The 12th international Meuse Symposium will take place on Wednesday 9 September 2026 at the Université de Liège on the Campus Sart-Tilman.  

The registration is open, please register for the International Meuse Symposium via the online-form.

We welcome your contributions that can be submitted as oral or poster presentations as part of your registration. The chairpersons of the parallel programs will select talks and posters from the submissions. We will close submissions once we have received enough entries to complete the program. 

The conference language is English. No conference fee is charged.

Plenary talks

The plenary speakers who will open the symposium are:

  • Prof. dr. Michelle van Vliet, Full Professor of Water Quality and Sustainable Water Systems at Utrecht University, the Netherlands
  • Prof. Dr.-Ing. Holger Schüttrumpf, University Professor, Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, RWTH Aachen University, Germany

Parallel program A: water quantity

Chair: Benjamin Dewals (Université de Liège), Sébastien Erpicum (Université de Liège), Bernhard Becker (Deltares and RWTH Aachen University) and Laurène Bouaziz (Deltares)

The Water Quantity programme brings together a diverse community of scientists, engineers, and water managers to address shared challenges in the Meuse basin. Through the exchange of research findings, modelling advances, and lessons learned from practice, the programme aims to strengthen cross‑border understanding and support effective adaptation in a changing climate. We strongly encourage practitioners to share their experiences on the implementation of adaptation measures in a dedicated session.

For this year we welcome contributions on the following themes:

  • Hydrological extremes and climate change
  • Implementation of adaptation measures
  • Groundwater hydrology
  • Modelling hydraulics, river morphology, particle transport and water quality
  • Ecology, habitats, aquatic species
  • Management and renewal of water-related infrastructure
  • International challenges and collaboration at the catchment level

Parallel program B: water quality

Chair: Merle Gerritsen (Waterschap Limburg), Roel Kwanten (Rijkswaterstaat) and Marjolein Jacobs-van Eerd (Schone Maaswaterketen); representing the Dutch collaboration of water management governments and drinking water companies Schone Maaswaterketen

Aim of this parallel programme is to inspire each other, to build an international network of experts and professionals in the field of water quality and to exchange expertise and knowledge for addressing water quality issues in the Meuse river basin. "How do we – in a cross-border context – deal with monitoring, search and identification approaches for sources of pollution and the management of industrial pollution – to eventually reach a clean and safe Meuse river basin?"

Contributions can consider the reduction of micro pollutants, micro plastics, PFAS, and medicines in water in the context of climate change and societal and industrial impact on water quality issues. We are looking for contributions from both the scientific research field as well as the field of practitioners concerning for instance the implementation of measures to reduce pollution. 

We focus on the following topics:

  • Organic micro-pollutants (i.e. medicines and industrial chemicals) and related water quality goals
  • Related policies and practices
  • Pollution source identification, monitoring, and modelling
  • Discharge permits and legal enforcement
  • No labels

Disclaimer