Water Resilience through Digitization

Venue

Hotel Meliá Las Dunas en Cayo Santa María***** at Buenavista UNESCO Biosphere reserve, Cuba. The Buenavista Biosphere Reserve was declared by UNESCO in C2000 and now covers over 310,000 hectares in the centre of Cuba’s northern coast. The area consists of sand and rock beaches, various types of forest, archaeological sites and complex cave systems which show fascinating wall paintings by the indigenous people who lived here.

Date

October 22-24, 2025

Background

Climate change and hydrological variability pose imminent challenges in water resources management, especially in watersheds of developing countries. The integration of IoT-based monitoring systems - using water level sensors in rivers and reservoirs, rainfall measurement and water quality analysis - with advanced computational methods and artificial intelligence algorithms, allows the development of robust predictive models to anticipate hydroclimatic risks, droughts and other critical phenomena. This workshop aims to present solutions and exchange experiences in the development, implementation and analysis of data resulting from the application of these technologies, facilitating the formulation of comprehensive strategies for sustainable watershed management in correspondence with SDG 6 Water.

General Objective

To foster interdisciplinary and international research and innovation through digitisation for water management applications, we aim to share recent developments and best practices in the use of long-range IoT technologies, dataloggers, computational methods and artificial intelligence models for the monitoring and prediction of hydrological phenomena, optimizing the integrated management of water resources in watersheds of developing countries. We also aim to build international collaborations and to develop concept notes for joint application for research and capacity development projects.

Themes

Hydrological modelling and hydroclimatic risks considering climate change.

Design, construction and application of dataloggers for hydraulic and environmental sensors.

Computational methods and AI algorithms for hydrological prediction.

Digitalisation of data and data management

The workshop will consist of sessions presenting scientific work, sessions for sharing experiences, and lessons learned.

Scientific committee

Dr Lamberto Moisés Alvarez Gil (UCLV, Cuba)

Dr Ann van Griensven (VUB, Belgium)

Dr Timothy Dube (UWC, South-Africa)

Dr Giovany Mauricio Mosquera Rojas (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú)

Dr Erik Ortiz Guerra (UCLV, Cuba)

Dr Ann Nowé (VUB, Belgium)

Dr Héctor Cruz Enríquez (UCLV, Cuba)

Dr Abdellah Touhafi (VUB, Belgium)

Dr Rafael Bello (UCLV, Cuba)

Dr Paul Muñoz (VUB, Belgium)

Important dates:

Abstract submission: 30/06/2025

Acceptance of papers: 15/07/2025

Submission of papers and presentations: 30/07/2025

Register