The Awards for International Qian Ning Prize for Erosion and Sedimentation Technology for 2019 were announced and presented at the WASER Assembly held on September 19, 2019, during the 14th International Symposium on River Sedimentation (14th ISRS) held in Chengdu, China.

The International Qian Ning Prize for Erosion and Sedimentation Technology is awarded to individuals who have made outstanding scientific or technological contributions in the fields of erosion and sedimentation research, and/or related work on project planning, design and implementation.

The selection of the International Qian Ning Prize for 2019 was started in March, 2019. The Nomination Committee included recommended members of the Qian Ning Prize Foundation Commission and members of the Council of WASER. Professor Ying Tan and Professor Zhaoying Wang were Executive Director and Deputy Director of the Nomination Committee, respectively. Total 3 candidates had been nominated by the deadline, Two winners were finally selected for the International Qian Ning Prize for 2019 based on the total number of votes received. They are:

Professor Silke Wieprecht, Institute for Modelling Hydraulic and Environmental Systems, University of Stuttgart, Germany; and

Professor Marwan Hassan, Department of Geography, the University of British Columbia, Canada.

Professor Qian Ning（1922-1986）was a highly respected international authority in the field of erosion and sedimentation research, a professor of hydraulic engineering at Tsinghua University and a member (Academician) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He devoted his entire professional life to scientific research in the field of erosion and sedimentation and his work spanned a wide range of topics, extending from soil erosion to channel morphology, bedload transport and the application of physical and numerical models. He also made highly important contributions to the regulation and improved management of two of the world’s most important rivers, the Yellow River and the Yangtze River, and he directed research investigations on many rivers in China. Furthermore, he was very influential and successful in promoting international cooperation for the advancement of the state-of-the art in sediment research. To commemorate Professor Qian’s outstanding contribution to research on erosion and sedimentation, foster further advancement of the state-of-the art and recognize current leadership and major contributions in the field of erosion and sedimentation research, the World Association for Sedimentation and Erosion Research (WASER) and the Chinese Qian Ning Prize Foundation Committee, after much discussion, decided to jointly establish the International Qian Ning Prize for Erosion and Sedimentation Technology in 2007. Six experts who had made outstanding scientific or technological contributions in the fields of erosion and sedimentation research were awarded at the WASER Assemblies held in Russia, South America and Japan in 2007, 2010 and Japan, respectively.

Awards for International Qian Ning Prize for 2019 presented at the WASER Assembly

Prof. Guangquan Liu, Deputy Director of IRTCES and Secretary General of WASER, announcing the winners of the International Qian Ning Prize

Prof. Zhaoyin Wang and Prof. Hajime Nakagawa, President and Vice President of WASER, handing Award plaques to the winners