While hydrological practice (led by national hydro-meteorological services, environmental agencies, consultancy firms, United Nations initiatives, etc.) is primarily focused on addressing operational needs of countries, scientific research is heavily driven by the urge for increasing our theoretical understanding of hydrological processes and systems. While at first these two sides seem to have their own ambitions and targets, research and practice communities can’t and shouldn’t be considered to be separate entities. For example, applied research in hydrological sciences is closely linked to operational hydrology due to their common goals, such as in dealing with hydrological extremes. The quality and efficiency of hydrological services provided to communities by the industry can be increased through integration of advances in scientific research. Similarly, industry-driven innovation can provide tools, methods and data that can further academic research. The scope of cooperation by both communities is therefore large and diverse but requires strong dialogues to align potentially different goals into meaningful collaboration. With participation of invited speakers from both sides (researchers, practitioners and industry experts), this open discussion session centers around the following questions: (i) Is hydrological sciences research a prerequisite for hydrological practice? (If yes, then to what extent?) (ii) What are the fundamental differences between state-of-the-art in industry and academia? (iii) Why is there a gap and why should we address this? (iv) How can (early-career) scientists and practitioners minimize this gap?

In cooperation with the Young Hydrologic Society (http://younghs.com/).