Professor Howard Wheater, a world-leading expert in hydrology and sustainable water resource management was the Canada Excellence Research Chair (CERC) in Water Security (2010-2017) and the founding director of the Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS), 2011-2018. In addition, he was the programme director for the Global Water Futures (GWF) and led the GWF from inception to implementation until September 2017. He is also currently the principal investigator for the Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) funded by the Natural Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada (2013-2018).

Prof. Wheater’s legacy to UofS and Canada as a CERC in water security has included the recruitment of 14 new faculty positions at the UofS (an additional 12 faculty positions will be appointed at University of Waterloo, Wilfrid Laurier University and McMaster University), and the inception and implementation of the GWF programme, which has brought the water community in Canada together for a seven-year (2016-2023) national water programme, comprising a total of 201 partners, including 8 Federal Government Agencies, 39 Provincial Government Agencies, 45 international institutions, 34 industries, and 388 researchers from 17 Canadian universities. It is estimated that the GWF programme will train more than 750 highly qualified personnel by 2023.

As part of his current research and Canada Excellence Research Chair Program, Professor Wheater is leading the efforts for the World Climate Research Program and UNESCO in showing how large-scale catchment-based observatories can be used to practice transdisciplinary science integration and address the Anthropocene’s (human impacted) water problems. The interface between the research, practitioner, and stakeholder communities is increasingly seen as important to the perception and management of water security, including organizational and institutional flexibility for handling uncertainty and change, social capital, and adaptive governance, and the need for engagement with stakeholders in knowledge exchange. Professor Wheater’s contribution in this area has been recognized with his contribution to a special publication of Water Resources Research Journal’s 50^th Anniversary Issue[1].

Professor Wheater led the creation of the $140 million Canada First Research Excellence Fund proposal for Global Water Futures, which integrates 15 Canadian academic institutions, 7 Federal Institutions, and over 200 international institutions, provincial government agencies, non-governmental organizations, industry partners, and aboriginal communities to develop the world’s first large-scale transdisciplinary program to improve water security during an era of unprecedented change.

Professor Wheater has recognized the fact that incremental and discipline-specific water science alone cannot adequately address multi-scale and complex problems, and that traditional water science has lacked the capacity to provide knowledge that is useful, timely, and packaged in a way that leads to effective decision-making. Therefore, he has conceptualized, developed, and implemented holistic, transdisciplinary strategic programs to address society’s most basic needs for water security. According to Professor Wheater, transdisciplinary research requires an interdisciplinary focus on common problems and common places. He has shown that the management challenges of water security require a multiple scale approach, from detailed research plots and groundwater wells to large river basins and whole groundwater systems.  Furthermore, research at these large scales is needed to address the interactions and feedbacks associated with the Anthropocene. This is truly a transformative research agenda.

Strong evidence of Professor Wheater’s commitment to transdisciplinary multiple scale research is his achievement in establishing and operating the ($5 million) NSERC Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN), which is a Regional Hydroclimate Project of the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project.  CCRN aims to understand, diagnose and predict interactions amongst the cryospheric, ecological, hydrological and climatic components of the changing Earth system at multiple scales. The geographical focus is on western Canada's rapidly changing cold interior. To frame this, Professor Wheater has led the creation of large scale hydrological observatories in the Saskatchewan River Basin (406,000 km²) and Mackenzie River Basin (1.8 million km²).  CCRN is integrating existing and new experimental data with modelling and remote sensing products to understand, diagnose and predict changing land, water and climate, and their interactions and feedbacks over this vast region of northern and western Canada. This research addresses key global challenges as well as the specific needs of Canada and the world’s other cold regions, which are facing unprecedented warming and environmental change. Nested within the two large basins, CCRN use a network of 14 Water, Ecosystem, Cryosphere, and Climate (WECC) observatories to study in detail the processes and their interactions in different environments, including the southern Arctic and sub-Arctic Tundra and Taiga, the Boreal Forest, the western Cordillera and the Prairies. At larger scales, CCRN is addressing the changing regional climate, its effects on the region's major river basins: the Saskatchewan and Mackenzie, and potential feedbacks associated with large-scale Earth system change. CCRN’s main deliverables are improved understanding of these rapidly changing systems, including potential tipping points, and improved atmospheric, hydrological and hydro-ecological models for the diagnosis, prediction, and management of change.

Dr. Wheater’s remarkably effective approach to education and research supervision is a major element in this nomination for distinguished researcher. The conscientiousness with which he reviews and comments upon students' work, with kindness, enthusiasm, rigour and encouragement, despite substantive demands on his time, is noteworthy: not only has this directly contributed to improved research quality at U of S, but has set a standard of excellence in GIWS that has had profound influences on young faculty and upcoming scientists. Notwithstanding his scientific discovery record, this commitment to encouraging and training a new generation of water scientists deserves formal recognition. So far he has trained 61 PhD and 100 MSc students.

Professor Wheater believes that there is a need a) to develop local and regional studies that are of global significance, and to share that information, b) to address key water challenges around the world, and c) to provide students and researchers with new insights and tools to address these problems. International collaboration and cooperation therefore play a critical role in advancing water science to deliver sustainable solutions.

Professor Wheater strongly believes that internationalization of higher education embraces the mobility of faculty and students, educational aids and international cooperation, and curriculum internationalization. In other words, internationalization of higher education includes faculty and student exchange, joint teaching and research programs, as well as international curriculum development and delivery. His training efforts are reflected in the development and delivery of new training programs at GIWS:

• Distinguished Lecture Series titled “Breakthroughs in Water Security Research,” which has brought 31 world-leading scientists to GIWS for lectures, tutorials and workshops
• Development of new Master in Water Security degree programme
• Establishment of NSERC CREATE program in Water Security
• Development of a series of 21 training and promotional videos

Demonstrated commitment towards enhancement of the intellectual life of the UofS community: As evident from the letters of support, because of Professor Wheater’s efforts, the UofS is now recognized as one of the leading water institutions not only in Canada, but globally. Here are some quotes from the letters”

• “The success of GIWS has clearly relied on the University and many individuals; but the tireless work of Howard has orchestrated this into an Institute that now appears to be among the 2 or 3 largest and best-recognised globally in the water area and has outstanding prospects for further growth. This remarkable success is one of the main topics for discussion in hydrological research circles”. (McIntyre, Queensland University, Australia)
• “I have watched him address Canadian and international meetings and conferences on issues such as regional water cycling and water resources; I have seen the respect he commands”. (Stewart, University of Manitoba)
• “The GIWS is now the “go to” place for hydrologists in Canada and abroad, and has elevated the UofS to the national and international forefront in water research in a few short years” (Carey, McMaster University)
• “….the true vision of a fully integrated research environment with government and university scientists working on collaborative research of provincial, national and international importance was never fully achieved. However, I strongly believe that Howard’s efforts have finally resulted in achieving the goals first envisioned in the 1980’s”. (Marsh, Wilfrid Laurier University)
• “…. Howard’s work on parameter estimation into hydrological models for ungauged basins and his work on the statistical modelling of rainfall distributions……. can reasonably be said to be the father of these fields…….since he joined the UofS in 2011, and in only a short time he has made a substantial contribution and published papers which are among the very best of a long and distinguished career” (Bates, University of Bristol, UK)

To conclude, the University of Saskatchewan is extremely fortunate to have such a remarkable member of faculty in a leadership position and we have personally benefited from his leadership, collegiality, decency and example of superior research skill and service as have many other faculty.  Upon review of these nomination materials you will find that Professor Wheater is a highly prolific, internationally recognized scholar of undeniable influence who is well deserving of this award.  We hope the Award Committee will give enthusiastic and positive consideration to his nomination. Please do not hesitate to contact us should you require additional information.

Performance Indicators for GIWS/CERC:

• International Leadership: GIWS is the host of the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) only Regional Hydroclimate Project in North America – Changing Cold Regions Network (CCRN) and also hosts the WCRP’s Global Hydroclimate Project & UNESCO’s International Hydrological Programme - International Network for Alpine Research Catchment Hydrology (INARCH). In addition, GIWS is the Canadian node for the Sustainable Water Futures Programme with the Future Earth. Recently, GIWS-UofS has been included as a new member with the University Consortia for Atmospheric Research (UCAR) to train the next-generation workforce and collaborate with partners in government and the private sector to advance our understanding of the Earth system for the betterment of society
• National Leadership: GIWS/CERC leads the $5M five year (2013-2018) NSERC’s changing Cold Regions Network (8 universities, 4 Federal agencies). It has brought the water community in Canada together through leadership of the $143M seven year (2016-2023) Canada First Research Excellence Fund national water program “Global Water Futures – Solutions for Water Threats in an Era of Global Change” (total 157 partners, including 8 Federal Government Agencies, 39 Provincial Government Agencies, 45 international institutions, 34 industries, and 388 researchers from 17 Canadian universities).
• Institutional leadership: With $30M CERC investment (2010-2017), CERC founded the GIWS, which integrates expertise of 254 members (including 72 researchers, 9 Canada Research Chairs, and 4 Industry Research Chairs) from 21 academic units at the UofS.
• Large-Scale Observatories and Major Facilities: The CERC/GIWS has successfully established the following large-scale observatories and major facilities of national and international significance:
  • Saskatchewan River Basin (410,000 km²; includes research sites in the Rocky Mountains, Boreal Forests, Prairies and the Saskatchewan River Delta)
  • Mackenzie River Basin (1.8 million km²)
  • Autonomous and Airborne Cold Regions Innovation Facility
  • Mine Overlay Site Testing Facility
  • The Ultrahigh Resolution Mass Spectrometer Facility
• External Leveraged Funding: In six years (2010-2017), from an investment of $30 million the GIWS has leveraged an additional $249.6 million in external funding to advance water research and training of highly qualified personnel.
• Training: GIWS/CERC established a new professional Master of Water Security graduate programme and developed the NSERC CREATE in Water Security graduate programme.
• Professional Development: The following professional development activities have been established to provide graduate students and postdoctoral fellows with skills for their career development: 1) Annual short-course for doctoral students and postdoctoral fellows “Launching an Academic Career” by creating their own research brand and orchestrating a power research group; 2) “Post Doc Mentoring Lunch” where GIWS faculty actively address mentorship issues, 3) The GIWS Distinguished Lecture Series, “Breakthroughs in Water Security Research” brings 11 international world-leading scientists to Saskatoon each Fall for lectures, tutorials and workshops.
• Quality of Trainees: Over the period 2010-2015, 48 GIWS trainees (53% of PDFs) have accepted faculty appointments or research positions in 18 countries.
• Knowledge Dissemination: From 2011-2017, the GIWS team has published 1265 journal articles, and 67 books/book chapters, contributed 973 conference papers, and presented and delivered more than 542 invited, key-note and plenary lectures.
• Building capacity: From 2010-2017, GIWS has trained:
  • 429 Graduate Students: Funded by CERC 117 (40 PhD and 77 Masters); additional students trained by GIWS members 312 (96 PhD and 216 Masters)
  • 117 Postdoctoral Fellows: Funded by CERC 71; by GIWS members 47
  • 97 Research Associates & Research Scientists: Funded by CERC 49; by GIWS members 48
  • 146 Research Technicians: Funded by CERC 64; by GIWS members 82
  • 338 Research Assistants: Funded by CERC 167; by GIWS members 171
  • 184 Visiting Scholars: Funded by CERC 140; by GIWS members 44
• Recognition: It is noteworthy that GIWS members sit on the advisory panels for the world’s two leading water prizes (Stockholm Water Prize and Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water), and include four Fellows of the Royal Society of Canada, three Fellows of the American Geophysical Union, one Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, the winner of the 2017 J.Tuzo Medal, the winner of the 2016 IAHS-UNESCO-WMO Dooge Medal for Hydrology, as well as the current president of the American Geophysical Union’s 7500-member Hydrology Section, the world’s leading scientific hydrology organization.

Summary of Achievements

More than any figure working today, Howard has influenced flood, water resource, and water quality research and application linked to the development of a sustainable society. Howard’s work and achievements have been widely recognized. He is a Fellow of both the Royal Academy of Engineering and the American Geophysical Union. Most notably, his sustainability work won him the prestigious 2006 Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water. He co-chairs UNESCO’s GWADI arid zone water programme and was, until 2014, Vice-Chair of the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Global Energy and Water Experiment (GEWEX). Howard created and now leads the $30M Global Institute for Water Security in Canada (GIWS). GIWS is developing the new discipline of socio-hydrology and aims to advance our understanding of, and ability to predict and adapt to, climate extremes (such as flood and drought). GIWS, under Howard’s stewardship, is also leading efforts to understand and predict human influences on the environment (especially water resources) under uncertain climate futures.  In addition to these contributions, and most incredibly for an academic, Howard advises governments and international agencies on water sustainability in the Middle East, Far East, Africa and South America, as well as Europe. He has represented Hungary and Argentina at the International Court of Justice, and recently was a member of a Court of Arbitration in The Hague in a dispute between Pakistan and India concerning the Indus Waters Treaty.  He is currently adviser to the State of Nevada, USA concerning a proposed nuclear waste repository at Yucca Mountain.  His specific contributions that I would ask you to consider for this award are:

1. New paradigms in water science.  Howard’s field-defining work has introduced new ideas and paradigms that have redefined his field and have been put into practice around the world. Howard has contributed for more than 30 years to the theory of hydrological modelling, with important and field-defining contributions to the provision of new modelling tools, and the development of new methods that have resolved key areas of model limitation. These include modelling of ungauged catchments, and new methods to represent the effects of land use and land management change. He has provided a definitive statement of model theory and applicability, a blueprint for fluvial flood modelling in the UK, and a vision of model futures for the UK government. Recognition of the problems of over-parameterisation of hydrological models, and the subsequent lack of identifiability led to the development of new approach to the representation of risk and uncertainty in water resources planning (this work led to Howard being awarded the Baker Medal of the Institution of Civil Engineers in 2004 for the best paper in the water field)[1].

Howard has also made significant contributions in the area of diffuse pollution. His work was hugely influential to the UK Royal Society’s Surface Water Acidification Programme (SWAP), which was established in the 1980s to provide a better scientific understanding of the causes of acidification, to guide policy concerning the control of atmospheric pollution, and to defuse international tension between the UK and Scandinavia. The SWAP programme was highly impactful, and changed the UK government’s approach to pollution control, triggering £1B investment in de-sulphurisation technology for UK power stations[2]. He developed new methods for modelling phosphorus pollution as a contribution to the development of the EU Water Framework Directive, and initiated the UK’s lowland catchment research programme (LOCAR), which pioneered new integration of hydrology and ecology in the UK. His own LOCAR research led to new understanding of nutrient transport in groundwater-dominated river systems and a wholly new modelling methodology to support land use policy and water quality management.

Additionally, Howard has led a 20-year research program funded by the nuclear industry in the UK and France that has advanced research and application in subsurface contamination.  His work provided models and supporting parameterisations of soil-to-plant transfer of radionuclides due to subsurface contamination. Howard’s research led to a major international review of the state-of-the-art of radionuclide transport modelling. As a result of his expertise in this and related areas, Howard was asked by the UK government to lead a review panel concerning criteria for a nuclear waste repository location.  This experience also led to Howard’s current work advising the State of Nevada concerning the United States Department of Energy’s license application for a high-level radioactive waste repository at Yucca Mountain, Nevada. 

2. Pioneering Understanding, Prediction and Adaptation to Climate Extremes: Howard has been working for almost 30 years to improve the understanding of the hydrology of arid and semi-arid areas, to develop suitable modelling tools for management, to apply these in practice for improved water resources management, and to disseminate state-of-the-art information to students and practitioners. His work in this area was recognised by the award of the $130K Prince Sultan bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water in 2006. He has worked in Oman, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Jordan, Syria and Egypt, as well as Arizona and Nevada in the USA and has been invited to give keynote addresses to numerous international conferences, including, for example, the 2005 7th Gulf Water Conference (Kuwait). He contributed to the development of UNESCO’s Wadi Hydrology programme in the Arab Region, and more recently played a key role to the formation, implementation, and funding of UNESCO’s G-WADI global arid zone water resources programme. He was invited by the Government of Chile to assist in the development of a centre for arid zone water resources for Latin America and the Caribbean, and was invited by the Japanese government to give a keynote address on water scarcity to the 2003 Kyoto World Water conference. 

In addition to this work, Howard’s 20 years of research into groundwater flooding provided new insights into the groundwater system response under extreme conditions, has demonstrated a highly non-linear recharge response of the unsaturated zone when fracture flow is triggered, and has demonstrated the complexity of stream aquifer interactions. Limitations of current physics-based groundwater models have been demonstrated, and a programme of model development initiated. Simplified models have been developed and tested, and have shown considerable power as potential risk assessment and forecasting tools. In recognition of his contribution, Howard was invited to be a keynote speaker on this topic to the American Geophysical Union’s (AGU) fall 2009 meeting.

Howard’s pioneering work on rainfall modelling and climate change include development of next generation stochastic models which have been widely applied internationally in the context of flood risk management and statistical downscaling for climate change impacts assessment. His own applications include study of the impacts of climate variability on flooding in West Ireland, development of next-generation rainfall-runoff modelling for UK flood practice, rainfall-runoff modelling for Iran, and land use change in the Upper Nile. The models can represent spatial location, seasonality, and persistence effects, and can be used to explore effects of teleconnections on extreme weather, for example to ENSO (El Niño-Southern Oscillation) and the NAO (North Atlantic Oscillation).

3. Socio-hydrology and water resource management: As part of his current research and Canada Excellence Research Chair Program, Howard is leading the efforts for the World Climate Research Program and UNESCO in showing how a large-scale catchment-based observatory can be used to practice trans-disciplinary science integration and address the Anthropocene’s (human factor) water problems. He has led creation of the Saskatchewan River Basin (SaskRB; 406,000 km²) and Mackenzie River Basin (MRB; 1.8 million km²) as Regional Hydroclimate Programmes with the World Climate Research Programme’s (WCRP) Global Energy and Water Exchanges (GEWEX) project. The programme is integrating existing and new experimental data with modelling and remote sensing products to understand, diagnose, and predict changing land, water, and climate systems, and their interactions and feedbacks. The interface between the research, practitioner and stakeholder communities is increasingly seen as important to the perception and management of water security, including organizational and institutional flexibility for handling uncertainty and change, social capital and adaptive governance, and the need for engagement with stakeholders in knowledge exchange. Howard’s contribution in this area has been recognized with a special publication of Water Resources Research Journal’s 50^th Anniversary Issue[3].

Global significance, influence, and impact

Howard holds the positions of Canada Excellence Research Chair in Water Security and Director, Global Institute for Water Security (GIWS) at the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, and Distinguished Research Fellow and Emeritus Professor of Hydrology at Imperial College London, United Kingdom (UK). At GIWS, which he founded in 2011, Howard currently leads a team of experts in water-related science, health, social science, and policy. GIWS includes over 70 faculty and government scientists and over 100 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows. Multidisciplinary science, engineering, and social science teams engage with industrial and government partners to address research themes including climate change and water security, land-water management and environmental change, and socio-hydrology. Howard has authored more than 200 peer-reviewed journal papers, 5 books, and 28 book chapters, and supervised some 60 PhD and 100 MSc students. In the UK he was a member of the 2004 and 2008 Foresight Future Flooding teams, a member of the 2008 Cabinet Office flood enquiry, and contributor to a Land Use Futures Foresight study. In Canada he chaired the Council of Canadian Academies expert panel on Water and Agriculture in Canada.

Howard is a true leader in the field.  For instance, when he became aware of the need to develop global support for the integrated and sustainable management of water resource systems in arid and semi-arid areas, he worked with a small group of international colleagues to develop UNESCO’s GWADI programme, securing funding from the UK Government to support GWADI activities. Probably the single most important contribution of GWADI to date has been the establishment of a web-based news and information system to bring state-of-the-art information on science, data and modelling tools to a global audience of regional centres, institutions and individuals (www.g-wadi.org). However, in parallel, GWADI has sought to develop state-of-the-art training material in key areas of need. These examples not only demonstrate outstanding contributions in basic scientific research and development, but also to Howard’s selfless promotion of research cooperation within the water science community and between scientific disciplines. His sense of service has been the basis for a string of high-level cooperation-building voluntary roles, for instance his Presidency of the British Hydrological Society, co-leadership of the UNESCO GWADI programme, and his recent leadership of the Global Energy and Water Exchanges Project (GEWEX) of the World Climate Research Programme.

Throughout his career, Howard has recognized the fact that incremental and discipline-specific water science is not up to the challenge of addressing multi-scale and complex problems, and that traditional water science has lacked the capacity to provide knowledge that is useful, timely, and packaged in a way that leads to effective decision making. Therefore, he has conceptualized, developed, and implemented holistic, agile, and strategic programs designed to meet society’s most basic needs for water security. According to Howard, to engender trans-disciplinary working requires inter-disciplinary focus on common problems and common places. Moreover, to address the management challenges of Water Security, we must work at multiple scales, including the scales of large river basins and whole groundwater systems. And research at these large scales is needed to address the interactions and feedbacks associated with the large footprint of the Anthropocene. This is a transformative research agenda and one fitting of this prestigious award.

Candidate’s History of Awards and Honours

Howard has received many awards for his research, including:

• Honorary Member, British Hydrological Society, 2011
• Fellow, American Geophysical Union, 2010
• Prince Sultan bin Abdul Aziz International Water Prize, 2006
• Institution of Civil Engineers Baker Medal, 2004
• Fellow, Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng), 2003
• Life Member, International Water Academy (Oslo), 1999
• Fellow, Institution of Civil Engineers (C.Eng, FICE), 1999
• British Hydrological Society President’s Prize, 1996
• Institution of Civil Engineers Overseas Premium, 1984

Download the pdf of Howard's CV