Slobodan P. Simonović

Currently:
Director of Engineering Studies, Institute for Catastrophic Loss Reduction - ICLR
Professor Emeritus, Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada.

From the nomination for the Felowship of the Royal Society of Canada: "Slobodan P. Simonović is universally acknowledged as one of the world’s leading authorities on application of Systems Analysis to water and environmental management. He advanced the understanding of water and environmental systems, by providing decision-makers with tools to support their sustainable management. He provides unparalleled contributions to global and local management of water that have improved the lives and livelihoods of millions of people worldwide. His work has a significant impact on our understanding of system linkages between humans, and build and natural environments that lead to sustainable water resources management and resilience as a new development paradigm."

I am also carrying out consulting activities through my consulting company Slobodan P. SIMONOVIĆ, Consulting Ltd. and serving water resources engineering needs of Canada and the World since 1997. Drawing upon my broad experience in all aspects of water resources, including evaluation, engineering, and capacity building, Slobodan P. SIMONOVIĆ Consulting, Ltd. constructs teams of water experts to work side-by-side with clients on large, complex projects in developing innovative solutions to meet specific client needs. Company’s primary strength is in the application of systems approach to, and development of the decision support tools for, management of complex water and environmental systems.

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Name

You can hear here the correct pronunciation of my name. The meaning of my first name in English is “Free man”. I am originally from Yugoslavia, and my first name has a symbolic meaning. For many children born after the Second World War, the name Slobodan was used to acknowledge the importance of freedom from atrocities of the war. I hope that my generation and generations of my kids and grandkids will need not be reminded that ….”freedom is not the right to do as we please, but the opportunity to do what is right” (Peter Marshall).

Hobbies

I enjoy many interests – reading, working out, going for walks in nature. My primary love, for a very long time, was tennis. With age (and severe deterioration of my knees) I had to stop playing. Biking (both mountain and road) is my second love. Nowadays, biking is my primary hobby. During the outside season, I am almost every day on my bike. During the winter, I ride in my basement (obviously on my bicycle trainer). 2023 season was my record season - I made over 3,000 km of rides. 2024 season received new parts (knees) and outside riding was restricted - I made 1,100 km anyhow. 2025 season was short (second knee replacement) and I was able only to reach 573 km before my surgery. I am recovered and back on the bike - will see how is 2026 season going to end.

Honnors and awards

My education is from the University of Belgrade, Yugoslavia - B.Sc. Civil Engineering 1974 and M.Sc. Interdisciplinary Studies (Civil and Electrical Engineering) 1976; and University of California, Davis, California, USA - Ph.D. Engineering 1981. My academic carrier in Canada is shared between the University of Manitoba (1986 – 2000) and the University of Western Ontario (2000 – now). I was fortunate to be recognized by my peers with many awards and honors.

  • 1974
    UNDP Scholarship, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • 1974
    UNDP Scholarship, Los Angeles, California, USA
  • 1985
    Jaroslav Cerni Medal, Belgrade, Yugoslavia
  • 1988, 1989
    IIASA Visiting Scientist, Vienna, Austria
  • 1990 - 1995
    UNESCO International Hydrologic Program IV working group member, Project M-4.3, Study Experiences with modern water resources planning and management methods taking into account risk factors
  • 1991 - 1995
    Control Group Member, Application of Emerging Technologies Committee, American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 1991 - 1995
    Vice-president, International Association of Hydrological Sciences, International Commission on Water Resources Systems
  • 1995 - 2001
    President, International Commission on Water Resources Systems, International Association of Hydrological Sciences,
  • 1993
    ASCE Award for the most outstanding paper of 1992 published in the Journal of Professional Issues in Engineering Education and Practice
  • 1994 - 1997
    Chairman of the Canadian National Committee of International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
  • 1994 - 1995
    Graduate Students’ Association Award for Excellence in Graduate Teaching, The University of Manitoba
  • 1994 -1995
    Faculty of Engineering Award for Superior Academic Performance, The University of Manitoba
  • 1996
    Invitation Fellowship for Research in Japan, Japan Society for the Promotion of Science
  • 1996 - 2000
    UNESCO International Hydrologic Program V, working group member, Theme 4.3, Non-structural measures for water management problems
  • 1996 - 2000
    Chairman of the Canadian National Committee of UNESCO International Hydrologic Program (IHP)
  • 2000 - 2003
    Past Chairman of the Canadian National Committee of UNESCO International Hydrologic Program (IHP)
  • 1997
    IWRA Award for the best paper of 1996 published in the Water International Journal
  • 1997 - 2000
    Member, Red River Basin Task Force, International Joint Commission
  • 1997
    Outreach Award, The University of Manitoba
  • 1998 - 2000
    Member of the Board, International Water Resources Association (IWRA)
  • 1998 - 2003
    Member, Hydrotechnical Division Executive Committee, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE)
  • 1998
    Recognition for valuable contribution towards sustainable development, Round Table for Sustainable Development, Province of Manitoba, Canada
  • 1998 - 2000
    Member, Core working group on urban sustainability indicators, Round Table on Environment and Economy, Province of Manitoba, Canada
  • 1999 - 2000
    Member, Expert Panel on Flood Mitigation, Environment Canada, Atmospheric Environment Service, Canada
  • 2000
    Nominated and elected Fellow of International Water Resources Association
  • 2000
    Manitoba Network for Science & Technology (MindSet) Achievement Award, Winnipeg, March
  • 2000 - 2004
    Control Group Member, Application of Emerging Technologies Committee, American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2000 - 2002
    Member, Task committee on mitigating flood and drought disasters with modern technology, American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2000 - 2007
    Member, Sectoral Commission on Natural and Social Sciences, Canadian Commission for UNESCO
  • 2001
    Japanese Society of Hydrology and Water Resources, the International Award for significant contribution to progress in the filed of hydrology and water resources
  • 2001
    Member, Proposal evaluation committee, Program: Energy, Environment and Sustainable Development; Theme: Sustainable Management and Quality of Water, European Commission Research Directorate, Brussels
  • 2002 - 2004
    Vice President, Sectoral Commission on Natural and Social Sciences, Canadian Commission for UNESCO
  • 2002 - 2004
    Chair, Hydrotechnical Division, Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
  • 2002 - 2007
    UNESCO International Hydrologic Program VI, working group member, Theme 2.4, Approaches for integrated river basin management
  • 2003
    Showcase Award of Excellence, International Project Category, Consulting Engineers of Alberta - for ‘Flood Management Optimization for the Sihu Basin in China’
  • 2003
    Canadian Consulting Engineering Award of Excellence, Category: International - for ‘Sihu Basin Flood Management’
  • 2003 - 2007
    Member, Water Resources Management Section, International Association of Hydraulic Research (IAHR)
  • 2005
    Canadian Society for Civil Engineering Camille A. Dagenais Award for outstanding contribution to the development and practice of hydrotechnical engineering in Canada
  • 2005
    Member, The Committee for Review of the Lake Ontario-St.Lawrence River Studies, The National Academy of Sciences, Washington, USA
  • 2005
    Nominated and elected Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2005 - 2006
    Expert reviewer - Freshwater Resources and Their Management, Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Working Group II Fourth Assessment, WMO and UNEP
  • 2006
    Member, Lakes and Rivers Improvement Act Advisory Panel, Ministry of Natural Resources, Ontario
  • 2006 - 2009
    Member, International Advisory Board, L.A.R.A., Land network laboratory for waters of Emilia Romagna Region, Universita Degli Studi Di Ferrara, Italy
  • 2006 - now
    Canadian National Representative, International Commission on Water Resources Systems (ICWRS), International Association of Hydrological Science (IAHS)
  • 2008
    Nominated and elected Fellow of the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering
  • 2008 - 2016
    Member, Task Group on Disaster Risk Management, World Federation of Engineering Organizations
  • 2008 - now
    Chairman, Ad hoc committee of the International Conference on Flood Management
  • 2009 - now
    Member, Technical Committee on Modelling and Control of Environmental Systems, International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC)
  • 2009
    Nominated and recognized as the Diplomate, Water Resources Engineer by the American Academy of Water Resources Engineers
  • 2009 - 2011
    Member, Advisory Committee on the Environment, City of London, Ontario
  • 2011 - now
    Honorary member of the Milutin Milankovic Society, Belgrade, Serbia
  • 2012 - 2014
    Affiliate Member, The Wind Engineering, Energy and Environment (WindEEE) Research Institute, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Western Ontario.
  • 2013
    American Society of Civil Engineers Ven Te Chow Award for lifetime achievements in the field of hydrologic engineering and significant contributions in research, education and practice.
  • 2013
    Fellow of the Canadian Academy of Engineering.
  • 2014 - 2016
    Chairperson, Selection Committee for the Canadian Society for Civil Engineering (CSCE) Camille Dagenais Award.
  • 2017
    European Water Resources Association (EWRA) Award for outstanding contribution to the field of water resources management.
  • 2018
    China Institute for Water and Hydropower Research (IWHR) Award for contribution to collaboration between China and Canada.
  • 2019
    Distinguished Scholar, Brazilian School of Advanced Studies of Water & Society Under Change, University of São Paulo (PPGSHS), Federal University of Pernambuco (UFPE) and Federal University of Campina Grande (UFCG), CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel), Brazil.
  • 2019 - 2024
    Affiliate Member, Western Water Research Centre, Faculty of Engineering, The University of Western Ontario.
  • 2020 - now
    Member, External Advisory Board, H2020 project "PathoCERT: Pathogen Contamination Emergency Response Technologies", KIOS Research and Innovation Center of Excellence, University of Cyprus, Nicosia, Cyprus.
  • 2020
    Nominated and elected Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada
  • 2020
    Appointed Honorary Professor, China Institute of Water and Hydropower Research
  • 2020
    Elected Life Member, American Society of Civil Engineers
  • 2021
    Named to the Reuters Hot List of 1,000 most influencial climate chnage scietists
  • 2021
    Nominated and elected Foreign Member of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts
  • 2022
    Nominated and elected Full Member of the Sigma Xi, the Scientific Rsearch Honor Society
  • 2022
    Included in the Stanford list of World's top 2% Scientists. My position on the list puts me in the top 0.4% of over 6 million World's scientists.
  • 2022
    Dobitnik zlatne povelje Udruzenja Milutin Milankovic.
  • 2022 - 2027
    Appointed Member of the 4th Science and Technology Commission of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR).
  • 2022 - 2025
    Appointed Distinguished Professor, Hohai University, State Key Laboratory of Hydrology, Water Resources and Hydraulic Engineering.
  • 2023 - 2026
    Appointed Eminent Scholar of the China Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Research (IWHR).
  • 2023 - 2027
    Appointed Honorrary Professor of the Nanjing Hydraulic Research Institute.
  • 2024
    ,Named an Inaugural Highly Ranked Scholar by ScholarGPS (0.05% of all scholars worldwide).
  • 2024
    Recognized with the Environmental Sciences Leader Award for 2024 by Research.com.
  • 2026
    Recognized with the Lifetime Achievement Award, The International Conferences on Flood Management (ICFM).

In the media

Sometimes, the research I am involved with attracts the attention of media. The message may be interpreted correctly or not. However, it is important that the message leaves the technical reports and pages of professional Journals and gets to the broader audience. It makes me feel good to see how the results of my work may be used by others. Newspaper reports are directly accessible through the web site and videos are available from the YouTube.


Banjir Bandang di Perbatasan Nepal-China, Sep, 2026
Cat Tales, JulyAugust, 2026
Nepal flooding, CBC News, Aug 29, 2026.
Nepal flooding, CBC News, Aug 27, 2026.
Nepal flooding, Global News, Aug 27, 2026.
London flooding, London Free Press, Aug 10, 2026.
London flooding, CBC Radio, Aug 10, 2026.
10th Interntaionall Conference on Flood Management, Rogers TV, London, Canada, May 21, 2026.
Toronto Flooding, Toronto Now (online:https://nowtoronto.com/news/toronto-is-seeing-more-intense-rain-but-is-it-prepared-for-flooding/), April 24, 2026)
Spring Flooding Across Canada, CBC Radio, April 21, 2026.
Southern Manitoba flash floods, CBC Radio, September 12, 2025.
Southern Manitoba flash floods, CBC News, September 12, 2025
Texas flash floods, CTV News, CP24, July 7, 2025.
Texas flash floods, London News, July 7, 2025.
Texas flash floods, TIME Magazine, July 7, 2025.
Texas flash floods, Toronto Start, July 7, 2025.
Serbian Canadian Magazine, June 2025, 40/41 (page 9)
Novae Res Urbis,29(15), April 11 2025 (page 4 and 5)
Canadian Underwriter, February, 2025
Balkan City Magazine, February, 2025 (page 6 and 7)
Global News, July 17, 2024
CTV News London, July 16, 2024
Corus National Radio, July 16, 2024
CTV News, July 16, 2024
CBC National TV, July 16, 2024
CBC Radio, July 15, 2024
CBC Canada Radio, March 18, 2024
CTV News London, February 21, 2024
NHRI - Sep 2023 (English), Sep 18, 2023
NHRI - Sep 2023 (Chinese), Sep 18, 2023
CCTV interview-IWRA Congress (Chinese), Sep 12, 2023
The Paper-IWRA Congress interview (English), Sep 11, 2023
The Paper (Chinese), Sep 11, 2023
CTV News, July 28, 2023
Toronto Star, July 27, 2023
Water Today, March 29, 2023
Water Today, March 28, 2023
Cat Tales, JanFeb, 2023
Cat Tales, NovDec, 2022
Western News, September 27, 2022
Alumni Gazette, Fall 2022
Parlament Today, September 2, 2022
Globe and Mail, May 30, 2022
Global National News, May 12, 2022
Winnipeg Free Press, April 30, 2022
Western Gazette, March 11, 2022
Canadian Business Magazine, February 25, 2022
Winnipeg Free Press, November 26, 2021
CTV News Vancouver, November 19, 2021
CTV National News, November 19, 2021
Global News TV, November 19, 2021
CBC London Morning - radio, November 18, 2021
The Globe and Mail, November 17, 2021
The Evan Solomon Show - radio , November 9, 2021
CTV News , November 7, 2021
AM980 - radio, November 5, 2021
New Westminster RECORD, November 5, 2021
MTL Blog, November 5, 2021
CP24, November 4, 2021
London Free Press, November 4, 2021
Global News Vancouver - RAW, November 3, 2021
CBC London - radio, November 3, 2021
CTV London, November 3, 2021
Toronto Star, November 3, 2021
Vancouver Sun, November 3, 2021
Western News, November 3, 2021
Western News, May 2021
Cat tales, March April, 2021 (page 4)
Cat tales, November December, 2020 (page 5)
IWRA Update - October 28, 2020 (page 28)
Western News - September 8, 2020 (page 5)
RSC - September 8, 2020 (page 14)
Ottawa Citizen - June 4, 2019
CBC News (web New Brunswick) - May 25, 2019
CBC Shift (radio) - May 22, 2019
CBC News (web New Brunswick) - May 22, 2019
CTV News (TV) - May 12, 2019
CBC News (web) - May 1, 2019
The National (TV min6:40) - April 30, 2019
World at Six (radio) - April 30, 2019
Ottawa Citizen - April 30, 2019
On Site Magazine - April 27, 2019
Novi dan (Radio Belgrade 2) Interview in Serbian at 2:25:00, October 6, 2018
Cat tales (page 2), September, 2018
Cat tales (page 2), June, 2018
ORIGINAL Magazin(page 22), Maj, 2018 (in Serbian)
UWO Engineeting News, March 22, 2018
IWRA News (page 13), December, 2017
Cat tales (page 5), September/October, 2017
Western News, November 2, 2017
Western News, September 14, 2017
(UK)Leeds News, September 5, 2017
Cat tales (page 2), June, 2017
CTV News, May 14, 2017
CAE Notes,Canadian Academy of Engineering, May, 2017
Ottawa Sun, May 9, 2017
Ottawa today and Rogers TV, May 10, 2017
Discovery Channel, Daily Planet, February, 2017
Cat tales (page 1), January/February, 2016
Canadian Underwriter, January 28, 2016
Western News, January 25, 2016
Blic online, July, 2015 (in Serbian)
Danas, July, 2015 (in Serbian)
AIT News, March, 2015
Cat tales (page 3), January/February, 2015
Water International - 40 Years of IWRA, 2015
World Federation of Engineering Organizations, Newsletter of Standing Technical Committee on Disaster Risk Management (page 5), January, 2015
Western Engineering News, November, 2014
Cat tales (page 3), September/October, 2014
IWRA Update, 27(3):12, September 2014
Canadian Academy of Engineering Newsletter 73, Summer 2014
Calgary Herald, June 24, 2014
Youth Climate Report, November 2013 (46 min movie)
IEEE Canadian Review, Summer, 2013
Civil Engineering Poster, November, 2013
Western Engineering News, August, 2013
Western Engineering News, June, 2013
CBC News, June, 2013
DeSmog Canada, June, 2013
Cat tales (page 6), June, 2013
IWRA Update (page 4), June, 2013
IWRA Update (page 5), March, 2013
Western Engineering News, February, 2013
Canadian Underwriter, September, 2012
Cat tales, July, 2012
London Free Press, November 2, 2011
Western News, August, 2011
Blic, May, 2011 (in Serbian)
Western News, April, 2011 (page 5)
Engineering Now, February, 2011
Cat tales, December 2010
Engineering Now, November, 2010
Cat tales, July, 2010
Engineering Now, July, 2010
China Radio International, July 2, 2010
ASCE EWRI Currents, March, 2010
Civil Engineering News, September, 2009
Engineering Now, February, 2009
London FM96, Unbottle it, January 18, 2009
Engineering Now, July and August, 2008
London Free Press, A River: Toy Boat Tour, pt.13, August 17, 2008
Cat tales, May, 2008
The Londoner, December 12, 2007
Western News, October, 2007
Cat tales, September, 2007
London Free Press, August 25, 2007
Cat tales, June, 2007
London Free Press, May 29, 2007
London Free Press, May 13, 2007
London Free Press, May 10, 2007
Western Alumni Gazette, Spring, 2007
Calgary Herald, April 16, 2007
Engineering Now, March, 2007
Engineering Now, September 2006
Western News, June 23, 2005
Western News, March 17, 2005
UWO Media Newsroom, May 13, 2005
Western News, January 13, 2005
Western News, January 6, 2005
Western News, December 16, 2004
Western News, December 10, 2004
UWO Media Newsroom, December 9, 2004
Western News, July 20, 2004
Western News, November 18, 2003
UWO Media Newsroom, March 19, 2003
Western News, December 24, 2002
London Free Press, July 30, 2002
Western News, October 19, 2001