Welcome to ECoENetter – Issue #25!

Exciting updates, fresh insights, and upcoming events—this edition of ECoENet newsletter is packed with everything you need to stay connected with the ecohydraulics community!

In the Spotlight

• Early Careers  workshop @ ISE-2026 (Lausanne)

• A new member of the committee

• IAHR Young Professional Congress

• A new ECoENet Blog coming

• Journal of Ecohydraulics: a new Issue is now available!

• Open post-doc position at ETH (Zurich)

• Mark your calendar
  • 16th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics + Swiss Ecohydraulics day
  • 9th IAHR Europe Congress
  • 6th Young Professionals Congress
  • EGU 2026

Dive into this issue and stay at the forefront of our ever-growing network! 

ECoENet workshop at ISE-2026 (Lausanne)

ECoENet, together with the Local Organising Committee of the XVI International Symposium on Ecohydraulics, is organising a pre-symposium workshop that will be held on Sunday 16th August. The workshop will consist of a short theoretical session followed by an interactive excursion to a nearby stream reach where participants will get hands-on experience. The topics will cover general concepts on river restoration and we will dive deeper into hydromorphology, hydraulics, vegetation, aquatic fauna, and water quality, assessing them on a nearby stream. 

The workshop is an excellent opportunity to connect with other early career researchers. More information will be available at the website soon, so don’t forget to register!

Welcome to a new member of the committee 

We would like to welcome on board a new member: Pankaj Verma

Pankaj is a PhD scholar in the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering (SCENE) at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Mandi, Himachal Pradesh, India. His primary domain of expertise is eco-hydrology of the Indian Himalayan region, with a focus on mountain hydrological systems and ecosystem–water interactions. He holds an MTech in Water Resources Engineering from the National Institute of Technology (NIT) Hamirpur, India. His master’s thesis examined the impact of snowmelt on the integrated hydrological model for surface runoff. He completed his B.Tech. in Civil Engineering, forming a strong foundation in hydrology, water resources, and environmental systems relevant to Himalayan landscapes.

Recap: IAHR Young Professional Congress

EcoENet was happy to be part of the IAHR Young Professional Congress from 3–5 December 2025! On December 4th, we co-hosted the session Experimental Methods and Instrumentation & Ecohydraulics. By merging the ecohydraulics session with the session on experimental methods and instrumentations, we became part of a diverse program featuring a wide range of interesting topics and outstanding talks.

It was exciting to see the high-quality work young researchers are doing and to engage in discussions around their findings. We thank all participants and our co-hosts Rui Aleixo and Slaven Conevski from the IAHR Technical Committee for the great session, as well as the organisers for the invitation!

The IAHR Young Professional Congress, held online every year, offers early career researchers and students a platform to present their work, connect with IAHR Technical Committees, and benefit from mentoring by global experts.

We’re already looking forward to the 2026 congress and hope to see many of you there—along with exciting new topics in the field of ecohydraulics!

You can find more details here.

A new ECoENet Blog coming

We are excited to announce the launch of the new ECoENet Blog, a space dedicated to sharing perspectives, research insights, and critical discussions at the interface of ecology and hydraulics. 

Our first post by Sahra N. Nabil explores the timely and complex question: “Energy transition and hydropower development in Norway: where do we stand?” This first blog post invites us to reflect on how to navigate the tension between climate action and nature conservation, improve the ecological performance of existing hydropower infrastructure, and strengthen communication beyond academia to foster informed public dialogue. 

Read more here.

Ideas for more blogs?

We warmly invite you to share your ideas, experiences, and pressing questions so that together we can shape the topics and discussions featured on the ECoENet blog.

Journal of Ecohydraulics, Volume 11, Issue 1, 2026 is now available

The Journal of Ecohydraulics, Vol. 11, Issue 1 (2026) is now available online!

This issue highlights the interdisciplinary power of ecohydraulics, bringing together engineering, biology, and geoscience to address critical challenges for a sustainable future.

Research Articles:

• Injury-free transport of fish through closed conduit components
• Fish spawning habitat suitability for local bed change around instream boulders: experimental investigation
• Remediating a fishway entrance to improve fish attraction: a framework for success
• Parallel or not: which hydraulic cue maximizes cyprinid use of flow refuge under peaking flows?
• Evaluating episodic sediment deposition zones in freshwater mussel habitats across Missouri, USA
• Guiding riparian vegetation planting with machine learning
• Turbulence characteristics of a self-formed step-pool structure

Mark your calendar: Get ready for an exciting lineup of conferences & events in 2026

Here’s a list of the next conferences that can be interesting to the ecohydraulics community (we listed them following the abstracts deadlines).

16th International Symposium on Ecohydraulics (ISE) + Swiss Ecohydraulics day

ISE 2026 will take place at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) in Switzerland on 16 – 21 August 2026.

The conference will feature pre-conference masterclasses and workshops on fieldwork, lab experiments, numerical simulations, societal challenges, and hydropower mitigation. ISE 2026 will include five thematic sessions, along with the Swiss Ecohydraulics Day, which bridges science and practice with various field visits. 

A special session, “Ecohydraulics Meets Landscape Architecture,” will explore how ecohydraulics influences urban stream ecology and the design of sustainable riverine and future city landscapes.

Registration is now open,  including the Early-Careers Pre-Conference Workshop highlighted above!

9th IAHR Europe Congress 

The next IAHR Europe Congress will be held in Luleå, Sweden on 9 – 11 June 2026.

This gathering brings together leading minds, researchers, and professionals dedicated to advancing hydro-environment engineering and exploring sustainable solutions for our planet’s most critical water challenges. Their theme this year highlights the importance of Arctic waters, not only as a vital component of our global ecosystem but also as a region where innovative engineering solutions can have profound impacts. As climate change accelerates and our aquatic environments face unprecedented pressures, our collective expertise and collaborative efforts are more crucial than ever.

Registration is now open!

EGU 2026

The EGU General Assembly 2026 will take place in Vienna, Austria on 3-8 May 2026. It brings together geoscientists from all over the world to one meeting covering all disciplines of the Earth, planetary, and space sciences. The EGU aims to provide a forum where scientists, especially early career researchers, can present their work and discuss their ideas with experts in all fields of geoscience.

Registration is open!

SUSHP 2027 in Lisbon, Portugal

Save the date for the 4th International Conference on Sustainability in Hydropower (#SUSHP 2027), which will take place at Instituto Superior Técnico, Universidade de Lisboa, Portugal, from 22–25 June 2027.

Building on the success of previous editions, SUSHP 2027 will explore the theme “FlowForward: Rethinking Hydropower to Safeguard Rivers and People in a Changing World.” As climate pressures intensify and energy systems transform, hydropower stands at a critical crossroads. How can we reconcile flexibility, river health, biodiversity, and societal needs? SUSHP 2027 aims to promote interdisciplinary dialogue among researchers, industry professionals, policymakers, and early-career scientists for the future of sustainable hydropower.

Information on the call for abstracts and registration will be shared in 2026 via the conference website and mailing lists. 

Please save the date and share this announcement within your networks!