In the presence of Federal Research Minister Dorothee Bär and State Minister at the Federal Foreign Office Serap Güler the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation presented its research awards during this year’s annual conference in Berlin. The prestigious Humboldt Research Award 2026 was granted to Professor Alberto Guadagnini, Lecturer in Hydraulics at the Politecnico di Milano.
Professor Guadagnini is internationally recognized for pioneering stochastic approaches to groundwater hydrology and porous media science. His work has fundamentally transformed the quantitative understanding of groundwater flow, contaminant transport, and geochemical processes in complex natural environments where uncertainty and heterogeneity play a central role. Through his research, he has developed theoretical and computational frameworks that are now widely used to characterize, predict, and manage subsurface systems across a wide range of environmental applications.
As part of the Humboldt Research Award, Professor Guadagnini will collaborate with Professor Nima Shokri, Head of Institute of Geo-Hydroinformatics at Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH). Their joint research will focus on developing next-generation stochastic and process-based approaches for predicting groundwater quality, soil salinization, and reactive transport in heterogeneous subsurface environments. The collaboration aims to improve the scientific basis for managing water resources under increasing pressures from climate change, environmental contamination and land-use changes. "Professor Guadagnini’s work has fundamentally shaped modern groundwater hydrology," says Professor Nima Shokri, host at TUHH. "His contributions have provided the scientific community with powerful tools to quantify uncertainty in natural systems and to improve predictions of water quantity and quality. We are delighted to welcome him to Hamburg and look forward to advancing new research directions together."
Commitment to close scientific relations
Groundwater represents nearly all of the Earth’s liquid freshwater resources and plays a crucial role in drinking water supply, agriculture, and ecosystem sustainability. However, predicting groundwater flow and quality remains a major scientific challenge because natural soils and rocks are highly heterogeneous and difficult to characterize. Professor Guadagnini’s research has been instrumental in addressing this challenge through innovative stochastic methods that account for uncertainty in geological structures, model formulations and environmental conditions.
Each year, the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation awards up to 100 prizes to internationally leading researchers from abroad. The award includes funding of €80,000 and supports research collaborations with German host institutions. The collaboration between Professor Guadagnini and TUHH further strengthens Hamburg’s position as an international center for research on water, environmental sustainability and subsurface processes. It also aligns closely with TUHH’s strategic focus of “Engineering to Face Climate Change” addressing critical challenges related to water security, environmental resilience and sustainable resource management.
Already in June 2025, on the sidelines of the first annual meeting of the UN University Hubs held at TUHH, a step toward partnership between TUHH and Politecnico di Milano was made through the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU). Professor Alberto Guadagnini, Vice Rector for Research at Politecnico di Milano, and Professor Andreas Timm-Giel, President of TUHH, affirmed in the document their commitment to close scientific relations across all fields of mutual interest. The agenda especially prioritizes expanding student exchanges, intensifying research cooperation, and fostering close collaboration in teaching.
About the Humboldt Research Award
The Humboldt Research Award is one of the most prestigious scientific honors in Germany. It is awarded to internationally recognized researchers whose fundamental discoveries or new theories have profoundly influenced their field and whose future work is expected to yield further outstanding results. Awardees are invited to carry out research projects in Germany in cooperation with colleagues at German institutions, aiming to strengthen international scientific collaboration and foster long-term research partnerships.
