Dr. Youssef Filali-Meknassi has been appointed to the post of Director of the Division of Water Sciences and Secretary of the International Hydrological Programme and has taken up his duties on 1st June 2019.  Youssef Filali-Meknassi holds a PhD in water sciences, obtained in 2003 from the “Institut National de la Recherche Scientifique pour l’eau et l’environnement” in partnership with the Ecole Polytechnique de Montréal, both in Canada.

He also obtained degrees in chemical engineering from Mohamed V University  in Rabat, Morocco, and in civil engineering from the Université de Sherbrooke, Canada. He then worked as a postdoctoral researcher at the Technical University of Catalonia, Spain, where he led innovative research projects in the field of water sciences, and supervised doctoral-level students. He later joined the University of Missouri, United States of America, as an Assistant Professor.

He has published articles in many major international scientific journals. Through his experience in the field and at Headquarters, Youssef Filali-Meknassi has been exposed to an environment where the political and strategic stakes are very high.