The Applied Hydrogeology Award of the International Association of Hydrogeologists is presented annually to a person who is a groundwater professional and has made outstanding contributions to the application of hydrogeology, particularly in developing countries or in support of international development efforts. The Award for 2025 is presented to Abhijit Mukherjee and Fridtjov Ruden.
Abhijit Mukherjee
Prof. Abhijit Mukherjee is a Professor in Hydrogeology at the Department of Geology and Geophysics, and the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur, India. Prof. Mukherjee was awarded his Ph.D. in Hydrogeology by the University of Kentucky in 2006 and he completed his postdoctoral from University of Texas at Austin. In his subsequent career Abhijit has made significant contributions to research, education, capacity building, and scientific outreach in India and other developing nations.
Abhijit is the pre-eminent global hydrogeologist of his generation from South Asia, specifically working on groundwater-sourced drinking water contamination, groundwater scarcity, surface water-groundwater interactions and application of data analytics and machine learning to predict future groundwater contaminants and availability. Prof. Mukherjee’s work focuses on research questions with huge societal impacts that result in paradigm shifts in our thinking on critical issues.
Working in more than twelve countries and for more than two-decades, including south and east Asia, and North and South America, Abhijit has proposed the primary conceptual model of global distribution and cycling on geogenic arsenic and other geogenic pollutants in groundwater, which poses health risk to hundreds of millions of people.
Prof. Mukherjee has worked on groundwater scarcity, disaggregating the roles of natural climate processes and human intervention in controlling groundwater quantity and recharge across south Asia, influencing water and food security and groundwater rejuvenation. This was incorporated by Indian Government in subcontinental-scale groundwater management plans. He is prolific in organising many international groundwater sessions at conferences, including collaboration with IAH, and co-authored the UN-WWDR 2022.
Abhijit’s primary body of work has been achieved through research in the developing world, accomplishments made more notable when considering the difficulties of conducting research in developing countries. Dr. Mukherjee’s work has hugely impacted critical issues linked to groundwater sustainability, and his capacity building for future generations, which are aligned to IAH’s missions and aims.
Abhijit Mukherjee is a worthy recipient of the IAH Applied Hydrogeology Award.
Fridtjov Ruden
Fridtjov Ruden is a pioneering applied hydrogeologist who has made extensive contributions to groundwater exploration, development and education globally. He graduated from the University of Oslo in 1978 as Norway’s first university-educated hydrogeologist and has since worked across Africa and Europe, the Middle East, Central America and Southeast Asia. He has often been active in regions dominated by war, drought and famine. Fridtjov has held numerous courses on diesel mechanics, drilling, geophysics and hydrogeology, has worked as a consultant, and researcher (Norwegian Institute for Water Research), at CGS/Pretoria.
Fridtjov has worked across 21 African countries, contributing to geological mapping, groundwater exploration and water supply development. His engagement with governmental bodies led to adaptation of regional and national water strategies, including Somalia and Zanzibar. He discovered the ‘Kimbiji Aquifer’, a deep coastal aquifer system with a proven potential to supply up to 2 million people near Dar Es Salaam.
In 1994 Fridtjov initiated water supply development for refugee camps in the wake of the Rwandan genocide. He has also established a Water Drilling Unit for UN peacekeeping in Chad, for well-based water supply. He has also worked on groundwater projects in the West Bank.
More recently Fridtjov and his team have promoted use of data from oil well logs, seismics and academic input for deep groundwater exploration in Tanzania and Somalia. His innovative technical solutions extend to seasonal heat storage in fractured crystalline rocks, capturing frost and thermal energy storage in bedrock, and on-land 3D nodal seismic survey.
He has published several articles, contributed to conferences, including presenting the 2011 Burdon Lecture in for IAH Ireland and the Goldschmidt lecture at Norwegian Geological Survey in 2012. He has received multiple awards for his innovative contributions to energy, groundwater sustainability and submarine groundwater. He emphasizes inclusivity by involving young professionals and academics in projects and has implemented training programmes in several African countries.
Fridtjov Ruden is a very worthy recipient of the IAH Applied Hydrogeology Award.
