Irrigation and Drainage Problems for Agricultural Engineering

Agricultural Engineer (1974). PhD in Agricultural Engineering (1979). Emeritus Professor of Hydraulic Engineering (2022). Director of the Master's Degree in Water Technology in Civil Engineering (2013-2019). Vice-Rector for Budgets and Investee Companies (2003-06), Vice-Rector for Management and Resources (1998-2003); Director of the Department of Agronomy (1989-1998). Research leader of the AGR-228 Research Group "Hydraulics and Irrigation" (2002-2022). His teaching has been in Hydraulics and Irrigation at the University of Córdoba, where he has earned six teaching positions. For his research work, he has received six research positions and for his transfer work, another position, the maximum possible. He is Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universidad Mayor de San Andrés (La Paz, Bolivia). Faculty Affiliate at Colorado State University, Fort Collins, Colorado, USA (1979-1981). Full Member of the Royal Academy of Sciences, Fine Arts and Noble Arts of Córdoba (2007).

I started my research work in 1990 when I was awarded a university faculty training (FPU) grant in hydraulic engineering at the University of Córdoba. After completing my doctoral thesis in 1993, I became an associate lecturer in 1994. In 1995, I passed the competitive examination and was granted tenure as an associate professor. In 1997, I was awarded a fellowship and spent one year at the USDA Agricultural Research Service’s Water Conservation Laboratory in Phoenix. In 2007, I qualified as a full professor, coming first in the national qualification process for permanent university teaching positions, and took up the post in 2008.

I have been Assistant Director of Academic Planning, School of Agricultural and Forest Engineering (ETSIAM) from 2008 to April 2016 and Head of the Agronomy Department of the University of Córdoba from June 2016 to present.

I have devoted my career to research and teaching, becoming actively involved in recent years in management tasks. I have acted as supervisor for more than 170 bachelor’s theses and ten master’s theses. I have also supervised 10 doctoral theses, and I am currently supervising a further three. My main areas of research are the optimization of water and energy, water footprint as an indicator of sustainability and precision irrigation. Impact of modernization of irrigation, application of digital technologies in irrigation. We have successfully transferred the results of our research to industry with the creation of a technology-based company called Innovative Water & Energy Solutions (IWES).

I have completed five officially approved six-year research terms, the most recent in 2022 and one six-year period of transfer.  My research performance can be summarized as follows: participation in more than 165 national and international conferences, in the last 5 years 24 publications in the highest quartile and 20 in the first decile. Involvement in 40 research and technology transfer projects (acting as principal investigator on nine of them). I have been Director scientific guarantors of the Department of Agronomy to achieve the recognition as María Maeztu excellence unit (2020-2023).

Juan Antonio Rodríguez Díaz is a professor of Hydraulic Engineering at the University of Córdoba. He holds a PhD in Agricultural Engineering since 2004. He developed his doctoral thesis on the use of benchmarking techniques and the development of management indicators for the sustainable use of resources in Spanish irrigation. His current research focuses on the optimization of the water-energy relationship in irrigation networks, the use of renewable energy for irrigation water supply, the application of artificial intelligence and big data for water management, and the adoption of precision irrigation systems.

He has directed and participated in more than 50 research and technology transfer projects, with a particular focus on the optimization of the water-energy relationship, the integration of renewable energy in irrigation, and the development of innovative technological solutions as applications for efficient water management. He has published more than 100 articles in scientific journals, as well as 60 book chapters, popular magazines, and technical reports, and has participated in numerous national and international conferences.

Among his most important achievements is receiving the WatSave Award from the International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID) in 2004, in recognition of his contributions to water conservation and efficient use. He was a researcher on the Ramón y Cajal program (2008 call) and was also one of the researchers responsible for the Department of Agronomy at the University of Córdoba obtaining the María de Maeztu Unit of Excellence distinction. He has supervised more than 10 doctoral theses.