Participants of the short course
IHE Delft Institute for Water Education is the largest international graduate water facility in the world. The institute offers not only master and PhD Programs but also short courses.
Among what is offered, we would like to do an interview series with IHE-Delft Short Course candidates from Myanmar. Due to having a limited amount of time and a specific interest in mind, the short courses are meant for professionals like this. Hence, due to its short period, these intensive and highly specialized courses are effective and efficient for mid-career professionals and senior experts in upgrading their knowledge and skills.
As many graduates are interested in water education, the short courses become the target of water engineers from Myanmar especially for the fresh graduates and the water engineers who are currently working in Myanmar. There are two students from Myanmar, Ma Thi Reindar Tin Tun who has been working as a project-based consultant in Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management (AIRBM) Project and Ma Han Mo Mo Htun, an assistant engineer from National Engineering and Planning Services (NEPS), enrolled in the short course called “River Flood Analysis and Modelling”.
Participants from Myanmar (Left to Right) – Han Mo Mo Htun, Thi Reindar Tin Tun, who attended river flood analysis and modelling and Naw Shareen who attended environmental planning and implementation.
This is a course on how to manage floods with the help of modeling software and approaching the flood management by computing data using the useful software called HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS.
HEC-HMS is a hydrologic model which can be used to estimate water discharge in a specific catchment area with the input data being rainfall, land use, etc. Another software, HEC-RAS is used for hydraulic model in which the input data includes river geometry, manning value, and water discharge.
The two-week short course contains the basic concepts of flood risk management and the latest tools and techniques available in managing flood risks. The modules in the course are application domains of hydro informatics which includes:
- Floods and urban systems environment,
- Climate change and its impacts on hydrology
- Introduction to uncertainty analysis and their role in modeling,
- Introduction to 1D2D modeling,
- Nature and characteristics of floods, modelling flood propagation – flood routing,
- Hydrological methods for flood routing, hydraulic methods for flood routing/ modelling in rivers, introduction to tools (such as HEC-RAS) used for flood routing,
- Discussion on sustainable flood alleviation methods.
As the course mainly focuses on software training, there is a requirement to practice the software in the classroom with the data provided by IHE Delft. The short course also contains a group assignment consisting of groups with four students each. The assignment focuses on floods and is practiced using data obtained from the Rhine River. The whole course is student-oriented and the software training is assisted by students who are currently attending a doctoral course.
7
“One of the good points of the short course is that it contains not only theoretical learning but also practical training with the data,”
by Author
Han Mo Mo Htun, an assistant engineer
With regards to showing an alternative application of the software, Ma Han Mo Mo Htun said “Although the short courses provided training on using the software to manage flooding, it can also be useful for drainage model that is currently being used in our office”. She is currently working on the irrigation project in National Engineering and Planning Services (NEPS). Hence, the short course has helped her a lot by providing more convenience in her work.
“One of the good points of the short course is that it contains not only theoretical learning but also practical training with the data,” Ma Han Mo Mo Htun said. “I provide the open relationship between the lecturers and the students,” she added.
“I am more confident after this course as it trained me how to build hydrological model with HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS.”
by Author
Thi Reindar Tin Tun, a project-based consultant
Another candidate, Ma Thi Reindar Tin Tun shared her thoughts on this short course. “I am more confident after this course as it trained me how to build hydrological model with HEC-HMS and HEC-RAS,” Ma Thi Reindar Tin Tun also said. Currently, she is working on the Ayeyarwady Integrated River Basin Management (AIRBM) Project and as a consultant, she could use the knowledge she learnt from the short course by using the decision support system.
Based on her project-based consultant’s experience, she explained the connection to her future career by going for the training course. Seasonal flooding along Ayeyarwady River is one of the main challenges in the successful implementation of navigation enhancement. Better understanding of flood occurrences through analysis and hydrological Modeling will be able to create short-term mitigation actions and long-term planning measures to alleviate the effects of flooding in Myanmar.
In the foreseeable future, my duty as a project officer will include flood monitoring and analysis to develop the navigation safety measures along Ayeyarwady River.
“Since I am given the training opportunity in IHE, I would be able to contribute more in channelization of Navigation sector which helps the flood reduction activities as well as in measuring the bathymetric survey that gives the cross section of the Rivers and Streams which is really useful for Flood Modeling activities,” she said.
Therefore, she believed the skills, knowledge and experience that she has acquired from this short course would be one of her advantages when considering future career prospects. She benefited culturally by making friends from all around the world.
Both of them would like to contribute to the knowledge they learnt in their working environment. They believe that after attending the short course, their capacity has improved and they learnt how to manage floods efficiently with software modeling.
This article is written by Yin Mon Aung, who is strongly interested in water and environmental issues and technological background with Bachelor Degree focused in Port and Harbour Engineering from Myanmar Maritime University.
River Flood Analysis and Modelling | IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
The course introduces the participants to the state-of-the-art concepts and practices of flood modelling for management. The course covers modelling used for planning and design as well as for forecasting floods so that mitigating measures can be taken in time. https://www.un-ihe.org/river-flood-analysis-and-modelling
Short Courses | IHE Delft Institute for Water Education
IHE Delft conducts a wide range of short, intensive and highly specialized courses which are aimed at upgrading and refreshing the knowledge and skills of mid-career professional and senior experts. https://www.un-ihe.org/short-courses
