International Hydrological Programme

    Shahbaz Khan

    Shahbaz Khan

    Shahbaz Khan joined UNESCO in April 2008 as Senior Programme Specialist and Chief of Section on Sustainable Water Resources Development and Management. Shahbaz has an outstanding multidisciplinary background in water law and policy, management, civil engineering, IT, GIS & RS, economics and integrating societal water demands with environment. He received his Master and PhD degrees in water resources technology and management from the University of Birmingham, UK in 1992 and 1995 respectively. His other major qualifications include Master of International Environmental Law from the Macquarie University, Australia and Master of Applied Environmental Economics, Imperial College, University of London, UK.


    Before joining UNESCO Shahbaz Khan was Professor and Director at the Charles Sturt University, Research Leader at CSIRO and Programme Leader, System Harmonisation at the Cooperative Research Centre for Irrigation Futures, Australia. His innovative science contributions and vision in water management has been widely recognized through the receipt of a number of awards including the 2008 CSIRO’s Research Achievement Medal, 2007 Land and Water Australia Eureka Prize, 2006 Charles Sturt University’s Vice Chancellor’s Research Excellence Award, 2004 CSIRO Land and Water Partner or Perish Award, 2000 CSIRO Land and Water Exceptional Achievements Award.


    Mr Khan has over 250 scientific publications including journal and conference papers, book chapters and scientific reports. He has actively contributed to the development and management of the Hydrology for the Environment, Life and Policy (HELP) Programme as the Chair of the international steering committee and the regional coordinator for Australasia. He also holds Adjunct Professorial positions at the Charles Sturt University Australia, Chinese Ministry of Water Resources and the Chinese Academy of Sciences.