Euro Aquae

EuroAquae, Euro Hydro-Informatics and Water Management, is a two-year joint MSc programme which offers a joint degree between five European universities as a part of the Erasmus Mundus co-operation and mobility programme. It started in September 2004 with the first intake of 16 students.

Organization of the Program

EuroAquae Consortium

The Joint Master course is developed by the EuroAquae consortium and is jointly awarded by the following five partner institutions:

• University of Nice Sophia Antipolis (France)
• Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain)
• Budapest University of Technology and Economics (Hungary)
• Brandenburg University of Technology (Germany)
• Newcastle University (UK)

Additional consortium partners are:

• National University of the Littoral (Argentina)
• ETH Zurich (Switzerland)
• École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (Switzerland)
• Indian Institute of Technology Madras (India)
• National University of Singapore (Singapore)
• Incheon National University (Korea)

The EuroAquae consortium also welcomes major professional entities from the water sector - associated partners who are involved in the teaching and research activities:

• World Meteorological Organization (WMO)
• Suez Environment
• Lyonnaise des Eaux, Suez (company)
• Centre International de Recherche Sur l’Eau & l’Environnement (CIRSEE)
• Veolia Environment
• Electricité de France (EDF)
• SOGREAH
• Capita Symonds
• HR Wallingford & Wallingford Software Ltd
• Halcrow Group Ltd
• Amga Foundatio
• Iride Aqua Gas
• Danish Hydraulics Institute, DHI Water & Environment
• Sociedad General de Aguas de Barcelona, S.A., Grupo Agbar
• Centro Tecnologico del Agua
• Fundacion privada - CETaqua
• Kisters France

Mobility Scheme

Lectures are given mainly in English for about 40 participants mixing European and other international students. The MSc is organized in a pedagogic continuum, and includes study mobility between each of the locations. The semesters are divided as follows:

• 1st semester: introduction and common knowledge/soft skills (all locations)
• 2nd semester: acquisition and use of Hydro-Informatics concepts, methods and tools (UK)
• 3rd semester: thematic specialization in one of the following (depending on the location): hydro-informatics systems, integrated urban water management, inland waters management, or decision support systems
• 4th semester: a research project or a professional practice (all locations)

Erasmus Mundus Scholarship

EuroAquae / Euro Hydro-Informatics and Water Management - Erasmus Mundus Master Course offers about 15 scholarships for 2 academic years (in the past, 48,000 Euros for non EU students and 23,000 Euros for EU students). EU participants are also supported by the Erasmus Programme and others national grants.

What is Hydro-Informatics?

Main article: Hydroinformatics

The term was introduced by Prof. M.B. Abbott in 1992 and the inventor of the then neologism defined it as the integration of computational fluid dynamics and of artificial intelligence. Computational hydraulics is the fusion of numerical methods of applied mathematics, hydrodynamics and hydraulics, the latter being originally very much experimental science. At these beginnings it meant that numerical simulation and modelling is integrated with artificial intelligence in single tools. The meaning has since evolved. Probably the most consensual definition would be today that Hydroinformatics is about making the best use of information technologies to manage water in the environment. The term “manage” is used here in a very broad sense: certainly not limited to ordinary understanding of “water management practice”. Indeed, management here means dealing with whole gamut of information, from very engineering subjects on one hand, such as: data collection, measurement, interpretation, such as design of river basin management strategies including civil engineering structures, such as modelling (simulation) of river, groundwater and coastal flows and water quality to forecast natural events (floods) as well as the impacts of human activities. On the other hand, it is concerned with information management: the time when society left the engineer with the decisions concerning water problems is over. Decision makers today are numerous, out of the engineering profession and they cannot be asked to understand engineering language or argumentation. Inversely, the engineering profession is still very far from understanding of what is desirable to the decision makers (citizens, elected bodies, NGOs, etc...).

Hydroinformatics gathers a range of tools that, based on information technologies, may be used to explain exactly what these various groups wish and how engineers can realize these wishes and, especially, what various impacts of realization could be. Moreover, these tools allow for participation of stakeholders in the process of execution of the projects and there are examples of such participation in recent years. Thus Hydroinformatics is also about movement, flow of information, not only about its content; it is in the heart of the process of communicating information. Here we come to the meaning of another term of the above definition, i.e. “…the best use of information technologies to manage…”. What means the word best? We enter the domain of social rightness, and also the ethics, in a general sense as well as engineering ethics. Hydroinformatics has thus become a technology in itself, a very specific technology that asks for a specific state of mind (or culture) and for specific knowledge.

History of Hydro-Informatics

Initiated in Europe more than 20 years ago, Hydroinformatics emerges as the central element for the progress of modelling activities and management of capacities on the theoretical side as well as in the operational field. The Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) extend deeply the potential of the tools and at the same time, modify the engineering activities in the water field. The development of the ICT allows for synergetic use of simulation tools and communication technologies within single methodological approach dealing with physical, social and economical aspects. The only possible way to manage successfully the problems evoked above implies consensual views and actions of decision makers and users (population, governments, administration, elected bodies, NGOs), on one hand, and executive body: engineers, on the other hand. The very idea of the Hydroinformatics is precisely this: to make available and intelligible the results of engineering thinking to decisions makers and, other way round, to make clear for engineers what are social requirements that they are to satisfy. Theoretically this can be done thanks to the ICT but in practice it means that there is the need, within administrations, within consulting institutions, within contracting enterprises for professionals who understand this and have the knowledge and ability necessary to implement such, still new, vision. In short there is a need to “ferment”, to catalyze, for engineering professionals to not only know how to build a dam or water supply system but also are able to talk to the outside world and modify by their ideas their own surrounding professional environment. And this within the context of European Union reality, i.e. international context regulated by common framework and interests.

According to all analysis and visions, the intensive demand of HydroInformatics educated engineers and managers in public services and private sector will continue for more than 5 decades (Cf. Implementation of the European Water Framework Directive). In this context, the specialization and the training of executive engineers and managers is the key issue for this needed progress. The European knowledge, know-how and good practices in sustainable water management and Hydroinformatics, although not always perfect, are nevertheless nowadays references and constitute the central elements of a technical common culture that is already widely requested and will be more and more in demand in the future.

Modules

HydroWeb

The module 1.5 of EuroAquae: "Web-based Collaborative Engineering" (HydroWeb) is performed as joint activities of the EuroAquae partners to introduce and apply three topics in the course programme:

• Performance of projects in an international, interdisciplinary and distributed environment
• Web-based collaborative engineering
• Distance learning technology

The module is performed mainly by teamwork via the Internet (Learning by Doing): Students from the different partner universities form small teams to perform a river management case study on a Web-based project platform. Focus are knowledge, experiences and abilities to apply modern working techniques in distributed project environments: Web-based Collaborative Engineering.

All students of the course programme are put into teams of 6 to 8 members. Each team is responsible as whole team for the performance of the course exercise, using the different knowledge, experience and background of the team members. Work distribution and work plan is defined by the teams themselves. All collaboration (communication, coordination and documentation) is done in the Web/Internet environment (Web-based project platform).

HydroEurope

HydroEurope is dedicated to the students involved in several master's degrees specialized on the water management and the hydro-technologies. The objectives of HydroEurope is to promote, in a global European vision, the key concepts, the methodologies, the tools and the good practices which are today essential for a sustainable water management. Today, the problems related to water are more and more complex and must be analyzed in a global way and with the right tools. The sophistication of the situations imposes to reconsider the way of working: new practices, new tools, new technologies, new ways of collaboration.

Modern Information and Communication Technology (ICT) offers today the opportunity to explore and to promote a new dimension in the engineering activity: the collaborative work of team-partners residing at different locations and working at different time using the Internet as common working and communication platform. Collaboration in this environment demands for new skills and a new 'technological culture' to be generated just by doing. This is a challenge for the European dimension where in future experts and engineers from different countries with different languages, different mentalities as well as different specialization and professional experience have to collaborate in research, teaching and practice. Training of collaborating in such new environment is the challenge of this project which by collaboration of the seven HydroEurope partners will help to establish common high quality university teaching courses and establish links between students from the involved countries.

The seven partners of HydroEurope have decided to introduce this new concept into each local university program. They complement academic teaching and collaboration on exercises through the Internet by a 2-week phase of face-to-face meeting of all students and teachers in one place. During this time gained experience will be exchanged and personal contacts will be established and deepened.