Place of birth: Balasore, India

Family: married Dr Cecilia Tortajada; one daughter

Education: Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur

Career: Following graduation, Asit Biswas worked as a Civil Engineer at Ward, Ashcroft and Parkman, Liverpool, England. Thereafter, he was a Research Fellow at the Loughborough University of Technology, England, and a Lecturer at the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow. He moved to Canada in 1967 as a Visiting Professor at Queen’s University, Kingston. Later, he joined the Department of Energy, Mines and Resources as a senior scientist. When the Government of Canada established a new Ministry of Environment, he played an important role during its formative years. In 1974, he was invited to help in formulating the programme of the newly established United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) in Nairobi, Kenya. He spent 15 months in Nairobi under the Executive Interchange Programme of the Government of Canada. Thereafter, he continued to be the Senior Scientific Advisor to the Executive Director of UNEP, Dr Mostafa Kamal Tolba, until his retirement in 1992. At the request of Dr Tolba, Prof. Biswas acted as a Senior Advisor to Mr Yehia Abdel Mageed, Secretary General of the UN Water Conference. During 1980–81, he was a Senior Research Fellow at the International Institute for Applied Systems Analysis at Luxemburg, Austria. He spent 1981–97 in Oxford, UK, pursuing his research interests and advising national governments and international organisations. He chaired the Middle East Water Commission during 1993–97. In 1998, Professor Biswas founded the Third World Centre for Water Management in Mexico, which is an independent, knowledge-based think tank focusing on knowledge generation, synthesis, application and dissemination. Under his leadership, the Centre has established an unique international identity in pursuing cutting-edge and forward-looking research. Professor Biswas was one of the most active members of the World Commission on Water. He was instrumental in establishing the International Water Resources Association and World Water Council. He has been an advisor to six Heads of the United Nations Agencies, and most major bilateral and multilateral aid organisations and 17 national governments. Professor Biswas is the founder of the International Journal of Water Resources Development (see url below) and has been its Editor-in-Chief since 1985.

Honours and awards: Hon. DTech. (University of Lund, Sweden); Crystal Drop and Millennium Awards, International Water Resources Association, Walter Huber Award, American Society of Civil Engineering, Stockholm Water Prize 2006

Publications include: author or editor of 64 books (seven more in publication) and more than 600 scientific and technical papers; works translated into 31 languages

Contact details: Address: Instituto Aragonés del Agua, Capitán Portolés 1-3-5, 8 planta, Zaragoza 50004, Spain; Email: prof.asit.k.biswas@gmail.com ; Website: http://portal.aragon.es/portal/page/portal/IAA/ ; Website: http://www.tandf.co.uk/journals/titles/07900627.asp/ .