Prof. Dr. Robert Boes
Prof. Dr. Robert Boes
Full Professor at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering
Head of Lab. Hydraulics,Hydrology,Glaciology
Additional information
Research area
His research interests include hydraulic and operational aspects in hydraulic engineering, flood protection and hydropower, especially air-water flows, dam hydraulics, hydroabrasion, reservoir sedimentation and issues related to the connectivity of bodies of water, with a focus on fish migration, and impulse waves.
Robert Boes has been Professor of Hydraulic Engineering and Director of the Laboratory for Hydraulics, Hydrology and Glaciology (VAW) at the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering since February 2009.
He was born in Aachen, Germany in 1969.
Robert Boes studied civil engineering at RWTH Aachen, the Ecole Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées in Paris and the Technical University Munich. After his diploma in 1996, he joined ETH Zurich’s VAW as a scientist. He completed a doctorate with an experimental thesis on the hydraulics of stepped spillways in 2000, for which he received the Exchange Award for Excellent Young Scientists. As a result, he enjoyed a brief stint at the Tokyo Institute of Technology in 2001.
After a period as a postdoc at VAW, Robert Boes accepted a position in the Civil Engineering Department at the TIWAG-Tiroler Wasserkraft AG in Innsbruck, Austria, where he was in charge of interdisciplinary projects in the field of hydraulic engineering, hydropower and flood protection. In 2007, he became head of the Dam Construction Group.
Robert Boes is involved as a consultant in dam and flood protection projects in Switzerland and abroad and is a board member of the Swiss Association of Water Resources Management and the Swiss Committee on Dams.
Membership
Honours
| Year | Distinction |
|---|---|
| 2023 | Karl Emil Hilgard Hydraulic Prize |
| 2022 | Golden Owl |
Course Catalogue
Spring Semester 2025
| Number | Unit |
|---|---|
| 101-0206-00L | Hydraulic Engineering |
| 101-0278-00L | Flood Protection |
| 141-0101-00L | Integral Risk Management of Natural Hazards |
| 141-0102-00L | Natural Hazard Processes |
| 141-0103-00L | Natural Hazard Processes and Digitalisation |
| 141-0200-00L | Anticipatory management of natural hazard risks; interdisciplinary practice project; field trip |
Committees and Commissions
- Swiss Association for Water Resources Management (SWV), Commission on Flood Protection (KOHS)
- Swiss National Committee on Dams (STK), Technical Commission (TK)
- STK, head of working group on floating debris at spillways
- Internationale Rheinregulierung (IRR), Alpine Rhine flood protection project, member of expert group
- Swiss Federal Office of Energy (SFOE), Dam Safety Section, member of core group for the revision of dam safety guidelines
- Swiss Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), member of steering committee of the interdisciplinary research program on river management
- ETH Zurich, Energy Science Center (ESC), Managing Board member
- Lombardi Engineering Foundation, Council member
- Editorial Board of WasserWirtschaft (German Journal for Water Resources Management)
- Editorial Board of Dam Engineering