About the Institute of Landscape Water Management

• for these study programmes, the Institute provides instruction in compulsory courses and compulsory electives, i.e. full-time 4-year bachelor's degree programme "Civil Engineering",
• following full-time Master's degree programme "Civil Engineering" - specialisation "Water Management and Water Structures",
• full-time doctoral study programme,
• part-time doctoral study programme.

The compulsory courses in the Bachelor's programme include: Water Structures, Hydrology, Water Reservoirs and Water Systems, Landscape Water Management I and II, Hydropedology, Landscape Water Management Project and Undergraduate Seminar. The compulsory electives in the Bachelor's programme include Meteorology and Climatology, Ponds and Purpose Reservoirs, Land Consolidation.

In the following Master's programme, the Institute of Landscape Water Management provides instruction in the following compulsory courses: Selected Chapters of Landscape Water Management, Water Management Legislation, Modification of Runoff Conditions and Geographic Information Systems. The compulsory electives include Management of Water Management Systems, Revitalization and Stability of the Landscape, and Natural Methods of Water Purification.

In the doctoral study programme, this includes compulsory electives Hydrology, Hydropedology, Meteorology and Climatology, Management of River Basin Runoff, Landscape Engineering and Irrigation, Artificial Intelligence Methods in Water Management, Utilization of GIS in Water Management. In addition, the Institute of Landscape Water Management provides instruction in other courses in other fields: Landscape Theory, Environmental Engineering and Applied Ecology.

In its teaching, science and research, the Institute of Landscape Water Management (hereinafter also as ÚVHK) follows the tradition of the original Institute of Amelioration and later Department of Irrigation which were permanent parts of our university since its establishment.

The Institute of Amelioration was founded in 1911 within the field of study of cultural engineering at the former Czech Technical University in Brno. However, instruction in irrigation-related courses began already in 1909. The Department of Irrigation was established upon combining of the Institute of Amelioration with the Institute of Agriculture in 1950. In 1961, the construction of the irrigation laboratory in Brno-Kníničky was completed which allowed experimental research and contributed to the improvement of instruction in irrigation-related courses. Since the academic year 1979/1980, the field of study "Water Management and Water Structures" that includes the instruction in irrigation was established. In 1991, the name of the Department of Irrigation was changed to the Institute of Landscape Water Management. The Institute also includes the Division of the Environment founded in 1970 and statutorily endorsed by the Scientific Council of the Faculty of Civil Engineering in 1989.

During the year 1994, the Institute moved from its building in the Veslařská street to a building at Žižkova 17 (part of the complex of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Veveří 95) where it built three computer rooms and 4 laboratories needed for research and instruction in the acquired premises. In 1995, it took over and modernized the Weather Station founded in 1911 and located on the terrace of the 6th floor of the main building of the Faculty of Civil Engineering at Veveří 95.

In the years 1911–1932, the first head of the Institute was Professor Ing. Vincent Hlavinka, who came to Brno from the Forestry Academy in Zagreb. After him, the Institute was headed by Professor Ing. Dr. Karel Jůva, DrSc. After the establishment of the Department of Irrigation in 1950, the department was headed successively by Professor K. Jůva (1950–1960), Professor Ing. Dr. Jan Cablík, DrSc. (1960–1972), Associate Professor Ing. František Toman, CSc. (1972–1975), Associate Professor Ing. Miroslav Sommer, CSc. (1975–1981) and Professor Ing. Jan Šálek, CSc. (1981–1991). After the transformation of the Department of Irrigation into the Institute of Landscape Water Management, its head was Associate Professor Ing. Klaudius Kasprzak, CSc. (1991–1994), later Associate Professor Ing. Miloš Starý, CSc. (1994–1997), who was replaced by Associate Professor Ing. Svatopluk Korsuň, CSc. (1997–2000) and Ing. Rudolf Milerski, CSc. (2000–2003). In the period (2003-2020) the head of the department was Professor Ing. Milos Stary, CSc. Since 2020, the head of the department is doc. Ing. Daniel Marton, Ph.D. (2020-present).

The founder of the Institute Professor V. Hlavinka and especially his successor Professor K. Jůva paid attention primarily to creating a solid line of focus of the Institute on the issues of cultural engineering. With this objective, they created a set of basic textbooks for all major disciplines in this specialisation. At the same time, they also focused on scientific, professional and consulting activities. Scientific activities of the Institute were significantly expanded in the 1950s when Professor J. Cablík developed the study of erosion phenomena and the possibilities of wide application of small water reservoirs in the landscape. This was followed by activities of Associate Professor K. Kasprzak in research of cryological phenomena in soils, Associate Professor S. Vališ in meteorology and climate protection, and Associate Professor J. Rýznar in the issues of drainage technology. In recent years, under the influence of Professor M. Starý, there has been a further expansion of the research and development activities in the area of operational management with the use of artificial intelligence methods. Under the leadership of Associate Professor Dumbrovský, there has been further expansion with the issues of the application of GIS in landscape engineering.