About HydroSEL

Vision: Conducting and guiding research to understand how changes in water resources, climate and management decisions will impact people, economy, and environment at local, regional, and global scales.

Research in the HydroSEL Laboratory is centered on understanding and predicting the complex interactions between water, climate, ecosystems, and human systems. We develop innovative methodologies that combine remote sensing, GIS, hydrological modelling, artificial intelligence, optimization, and field observations to address emerging challenges in water resources and environmental sustainability. Our work spans agro-hydrology, hydroclimatic extremes, river basin management, flood and drought assessment, GeoAI, Earth observation, and digital twin technologies. By integrating physics-based understanding with data-driven intelligence, we aim to build scalable decision-support systems that enhance climate resilience, improve agricultural water productivity, and promote sustainable management of natural resources.

Group lead

Prof. Gaurav Talukdar

Gaurav is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi, where he leads the HydroSEL (Hydro-Socio-Eco) Laboratory. He joined the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, IIT Delhi on December 2024. Before joining IITD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Kansas Geological Survey (KGS) at the University of Kansas (KU), United States and as a Research Scientist at NESAC. His research focuses on advancing sustainable water resources management through the integration of hydrology, remote sensing, geospatial technologies, artificial intelligence, optimization, and computational modelling. His work spans agro-hydrology, hydroclimatic extremes, water–energy–food systems, digital twins, flood and drought risk assessment, riverine agriculture, and GeoAI-enabled decision support systems. By combining field observations, satellite data, numerical models, and machine learning, his research aims to develop science-driven solutions for climate-resilient agriculture, water security, disaster risk reduction, and sustainable environmental management.