Opening Keynote Speakers
Prof. Jun Xia is the academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), and Chair Professor & Director, The Research Institute for Water Security (RIWS), Wuhan University, also Director, Center for Water Resources Research (CWRR), CAS and also Distinguished Professor, Key Lab. of Water Cycle & Related Land Surface Processes, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He has ample experiences on leading hydrology, water resources research, managing and consulting jobs in China and international activities since 1987. He was severed as the President of International Water Resources Association (IWRA, 2009-2012), Board Governor of World Water Council (WWC, 2009-2015), and Co-Chair, InterAcademy Council for Water Programme (IAC-WP) and so on. Honor Vice President, International Association of Hydrologic Sciences (IAHS), and Chair, Working Group on Representation of Developing Countries (WGRDC) for IAHS since 2014. He was awarded “2014’s International Hydrological Prize -Volker Medal”, given by IAHS, UNESCO and WMO on April 24, 2014, and also awarded 2017 State Natural Science Award in China.
Professor Xia will be speaking on Climate Change and Water Security: Case Study in China.
Lisa Beutler is the 2019 American Water Resources Association's President. She specializes in helping organizations and communities reach decisions and create effective public policy. After a decade as the Associate Director of the Sacramento State University Center for Collaborative Policy she moved to Stantec, a global design and engineering firm. At Stantec she helps clients with strategic thinking, collaborative policy, and water resources and other planning. Earlier in her career she was a state park ranger and served in special offices of two governors. As an elected leader for the American Water Resources Association, her water management expertise and passion for excellence is well known. In addition to being the California Water Plan Executive Facilitator, she is also a nationally recognized practitioner in large group processes and continues to explore the use of technology to improve collaboration, transparency, and decision making. Her expertise has also led to key roles in California’s implementation of the Sustainable Groundwater Management Act. Internationally, she helped lead the team that engaged 400 global leaders of religious and spiritual communities to address the obligations of the faith community in providing clean, safe water to the people of the world at the 2004 Parliament of World’s Religions in Barcelona, Spain. A popular presenter at professional conferences, her work is and has been studied extensively and as far back as reviews in the Public Productivity & Management Review (1996). She has also been featured in a variety of publications and books including Planning in the Face of Conflict by John Forester. With a proven track record leading numerous complex, high profile projects ranging from water, land-use, and energy planning to off-highway vehicles, technology, substance abuse, and religious conflict resolution, she is a go-to resource for agencies with wicked problems.
Yuanyuan Li is the Vice-President and Professor of the General Institute of Water Resources and Hydropower Planning and Design at the Ministry of Water Resources of China, which is the most important technical supporting agency to the national water resources development and strategy planning, water policy research, formulation and management. His fields of expertise include water resources management mechanisms, human activities-water resources interaction, water resources system analysis and planning, water ecology and environment protection etc. He has led many nationwide water resources surveys, strategy studies, comprehensive water resources planning, major water projects technological demonstration, water policies formulation and management activities as well as international programmes and cooperation. He has widely published books and papers about water related topics. His research results have been awarded numerous state science and technology awards. He is serving as a Vice President on the Executive Board of IWRA for the 2016-2018 period and is the Chair of the IWRA Chinese Committee.
Amber Wutich is a President's professor of anthropology and director of the Center for Global Health in ASU’s School of Human Evolution and Social Change. Wutich received her doctorate from the University of Florida in cultural anthropology with a specialization in tropical conservation and development. Her research examines inequitable environmental institutions and global health disparities, with an emphasis on water insecurity. She directs the Global Ethnohydrology Study, a multi-year cultural-cultural study of water knowledge and institutions conducted in 10 countries. As a methodologist, she co-edits the journal Field Methods and co-authored the book "Analyzing Qualitative Data: Systematic Approaches" (2016, SAGE). Professor Wutich teaches ethnographic field methods and text analysis in national programs such as the National Science Foundation’s programs in research methods in cultural anthropology. She teaches in ASU’s degree programs in Global Health, Environmental Social Sciences, and Cultural Anthropology. Wutich's teaching has been recognized with awards such as ASU Faculty Mentor Award - Outstanding Doctoral Chair (2017), Carnegie CASE Arizona Professor of the Year Award (2014), and ASU's Faculty Achievement Award for Excellence in Classroom Performance (2011).
Dr. Wutich will be speaking on Household Water Insecurity, Resiliency, and SDG 6: Advancing the Global Agenda from the Ground Up.
Anjun Pan is Director of Beijing Water Authority, graduated from Tsinghua University with a Ph.D. in engineering, Professor Senior Engineer. He has been engaged in water affairs for a long time. Moreover, he has made a profound research and practice on water resources management, water environment management, water ecological restoration, water disaster prevention and control and other fields.is with the Beijing Water Authority, Beijing, China. Mr. Pan is speaking on Beijing Water Management Conception and Practice.
Closing Keynote Speakers
John Tracy serves as Director of the Texas Water Resources Institute at Texas A&M University. Dr. Tracy has led research initiatives on understanding and developing sustainable water resource management practices across the western United States, including the western High Plains, Northern Plains, Great Basin and Pacific Northwest hydro-climatological regions. His recent work has focused on developing an integrated understanding of the behavior of water resource systems under the influence of changing hydrologic, economic, and social conditions. Dr. Tracy received his B.S. degree in Civil Engineering at Colorado State University in 1980, and his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Civil Engineering at the University of California at Davis in 1986 and 1989 respectively, and currently serves as the Secretary/Treasurer of the National Institutes for Water Resources.
Professor Liuyan Liu is the Consul of the River and Lake Bureau, Ministry of Water Resources. He is expert in investigation and design of water conservancy, project development and management, and river-lake operation and management. He has participated in studies of institutional reform for conservancy project management, development of policy and regulations for water allocation and water conservancy projects. He has published over 20 articles and written two books. He has received two science and technology advance awards for his achievements.