Life From, For and To Water Memoirs of Janos J. Bogardi

This book is translated from Hungarian. It was originally published as the sixth volume of the "Building the Future in Water Resources Management" series of the Water Science Council of the Hungarian Water Resources Management Directorate. It presents the water resources management of the last 50 plus years as seen, experienced, co-shaped and narrated by Janos Bogardi, a research professor of the Ludovika University of Public Service in Budapest. The author is simultaneously co-opted professor at the University of Bonn and distinguished adjunct professor of the Asian Institute of Technology, Pathumthani, Thailand.

Born into a water resources engineering family and growing up in Budapest close to the Danube river pre-determined his professional orientation. He describes with light irony, and without the usual memoir style, his search for a fulfilling professional life. He discusses his engagement with the inter-university cooperation helping the transition of Central European universities earning him numerous academic recognitions.

Dr. Bogardi’s career culminated with assignments as science diplomat and manager,  working at UNESCO with local scientists in Central Asia, Russia and in Africa. He served as founding director of the UNU Institute for Environment and Human Security.

The book concludes with reminiscences to those whose influence and collaboration shaped Dr. Bogardi’s career.

Ch1: The years to become an engineer and researcher.- Ch2: Years of research, consulting and teaching.- Ch3: Managing science in water research and beyond.- Ch4: The restless years of retirement.- Ch5: Epilogue.

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Dr. h.c. Janos J. Bogardi has been the Director of the United Nations University - Institute for Environment and Human Security (UNU-EHS) since 2003. Simultaneously he is also Vice-Rector a.i. of the Vice Rectorate in Europe since May 2007. Prof. Bogardi started his professional career as Assistant Professor at the Institute for Water Resources Management of the Technical University of Budapest. Shortly after having relocated to Germany, he became part of the scientific staff in the Federal Institute for Hydraulic Engineering in Karlsruhe, and the University of Karlsruhe, respectively. Between 1971-1973 and 1983-1985 he worked as a consulting engineer amongst others in Africa. He was then seconded by the German Agency for Technical Co-operation (GTZ) to the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT) in Bangkok, Thailand, between 1985 and 1988. For the next almost seven years he worked as professor for Hydraulics, and quantitative Water Resource Management at the AgriculturalUniversity of Wageningen, the Netherlands. Janos Bogardi started his UN career in 1995 with the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris, France, as a Senior Programme Specialist and soon became the Chief of the Section on Sustainable Water Resources and Management.