Dedicated experts
Prof. Vladan Bobovic
Professor Vladan Babovic
National University of Singapore
Vladan is a leading scientist in the field of hydroinformatics where he has been spearheading research in artificial intelligence, machine learning and computer modeling of hydraulics and hydrological phenomena from 1990s. In more recent years, his work on real options pertaining to decision-making under deep uncertainties in climate-related domain is gaining wider recognition.
In addition to being a leading researcher and educator, Vladan is a scientist entrepreneur who secured research funding several applied and fundamental research organisations, as well as VC investments for several start-up companies.
Vladan is a Chartered Engineer and a Member of the Institution of Engineers (Singapore)
Honours & Awards
- Fellow, International Water Association
- Council Member, International Association for Hydro-Environmental Research and Engineering
- Albert Winsemius Award for entrepreneurship and scientific leadership
- Arthur Thomas Ippen Award, International Association for Hydro-Environmental Research and Engineering
- Talent Award, Danish Academy of Technical Sciences
- Jaroslav Cerni Award as the best Civil Engineering Graduate
Prof. Kim Irvine
Kim Irvine is an Associate Professor in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University, Thailand. Between 2012 and 2020 he was an Associate Professor at the National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, and also a Cluster Leader with the Environmental Process Modelling Centre of the Nanyang Environment and Water Research Institute (NEWRI), NTU. Previously, he had been a Professor in the Department of Geography and Planning, Buffalo State, State University of New York. He was at Buffalo State for 25 years, starting in 1988, and while there concurrently held several other professional positions, including: Hydrologic Scientist at the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, Buffalo District; Associate Director, Great Lakes Center, Buffalo State; Director of the Center for Southeast Asia Environment and Sustainable Development, Buffalo State; and Adjunct Professor in Environmental Engineering and Management at Asian Institute of Technology (2010-present). He was Chair of the Buffalo State Geography and Planning Department, 2000-2009.
Dr. Irvine’s research focuses on applied hydrologic process and watershed pollutant modelling; Nature-based Solutions; smart city planning; and integration of hydrologic modelling with architectural design. The research has been conducted in Canada, the U.S., Cambodia, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, and Japan. He was awarded the New York Water Environment Association, Environmental Science Award in 2013, which is given to an Association Member who has made a significant impact in water quality management, environmental engineering and/or water and sewer infrastructure development. He received an NIE Excellence in Teaching Commendation, 2018, and was granted a Bualuang ASEAN Fellowship Award in 2020 to conduct research on water sensitive urban design in the Faculty of Architecture and Planning, Thammasat University. Dr. Irvine has been a member of the Science Advisory Committee, International Foundation for Science since 2011.
Prof. dr. Ir. Wim Uijtenwaal
My curiosity is triggered by the great consequences of turbulence as we find them in our daily life. Whether it is the ever changing weather patterns, the mixing of olive oil with vinegar in making a salad dressing, or the incredibility shaped plan-forms of natural rivers, all large-scale mixing and transport processes are governed by the complex turbulent motions, that work sometimes in our advantage but can often be a nuisance as in the case of e.g. cycling against the wind.
In hydraulic engineering the effects of turbulence are obvious, but it is often treated in a rather empirical way by parameterizing it as a diffusion process. However in the interaction with boundaries, (sediment, rock), and obstacles (vegetation, bridge piers) local processes dominate the interaction stresses. I consider it therefore important to make an attempt to understand what is going on at small spatial and temporal scales and translate this to large scale of applications. The Environmental Fluid Mechanics Laboratory at TUDelft is well equipped for this research and perfectly embedded in our Hydraulic Engineering department in which a wide range of expertise is present.
Specialties:
- Shallow flows: mixing layers, groyne fields, bends, lateral expansions, roughness variations
- Rapidly varying flows: weirs, bed forms, innundated flood planes
- Sediment transport: particle turbulence interaction, river mophodynamics
- Fluid Structure interation: stability of breakwaters, vegetated flows, scour around obstacles
- Experimental techniques: ADV, LDA, PIV
Prof. Otto Spijkers
Otto Spijkers was professor of international law at Wuhan University’s China Institute of Boundary and Ocean Studies as well as its Research Institute of Environmental Law, and founding staff member of its International Water Law Academy. He is managing editor of the Chinese Journal of Environmental Law.
Prior to joining Wuhan University, he worked at the Utrecht Centre for Water, Oceans and Sustainability Law and Netherlands Institute for the Law of the Sea of Utrecht University, Netherlands. He was visiting lecturer inter alia at Peking University Law School, Xiamen University’s China International Water Law Programme, the Università degli Studi di Salerno (Italy), and the Université Catholique d’Afrique Centrale (Yaoundé, Cameroon).
He wrote his doctoral dissertation, entitled The United Nations, the Evolution of Global Values and International Law, at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University.
He worked as public services coordinator at the Peace Palace Library, as international consultant and coordinator for the United Nations International Law Fellowship Programme, as intern for the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and as intern for the Office of Legal Affairs of United Nations Headquarters.
Otto Spijkers studied the basics of international relations at the University of Sussex. He then studied international law at the University of Amsterdam, New York University School of Law (exchange student), and the Hague Academy of International Law (2009 session). He studied philosophy at the University of Amsterdam and the University of Malta (exchange). He obtained a Diplôme approfondi de langue française.
Prof. Lim Tit Meng
Prof. Lim is the Chief Executive of Science Centre Singapore and concurrently an Associate Professor of Biological Sciences, National University of Singapore. A major contributor to science education and outreach, he has also championed the STEM Applied Learning Programmes in schools. He has given numerous talks to popularise science locally and globally. He is President of the Singapore Association for the Advancement of Science, and President of the Singapore National Academy of Science. He serves as President of the Asia Pacific Network of Science and Technology Centres since 2016. He is also in the Board of Directors of Temasek Foundation Liveability CLG ltd. He is an elected Fellow of the Singapore National Academy of Science and Fellow of the Singapore Institute of Biology.