In October of 2026 I visited China and engaged in the following activities: (i) Global Vision Forum Distinguished Lecture at the Institute for Water Resources and Hydropower Research (number 1 in the photo), “Water Disasters in a Changing World - Challenges, Opportunities, and the Path Forward”, Beijing China, October 12, 2026; (ii) Invited Lecture at the Beijing Normal (number 2 in the photo), "System Context: Global Change and the Food-Energy-Water Nexus ", Beijing, China, October 13, 2026; (iii) Awarded Honorary Professorship from the North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (number 3 in the photo) , Zhengzhou, China, October 18, 2026; (iv) Delivered one day workshop at the North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (number 4 in the photo), "From Risk Management to Building Resilience: A New PAradigm for Water Resources Decision Making", Zhengzhou, China, October 16, 2026; (v) Keynote Lecture at the CAE Symposium on Engineering Science and Technology (numbers 5 and 6 in the photo), "Extreme Climate, Water Security and the Storage Gap - why a systems approach is essential for adaptation and resilience", Nanjing, China, October 19, 2026.

November 3, 2026

Comments I made for Canadian television about the Nepal disaster were subsequently picked up and reported by an Indonesian newspaper in an article titled “Banjir Bandang di Perbatasan Nepal-China Menewaskan 1.252 Orang” (“Flash Floods on the Nepal–China Border Kill 1,252 People”). Read the Indonesian newspaper article (PDF)

September 16, 2026

Forth year in a row I have been ranked by ScholarGPS as Highly Rank Scholar - Lifetime. This year I am at #171 in Civil and Environmental Engineering, # 1 in Flood control, #10 in Water resources, #17 in Water resource management and #54 in Risk management from over 29 million scholars in all disciplines worldwide. ScholarGPS celebrates highly ranked scholars for their exceptional performance across various fields, disciplines, and specialties. My publication record, the impact of my work, and the quality of my scholarly contributions have placed me in the top 0.05% of all scholars worldwide (out of 29,161,103) and in the top 0.04% of all scholars in Civil and Environmental Engineering (out of 404,741). You can view my scholar profile and ranking here.

The 5th edition of the Research.com Best Scientists did show again my high ranking in the Environmantal Sciences and Engineering and Technology disciplines. Scientists Ranking primarily draws upon bibliometric data of 280,000 leading scientists sourced from OpenAlex and CrossRef, supplemented by multiple other reputable data repositories. These sources collectively provide a comprehensive and up-to-date foundation for evaluating research output and impact. The bibliometric data used to devise the citation-based metrics for this ranking were meticulously collected on January 12, 2026. This year my current national ranking in Environmental Sciences is 68 (the first ranked scientist from the Western University) and in Engineering and Technology 64. My world ranking 1896 and 1468 respectively.

June 30, 2026

The severe impacts of recent natural hazards, including hurricanes, floods, earthquakes, and landslides, combined with the vulnerability of human settlements and infrastructures, have highlighted the significant work still needed to address these challenges. This conference raised awareness about this critical topic and proposed strategies to promote new approaches at the intersection of structure/infrastructure systems and the economic and social impacts of natural hazard to increase community resilience. The conference showed that the growing need to address complex challenges in urban resilience, engineering, and monitoring, within a multi-risk context and an increasingly interconnected world, demands the development of innovative ideas and advanced methods to deliver accurate numerical solutions within feasible computing times, as well as the creation of novel methods and tools to support risk-informed decisions. ICONREM provided a dynamic platform for sharing scientific knowledge and expertise with colleagues from around the globe, fostering collaboration across these critical fields. I presented a keynote lecture under the title "From Risk-Based to Resilience-Based Water Resources Decision Making: A Conceptual and Practical Transition".

June 17, 2026

At the 10th ICFM conference I was awarded the Lifetime Achievemtn Award. From the oration by Prof. Nigel Wright: ..."Turning to the other aspect of Professor Simonovic’s Lifetime Achievement, his contribution to ICFM stands out in its history so far. He has attended most of the conferences since the first one in 1986. He took over as chair of the Ad-hoc Committee in 2008, guiding ICFM through its next six editions across the globe. Under his leadership, ICFM has not only become an established and sustainable conference series that is the foremost forum for flood management, but it has also expanded across the research to impact spectrum and extended to cover many of the disciplines essential to flood management"....Very proud of this achievement.

May 25, 2026

The ICFM10 was successfully held in London, Ontario, bringing together over 320 leading researchers, practitioners, policymakers, and industry representatives from over 31 countries around the world to advance innovative approaches to flood management and resilience. The conference featured outstanding keynote presentations, plenary discussions, special sessions, and technical papers, fostering international collaboration and knowledge exchange. The ICFM10 Declaration, conference Proceedings, Program, and a comprehensive collection of conference photographs are now available on the ICFM website , providing a lasting record of the conference and its contributions to the global flood management community.

May 25, 2026

An international course titled "Water and Civilization," developed by North China University of Water Resources and Electric Power (NCWU) is officially launched on March 4 in China. “Water and Civilization" is the largest undergraduate course ever offered. It brings together over 20 distinguished experts from world-renowned universities and academic institutions. I am very proud to be one of the experts offering four modules to the course. Adopting an integrated online and offline teaching model, the first lecture attracted 1,369 students from 15 schools across the university, with sessions broadcast simultaneously to eight classrooms across three campuses. Drawing on cutting-edge research, the course illustrates the impacts of dynamic changes in surface water, groundwater, and glacial melt on regional and global water security. The course continues through the 2026 Spring term and comprises ten core modules: Water Cycle, Water-Civilization Nexus, Water Issues, Water Needs, Hydropower, Water Footprint, Water Competition, Water Economics, Water Markets, Water Management, and the Future of Water. Innovative pedagogical approaches are integrated throughout, particularly the use of artificial intelligence to develop dynamic knowledge maps and an "AI-Empowered Collective Intelligence Project" that encourages collaborative problem-solving.

March 4, 2026

In September 2025, the “Updated science-wide author database of standardized citation indicators was published. This is publicly available database of top-cited scientists (out of 6 880 389 from all disciplines) that provides standardized information on citations, h-index, co-authorship adjusted hm-index, citations to papers in different authorship positions and a composite indicator (c-score). The ranking of scientists can be found in the following link . My name has been included in the list (about 600 spots up from last year), and my position on the list still puts me in the top 0.35% of World's scientists. I am very proud of this personal achievement.

September 24, 2025

Covalence global is an organization of young minds committed to climate actionism and vigorous action to combat the climate crisis. Covalence started as a small Bay Area beach cleanup organization and in 2022 went global. They created an international network, led global events, and initiated projects - all related to climate action and youth leadership. I was pleased they invited me to their Climate Map podcast. We talked about Systems Analysis in Flood Risk Management. Podcast video and transcript are available here

July 13, 2024

Very proud to be included into the Reuters list of the world’s top climate scientists. To build it, Reuters created a system of identifying and ranking 1,000 climate academics according to how influential they are. Read the article in Western News.

April 20, 2021

If you have 6 minutes, join this video in which I tried to define the complex adaptive system through a story. Visit Complex Adaptive System Lab at Western University.

March, 27, 2021