In this newsletter:
- iEMSs 2026 in University College Dublin (UCD) Dublin, Ireland
- iEMSs 2026 Plenary Speakers
- Nominations for Biennial Medals and Early Career Research Excellence Prizes now open
- iEMSs 2025 Fellows Announced
iEMSs 2026 in University College Dublin (UCD) Dublin, Ireland: Environmental Modelling for a Resilient Future: Integrating Data, Systems, Stakeholders and Societal Systems
Set in the heart of Dublin, the 2026 iEMSs Conference (https://conference.iemss.org/) offers participants a chance to experience one of Europe’s most vibrant and historic cities, known for its welcoming atmosphere, rich academic heritage, and lively cultural scene. The organizing committee also invites sponsors to partner with us in supporting this global gathering of environmental modeling and software professionals. Sponsorship provides excellent visibility within the international community and opportunities to connect directly with researchers, practitioners, and decision makers. For more information, please contact conference2026@iemss.org.
Finalized streams and sessions are available here: https://conference.iemss.org/streams/
We look forward to seeing you in Dublin next summer!
Key Dates:
- 1 April 2026 – due to demand abstract submission has been extended – submit at https://conference.iemss.org/
- 15 May 2026 – abstract accepted and the presenter registered – see https://conference.iemss.org/registration/
- 15 June 2026 – the preliminary conference program will be available
- 12-16 July 2026 – a scientifically-fascinating and very fun conference where all are made to feel welcome and part of the Society
Dublin in July is hard to beat. Come for the science, stay for the ‘craic’!
iEMSs 2026 Plenary Speakers
We are excited to announce the plenary speakers for iEMSs 2026: Monday, Gia Destouni, Tuesday, Karl Richards, and Wednesday, Michael Bruen.
Georgia (Gia) Destouni is Professor of Hydrology and Water Resources at Stockholm University and Guest Professor of Engineering Hydrology at KTH Royal Institute of Technology. Her research addresses the flow, storage, and quality dynamics of surface and subsurface waters and their integrated modelling as a terrestrial water system, including interactions with climate, land use, coastal environments, and societal factors across regional to global scales. She is the recipient of the Henry Darcy Medal of the European Geosciences Union, the Baltic Sea Award, and H.M. The King of Sweden’s Medal for her research on water and climate. Destouni is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union and the Stellenbosch Institute of Advanced Study, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, an international member of the US National Academy of Engineering, and a corresponding member of the Academy of Athens. https://www.su.se/english/profiles/g/gdest
Karl Richards is Head of the Teagasc Climate Centre, where he leads over 100 researchers and technical staff working on climate and biodiversity research in agriculture. His research focuses on nitrogen dynamics in soils, including nitrate leaching, denitrification, ammonia emissions, and mitigation of nitrous oxide (N₂O) from agricultural systems through measures such as dietary manipulation, cover crops and nitrification inhibitors. He has also worked on landscape-scale nitrogen dynamics and N₂/N₂O partitioning in soils and aquifers. He has published over 180 peer-reviewed papers. He is a member of the FAO LEAP Scientific Advisory Panel and Ireland’s representative to the Global Research Alliance on Agricultural Greenhouse Gases. https://teagasc.ie/staff-directory/karl-richards/
Michael Bruen is an Emeritus Professor of Environmental Hydrology at UCD School of Civil Engineering, former Director of the UCD Dooge Centre for Water Resources Research and member of the UCD Earth Institute. He is a Chartered Engineer, Fellow of Engineers Ireland, Chartered Mathematician, Fellow of Institute of Mathematics and its Applications, and member of a number of water related professional organisations (AGU, EGS). He is Associate Editor of the Journal of Hydrology, and formerly was Chairman of the Irish Committee for UNESCO’s International Hydrology Programme and International Commission for Irrigation and Drainage. Prior to retirement, he was interim Principal of the College of Engineering and Architecture and Dean of Engineering at UCD and a member of the University Senior Management Team. https://people.ucd.ie/michael.bruen
Nominations for Biennial Medals and Early Career Research Excellence Prizes now open
Every two years iEMSs recognises the achievements of members through two awards – Biennial Medals for those with exceptional achievement in well-established careers and Early Career Research Excellence Prize for emerging researchers. The process is that people are nominated, the Awards Committee assesses those nomination and makes recommendations, with the awards officially announced at the upcoming conference.
Nomination forms for both awards are now available on the iEMSs website.
When you log in you will see a new menu “Member only services” on the lower left. In that menu there is a link for “iEMSs Awards Nominations 2026” (and also for nominations for elected positions).
See https://iemss.org/about-iemss/general-about-iemss/rules/ for more information about both awards.
Nominations are open now and will close at the end of April.
A note from the Committee and the President for your consideration: In past years we have seen, and been concerned by, a dearth of female nominees. We do not believe that the gender balance of the nominees reasonably reflects the gender balance of the highly achieving researchers in the Society or in the research domains. Please actively consider all of your colleagues. Consider those that are the quiet achievers. Consider those that are driving advances or forging new directions but not necessarily “beating their own drum”. We look forward to a more balanced set of nominations for 2026!
This is an excellent opportunity to recognise the achievements of your colleagues – we look forward to seeing the nomination!
iEMSs Fellows Announced
On behalf of the Awards Committee we are delighted to announce three newly appointed Fellowships of iEMSs. All these individuals have contributed significantly to the success of the Society and we are pleased to acknowledge their efforts.
Amirpouyan (Pouyan) Nejadhashemi chaired the 2024 iEMSs conference in Michigan and through his efforts he brought together the conference under challenging conditions. He has also served for many years at a Stream Co-Lead, assisted in previous organising committees, is a managing editor for Environmental Modelling and Software as well as having served on the Board since 2018. See more about Pouyan and his multiple roles at Michigan State University at https://www.canr.msu.edu/people/nejadhashemi_amirpouyan
Pierre Glynn (Affiliated Scholar, Arizona State University Consortium for Science, Policy and Outcomes, Washington D.C., and Emeritus Scientist, USGS Science and Decisions Center) is a stalwart of transdisciplinary science and its robust application to support policy, management and modelling of complex systems. He has been one of the energetic leaders of the highly successful “Decision making and Public Participation” stream for out biannual conferences since 2014 and has led several Society activities including workshops on participatory modelling that extended into a range of influential publications in the iEMSs publications Environmental Modelling and Software and Socio-Environmental Systems Modelling. Read more about Pierre and his contributions at https://cspo.org/people/glynn-pierre-d/.
Christopher (Chris) D. Knightes is an environmental engineer with the US EPA working on the fate and mitigation of a wide range of environmental contaminants. Within iEMSs he has Co-Led the “Fate of contaminants, human well-being and ecological health” Stream, has greatly assisted the Society by arranging for EPA sponsorship of several conferences as well as encouraging a high participation rate of fellow EPA members in our conferences. In addition, Chris chairs the Outreach Committee including looking after our webinar series and compiles the Society newsletter series. See more about Chris at https://www.epa.gov/sites/default/files/2016-05/documents/knightes_christoper_ced.pdf.
Congratulations and thank you to all the nominees for their invaluable service to iEMSs! Thanks are also due to the nominators for their efforts in acknowledging the nominees and the Awards Committee for their consideration of the nominations.
A call for nominations for the Early Career Research Awards and for Biennial Medallists will be made soon. Please start thinking about those you might be interested in nominating for these awards.