We are pleased to announce the winners of the 2024 Gerhard Jirka Award for Young Researchers which awards the best presentation given by a Young Professional during the biennial IAHR Europe Division Congress. The announcement was made during the closing ceremony of the 8th IAHR Europe Congress held in Lisbon, Portugal last week. The awards were presented by the Chair of the Jury Mario Franca.

The award was introduced at the 5th IAHR Europe Congress in Trento in 2018 and was created in memory of Prof. Gerhard Jirka. 

For more than 30 years Gerhard Jirka made consistently important and lasting contributions to many areas of hydraulic and environmental engineering. His research always covered a wide range from fundamental studies to the development of engineering methods and hence had both great scientific and practical impact.

Gerhard will be remembered not only for his great scientific work and professional engagement, but also as a fine and interesting human being who managed to transfer his vitality, enthusiasm and optimism to all who were around him. 

After evaluating all 62 applications from the various conference themes, the 7-member jury shortlisted 24 candidates based on their papers. Following their presentations, the list was further narrowed down to 5 candidates, ultimately resulting in the selection of 2 winners.

Winners

Special mention

• Laura Piho, Tallinn University of Technology, Estonia

• Soheil Zehsaz, University of Coimbra, Portugal

• Jean-Paul Travert, EDF R&D, Chatou, France

Finalists

After the analysis of the extended abstracts, the jury informed that the selected finalists were:

• Trevor Stull 
  

• Mohamad Achour 

• Darío Calzadilla 

• SARPONG H ANTWI 

• Roberto Bentivoglio 

• Cristopher AG Monge 

• Renan Leite 

• Giovanni Di Lollo 

• Khansa Gulshad 

• SEFA NUR YESILYURT 

• Jakob Siedersleben 

• Soheil Zehsaz 

• Ante Sikirica 

• Jean-Paul Travert 

• Laura Piho 

• Pedro GF Tavares 

• Mattia Gaiolini 

• Rui Marinheiro 

• Mikolaj Jankowski 

• Aurora Gullotta 

• Jelle Dercksen 

• Vanessa Morgado 

• Ivana Lučin 

Award Criteria

The researchers must be born after June 1989, first author and presenter of an accepted contribution.

Evaluation criteria^* and procedure: 

1. Quality of the research

2. Originality of the research 

3. Relevance of the scientific problem

4. Quality of the presentation (oral or poster) 

^* _{collaborative-mind in the spirit of Jirka was also considered, as well as independence}

Jury

The jury for this edition was carefully selected to achieve a thematic balance across the conference's themes, research activities, and future projections. The selection ensured strong connections to the IAHR, geographic diversity, and adherence to high standards of rigor, while also considering the age and experience of the candidates.

• Mário Franca, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, Germany (President)

• Laura Maria Stancanelli, Delf University of Technology, The Netherlands

• Isabel Boavida, University of Lisbon, Portugal

• Reza Ahmadian, University of Cardiff, United Kingdom

• Parisa Hosseinzadehtalaei, Ghent University, Belgium

• Claudia Adduce, Roma Tre University, Italy

• Adrian Law Wing-Keung, National University of Singapore, Singapore