Wouter Buytaert is an expert on water resources and environmental change. He has a track record of research on the impact of land use changes and climate change on hydrological processes and water supply, but also works on the development of environmental models, prediction, decision support and sustainable development. He is working extensively in tropical areas, with a particular interest in South American and African mountain regions. His work is funded by a large variety of sources, including but not limited to the UK Research Councils, UK DFID, European Commission, European Institute of Technology, Andean Community of Nations, Interamerican Development Bank, World Bank and the Belgian Development Cooperation.

Wouter is a fellow of the Grantham Institute for Climate Change, UK theme leader of the EIT Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (Climate-KIC). He is also a member of the NERC peer review college and a reviewer for the IPCC 5th assessment report. He is Chair of the Water management, Operations and Control subdivision of the European Geophysical Union and Editor of the EGU journal Hydrology and Earth System Sciences. He receives frequently invitations to speak in international conferences and meetings, both in an academic and a policy context.

Wouter graduated with an MSc in Environmental Engineering from the University of Leuven, Belgium in 2000 and obtained a PhD from the same university in 2004. He was a Research Fellow at Lancaster University and the University of Bristol before joining Imperial College London in May 2009.