- Department of Building and Environmental Technology
Harsha Ratnaweera is a Professor of Water and Wastewater Technology at the Faculty of Science and Technology at the Norwegian University of Life Sciences (NMBU), where he has served part-time since 2001 and full-time since 2012. Previously, he was the Director of International Projects and Innovation at the Norwegian Institute for Water Research (NIVA) from 1991 to 2012, where he spearheaded NIVA’s commercialization of research outcomes. He holds a Dr. Ing. in Civil Engineering from the Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU, 1992) and an MSc (Hons) in Chemical Engineering from the National Technical University of Ukraine KPI (1987).
Harsha is a distinguished Fellow and Board Director of the International Water Association (IWA) and serves as Vice President of the European Water Association (EWA). He is also a Fellow of both the European Academy of Sciences and the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences.
His research interests include modeling and optimization of coagulation processes in water and wastewater treatment, real-time monitoring and control of treatment processes, holistic optimization of sewerage systems, virtual sensors and validation of measurements, membrane processes, image analysis for sensor development, water resources management, and the harmonization of water-related graduate studies across Asia, Africa, and Eurasia with Norway.
Harsha has been a member of the Norwegian National Commission for UNESCO and currently chairs or sits on the boards of various water and environmental organizations in Norway. He has also served as an advisor or consultant to organizations such as the World Bank, UNECE, the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, NORAD, and SIDA, and has worked extensively across Asia, Africa, and Europe. He is fluent in English, Norwegian, and Russian.
Harsha has initiated and leading a network of projects involving 100 universities form 54 countries (www.WaterHarmony.net). He has also lead the organisation of four international conferences in IWA Particle Separation Conference, Oslo and EWA Water Management in Cold Climates, Spitsbergen in June 2016, EWA Sustainable Urban Drainage Systems, Oslo, 2019 and 2nd IWA-EWA Conference on Water Management in Cold Climates, Harbin, China in 2020. Harsha is chairing the EWA Spring Conference on Addressing Changes to the Urban Wastewater Directive in May 2025 and the 14th IWA Conference on Instrumentation, Control and Automation in June 2025, both in Oslo.
More information: www.WaterHarmony.net
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