Early Career Day at STAHY 2019 and abstract submission

Posted on May 20, 2019 by

by Svenja Fischer

We are pleased to announce that the abstract submission is now open for the next STAHY International Workshop (STAHY 2019) to be held in Nanjing, China between 19-20 October 2019. The workshop is organized by the International Commission on Statistical Hydrology (ICSH) of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), in cooperation with the Hohai University.

Important deadlines:

  • Abstract submission deadline: June 30, 2019
  • Notification of acceptance: July 15, 2019
  • Early bird registration: August 15, 2019

Please also have a look at the Early Career Day at October 18, where talks are given by András Bárdossy and Salvatore Grimaldi on “how to write a statistical paper” and “how to communicate statistics”. The talks will be followed by an open discussion. You can register for this event at http://www.stahy2019.org/early_career_course/. All the other information are available on the website http://www.stahy2019.org/.

About the author:
Svenja Fischer (Svenja.fischer@rub.de) is a Post-Doc at the Ruhr-University Bochum working on flood statistics and Early Career Committee Representative for the IAHS (@IAHS_AISH)  International Commission on Statistical Hydrology.

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An Introduction to Preprints for Early Career Hydrologists

Posted on May 20, 2019 by

A –Streams of Thought– contribution by Sheila M. Saia (Twitter: @sheilasaia)

Growing calls for open and reproducible research across science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) disciplines have advanced the conversation around preprints (e.g., Schloss, 2017; Narock et al., 2019). Early Career Hydrologists may benefit from considering and discussing the role of preprints in shaping scientific discovery and career trajectories. Here we introduce preprints, offering Early Career Hydrologists with a variety of thoughts on the advantages and disadvantages of using preprints in research workflows, and providing tips and resources for learning more. If we missed an aspect of the preprint discussion that you feel passionate about or still have questions about, please feel free to reach out to Sheila (@sheilasaia) and the Young Hydrology Society (YHS; @YoungHydrology) on Twitter.

What is a preprint?

A preprint refers to a research product (typically a research article) that is made publicly available before or at the same time it goes to peer review. A preprint server refers to an open access website where authors can submit and manage versions of their preprints.

Some preprint servers such as European Geophysical Union (EGU) sponsored Hydrology and Earth Systems Science (HESS) Discussions (https://www.hydrol-earth-syst-sci-discuss.net/discussion_papers.html) is affiliated with EGU’s HESS journal. Additionally, the American Geophysical Union (AGU) sponsored Earth and Space Science Open Archive (ESSOAr) preprint server is associated with AGU-affiliated journals. These journal-supported preprint servers offer a convenient publishing pipeline should the author’s work be accepted after peer review. Continue reading →

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Advice on how to write a paper (EGU 2019)

Posted on May 14, 2019 by

This year’s panel on the series “How to Write (and Publish) a Paper in Hydrology” consisted of Christine Stumpp (BOKU Vienna) and Thorsten Wagener (University of Bristol). During the session they shared some of their personal insight on the paper writing process.

Here are some of the advices they kindly shared:

Christine Stumpp approached the paper writing process by introducing three stages (i.e. pre-writing, writing, and publishing). Each of these stages were broken down into different components with their particular points that require attention. Continue reading →

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Hallway Conversations – Thorsten Wagener

Posted on May 9, 2019 by

A –Streams of Thought– contribution by Wouter Knoben (WK)

Prof. Thorsten Wagener is a hydrologist, currently head of the Water and Environmental Engineering research group at the University of Bristol, UK. He has received various prestigious awards and was recently a Humboldt fellow at the University of Potsdam. I had the pleasure of interviewing Thorsten in his office, where we spent a good hour and half going over his experiences.

Wagener

WK: Can you tell us a bit about your background and formal education? How were you in school?

I studied Civil Engineering in Siegen (BSc), Delft (MSc), and finally Imperial College London (PhD), but I never really wanted to be a civil engineer when I was in high school. My dream was to become an architect. Unfortunately, I only did the absolute minimum in high school, so my grades where average at best. Entry requirements for architecture were too high for my grades but civil engineering seemed like architecture, and at least I could get into that degree. I had never heard of hydrology then, and programs like the hydrology course in Freiburg (which produced many excellent hydrologists like Jan Seibert, Markus Weiler, Kerstin Stahl, Doerthe Tetzlaff…) would never have taken me anyway due to their entrance requirements. I was also quite bad at computer programming at the time. In fact, I did so poorly during a test that I ended up with a negative score (points were subtracted for mistakes from an initial score of 100) and only got a passing grade if I promised not to take the course the following year. Quite funny really, because now all I do is use computers.

WK: So, what did inspire you to pursue in hydrology then?

During my undergraduate degree in Siegen, I had a professor who worked in Africa and the Middle East. This was quite practical work, and he offered his students final year projects in Ethiopia. That seemed an exciting idea, so I spent 5 months there. I really liked the idea of combining engineering with helping people, so I abandoned my idea to switch from civil engineering to architecture. Instead, at the end of my undergrad degree, I went to Delft for a Master’s in Civil Engineering with a strong focus on hydrology.

Continue reading →

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Integration of Early Warning Systems and Young Professionals

Posted on May 8, 2019 by

A –Streams of Thought– contribution by Nilay Dogulu, Lydia Cumiskey & Erika Roxana Meléndez Landaverde

This is a cross-post with the HEPEX Blog.

Early warning systems (EWSs) help society to prepare for, and respond to, all types of disasters, including those related to hydrometeorological hazards. The recent floods in Mozambique has clearly showed that EWSs are inevitable part of disaster risk management as they can save lives and minimize potential economic and environmental damages. The Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030 specifically emphasizes the need to “substantially increase the availability of and access to multi-hazard early warning systems and disaster-risk information and assessments to the people by 2030.”

The fundamentally central aspect to efficient and sustainable improvements for EWS concerns integration. As highlighted by the World Meteorological Organization’s (WMO) recent Governance Reform, a shift towards more integrated earth systems approach connecting fields such as hydrology, meteorology and climatology is key to delivering multi-hazard and impact-based services through EWSs that are people-centred (i.e. community based).

What role can young professionals play?

While the complexities and challenges are many, young professionals can play a role in the design and implementation of integrated multi-hazard and impact-based EWSs.

The Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) team of the Water Youth Network has recently initiated a network called Early Warning Systems Young Professionals Network with the purpose of connecting young professionals working on EWSs from various disciplines of science, policy and practice in the public, private and non-profit sectors. It is currently focused on water-related hazards. Members are under the age of 35 or within their first seven years of employment. The specific aims of the network are: Continue reading →

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