Information

Advanced Training Course on Restoration of River Connectivity is an intensive 4-day bootcamp designed for professionals and practitioners working in river management, ecological restoration, and water policy, organised under the RiverLIFE project funded by the LIFE programme of the European Union. The course combines rigorous classroom instruction with hands-on fieldwork to build participants’ capacity to assess, prioritize, and address barriers to river connectivity.

Learn to quantify and model aquatic habitats in rivers, assess weir impacts on habitat degradation, and explore restoration scenarios.

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By the end of the course, participants will be able to:

Learn how to carry out a barrier inventor.
Design a hydromorphological field survey using standard methodologies.
Collect, analyse and integrate hydraulic, substrate, habitat and topographic data.
Translate field data into WFD-relevant assessment and reporting outputs.
Use hydromorphological information to support connectivity restoration and barrier prioritisation.
Develop a balanced strategy for sustainable river management, integrating flood risk management with the ecological restoration of rivers.

Who can participate

This course is suited for river managers, environmental consultants, regulators, and researchers looking to deepen their technical skills in connectivity restoration — from desktop barrier mapping all the way through to field assessment and restoration planning.

Masters students | PhD students | Young professionals in environmental sciences; hydromorphology; hydrobiology; geography and landscape ecology; watershed management; natural hazards management and other related fields
Professionals who seek to expand their knowledge, gather practical experience and connect to the European river management community
Early-career professionals and aspiring practitioners aiming to work in the field and support environmental projects.

Requirements

а good command of English is required
no prior habitat assessment experience needed
prepared for practical field work
motivation and willingness to learn and actively participate

Schedule

Registration deadline: June 15, 2026
Participant confirmation: June 16–25, 2026

Location: TBC

TBC somewhere in Bulgaria.

Fees and costs

Registration fee: There is no registration fee for the event, with the aim of making the program more accessible to young researchers and professionals.
Accommodation and meals: covered by the program.
Transportation costs: travel to and from the event location is not covered by the program. Carpooling will be arranged if/when possible.

Program

Each day follows a consistent rhythm of morning lectures followed by afternoon fieldwork, allowing participants to immediately apply theoretical knowledge in real river environments. The course is delivered by a multidisciplinary team of instructors bringing together expertise in hydrology, morphology, ecology, and restoration practice.

Day 1 – Barrier Inventory introduces the conceptual framework of river connectivity and how human-made barriers disrupt it. Participants learn how to identify, categorize, and map barriers to build reliable databases, and explore barrier prioritization methods.

Day 2 – Hydromorphological Assessment covers practical data collection methods and the use of historical models to understand how rivers have changed over time. Lectures place hydromorphology within the Water Framework Directive (WFD) context, linking field data to management decisions.

Day 3 – Fragmentation Impact Assessment examines the ecological consequences of river fragmentation on both biological and physical processes. Participants work through technical frameworks for measuring fragmentation severity across scales, and explore which ecosystem services are most affected by barriers.

Day 4 – Barrier Removal: Implementation & Scaling Up shifts focus toward action, covering how to translate course learnings into real-world restoration strategies. The program concludes with an extended collaborative workshop in which all participants work through a Restoration Scenario Assessment, integrating knowledge from across the four days.