Emeritus ProfessorHoward Wheater, FREng
Emeritus Professor in Civil and Environmental Engineering
Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering
Orcid identifier0000-0003-3993-7389 (opens in a new tab)
- Emeritus Professor in Civil and Environmental EngineeringDepartment of Civil and Environmental Engineering - Faculty of Engineering
- 020 7594 6066 (Work)
- 229, Skempton Building, South Kensington Campus, United Kingdom
BIO
Professor Howard Wheater obtained a first class degree in Engineering Science from the University of Cambridge and worked for Rolls-Royce as a fluid mechanics specialist before undertaking a PhD in Hydrology at Bristol University and joining the staff of Imperial College in 1978. In 2010 he was appointed to a Canada Excellence Research Chair at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada.
Professor Wheater is currently Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he founded the Global Institute for Water Security, and Emeritus Professor of Hydrology at Imperial College London, UK. He is past-President and an Honorary Member of the British Hydrological Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, and the American Geophysical Union. Awards include the IAHS-UNESCO-WMO International Hydrology Prize and the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, as well as an honorary degree from the University of Bristol.
He has initiated and led national and international research programmes in the UK and Canada, and has advised states, provinces and national governments on flood, water resource and water quality issues. He appeared as an expert before the International Court of Justice in three international water disputes and sat on an International Court of Arbitration concerning the Indus Waters Treaty. He was co-founder of UNESCO’s GWADI arid zone water program and, until 2014, vice-chair of the World Climate Research Programme’s Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchange (GEWEX). His consultancies include advice to the state of Nevada, USA, in a dispute concerning a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
In Canada, he led the Changing Cold Regions Network, focused on the analysis and prediction of hydrological change in western Canada, and initiated the Global Water Futures Program, focused on managing water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. His role as Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Sustainable Management of Water in the Agricultural Landscapes of Canada saw the release of a report in February 2013 entitled Water and Agriculture in Canada: Towards Sustainable Management of Water Resources. More recently, he served as the only non-US member of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Future Water Resource Needs for the Nation: Water Science and Research at the U.S. Geological Survey. He continues to advise the Republic of Chile on transboundary water issues, and in 2023 was awarded the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins for services to Chile.
His research interests are in hydrology and water resources; wide-ranging applications include climate change, surface and groundwater hydrology, floods, water resources, water quality and waste management. He has published some 250 refereed papers and 7 books.
Professor Wheater is currently Canada Excellence Research Chair Laureate in Water Security at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, where he founded the Global Institute for Water Security, and Emeritus Professor of Hydrology at Imperial College London, UK. He is past-President and an Honorary Member of the British Hydrological Society, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Royal Academy of Engineering, UK, and the American Geophysical Union. Awards include the IAHS-UNESCO-WMO International Hydrology Prize and the Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water, as well as an honorary degree from the University of Bristol.
He has initiated and led national and international research programmes in the UK and Canada, and has advised states, provinces and national governments on flood, water resource and water quality issues. He appeared as an expert before the International Court of Justice in three international water disputes and sat on an International Court of Arbitration concerning the Indus Waters Treaty. He was co-founder of UNESCO’s GWADI arid zone water program and, until 2014, vice-chair of the World Climate Research Programme’s Global Energy and Water Cycle Exchange (GEWEX). His consultancies include advice to the state of Nevada, USA, in a dispute concerning a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.
In Canada, he led the Changing Cold Regions Network, focused on the analysis and prediction of hydrological change in western Canada, and initiated the Global Water Futures Program, focused on managing water futures in Canada and other cold regions where global warming is changing landscapes, ecosystems, and the water environment. His role as Chair of the Council of Canadian Academies Expert Panel on Sustainable Management of Water in the Agricultural Landscapes of Canada saw the release of a report in February 2013 entitled Water and Agriculture in Canada: Towards Sustainable Management of Water Resources. More recently, he served as the only non-US member of the US National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine Committee on Future Water Resource Needs for the Nation: Water Science and Research at the U.S. Geological Survey. He continues to advise the Republic of Chile on transboundary water issues, and in 2023 was awarded the Order of Bernardo O’Higgins for services to Chile.
His research interests are in hydrology and water resources; wide-ranging applications include climate change, surface and groundwater hydrology, floods, water resources, water quality and waste management. He has published some 250 refereed papers and 7 books.
FACULTY
- Faculty of Engineering
POSITION NAME
- Emeritus Professor in Civil and Environmental Engi