BSc PhD CEng FICE FCIWEM
Vice President Learned Society
Appointment: Executive Technical Director, MWH
David Balmforth is an Executive Technical Director with international consultants MWH, where he has particular responsibilities for flood risk management, water pollution control and climate change adaptation. Currently his work ranges from advising governments on managing flood risk to delivering flood alleviation and pollution control schemes for the major UK water companies. He has worked previously as a County Council engineer and as an academic, and has established an international reputation for his work in urban drainage. He is also a visiting professor at Imperial College London, and Editor of the Journal of Flood Risk management published by CIWEM and Wiley Blackwell.
In ICE, David was responsible for implementing regionalisation and establishing a regional support team in the Yorkshire and Humber Region during his year as Chair. From 2003 to 2006 he served on the Editorial Panel of the Water Management Journal. More recently, as a member of the Water Panel, he represented ICE on the Pitt Review and chaired the Flooding Life Panel responsible for producing the Flooding State of the Nation Report in 2008. Currently he chairs the Inter-Institutional Panel on Flooding on behalf of ICE. He has fielded numerous press interviews on behalf of ICE and contributed to several NCE articles.
David was elected to Council in 2007 and to the Executive Board in 2008. He was elected as a Vice President from November 2009He currently chairs the Learned Society Committee having previously chared the International Policy Committee for two years. His vision is for civil engineering to be recognised as a high value profession and for the Institution to be referred to and trusted by the public, politicians and policy makers in the UK and overseas.