We are the Hydrology group at the Institute of Earth Surface Dynamics. We do research in catchment ecohydrology. We build models and do field work. Our research includes:
- Water age and transit time distributions
- Solute transport in catchments
- Isotope ecohydrology
- Soil column experiments
News
- Water demography at the UNIL 7×7 de la Recherche
Paolo Benettin represented the Faculty of Geoscience and the Environment at a new type of event made to communicate academic research to a broad audience: the 7×7! That is, 7 researchers presenting their research for 7 minutes each (in French).
The whole event is available here, while Paolo’s specific presentation, featuring the link between water age and veterinary pharmaceuticals (based on recent work by Rakonjac et al, 2025*) is available here.
Putting together a presentation of 7 minutes for a general audience takes much longer than preparing a 1-hour scientific presentation. But from time to time it is useful and also fun!
The whole team of presenters at the 7×7 UNIL 
Paolo Benettin inviting the audience to imagine an impermeable soil at the back of the room *Reference: Rakonjac*, N., Miazza, R., Rinaldo, A., Ritsema, C. J., & Benettin, P. (2025). Short water transit times determine the fate of veterinary pharmaceuticals in lowland catchments. Journal of Contaminant Hydrology.
- First testing of the Ecotron system
The Ecotron with the newly installed soil columns We’re happy to share that the first testing of our Ecotron system has started (many thanks to our civil servant Sébastien Rogers for making this possible).
The Ecotron is a box (3 m3) that allows simulating environmental conditions like solar radiation and precipitation, but also soil groundwater dynamics. It has a sensor system that allows continuous control and monitoring throughout experiments that can run anywhere from a few days to several months.
Vegetation in the Ecotron being irrigated for the first time More updates to come as things progress!
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