Welcome to WHME 2026
It is a great pleasure to invite you to participate in the 19th International Symposium on Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering (WMHE 2026), which will take place in the beautiful town of Opatija, Croatia, at Hotel Admiral, from 16–19 September 2026.
The 19th International Symposium on Water Management and Hydraulic Engineering (WMHE 2026) continues the long-standing tradition of bringing together leading scientists, engineers, practitioners, policy-makers, and other representatives of public institutions in the fields of water management and hydraulic engineering, as well as hydrology, sanitary and environmental engineering, geotechnical engineering, and related disciplines. The symposium provides a forum to present the latest research findings, share advances, exchange ideas on scientific, technical, socio-economic, legal, and educational aspects, and foster international collaboration in addressing current and future challenges.
The symposium fosters interdisciplinary dialogue and contributes to addressing global and regional challenges in sustainable water management. The WMHE series has a distinguished history. The first WMHE Symposium was held in 1984, originally established as a bilateral collaboration between the University of Zagreb Faculty of Civil Engineering (Croatia) and the Gdańsk University of Technology Faculty of Civil and Environmental Engineering (Poland). Over the years, the symposium has expanded to include additional academic partners: the Slovak University of Technology in Bratislava (Slovakia), Ss. Cyril and Methodius University in Skopje (North Macedonia), the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna (Austria), and Brno University of Technology (Czech Republic). Today, WMHE is recognized as a prominent international platform in the fields of water management, hydraulics, hydrology, and environmental engineering.
Following the successful WMHE 2024 in Štrbské Pleso, Slovakia, it is our great pleasure to invite you to Opatija, Croatia, for the next edition of the symposium. Known as the “Pearl of the Adriatic,” Opatija is one of Croatia’s most renowned coastal destinations, famous for its elegant seaside architecture, lush gardens, and the scenic Lungomare coastal promenade. Situated at the foot of Mount Učka and overlooking the Kvarner Bay, Opatija combines natural beauty, cultural heritage, and a mild Mediterranean climate, offering conference participants both an inspiring professional setting and a memorable social experience.
The 19th WMHE Symposium will be hosted at Hotel Admiral, a modern four-star conference hotel located directly on the Adriatic coast, adjacent to Marina Admiral and within walking distance of Opatija’s historic centre. This unique venue provides an ideal environment for scientific exchange, professional networking, and social interaction.
We warmly invite you to join us in Opatija in September 2026, to continue the WMHE tradition and contribute to the advancement of water management and hydraulic engineering.
Keynote speakers
Nejc Bezak is an Associate Professor at the University of Ljubljana, Faculty of Civil and Geodetic Engineering, and a member of the UNESCO Chair on Water-related Disaster Risk Reduction. His research focuses on hydrology, soil erosion, sediment transport, water resources management, floods, climate change impacts, nature-based solutions, and hydrological modelling. He earned his PhD in Civil Engineering in 2016 and has since built an internationally recognized research profile. Bezak has led and contributed to numerous national and international projects, securing over €1 million in research funding. He is the author of more than 100 scientific publications, a reviewer for leading journals and funding agencies, and a recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Danubius Young Scientist Award.
Dr Suzana Ilic is a coastal engineer with more than two decades of experience in coastal processes research encompassing hydrodynamics, sediment transport and coastal management. She graduated with a MSc in computational hydraulics at what was then the Institute for Hydraulic and Environmental Engineering in Delft, the Netherlands, and completed her PhD in Coastal Engineering at the University of Plymouth, UK. She is a Senior Lecturer at Lancaster University and has led and participated in experiments in large-scale EU facilities, studying, for example, the impact of climate change on dunes and rogue waves. Her more recent work focuses on coastal adaptation, nature-based solutions and building resilience to coastal flooding and erosion, including engaging local communities around Morecambe Bay. Beyond academia, Dr Ilic has served as an Environment Agency-appointed coastal adviser to the North-West Regional Flood and Coastal Committee (RFCC) and currently to the Northumbria RFCC.
Dr Manousos Valyrakis is an Associate Professor in Engineering Hydraulics at the Department of Civil Engineering, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. The primary focus of his research is to develop the criteria, experimental methods, instrumentation, and sensors for analyzing flow and sediment transport, ultimately significantly contributing to advancing sediment transport models. This work is crucial for water professionals addressing diverse engineering challenges, highlighting the importance of accurately predicting sediment entrainment in turbulent flows. He has introduced a groundbreaking theoretical framework that integrates the dynamic aspects of hydrodynamic forces influencing sediment transport. Leveraging modern, non-intrusive, and high-precision methods, his research provides compelling experimental support for these enhanced theoretical criteria, proving their superiority.
Event Schedule
