Hydrology Program of WMO (OHP) and diverse activities of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS);

 to initiate a research focal point in hydrology.

Concrete organizational measures were adopted; activities aimed at increasing an awareness of the need for the internationalization and integration of education and science were conducted; and the logistical support of such activities was improved.

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As coordinating link between the participating Slovak institutes, the Executive Board (EB) of the IP, consisting of the vice dean of the FCE STU for the university institutes, the vice director of the IH SAS and the vice director of the SHMI, was established. It is responsible for the vertical coordination of all IP activities. It was lead by the Swiss coordinator during the implementation phase of the project. Since all members are in CEO positions, the coordination is direct, flexible and effective.

The EB is supported by the Scientific Advisory Board (SAB) of the IP, which is constituted from leading educators and researchers. The SAB handles the horizontal coordination of the scientific and educational activities. The SAB has been officially accredited by the Ministry of Education as the only commission which is eligible to organize postgraduate education in hydrology in Slovakia. Thus, its influence extends beyond the scope of the IP. Less formal links, such as reciprocal guest memberships in the scientific councils of the IP institutes, have also been implemented. They have proved to be an effective means of support for the integration of education and research within the IP institutes.

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Three workshops on the conceptual problems of in hydrological education were organized, with 20, 33 and 150 participants respectively. The problems of education in English, the mobility of students and educators, the requirements of the engineering practice respecting education, continuing education in hydrology, the future development of the SUT and trends in the development of hydrological education were addressed. Feedback from consulting companies, water works and river basin authorities was sought. The international pressure for quality assessment, process-oriented reasoning and a holistic method of approaching problems, environmental awareness and European dimensions in education, and new means of multimedial communications and teaching were stressed.

The SAB has completely reorganized postgraduate education in hydrology. Each Ph.D. student will have to pass three examinations and a language test in the future. Attendance at regular hydrology seminars held by the IP at the DLWRM will be part of their individual study plans. The IP will attempt to organize an international seminar once a year. The IP project developed a pilot initiative with spring seminar on “Challenges in the Development of Hydrology” with 15 invited lectures given by leading hydrologists from Switzerland, Canada, Germany, Austria, Croatia and Hungary for 72 participants. During the project 52 invited lectures for students, the IP staff and the hydrological community were presented by 25 international and 15 local experts.

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Lectures for Ph.D., graduate students and staff members have been organized during the project:

The need to develop increased understanding of the hydrological processes was stressed in the international scientific community during recent years. Areas such as the study of hydrological processes on different temporal and spatial scales, land atmosphere interactions, understanding the impact of climate change on the hydrological cycle and water resources, etc., are increasingly tackled in international science. International and interdisciplinary co-operation in education and research is seen as one of the prerequisites for development. Within the framework of the project Educational and Research Partnership in Hydrology a series of lectures were given by hydrologists from the Slovak partner institutes for graduate and PhD students. The seminar presented lectures given by international experts with the aim of:

- fostering critical thinking about the present status of development and presenting ideas for development in various areas of hydrology

- presenting modern methodological approaches and case studies in various fields of hydrology and water resources and outlining future directions of research

- supporting informal contacts among students and young scientists from the Central European countries to discuss challenges for scientific developments in hydrology under the supervision of a group of international experts.

The opening lecture was given by Dr. Vít Klemeš, former president of the IAHS with the title “Hydrology and water management - the burden of common roots”. On the first day following lectures were presented:

• Atmospheric conditions and areal characteristics of extreme precipitation, Dr. Dietmar Grebner, ETH Zurich
• Climate change and hydrologic scenarios, Prof. Herbert Lang, ETH Zurich
• How are solute transport models tuned to fit soil realities?, Prof. Hannes Flühler, ETH Zurich
• Mapping of evapotranspiration in mountains, Dr. Lukas Menzel, PIK Potsdam
• Karstology - an integration of hydrology, hydraulics and hydrogeology, Prof. Ognjen Bonacci, TU Split
• Process-oriented reasoning - an alternative for hydrological modelling, Prof. Dieter Gutknecht, TU Vienna
• Water residence times in a small prealpine catchment, Dr. Tomáš Vitvar, ETH Zurich

The second day was opened by V. Klemeš with the lecture ‘In search of the hydrological dice”. It was followed by the following presentations:

• Impact of climate change on hydrologic processes, Prof. Paolo Burlando, ETH Zurich
• Irreversibility and sustainability in water resources systems management, Prof. Peter Nachtnebel, BOKU Vienna
• Scaling as a general framework in hydrology, Prof. Günter Blöschl, TU Vienna
• WMO precipitation measurement intercomparisons, Dr. Boris Sevruk, ETH Zurich
• Simulation of wind induced error in precipitation measurements, Dr. Vladimír Nešpor, ETH Zurich
• Eco-hydrology of flood plains, Prof. István Zsuffa, TU Budapest

The organising committee consisting of Dr. Boris Sevruk (Department of Geography ETHZ), Dr. Karol Martinka (Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute), Dr. Ľudovít Molnár (Institute of Hydrology SAS), Assoc. Prof. Ján Szolgay and Assoc. Prof. Andrej Šoltész (both Faculty of Civil Engineering SUT) invited graduate students and young scientists with backgrounds in hydrology, water resources engineering, hydrometeorology, climatology, hydrogeology, forestry etc. from Slovakia and neighbouring countries to participate in the seminar. 63 registered participants from the TU in Bratislava, Comenius University in Bratislava, TU in Zvolen, Agricultural University in Nitra, TU Budapest, TU Vienna, TU Prague, young staff from the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute in Bratislava and its branches in Zilina, Banska Bystrica and Kosice, the Institute of Hydrology of the Slovak Academy of Sciences, the Water Research Institute in Bratislava and Institute for Land Reclamation in Bratislava attended the lectures. Most of the young participants are involved in some kind of postgraduate education at our Faculty, their home universities and at the IH SAS.

The fact, that the lecturers presented themselves not only as hydrologists but as critical thinkers as well, was especially appreciated by the participants. The seminar in Bratislava has not only disseminated knowledge, but has certainly strengthened the will of young hydrologists to enter the international scientific community and has encouraged them to continue with their research.

The following lecturers have agreed to give seminars in 1999 in the series “Contemporary Hydrology”:

 Methodological problems in the estimation of design discharges
Dr. Kupčo - SMHI

 The role of transpiration in the water balance of the Danube floodplain forest area
Dipl. Ing. Meszároš - IH SAS

 Annual course of potential evapotranspiration in different altitudes
Dr. Miklánek - IH SAS

 Modelling of runoff and erosion processes in a basin using the GRASS model
Dr. Šúri - Institute of Geography, SAS

 Hydroecological plans of the Kysuca region - GIS-based sustainable water management
Dipl. Ing Macura, Slovak Agency of the Environment

Database of digital hydroecological plans for river basins in Slovakia
Dr. Pauk - ESPRIT Ltd.

 Factor analysis of catchment characteristics
Assoc. Prof. Fendeková, Department of Hydrogeology, Comenius University, Bratislava

 Experience with the TOP model in modeling runoff from a mountainous basin
Dipl Ing. Kostka, Dr. Holko, IH SAS

 Modeling soil moisture in the unsaturated zone
Dr. Majerčák - IH SAS

 Field measurement of water and solute transport in structured soil using TDR and the radioactive tracer technique
Dr. Lichner, Dr. Novák - IH SAS

 Impact of climate change on the long-term mean annual flow in selected regions of Slovakia
Assoc. Prof Szolgay, DLWRM

 Assessment of the impact of climate change on the seasonal distribution of the mean monthly runoff in selected regions of Slovakia
Assoc. Prof Hlavčová, DLWRM

 Evapotranspiration and climate change - evaluation of the data measured at the Žihárec and Michalovce experimental stations
Dr. Petrovič - WRI

 Methods of forecasting spring yields and their applications
Assoc. Prof. Fendeková, Department of Hydrogeology, Comenius University Bratislava

Special attention has also been focused on international educational programs. Four meetings were held with 50, 28, 30 and 8 participants respectively. The first informed students and staff members about all international programs and grants which are offered to students and scientists by diverse organizations in Slovakia; the second trained the participants in writing a CV, a letter of intent expressing motivation for a goal, and applications for grants and supports in English; the third introduced the FCE SUT as a potential exchange site for visiting German students; and the fourth concentrated on the revitalization of former links with CEES partners.

In the SOCRATES program, an application for a grant dealing with the development of syllabi for a course in sustainable water management which reflects the water directives of the EU, has been submitted. A proposal for the exchange of students under the SOCRATES program with TU Kaiserslautern has been signed.

The university institutes applied for and became partners in the European Thematic Network of Education and Training for Environment Water (ETNET). It now has 204 contact persons in 22 countries representing 130 departments of the 109 partner organizations. The main goal is “to define and develop a European dimension within a given academic discipline or other issues of common interest through cooperation.”

The DLWR became a partner in the Baltic Universities Network. International course syllabi and material will be received for teaching the sustainable management of water resources. These course materials will be used in the planned English language courses.

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Mutual research interests were discussed in four workshops with 18, 11, 56 and 91 participants respectively. The topics included large floods and flash floods, scientific problems of computation methods in engineering hydrology, global change and climate change problems in Central Europe. The conclusions drawn from the workshops were presented to the Ph.D. study advisors and were recommended to be used in the preparation of applications for national and international grants by the IP institutes.

The EB has encouraged colleagues at the IP institutes to integrate their resources in joint research. Two joint projects were accepted by the Slovak Grant

 The hydrology of extremes (IH SAS, DLWRM, SMHI)

 The determination of areal evapotranspiration as an element of the water balance in selected catchments of Slovakia (IH SAS, DWLRM).

 Regional hydrologic scenarios for the integrated management of the quantity and quality of surface water resources in Slovakia (IH SAS and DLWRM, SMHI)

 A strategy for the restoration of river and water formations in the Slovak river network(DLWRM, the Institute of Zoology and the Institute of Landscape Ecology SAS)

 Studying turbulence using a direct numerical simulation database(DHT and GI ETHZ)

 Regional climate change impact study on hydrology and water resources for East Slovakia (DLWRM, IH SAS and SMHI).

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Special attention has been paid to the IHP of UNESCO. The IP has proposed to take over the coordination of the joint hydrological research activities within the Danube Countries Cooperation Program for the next period starting with January 1999. This has been accepted by the Meeting of the Danube countries NC IHP UNESCO in Osijek, Croatia. A proposal to organize the 20th Conference of the Danube Countries on Hydrology in Bratislava in the year 2000 has also been accepted.

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Sustainable management of the water resources in the Danube river basin in a changing environment requires complex knowledge of the eco-hydrological processes, availability of hydrological and environmental data, appropriate methods for the integrated management and operational control of the water resources at various temporal and spatial scales. The conference will focus on the current state of understanding the space-time variability of eco-hydrologic processes, including river ecology and water quality, hydrological forecasting and integrated water resources management in the Danube region. Both general methodological contributions and case studies applicable to large river basins are invited.

The conference topics are:

• Hydrological forecasting (national forecasting systems in the Danube countries; data collection, processing and management systems; utilisation of quantitative precipitation forecasts; forecasting methods for rainfall-runoff processes, river flow and water quality; long term forecasts)
• Eco-hydrological processes (monitoring and modelling of rainfall-runoff processes; soil-plant-water-atmosphere interactions; hydrological processes in a changing environment; ecological and hydrological interactions)
• Erosion, sediment transport and sedimentation (catchment erosion - monitoring and modelling; monitoring of sediment transport; sediment transport models; sediment quality)
• Water quality and river ecology (water quality monitoring and modelling; ice and thermal regimes of water bodies; groundwater and river interactions; aquatic ecosystems and river processes)
• Water resources management in the Danube region (water supply and demand changes in transition economies; climate change - water resources and adaptation strategies; extreme hydrological events and risk management; socio-economic aspects of water resources management)

Participants intending to present a paper should submit an abstract of 400-500 words in English or German by 31 August 1999. Authors will be notified of acceptance by 30 October 1999 and full papers should be submitted by 31 January 2000. After review, the papers will be pre-published in the conference proceedings. In addition to oral presentations, poster sessions are planned to be held. Poster papers will be published in the proceedings. Information may also be found from the homepage of the Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute: www.shmu.sk/danube.html

For further information, please contact:

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Several mobility programs were set up with 62 mobilities (36 from Slovakia, 17 from Switzerland and nine from other countries). Seven short visits of CEOs to study Swiss experience in the organization of graduate and postgraduate education were organized; five young hydrologists participated in short courses in Switzerland; nine Ph.D. research advisors studied the Swiss educational system and prepared materials for lectures; 10 scientists visited international scientific events; five young hydrologists conducted research under the supervision of the coordinator at the GI ETHZ and 10 Swiss scientists and 12 scientists from other foreign countries delivered lectures in Bratislava.

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The computing infrastructure of the partner institutes has been reorganized. The EB agreed on internal software standards; a direct microwave connection of the IH SAS to the Slovak Academic Network (SANET) was built instead of a slow modem connection, autonomous computer networks in both university institutes were set up, all colleagues engaged in IP activities at the SMHI were given access to e-mail and 12 PCs were purchased. A new main computer room at the FCE was set up for students. The level of the computer infrastructure was increased substantially by the project.

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1. the concentrated and efficient use of funding and the optimal assignment of labor in Ph.D. education and research in hydrology was initiated;
2. the supporting infrastructure was modernized;
3. the goal-oriented integration of research in hydrology began;
4. an international orientation in the internal values system of the IP partners was introduced;
5. the attractiveness of science for the best and most goal-oriented students began to increase.

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CEES - Central and Eastern European Countries
DH SHMI - Department of Hydrology of SHMI
DHG UK - Department of Hydrogeology, Comenius University in Bratislava
DHE - Department of Hydraulic Engineering of the FCE STU
DLWRM - Departments of Land and Water Resources Management of the FCE STU
EB - Executive Board of the IP
ERASMUS - EU educational cooperation program
ETNET WATER - Interuniversity cooperation program in water resources
FCE STU - Faculty of Civil Engineering of STU in Bratislava
FNS UK - Faculty of Natural Sciences, Comenius University in Bratislava
GI ETHZ - Department of Geography of the ETH Zurich
IAHS - International Association of Hydrological Sciences
IH SAS - Institute of Hydrology of the SAS
IHP UNESCO - International Hydrology Program of UNESCO
IP - Institutional Partnership
FMF UK - Faculty of Mathematics and Physics, Comenius University Bratislava
OHP WMO - Operational Hydrology Program of WMO
SAB - Scientific and Advisory Board of the IP
SAS - Slovak Academy of Science in Bratislava
SCH - Slovak Committee for Hydrology
SH IH SAS - Section of Hydrology of the IH SAS
SHMI - Slovak Hydrometeorological Institute in Bratislava
SNSF - Swiss National Science Foundation
SOCRATES - EU educational cooperation program
STU - Slovak Technical University in Bratislava
WMO - Word Meteorological Organization
WRI - Institute of Water Research in Bratislava

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