Dr Sarann Ly is Chief Hydrologist of the Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat.

He is the lead technical staff of the Technical Support Division and supervises all activities and tasks, under the guidance of the Division Director, related to hydrological monitoring and studies, modelling and analysis and the associated work on information and data management. In addition, he oversees the management, production, and distribution of the MRC’s hydro-meteorological information.

He has over 19 years of experience in hydrological-hydraulic analysis and modelling; hydro-meteorological collection and monitoring; data processing and analyses; geostatistical tools; fieldwork and interpretation; river bathymetry and land surveying; sediment transport sampling; and analysis.

Prior to his appointment as Chief Hydrologist, Sarann led the hydrological monitoring activities as Water and Climate Monitoring Specialist of the MRC Secretariat. He successfully strengthened and expanded a functioning regional hydrological observation system, covering the mainstream and main tributaries of the Mekong River. Significantly, each monitoring station is today being equipped with a cutting-edge “telemetry” system, which transmits water level and rainfall data every 15 minutes: first to MRC central database, then disseminated to the Member Countries: Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand and Viet Nam.

Before joining the MRC Secretariat, Sarann held various roles at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia (ITC) and the University of Liège over the last 16 years, serving as a researcher/lecturer of Hydrology, GIS, surveying; Head of Department; and Dean of the Faculty of Hydrology and Water Resources.

He has authored and co-authored many high-impact articles in peer-reviewed journals, books and book chapters such as Hydrology & Earth System Sciences; Hydrological Sciences Journal; Hydrological Research Letters, Water, and the like. His publications are accessible here: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-8676-5885.

Sarann received an Engineer’s Degree in water resources engineering, graduated the first-class honour from the ITC and a Master's and Doctoral Degree in Hydrology from the University of Liège, Belgium.

With many outstanding achievements, he was selected for an ASEAN Green Award 2015, Country Winner and many other Awards, Fellowships and Scholarships from Belgium, Japan and Australia. He was recently admitted as a Fellow of the ASEAN Academy of Engineering and Technology (FAAET), a member of an eminent group of successful ASEAN engineers, technologists and industrialists who play an important role in the overall development of the ASEAN region.