Internationally regarded for his work in hydrology and water management, Professor of Water Hydrology at Charles Sturt University (CSU) Shahbaz Khan has worked on nearly every continent, including many developing nations across the globe.

 

 

World water warrior, Professor Shahbaz Khan. Photo: Keith Wheeler

 

Importantly he’s a man who walks the talk, involving local farmers in his research, praising ingenuity and demonstrating enthusiasm for what can be done to make us better water users internationally and locally.

 

Professor Khan joined Charles Sturt University in the middle of 2004 when CSIRO Land and Water and CSU jointly funded the position of Professor Hydrology to head up work in the critical research areas of land and water management.

 

The water expert considers Australia has as much to learn from world water research as it can offer from its own research efforts.

 

“Australia is the driest continent on earth. The hydrology of Australian water systems is very similar to many other arid countries in the world. With heavy soils, higher climate variability and growing competition between various sectors in the Australian economy for water resources, it is crucial that we use all the world’s knowledge to get our management right,” Khan says.

 

“Australia can learn from other countries such as China on how to develop water saving methods and can show others Australia's leading knowledge in integrated water resource management.”

 

Since joining CSU, Professor Khan has drawn together a team of 20 researchers, including five postgraduate students, to create an innovative centre of water in Australia as part of the University’s Institute of Land, Water and Society. The centre is gaining considerable international acknowledgment with memoranda of collaboration being negotiated with the Philippines, Pakistan, China and the United Kingdom.

 

CSU researchers in the Murrumbidgee River of southern NSW.
Photo: Lee Verrall

 

Equipped with state-of-the-art water measurement, modelling and monitoring tools, Professor Khan wants to make the CSU group a “hub of activities with a clear concentration on water in the rural context”.

 

 

International recognition of Professor Khan’s expertise is no clearer than his leading role and work through the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO).

 

One of UNESCO’s major water programs is HELP or Hydrology for Environment, Life and Policy. Through HELP, the international agency coordinates scientific research into water resource management. The aim is to provide assistance to the poorest nations in Africa, Asia and South America by improving food production and environmental conservation through water management.

 

Through his work with the UNESCO HELP program Professor Khan has been chosen to head the Regional Unit for Australasia and South East Asia, a role that has seen some of the world’s leading specialists in water issues come to the banks of the Murrumbidgee in NSW to view the research being undertaken first-hand. The lower Murrumbidgee Basin in NSW in the heart of CSU territory was selected as the program’s first global reference basin for hydrological research and work with key groups.

 

To emphasise the international focus on the Murrumbidgee Basin, in May 2006 Professor Khan will lead planning meetings of key international delegates from UNESCO at CSU. Delegates from the United Kingdom, Pakistan and the Philippines will gather on the University’s Wagga Wagga Campus to develop a regional cooperative approach to education, training and research in water, agriculture and water management.

 

Highlighting his ability to “think globally, act locally”, Professor Khan has linked key CSU groups and his home base of Wagga Wagga to celebrate Water Week in May for local industry, politicians, academics and the community, including regional high school students.

 

Head of the Regional Unit for Australasia and South East Asia for the UNESCO HELP program, Professor Shahbaz Khan. Photo: Keith Wheeler

 

Professor Khan has already received considerable recognition for his international work. As China looks to ways to avoid a water resources crisis by improving water use, the Chinese Institute for Water and Hydraulic Research has appointed Khan as an Adjunct Professor and principal researcher in recognition for his work on water saving irrigation research and long term collaboration in Chinese water research projects.

 

 

In collaboration with CSIRO and the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council, Professor Khan and the CSU team has developed a new technique for managing saline soils in Pakistan. “This work has potential to help alleviate poverty in the salt affected rural regions of Pakistan and reduce environmental impacts on rivers,” he says.

 

In a separate international project, Khan has championed an agreement to encourage cooperation between researchers working along the Murrumbidgee River and Davao River on southern Mindanao Island in the Philippines. This TwinBasin project  was established through the International Network of Basin Organisations, based in France.

 

The project will fund visits by Australian scientists to develop and provide low cost ideas that will improve the farmers’ use of irrigation water along the Davao. Professor Khan is currently seeking further funding for this project.

 

Demonstrating his international leadership, in March 2006 Professor Khan led UNESCO’s HELP program at the 4^th World Water Forum in Mexico City. Hailed as the largest Forum of its kind in the world with the theme “local action for global change”, the Forum raises awareness on water issues around the globe.  Professor Khan is now looking ahead to 2007 and UNESCO’s HELP involvement in the Southern Hemisphere water conference.

 

Water warrior - Professor Shahbaz Khan Professor Shahbaz Khan has worked as an irrigation hydrologist and water engineer for over 15 years. He has particular interests in hydrology, geographic information systems, farmer education and technology transfer and water law and policy.   He joined CSU in July 2004 as a Professor of Hydrology while continuing as Irrigation Stream leader at CSIRO Land and Water.   Khan has established a variety of local, national and international research projects since his appointment, incorporating 20 other CSU researchers as diverse as hydrologists, agronomists, social scientists and computer programmers.   His most recent international accolade was his appointment as an adjunct professor and senior researcher by the Chinese Institute for Water and Hydraulic Research in recognition of his work to improve Chinese irrigation systems.   Khan has also been recognised in Australia, being appointed Chair of the Irrigated Cropping Forum, an independent body interested in irrigation research and extension in NSW and Victoria and is a leader of the sustainability program of CSC Irrigation Futures.   Khan and his team are currently working in China, the Philippines, Pakistan and the United Kingdom as well as around Australia, particularly in the Murray Darling Basin.

 

 

Situated in the food bowl of Australia, Charles Sturt University has carved a lead position in agricultural education and research especially for its applied irrigation water research. One of the many projects being undertaken at the University sees a team of CSU researchers working with many institutions including CSIRO and the University of Melbourne to find new or better methods of managing irrigation water across Australia, as part of the national Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Irrigation Futures.

 

Professor Khan’s involvement with this centre builds on his work in 2003 where he found how nearly 300 gigalitres of irrigation water could be saved annually with some simple changes and improvements in water distribution in the Murrumbidgee Irrigation Area.

 

“We have started seven PhD students in water research in less than two years at CSU. It has become an area of growth for postgraduate education at CSU,” Professor Khan said.