Urban Water Resilience and Mentorship at Novatech 2026
At Novatech 2026 in Lyon, France (29 June – 3 July), Associate Professor Perrine Hamel and research fellow Dr Ning Ding contributed to key discussions on sustainable urban water management and early-career academic pathways.
Dr Ning Ding delivered an oral presentation titled “Present and Future Hydrologic Performance Assessment of a Water Sensitive Urban Design (WSUD) System Using Low-Cost Monitoring: A Case Study in Singapore”, at Session D5, New technologies for performance monitoring.
Using a Singapore rain garden as a case study, Dr Ning Ding coupled long-term low-cost water level monitoring with hydrological modelling. Her findings show that regular calibration enables low-cost systems to achieve reliable observations comparable to traditional sensors, while climate scenario simulations underscore the necessity of field data for evaluating long-term infrastructure resilience.
Slide 1: Dr Ning Ding presenting; Slide 2: Prof Perrine Hamel and fellow invited panellists during the Young Water Professionals Roundtable; Slide 3: Prof Perrine Hamel at the conference (Photo credit: Novatech).
Associate Professor Perrine Hamel presented collaborative research on urban stormwater modelling as part of the Climate Transformation Programme and served as an invited panellist for the Novatech Young Water Professionals Roundtable, where she shared candid insights on navigating early-career research, effective mentorship, and evolving academic cultures and incentives.
Between technical sessions and meaningful mentorship exchanges, our lab's participation at Novatech provided a great platform to connect with the global stormwater community. Stay tuned as our work on urban water resilience continues to grow!
