Mike Hartnett, The Civil & Hydrology Engineer

Mike Hartnett is Professor in Civil Engineering at NUI Galway and has worked on and carried out research into many aspects of water engineering over the past 30 years. He has been involved in projects relating to coastal and urban flooding, water quality in lake rivers and estuaries, hydropower and oil spills among other areas. Many of his projects are associated with the development of models to ensure environmental compliance of pollutants, such as domestic effluents, with environmental regulations. Flood models developed by his research group have accurately simulated large urban flooding events – these models can be used for flood forecasting.

Mike is keen to engage with the NGO sector. He has worked with the Irish agency GOAL in Malawi on resilience, and hopes to continue this work post Covid. He is currently collaborating with IBM and The Nature Conservancy, US NGO, to support their Water Funds Programme in Kenya. In Galway he is collaborating with the Galway Energy Co-operative to investigate the potential for harnessing energy from the canals of Galway City. He is keen to improve the sustainable use of the waters in and around Galway City for the next generation. Mike also volunteers with the Galway agency COPE as a tutor with their Homework Club.

He was recently appointed Distinguished Oversea Professor at Sun Yat Sen University, China. Research interests currently include: modelling of urban flooding. water quality, tidal energy and storm surges. He has co-authored over 70 journal papers, and serves on the editorial board of five international journals. Prof. Hartnett is also a member of the Irish Committee of the International Hydrology Programme. He was awarded the ‘Excellence in Marine Research Award’ at the 2016 Marine Industry Awards.