Insights & speaking

Making water science visible and useful

Water science matters most when it is understood. This page collects research highlights, conference contributions and the talks and workshops I offer.

Research highlights

Findings in plain language

Scientific Data (2020)

A global view of karst springs

Karst aquifers supply drinking water to a large part of the world's population but are hard to compare because data are scattered. WoKaS brings spring discharge records from around the world together in one open dataset, so researchers and managers can see how these fast-flowing aquifers behave in different climates.

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Hydrology and Earth System Sciences (2022)

Reading the memory of a spring

How quickly a spring dries out after rain reveals how its aquifer stores and drains water. Automated methods now separate fast conduit flow from slow matrix flow objectively, replacing subjective manual fitting and allowing hundreds of springs to be analysed consistently.

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Water International (2020)

Groundwater in a growing city

In Arusha, Tanzania, urban growth and a changing climate both put pressure on groundwater. Scenario analysis shows where the pressure is greatest and what planners should watch.

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Journal of Hydrology (2026)

Sharing water across borders

Upstream hydropower and downstream water demand are often seen as competing. The study identifies operating conditions under which both sides can benefit, even under climate change.

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Articles and professional commentary

Writing

Commentary on open data, soil moisture, and the link between water science and decision making is in preparation. To be notified, get in touch or follow on LinkedIn.

Conference presentations

Talks and posters

2025 ISMN: a global data hub for in-situ soil moisture observations IAHS Scientific Assembly (IAHS 2025) · Roorkee, India talk
2024 Data acquisition and analysis in karst systems 31st International Karstological School "Classical Karst · Postojna, Slovenia keynote speaker
2024 The International Soil Moisture Network Drought resilience +10 conference · WMO, Geneva, Switzerland poster
2023 A new framework for karst hydrograph recession modeling: introducing variable initial storage conditions and parameter uncertainty AGU Fall Meeting · San Francisco, USA talk and poster
2022 The International Soil Moisture Network: supporting and advancing EO research through open source in-situ soil moisture observations EGU General Assembly · Vienna, Austria talk
2020 An automatic recession extraction and parameter estimation method for large-sample karst spring analysis AGU Fall Meeting (interactive presentation) · Online talk
2020 A new approach for automatic extraction of karst conduit and matrix recession coefficients Workshop on sustainability and community in support of UNESCO science programs · Kentucky, USA talk
2019 Applicability of automatic recession extraction methods to a large number of karst spring hydrographs International Karstological School "Classical Karst" · Postojna, Slovenia talk
2019 Comparative analysis of karst spring hydrographs using automatic recession methods 46th IAH Congress · Málaga, Spain talk
2019 The first global database of karst spring discharge observations EGU General Assembly · Vienna, Austria talk
2018 Unravelling the hydrodynamic behavior of karst systems through comparative hydrology EuroKarst · Besançon, France talk
2017 Mapping and evolution of hydrochemical water types in the Maputo coastal aquifer 44th IAH Congress · Dubrovnik, Croatia poster

Sessions, workshops and events convened

Convening the community

2025 Joint ISMN / IAHS HELPING side event and workshop IAHS Scientific Assembly, Roorkee, India Lead
2023 Data services in hydrological research and management EGU General Assembly, Vienna (with ISMN, GRDC, GWDC, IGRAC and GTN-H as co-conveners) Initiator and lead convener
Since 2023 Annual ISMN splinter meeting for soil moisture data providers, users and product developers EGU General Assembly, Vienna Organiser
Since 2022 Virtual ISMN data-provider workshop series Online (since February 2022) Organiser
2022 Large-sample hydrology: characterizing and understanding hydrological diversity and catchment organization EGU General Assembly, Vienna Co-convener
2019 46th International Association of Hydrogeologists Congress Málaga, Spain Organising team
2019 PhD workshop on hydrological modelling across landscapes University of Freiburg Co-organiser

Keynotes, workshops and expert panels

Talks and workshops I offer

Available for conference keynotes, technical workshops, institutional seminars and expert panels.

Keynote and seminar topics

Open data for resilient water governance
Soil moisture observations: from the field to Earth observation validation
Connecting global water data centres: what users and policy makers need
Karst groundwater and climate change

Workshop and training topics

Working with hydrological and soil moisture data in Python
Recession analysis and hydrograph interpretation
Communicating water science to decision makers
Designing data services for scientific communities

Media contributions and interviews

No media contributions listed yet. For interview or speaking requests, please get in touch.

Invite me to speak

Keynotes, workshops, seminars and expert panels on water data, soil moisture and groundwater.

Speaking enquiry