On the morning of March 6, 2019, at the
invitation of teacher Peng Dingzhi, Professor Han Dawei and Dr. Jitendra
Agarwal of the Department of Civil Engineering of University of Bristol,
together with Associate Professor Dai Qiang from the School of Geography of
Nanjing Normal University, visited our college for academic exchange. The
academic activity was participated in by Professor Wang Huixiao, Associate
Professor Pang Bo, Associate Professor Zuo Depeng, lecturer Zhu Zhongfan and
more than 20 doctoral and master candidates of our college.
Professor Han Dawei delivered an academic
report in the title of "Most computational hydrology is not reproducible,
so is it really science?" Based on the fact that reproducibility is the
basic principle of scientific research, he questioned if hydrology is really
science. Combined with his research projects, Han illuminated that even if the
same hydrological model and data are used to simulate the runoff of the same
basin, the results can vary a lot as a result of different approaches to
processing data and adjusting parameters. Professor Han advocates that
hydrological research results should be published along with source codes, data
and research processes so that others can verify the results and might find
something new. He and his team have established websites to facilitate academic
exchange between hydrological researchers. At last, Professor Han gave a
comprehensive introduction to University of Bristol and invited the audience to
visit and study there.
Deputy Editor-in-chief of Journal of
Hydro-environment Research and former chairman of the Southwest Committee of
the British Hydrological Society, Professor Han Dawei mainly does research in
hydrological informatics, real-time flood forecasting, flood risk assessment
and management, climate change, remote sensing and geographic information
systems, water resources management, and natural disasters. He has published
nearly 200 academic papers.
In a relaxing and fascinating manner,
Professor Han underscored the importance of transparency in hydrological
research and further deepened the audience's understanding of hydrology. This
activity has also helped expand the prospect of international cooperation of
our college and deepen the Sino-British cooperative relations.