ECoENet Committee
ECoENet has currently 8 Commitee members working towards the short and long-term goals stated in our Strategy. Below our contact details and a short summary of who we are.
If you would more information on members of the organising committee or like to join please email us
Daniel S. Hayes
Role: chair
Organization: University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna, department: Institute of Hydrobiology and Aquatic Ecosystem Management, country: Austria
Bios: I am a freshwater ecologist with experience in applied research. I am fueled by my curiosity for understanding how river ecosystems work in order to contribute to the maintenance of ecologically-healthy rivers while guaranteeing sustainable management of water resources. I am particularly excited about developing holistic solutions for restoring modified rivers for environmental and social benefit, as well as communicating such findings to a broader audience. My PhD work within the framework of the doctoral program FLUVIO focused on restoring flows in modified rivers. As a Post-Doc, I continue working in the field of ecohydrology, with a particular focus on flow-ecology relationships in hydropeaking rivers.
Email: daniel.hayes@boku.ac.at
Keywords: ecohydrology, fish, hydropeaking, environmental flows, ecohydraulics
Ana Adeva-Bustos
Role: co-chair
Organization: SINTEF Energi AS, department: Water Resources, country: Norway
Bios: Ana is a researcher at SINTEF in the Water Resources team. She has recently finished her PhD at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Norwegian University of Science and Technology, Norway. During her four-year PhD program, she has been working on tools and methods to support a more environmental and sustainable management in Norwegian regulated rivers. With emphasis on the potential of integrated tools and methods such as hydraulic modelling, individual based models, hydropower, and habitat modelling, for generating results that are end-user/stakeholder oriented. Her current interest research topics are: impacts from stressors (e.g. hydropower, climate change) on river eco-hydraulics, mitigation measures and cost-effective decision support systems in regulated rivers through the use of Bayesian Networks.
Email: ana.adeva.bustos@sintef.no
Keywords:
Davide Vettori
Role: secretary
Organization: Politecnico di Torino, department: Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure, country: Italy
Bios: I am a postdoctoral researcher at the Department of Environment, Land and Infrastructure Engineering (DIATI) at the Politecnico di Torino with extensive experience in the study of flow-vegetation interactions via laboratory and field experiments. I conduct multidisciplinary research in the fields of ecohydraulics and environmental fluid mechanics. My current research interests cover a broad range of topics including flow-biota interactions, turbulence in open-channel flows, hydrodynamics of deformable bodies, interactions between vegetation and morphodynamic processes, and plant biomechanics.rn
Keywords: Eco-hydraulics
Sebastian Schwindt
Role: webmaster
Organization: University of Stuttgart, department: Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems (IWS), country: Germany
Bios: Sebastian is the leader of the hydro-morphological modeling group at the University of Stuttgart's Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems (IWS). He is an expert in hydro- and morphodynamics, with a focus on sediment dynamics and flood risk mitigation in mountain rivers. Sebastian completed his doctorate at the Ecole Polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in 2017, and has conducted postdoctoral research at the University of California, Davis, where he worked on ecohydraulic restoration of the Yuba River. His current research involves the analysis, modeling, and restoration of hydrologic connectivity through a combination of fieldwork, hydro-morphodynamic modeling, and data-driven optimization.
Email: sebastian.schwindt@iws.uni-stuttgart.de
Keywords: riverbed clogging; structure interactions; sedimentation; ecohydraulics; restoration; connectivity; fish habitat; numerical modeling; data models
Desmond Anim
Role: social media manager
Organization: Monash University, department: Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, country: Australia
Bios: Desmond is a Research Associate in Urban Water Management at the Cooperative Research Centre for Water Sensitive Cities, Monash University, Australia. He holds a PhD in Water Science and Engineering from the University of Melbourne. Desmond's research interest is in the area of urban water management research where he uses field measurement and numerical modelling approaches to study coupled interactions between landscapes and waterways. He is focused on fundamental and applied interdisciplinary research in the field of ecohydrology, geomorphology and ecohydraulics particularly in the context of physical and ecological management of freshwater systems.
Email: desofosa@gmail.com
Keywords: Freshwater management; Ecohydraulics; Stormwater management; Hydraulic/Hydrologic modeling
Lennart Hagen Schönfelder
Role: newsletter editor
Organization: SINTEF Energi AS, department: Water resources, country: Norway
Bios: Lennart Schönfelder currently works in the water resources group at SINTEF Energy. He studied Environmental Engineering with focus on hydraulics and water management at the University of Stuttgart. He took exchange semesters at the University of Guadalajara, Mexico and at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). His master thesis at NTNU gives a perspective on how to assess natural hydrological conditions in a hydropower dominated country like Norway. His current research interests are classification of freshwater bodies in accordance to the EU water framework directive, hydraulic and hydrological modelling.
Keywords: hydrological modelling
Baptiste Marteau
Role: fundraiser
Organization: Université de Lyon - CNRS, department: UMR5600 – Environnement, Ville, Société, country: France
Bios: Baptiste is a post-doc research at EVS lab in Lyon. He holds a PhD in Physical Geography from the University of Aberdeen (Scotland), where he worked on fluvial geomorphology and river restoration. He is now interested in understanding thermal processing in rivers through the use of thermal infrared remote sensing, as well as improving the workflow of processing thermal images with Structure-from-Motion photogrammetry and image classification algorithms. As part of his post-doc programme, he has been working on a wide variety of rivers and contexts, from lowland agricultural streams subjected to clear-cutting and the presence of weirs, to gravel-bed and braided rivers with strong groundwater connectivity. He is particularly interested in linking this field of research within the scope of river rehabilitation.
Email: baptiste.marteau@ens-lyon.fr
Keywords: fluvial geomorphology, remote sensing, infrared thermal imaging, river rehabilitation
Matteo Redana
Role: community manager
Organization: University of Aberdeen, department: UNMC, country: UK / Malaysia
Bios: I am a final year PhD in the department of Biology of the University of Aberdeen. I worked for five years in the environmental engineering private sector, then I got a Master degree in physical Geography at the University of Turin (UniTO) and Politecnico di Torino (PoliTO). My research is focused on the thermal aspects of freshwater systems, with particular attention to the effect of water flow alteration on water temperature. A key methodological aspect of my research is the use of remote sensed thermal data, particularly using UAV technology and their integration with satellite data. A second field of research is represented by the application in ecological context (in particular thermal physiology) of Distributed Lag Non-Linear Models (DLNM), a class of model that allow to estimate non-linear and delayed relations between an environmental exposures and a physiological response. In addition, I am currently collaborating with the University of Nottingham Malaysian Campus (UNMC) on the definition of functional flows for the Baleh HEP project.
Email: r02mr18@abdn.ac.uk
Keywords: freshwater
Emilio Politti
Role: former committee
Organization: University of Trento, department: Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering, country: Italy
Bios: Emilio is a post-doc at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Mechanical Engineering of the University of Trento where he works on mesohabitat and geomorphology modelling. He holds a PhD in River Sciences issued by Erasmus Mundus joint doctoral program “SMART”, a bachelor’s degree in environmental sciences and an MSc in Geoinformatics. His major research interests encompass fish habitat modeling, riparian ecology and fluvial processes. Prior to his engagement in research, Emilio worked as a data analyst and ecosystem modeller in the private sector.
Email: emilio.politti@unitn.it
Keywords: riparian vegetation; data science; programming; ecosystem modelling; GIS; mesohabitat;sorcery
Davide Vanzo
Role: former committee
Organization: ETH Zurich, department: , country: Switzerland
Bios: I am a researcher at the Laboratory of Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) of ETH Zürich, Switzerland. I am an Hydraulic Engineer by training, with a strong background in hydro- and morphodynamic model development. During my PhD studies I focused on the development of assessment and modelling tools for hydro- and thermopeaking alterations in rivers. My current research focuses on two main topics. The first topic is related to the development of numerical models for environmental problems with specific focus on river eco-hydraulics such as fine sediment, pollutant and thermal transport in rivers. The second topic concerns the development and implementation of different strategies to optimize the computational efficiency of numerical simulations. I am developer and member of the scientific board in the software project BASEMENT, member of the Leadership Team of Ecohydraulics (IAHR technical committee) and Chair of the Early Career on Ecohydraulics Network (ECoENet).
Email: vanzo@vaw.baug.ethz.ch
Keywords: river engineering; numerical modelling; river temperature;
Laura Plichard
Role: former committee
Organization: Inrae – Antony, department: Hycar – Hef, country: France
Bios: I am a post-doc at Inrae – Antony, France, in the Hydrosystems and Bioprocesses research unit, Hydroecology of Rivers team. My works aim to characterize the relationships between fish and their surrounding habitats at different spatial and temporal scales. During my PhD and post-doc, I improved fish habitat preference models used in ecological flow tools by developing several statistical, behavioral and sampling approaches. Currently, I am modelling the influence of anthropogenic activities and climate change on the past and present distributions of anadromous fish in France. The applied objective of these models is to help stakeholders to define priority on river restoration programs. In general, I like to understand how we can limit our impacts on ecological processes, conciliating our societal activities with ecosystem functioning. I can definitely summarize my research philosophy citing Bilbo “All that is gold does not glitter, not all those who wander are lost”.
Email: laura.plichard@inrae.fr
Keywords: modelling, fish dispersal, ecological flow
Roser Casas-Mulet
Role: former committee and founder
Organization: Technical University Munich, department: Aquatic Systems Biology, country: Germany
Bios: I am an Alexander von Humboldt research fellow at the Aquatic Systems Biology Chair, Technical University of Munich. I have extensive international research experience in River Science and Ecohydraulics. With a background in Forestry Engineering and consultancy experience in water resources management, I obtained a PhD on Hydraulics and Environmental Engineering at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology in 2014. My general research interests lie on the analysis of environmental changes occurring in rivers, particularly in regulated systems where more often difficult decisions on how best to balance water demands and environmental protection need to be made. I have experience in the topic from both a pure research and applied angles, providing me with the view that firm scientific understanding of environmental processes should be the base for the management of aquatic ecosystems.
Email: roser.casas-mulet@tum.de
Keywords: ecohydrology, ecohydraulics, hydropeaking, stream temperature, fine sediments, freshwater fish