International Hydrological Programme

    Radwan Al-Weshah

    Radwan A. Al-Weshah

    Mr Radwan A. Al-Weshah was born in 1957 in Salt, Jordan. He holds a B.Sc. in Civil Engineering from the University of Jordan in 1981 and a M.Sc. in Water Resources and Irrigation in 1989. He obtained a PhD from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, USA, in 1993. He was one of the top students of his class at all levels.

    Mr Al-Weshah was an Associate Professor of hydrology and water resources at the Department of Civil Engineering, University of Jordan in Amman. He was Assistant Director at the Water and Environment Research and Study Centre (WERSC) at the University of Jordan. He served as technical adviser to several governmental agencies and research institutions and as technical consultant to local and international consulting firms in Jordan and abroad in the area of water resources, hydraulics and hydrology. His work and research cover areas of integrated water management, surface/groundwater hydrology, hydrological modeling, flood and drought, design of water networks and conveyance systems, design of hydraulic structures, wadi hydrology, artificial groundwater recharge and water harvesting projects.

    Mr Al-Weshah gained wide international experience and leadership in the area of water resources in the Middle East and the Nile Basin. He organized and co-chaired many international conferences and workshops. He was elected and appointed by the National Research Council of the U.S. Academy of Sciences as a member of the Committee on Sustainable Water Supply in the Middle East. He co-authored the book "Water for Future" published by the U.S. National Academy Press in 1999. He is also a co-editor and a contributor to the UNESCO/IHP Technical Documents on Wadi Hydrology and one of the authors for the Encyclopedia of Life Support Systems (EOLSS) sponsored by UNESCO. Mr Al-Weshah is a reviewer for the Water International Journal of the International Water Resources Association (IWRA), the Water Resources Bulletin of the American Water Resources Association (AWRA), the Journal of the Hydraulics Division of the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE), as well as several other specialized journals in the Middle East. He is a founding member, and was elected as a governing board member, of the Arab Water Council since 2006.

    Mr Al-Weshah also worked as a senior hydrologist for Wetland Research Inc. and Hey and Associates Inc., based in Chicago, where he gained valuable experience in the area of wetland hydrology, hydraulics, integrated water resources, ecohydrology and environmental impact assessment.

    Mr Al-Weshah joined UNESCO in June 2000 as Regional Hydrologist and Programme Specialist in the Cairo Regional Office. He is responsible for the planning, managing and implementation of the IHP in the Arab region. He has generated several extrabudgetary projects in the region including the FRIEND/Nile Project. He is founder and an active member of the Arab water networks on groundwater protection, wadi hydrology, and water use ethics.

    Mr Al-Weshah has more than 40 publications in refereed journals, books, reports, studies and conference proceedings.