András Szöllösi-Nagy

András Szöllösi-Nagy was born in 1949 in Budapest, Hungary. He holds an MSc in Civil Engineering (1972) and a Dr. Techn. (Summa cum Laude) in Hydrology and Mathematical Statistics (1975) from the Budapest University of Technology. He holds a Ph.D. in hydrological forecasting from the same university. Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy was awarded a Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) degree by the Hungarian Academy of Sciences in 1991. In the same year, he was made a Dr. Habil. by the Budapest University of Technology. In 1992, he was made Professor HC at the Technical University of Budapest and in 1994 full Professor at the same institution.

In 1972 he joined the Systems Hydrology Division of the Water Resources Research Center (VITUKI), Budapest, Hungary. Between 1974 and 1976 he was a research scholar at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis (IIASA) in Laxenburg, Austria. His principle research fields were time series analysis, stochastic modeling, real-time forecasting and control of water resources systems using recursive algorithms.

In 1976, he worked with IBM Italy on the Arno River Forecasting System. In 1981he was Visiting Professor at the University of Luleå, Sweden, where he taught stochastic dynamic hydrological systems and filtering techniques. In 1983 and 1984 he was lecturing on computer aided hydrological forecasting at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Bangkok, Thailand. During this period he worked as a UN consultant on hydrological forecasting in Bangladesh, Thailand and Indonesia. He also lectured regularly on hydrological modeling at various UNESCO postgraduate courses in Budapest, Belgrade, Moscow and Delft and taught statistical hydrology at the Eötvös Loránd University, Budapest. Between 1985 and 1989, he was a regular visiting research professor at the Systems Department of the University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Canada. From 1985 to 1989, he held the post of Deputy Director General at the Water Resources Research Center (VITUKI) in Budapest.

Between 1986 and 1989 he was the joint (founding) Editor of the International Journal of Stochastic Hydrology and Hydraulics (Springer) and Editor-in-Chief of the Hidrológiai Közlöny. Professor Szöllösi-Nagy currently serves on the editorial boards of Water Resources Management (Reidel), Environmental Systems, the International Journal of Water Policy (IWA Publishing), International Journal on Landslides (Springer) and the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS). He has also served as officer of various Committees of the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), the International Association for Hydraulic Research (IAHR), the International Water Resources Association (IWRA) and the International Federation of Information Processing (IFIP). He was made an Honorary Member of the American Water Resources Association; the IWRA Ven-Te-Chow Lecturer (1994); Chester C. Kisiel Lecturer (1999) at the University of Arizona, Tucson; Hydrology Days Award (2004), Colorado State University, Fort Collins, US; 2008 Tsinghua Global Vision Lectures speaker at the Tsinghua University, Beijing, China and Walter Bean Professor at the University of Waterloo, Canada, in 2009. In 2005, he was given the Distinguished Associate Award of the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH). He is life member of the World Water Academy. In 2008 he has been elected fellow of the World Academy of Arts and Sciences (WAAS).

Dr. Szöllösi-Nagy joined UNESCO in Paris in 1989 as Director of the Division of Water Sciences and Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme. Between 1999 and 2002 he also served as Coordinator of UNESCO’s environmental programmes (MAB, IOC, IGCP and MOST) and was tasked with UNESCO’s preparations for World Summit on Sustainable Development (WSSD), Johannesburg, South Africa, in 2002. Since 2000 he served in addition as Deputy Assistant Director-General of the Natural Sciences Sector of UNESCO. He also served as member of the Steering Committee of the Global Water Partnership and Chair of the World Water Council (WWC) Publication Committee. He was a member, and former Chairman, of UN-Water, was elected to serve since its inception the Board of Governors of WWC and was co-Chair of the Political Processes Committee of the 5th World Water Forum held in Istanbul, Turkey, 2009.

The Director General of UNESCO has nominated him Rector of the UNESCO-IHE Institute for Water Education, Delft, The Netherlands, as of September 1, 2009.