Congress Workshops
Join leading experts and fellow water professionals for inspiring workshops that challenge, teach, and connect.
All Congress Workshops will take place on Sunday, 14 September 2025, at RMIT University, Building 80, 445 Swanston Street, Melbourne VIC 3004.
Full-day workshops — exact timing and room details to be released closer to the event.
Workshops can be purchased via the registration form, alternatively if you have already registered you can add-on a workshop to your existing registration by contacting registration@iah2025congress.com.
What to Expect on the Day
These full-day workshops offer a fantastic opportunity to:
- Connect with expert facilitators and like-minded peers
- Deepen your skills through hands-on learning
- Discover a taste of Melbourne’s vibrant culture during the lunch break
Please note: Catering is not provided. However, we’ll share a list of recommended local eateries so workshop groups can enjoy lunch together nearby — a perfect time to network in a relaxed setting.
Get Your Environmental Isotopes Sampling Right – From Field to Laboratory
Leader(s): Dr Dioni I. Cendón (ANSTO)
Sampling of surface and groundwaters for isotopic studies
Environmental isotopes are a powerful tool for understanding the water cycle. This hands-on workshop will guide you through proper sampling techniques for radioactive, radiogenic, and stable isotopes — ensuring your fieldwork is fit for purpose. Ideal for researchers, students, and practitioners looking to improve their confidence in isotope sampling and preservation, from field collection to lab delivery.
Cost:
- $50 AUD (Students)
- $80 AUD (IAH Members)
- $100 AUD (Non-Members)
Expressing Subterranean Waters Creatively
Leader(s): Dr Deborah Wardle, Dr Fiona Hillary (RMIT) and Dr Tom Gleeson
The power of nonhuman stories – Creative expressions of imaginary places
This unique creative workshop invites participants to explore groundwater through artistic expression — from storytelling and poetry to visual and spatial installations. How might an image, a sculpture, an installation, a poem or a story help convey information about groundwater? Writing in the Anthropocene means disengaging separation from our subjects. Writing With groundwater invites us to enter imaginatively into connected worlds where human engagements with groundwater systems take a shared seat with many stakeholders, including groundwater itself.
Cost:
- $50 AUD (Students)
- $80 AUD (IAH Members)
- $100 AUD (Non-Members)
Practical Use of Multiple-Point Statistics in Python
Leader(s): Guillaume Pirot, Research Fellow, Centre for Exploration and Targeting, School of Earth Sciences, University of Western Australia
Generate heterogeneous 3D property fields using MPS algorithms
This technical workshop introduces multiple-point statistics (MPS) for modelling spatial heterogeneity in groundwater systems. Participants will work with Python and the geone library to model the Lower Burdekin Delta aquifer using real data and training images. Suitable for hydrogeologists and modelers familiar with Python who want to elevate their spatial modelling skills.
Cost:
- $100 AUD (Students)
- $200 AUD (IAH Members)
- $250 AUD (Non-Members)
GMDSI Workshop: Applied Predictive Groundwater Modelling
Leader(s): Cath Moore, Ed de Sousa, Jeremy White, with Chris Nicol, Neil Manawell, Kevin Haley, Brioch Hemmings, Rui Hugman & others
You can do it too!
Designed for practitioners, this applied workshop showcases real-world case studies in predictive groundwater modelling. From model design and problem formulation to communicating results to decision-makers, this session highlights practical challenges and lessons learned. Open dialogue is encouraged throughout.
Cost:
- $50 AUD (Flat rate – students, members & non-members)
Note: Fee to be donated to a local charity.
Groundwater modelling at mine sites
Leader(s): Dr. Carlos Rivera Villarreyes (DHI), Luis Camilo Suescun Casallas (DHI)
Using FEFLOW
FEFLOW is widely recognised as one of the most comprehensive software packages for subsurface flow and transport simulation. Application areas include water management, mine water, saltwater intrusion, geothermal energy, and variably saturated media. Through this pre-conference workshop, instructor-led course you will take a deep dive into how to perform groundwater simulations at mine sites!
The course will provide you with the necessary information to become familiar with the FEFLOW’s user interface for mining applications. You will be able to develop your own open-cast groundwater model with FEFLOW 3D meshes (including complex mining plans and geological settings). Through the result analysis, the instructor will discuss and explain modelling results such as dewatering volumes, pore pressure distributions, among others. You will also be equipped to apply FEFLOW in projects and solve challenges related to mining applications.
Cost:
- $ 50 AUD (flat rate – students, members & non-members).