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Insights from EA Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium 2024

29 November, 2024

With over 370 hydrology and water experts from around the country and overseas descending on Melbourne for the Engineers Australia Hydrology and Water Resources Symposium 2024 last week, our own experts added to the diversity of thought and discussion.

Senior Principal Water Dr Colin Terry and Principal Hydrologist Dr Prafulla Pokhrel each gave presentations in their fields and participated in conversations ranging from risk management and climate change to the role of artificial intelligence.

“It’s a 3-day conference with the main purpose of bringing people together to share not just technical insights, but also the success of our industry colleagues”, said Colin. “We honour the traditions as well as looking forward to the new and emerging technology. There are topics that skirt the edges of our discipline which stimulate discussion and really fire the imagination, such as cybernetics and AI”, he said. Colin was so inspired by a presentation on data measured from the overtopping of a weir with parapet walls that he then spent the weekend doing CFD modelling to see if he could reproduce the phenomena discussed.

The conference was very well attended, testament to the power of making and deepening industry connections. “It’s important to me to be present at this conference as there is no substitute for the sheer number of papers and presentations you get exposed to”, said Prafulla. He was especially keen to learn more about how machine learning can be integrated into hydrology, and looking at responses to climate change and the impact this might have on flood risk. It was an idea that threaded through much of the event.

Colin and Prafulla agreed that the conference was a way to share not only what we do well, but also what we are working on and what we are learning. After Colin’s presentation, one attendee asked him whether she should be asking developers to do the sort of analysis that she had just seen him present. “My word you should”, he replied. As he and Prafulla noted, it is conferences like this one that give regulators, researchers, consultants, and clients a window onto what’s possible, which in turn drives the industry forward.