Interview with Prof. Dr. Genxu Wang—Winner of the 2024 MDPI Topics Award

Congratulations to Prof. Dr. Genxu Wang, Prof. Dr. Hongwei Lu, Prof. Dr. Lei Wang and Dr. Bahman Naser who won the 2024 MDPI Topics Award for their Topic “Hydrology and Water Resources Management”.

	Name: Prof. Dr. Genxu Wang Affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, College of Water Resource and Hydropower, Sichuan University, Chengdu 610065, China Research interests: forest hydrology; biogeochemical processes; runoff generation and hydrological processes; ecohydrological model; water conservation of vegetation cold and alpine regions
	Name: Prof. Dr. Hongwei Lu Affiliation: Key Laboratory of Water Cycle and Related Land Surface Processes, Institute of Geographic Science and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, China Research interests: hydrology; water resources; water quality; water pollution; groundwater remediation; water management; climate change; sustainable development
	Name: Prof. Dr. Lei Wang Affiliation: Institute of Tibet Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, China Research interests: climate change; water resources management; hydrology; land surface; cryosphere
	Name: Dr. Bahman Naser Affiliation: School of Engineering, Shippensburg University, Shippensburg, PA 17257, USA Research interests: water resources engineering

The following is a short interview with Prof. Dr. Genxu Wang:

1. Could you please briefly introduce your winning Topic to our readers? What inspired you to lead this Topic?
Our winning Topic is entitled “Hydrology and Water Resources Management”. It focuses on solving hydrological and water resource challenges amid climate warming, welcoming innovative interdisciplinary ideas and modeling techniques covering coupled water–sediment modeling, water–energy–ecology trade-offs, and unconventional water reuse. We were inspired by the worsening issue of global water security—over 40% of the global population faces water scarcity, and a 40% supply–demand deficit will exist by 2030. The unclear mechanisms of hydrological processes responding to environmental changes also motivated us to launch this Topic to boost rational water management.

2. What has been your impression of the publishing experience with MDPI Topics? Do you have any suggestions for improving the development of MDPI Topics?
The experience was rewarding. MDPI Topics facilitates efficient interdisciplinary academic exchanges, and its open access model and strict peer-review system helped us to gather high-quality submissions for this hydrology Topic. To improve, it could set up a specialized communication platform for authors researching similar hydrological themes to promote in-depth discussions. Additionally, providing targeted technical guidance for submitting complex hydrological modeling studies would enhance submission quality further.

3. What advice would you offer to young investigators who aspire to achieve similar recognition in their research careers?
First, focus on practical global water challenges, as research addressing real-world issues like water scarcity and extreme water disasters is more likely to gain recognition. Second, embrace interdisciplinary learning, since hydrology and water resource management require integrating multiple disciplines. Finally, dare to explore innovative modeling techniques and keep refining research to present novel insights.

4. Which research topics do you think will be of particular interest to the research community in the coming years?
Themes related to this Topic. These include coupled modeling of surface–subsurface hydrological processes, carbon–nitrogen transport in rivers, and the coordinated development of ecology, water, and economy. Meanwhile, smart monitoring and early warning systems for water resources, adaptive water policies for extreme weather, and large-scale reuse of stormwater and wastewater will also attract great attention.

5. What are your thoughts on the evolution of open access publishing in academia? How do you see it impacting the dissemination of future research?
Open access publishing is evolving towards being more inclusive and influential in academia. It breaks subscription barriers, enabling global researchers, even those from resource-limited institutions, to access research. For hydrology research, this will accelerate the spread of findings on water security and management techniques, promote cross-border collaborations, and allow policymakers and practitioners to apply the latest research promptly, thus maximizing the societal impact of hydrological studies.

6. Do you have anything else you would like to share with readers?
We hope that readers, whether researchers or practitioners, will pay greater attention to the interconnections between hydrological processes and the environment. We also welcome the continuous exploration of innovative solutions for water resource challenges. Moreover, sharing research data while publishing related studies can help the whole community to make faster progress in addressing global water security issues together.