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Adam Kovacs

Research Interests

• Modelling diffuse nutrient emissions
• Modelling nutrient transport within the catchment
• River transport and water quality modelling
• Integration of best management practices into models and their optimization

Adam has been working in the field of water quality management and modelling for eight years. He started his PhD research in Budapest in 2004 under the supervision of Prof. Laszlo Somlyody and Prof. Adrienne Clement. In October 2009 he joined the Doctoral Programme as an associate student under the supervision of Prof. Matthias Zessner. With his colleagues in Budapest he has developed a new model to calculate diffuse phosphorus emissions and their transport, which can be effectively utilized in watershed management. The model was used to supply watershed management plans in Hungary related to the introduction of the EU Water Framework Directive and it was recently applied for a project at Vienna University of Technology. Although he is specialized in modelling and managing diffuse pollution, he is also interested in catchment hydrology, soil erosion, soil nutrient cycles and balances, river hydraulics, in-stream water quality and GIS.

Key Facts

Adam graduated from the Vienna Doctoral Programme in 2013 and took up a position at the International Commission for the Protection of the Danube River (ICPDR). Adam has a Master of Science diploma in civil engineering with specification of water quality, environmental and urban engineering. He graduated from Budapest University of Technology and Economics (BUTE, Hungary) in 2001. After graduation he was employed at the Department of Sanitary and Environmental Engineering of BUTE as a research assistant and a teaching assistant. Simultaneously he worked as an external consultant for the Hungarian company Trinity Enviro Ltd. He was involved with a variety of scientific projects related to the Danube Basin, the Lake Balaton catchment (Hungary), the Water Framework Directive, the Tisza River (Hungary).

He has participated in various consulting projects focusing on environmental impact assessments (wastewater treatment plants, industrial factories, petrol stations, artificial reservoirs, etc.). Since September 2009 Adam has been a project assistant at the Institute for Water Quality, Resource and Waste Management at TU Vienna. Adam has participated in numerous international conferences with oral presentations and has published more than ten papers so far. He has more than five years teaching experience in the field of environmental protection and planning, water quality protection and modelling.