Bartolomé Andreo Navarro
Vice President, Western and Central Europe
andreo@uma.es
Biography
Bartolome is a Full Professor of Hydrogeology at the University of Málaga (Spain), IAH member for over thirty years and Past President of IAH Spanish Chapter (2015-2021). In 2019, he was the President of the Organizing Committee of 46th IAH Congress in Málaga, with 750 attendees. He is co-founder of Eurokarst conference and has organised 6 International Symposiums on Karst in Málaga, with hundreds of participants.
He promoted the creation (2007) of the Centre of Hydrogeology at the University of Malaga, of which he is Director. He promoted and coordinated the Master’s Course (2008-2024) and Doctorate Program (2009-2016) on Water Resources and Environment at the University of Malag -RHYMA. The RHYMA Master’s was awarded the Manantial Prize in 2022 by the Spanish Groundwater Club. He has successfully supervised 16 PhD students.
Training courses he has coordinated and participated in include HYDROKARST (12 editions), in cooperation with the Spanish Geological Survey and supported by UNESCO-IHP and IAH; and education and dissemination activities on Hydrogeology (co-promoter of Hydrogeoday).
He has participated in hydrogeology research projects, including those supported by the EU, UNESCO, and IAEA. He is active in hydrogeological consultancy with companies and public administrations. He has experience of work and research collaboration on aquifers from Europe, America, and North Africa and is author of several hundred of scientific publications, with 100 in peer reviewed international journals included in Journal of Citation Reports.
He is Advisor to agencies on evaluation for hydrogeology research projects and university staff professors, including to the Spanish Ministry of Ecological Transition for the Groundwater National Action Plan and of the Andalusian Government as member of the Committee of Experts against the Drought.
Personal statement
My main aim will be to increase the role of groundwater and the hydrogeologist in society, through creating greater visibility of the IAH, increasing membership in Western and Central Europe (amongst universities, geological surveys, water companies and water resource regulators). Joint activities with such organisations will be promoted (such as fora and seminars) in the frame of which training and discussion will be offered. Regional conferences on problems concerning groundwater will be organised, for example on droughts and groundwater budgets of aquifers in the Mediterranean areas, groundwater contamination and remediation in Central Europe.
Online seminars involving European experts will be organised to update the state of art in various fields: groundwater budget, managed recharge, modelling, karst hydrogeology, etc.
The connection between the IAH and international organisations (such as UNESCO, IGRAC, FAO, European Union) should be done by organizing joint activities and workshops, and by involving these institutions in IAH conferences.
Links will be established between universities and the employment market of the public administrations and water companies. A compilation of master and doctorate programmes on groundwater in Europe will be produced. Master and doctorate studies on hydrogeology should be adequately connected with the needs of the society. An initiative will be to promote the values of groundwater in society by means of education and dissemination, and hydrogeoday (https://iah.org/education/professionals/hydrogeoday) will be enhanced to European scale.
