A summer training course in river connectivity restoration
Between 14 and 17 July, a specialised training course dedicated to the restoration of river connectivity will be held in Bulgaria, a key priority for freshwater ecosystem conservation and sustainable water management across Europe. The course is part of the LIFE project “RiverLIFE” and will gather young specialists, researchers, and practitioners from across Europe working in river management, ecological restoration, and water policy.
River management in Europe is entering a new era. There is an increasing demand for a balance between public flood safety and the restoration of rivers as living, functional ecosystems. Empirical evidence and contemporary practice demonstrate that natural river systems are significantly more resilient to extreme weather events; thus, their restoration serves as one of the most effective tools for risk management.
Course Overview
The Advanced Training Course on Restoration of River Connectivity is an intensive 4-day bootcamp designed to provide participants with the skills to quantify and model aquatic habitats, assess the impacts of weirs on habitat degradation, and explore various restoration scenarios.
The programme combines rigorous theoretical lectures with hands-on field work. By the end of the course, participants will be equipped to:
- Carry out barrier inventories and build reliable databases.
- Design hydromorphological field surveys using standard methodologies.
- Collect, analyse, and integrate hydraulic, substrate, habitat, and topographic data.
- Translate field data into Water Framework Directive (WFD)-relevant assessment and reporting outputs.
- Support connectivity restoration and barrier prioritisation using hydromorphological information.
- Develop balanced strategies for sustainable river management that integrate flood risk management with ecological restoration.
The course fosters not only technical proficiency but also the critical thinking and adaptability required to develop realistic scenarios for river management in dynamic environments.
Leading International Expertise
The programme is delivered by prominent international experts from Blue Rivers Foundation with extensive experience in river ecology and water management:
- Prof. Carlos Garcia de Leaniz (Swansea University, UK)
- Prof. Jesse O’Hanley (University of Kent, UK)
- Prof. Martin Pusch (Leibniz Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries, Berlin)
- Prof. Piotr Parasiewicz (Institute of the National Inland Fisheries, University of Warsaw, Poland)
- Mr. Gilles Segura (ISE Etudes Environnement, France)
Eligibility and Registration
The course is open to professionals and students in the natural sciences with an interest in river ecosystems, landscape ecology, river basin management, and environmental hazard adaptation. Young specialists will find a solid methodological foundation and networking opportunities, while established practitioners will discover new tools to integrate into their work.
This training is conducted under the project “RiverLIFE” 101213136 — LIFE24-NAT-BG-RiverLIFE, funded by the European Union’s LIFE Programme and coordinated by Fortis Visio Ltd., in partnership with: Science for Nature Foundation, Blue Rivers Foundation, IBER-BAS, IRA-Plovdiv, and the Executive Environment Agency (ExEA). www.sciencefornature.org
