ECH Awards

The IAH 2026 Local Organizing Committee, in collaboration with the Early Career Hydrogeologists' Network (ECHN), invites early-career researchers to apply for the ECH Outstanding Oral and Poster Presentation Awards during the IAH 2026 Congress in Budapest.

These awards recognize outstanding scientific contributions and presentation skills among early-career hydrogeologists participating in the Congress.

Who can participate?

Eligible participants are researchers who:

• are currently pursuing a BSc, MSc, or PhD degree, or
• have completed their highest degree (BSc, MSc, or PhD) within the last 10 years,

and are under 40 years of age.

Only the presenting author may apply for the awards, and the presenting author must meet all eligibility criteria. Each eligible presenting author may submit one presentation only for consideration, either in the oral or poster category. If an author has multiple accepted abstracts, they must select one presentation to enter into the award selection process.

How to Apply

Applications must be submitted through the IAH2026 conference registration system --> ECH Awards menu, before 31 August 2026. On-site registration will not be available.

Application deadline: 31 August 2026

Oral presentations

Applicants must:

• include the award logo on the first slide of their presentation;
• display their abstract number (LID) on the presentation slides.

Poster presentations

Applicants must:

• include the award logo on their poster;
• display their abstract number (LID) on the poster.

The award logo can be downloaded. Poster presenters may also collect the logo as a sticker at the conference registration desk.

Evaluation

All eligible presentations will be evaluated by an international committee of young and senior hydrogeologists using standardized evaluation criteria.

Awards will be presented to the highest-ranked oral and poster presentations. Winners will receive a selection of prizes, including recently published hydrogeology books generously donated by Springer and Prof. David Kreamer, ECHN-sponsored items, and one-year IAH memberships sponsored by the IAH Hungarian National Chapter, where applicable.

Award ceremony

The award recipients will be announced and presented with their prizes during the Closing Ceremony of the IAH 2026 Congress (2:00–3:00 pm, Friday, 18 September 2026).