Department of Water and Environmental Engineering

The civil engineering profession, particularly in water resource engineering, is constantly evolving to meet the new challenges faced by society, including planning, managing water resources, and creating a sustainable future for all. The main scientific areas dealt with by the department relate to both the qualitative and quantitative aspects of the river basin, urban, rural, and agricultural watershed, estuary, climate, coastal environment, and related water engineering work. The department currently has 30 academic teaching staff and 8 technical staff. A unique feature is a close link with industry and public bodies, integral to the department’s research, education, and knowledge exchange approach. The department is closely involved with several prominent local water industries, water resource-related organizations, and universities worldwide through academic links and consultancy projects. Aside from teaching and supervising students at the undergraduate and postgraduate levels, they are actively involved in research. The department actively pursues innovative and significant research to address water resource engineering challenges in the 21st century, such as environmental hydraulics, climate change, flood management, coastal engineering and management, river basin management, peat hydrology, and forest hydrology. They organize yearly short courses, international conferences, and colloquia.

Rapid changes that have taken place in the world today, along with increasing urbanization, mean that other professionals are continually facing the daunting task of managing waste and wastewater issues. Recognizing the need for education and training of personnel that can handle such problems efficiently, the Department of Environmental Engineering was set up in 1976. It aims to train students to become leaders in civil engineering with environmental and sustainability concerns in mind. The department has developed and promoted forward-looking academic research and internationalization by having academic staff and research fellows from overseas and establishing joint research efforts with foreign institutions. Over the last four years, the expansion has increased the department’s strength to 25 academic staff.

The department has been progressively reforming its curriculum to include emerging technologies and their applications in environmental engineering. Along with the faculty, the department has introduced many courses to be chosen as elective courses in the senior years, aiming to produce graduates with various levels of expertise and a specialized background. Besides teaching, the department is also highly dynamic in research and consulting, especially in wastewater treatment and waste management. The department trains students in the field of water quality management to become research professionals well-versed in the latest technologies, in tandem with the faculty’s motto, Always Ahead. The well-qualified academic staff and the ever-improving environmental laboratory have been the backbone of the department’s success in attracting both local and foreign undergraduate and postgraduate students.