CURRICULUM VITAE
Family name: Rovshan
First names: Abbasov
Date of birth: 01.06.1969
Nationality:
Azerbaijani
E-mail:abbasov@hotmail.com; abbasov@fulbrightmail.org;
Phone: +994503721834
Employment records:
Years
Organization
Position
2011
Khazar University
Associate Professor, Head of the Geography and
Environmental Sciences Department (full time)
2012-to present
Blacksmith Institute, USA
Azerbaijan Country Coordinator (part time)
2010-2011
University of California, Davis;
USA
Visiting Scholar, Postdoctoral stay
2007-2010
Khazar University
Associate Professor, Head of the Environmental
Research Center (Part time)
2006-2007
Michigan State University, USA
Visiting Scholar
2003-2005
Ministry of Ecology and Natural
Resources
Senior Research Worker, Head of laboratory
1995-2000
Ministry of Ecology and Natural
Resources
Research Worker (full time)
1995-2007
Baku State University
Professor (part time)
2000-2003
Geography Department, Modern Educational Complex
Professor of Geography
Education:
Institution
[ Date from - Date to ]
Degree(s) or Diploma(s) obtained:
University of California, Davis (2010-2011)
Postdoctoral fellow
Saint Petersburg Hydrometeorology University,1995-2001
PhD, Geography
Baku State University, Baku, Azerbaijan, 19901995
Rovshan Abbasov
BSc and MSc, Geography,Geography
Fellowships:
Institution, Date
Certificate
Fulbright Scholar Fellowship. University of
California, Davis, USA 2010-2011
Certificate
http://fulbright.ucdavis.edu/profile_abbasov_rovshan.sht
ml
DAAD ( German Academic Exchange Servic)
fellow
Certificate
International Lake Environmental Committee,
Japan, 2008
Certificate
Junior Faculty Development Program, Michigan State University, USA 2006-2007
Certificate
http://www.jfdp.org/forum/viewProfile.php?user_id=301
Specific experience in different regions:
Years
Country
Date from - Date to
2012
Italy
MESCI program, Visiting professor
2006-2007, 2010-2011,
USA
JFDP and Fulbright fellowships
2010
Germany
DAAD fellowship
2008-2009
Hungary
Curricula development project
2008
Japan
International Lake Environmental Committee fellowship
2001-to present
Azerbaijan
Various international projects
Designed and delivered courses:
Years
Organization
Courses
2007-2012
Khazar University
Geography of Azerbaijan; World Geography; Environmental Management; Environmental Economics; Health, Safety and Environment; Research
Methods in Geography; Integrated Water Resources Management
2012
University of Rome, Tor Vergata, Italy
Integrated Water Resources Management
2011
University of California, Davis
Water Resources Management in a Developing
World
1995-2007
Baku State University
Geography of USA; Integrated Water Resources
Management; Eco-Hydrology;
2000-2003
Modern Educational Complex
Membershipof professional bodies:
Rovshan Abbasov
Geography of Azerbaijan; World Geography;
Economical Geography
Professional memberships
Institution
Date
awarded
Organizational Member
Mountain Partnership
2009
Member
International Mountain Society
2007
Board member
US Educated Azerbaijani Alumni Association
2012
Member
Water Integrity Network
2011
Organizational Member
Global Water Partnership
2010
Member
Member of the Commission for Hydrology, World
meteorological Organization
2009
Organizational Member
Mountain Partnership
2008
Member
International Association of Hydrological Sciences
2008
Member
American Institute of Hydrology
2007
Member
International Lake Environmental Committee
2007
Member
Azerbaijani Geographical Society
2002
Additional information:
Rovshan Abbasov has more than seventeen years of experience in research and consulting. He has
rather good publication record in peer reviewed international journals. In 2006-2007 he was a visiting
scholar at the Water Research Institute of Michigan State University. During that visit he studied flood
problems in the target region created by non-climatic factors. He found that river siltation decreases
channel capacity by 10-15 m3 per year on average. In his previous research it was found that construction of dykes and levees does not actually prevent flooding, where hydraulic connections between
groundwater and surface water are high, since infiltrated waters from the channel results in rising of
ground waters, causing an effect of “underground flooding” (Abbasov and Mahmudov, 2009). Therefore, channel cleanings in such regions are important. Taking into account these ideas, the Azerbaijani
government started to implement a flood management action plan, cleaning silted channels in the
target region. Recently 10-15 cleaning sites were built in the target region. These activities have considerably reduced flood risks.
In 2008, Rovshan Abbasovwas a visiting scholar at the International Lake Environmental Committee
located in Japan. In this institute tougher with Japanese colleagues he studied issues related to migration routes of sturgeon fish. In this institute he studied problems related to Integrated Basin Management. He also delivered several lectures at Kyoto University.
In 2010-2011, Rovshan Abbasov was hosted by the University of California, Davis, where he conducted research on indexing vulnerability of small river ecosystems. Results of his research have been
published by international journals (e.g. Abbasov and Smakhtin, 2012). Previously he developed environmental thresholds into water management in the target basin (Abbasov and Smakhtin, 2010). This
important research was related to the protection of small mountain streams that are the preferred
spawning grounds and migration routes for valuable sturgeon of the Caspian Sea.
In 2012 Rovshan Abbasov was hosted by the University of Rome, Tor Vergata and delivered an “Integrated Water Management” course.
Rovshan Abbasov has conducted research in many countries (USA, Germany, Japan, Hungary). He
has researched and worked for such institutions as Michigan State University (USA), International
Lake Environmental Committee (Japan), Freie University (Germany), and the Worldbank Baku office.
Recently he has been a Disaster Risk Reduction expert for OXFAM GB. At the same time he works for
UNDP, where he takes role of stakeholder engagement expert in the project “Integrating Climate
Change Risks into Water and Flood Management by Vulnerable Mountainous Communities in the
Greater Caucasus Region of Azerbaijan”.
He is an OPACHE Member of the Commission for Hydrology, World Meteorological Organization and
Institutional member of Global Water Partnership.
Rovshan Abbasov is head of the Environmental Research Center at Khazar University. At the same
time, he has been elected as head of the Department of Geography and Environmental Sciences of
Khazar University. He was a head of the “Environmental Management” laboratory in the Hydrometeorology Research Institute of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. List of
Rovshan Abbasov’s key publications is included into his CV.
Rovshan Abbasov
1. Professionalexperience in various projects:
Date from Date to
Location
Company
Position
Description
2014
Azerbaijan
WWF
National consultant
2013-to
present
Azerbaijan
WWF
National Consultant
2012-2013
Azerbaijan
Blacksmith
Institute
National expert
National Toxic Action plan for Azerbaijan
Azerbaijan
Global Alliance on
Health and
Pollution
National coordinator
Toxic Site identification program
The Toxic Site Identification Program (TSIP) endeavors to identify and screen contaminated sites in low- and
middle-income countries with potential human health impact. As part of the TSIP, more than 120 sites have been
screened in Azerbaijan. An additional 100 sites have been identified for future screening.
Expert
Integrating Climate Change Risks into Water and Flood Management by Vulnerable Mountainous Communities in the Greater Caucasus Region.National Lead Institutional Specialist/Gender/Stakeholder Engagement
Specialist. Review existing Institutional framework for Water Management in Azerbaijan. Identify and map Institutional roles, responsibilities and communication lines with regard to water resources management and examine
national and local standards. Conduct an assessment of all the institutional arrangements of all organizations
(Government departments/donor organizations/NGOs) currently involved in water management and determine
requirements for institutional improvement.
2012-To
present
2012-to
present
Azerbaijan
UNDP
TEEB Scoping Study for the Forestry Sector of Azerbaijan
Assessment of Fresh Water Ecosystem Services in the Hydropower Sector in the Kura-Aras River Basin in
Azerbaijan
August 15,
2011-2013
Baku,
Azerbaijan
Worldbank
Water Management consultant
IntegratedUrbanWaterManagementofBaku.The objective of this consultancy is to provide assistance to the
International Economist and Bank staff responsible for the formulation of the cost benefit analysis of the Integrated
Urban Water Management Strategy for the Greater Baku Area (GBA), in particular in: (i) model formulation, (ii)
critical review of existing documentation and relevant studies, (iii) secondary data collection, (iv) draft and translation of survey instrument, (v) field work for primary data gathering, (vi) elaboration of the statistics and, (vii)
econometric estimates.
April 1,
2012 –May,
Rome, Italy
University of
Rome, Tor
Visiting professor
for MESCI pro-
Professor of Integrated Water Resources Management course in a MESCI program.The MESCI - Master in
Development Economics and International Co-operation - aims at training specialists in developing economics and
Rovshan Abbasov
Date from Date to
Location
15 2012
Company
Vergata
campus
Position
gram
Description
in international cooperation who will be able to operate in both the public and private sector. The intent is to provide the student with the necessary skills to prepare, analyze and direct co-operation programs and projects for
the promotion of growth in developing countries. http://www.ceistorvergata.it/master/mesci/sarea.asp?sa=30
January 1,
2012-to
present
Azerbaijan
Blacksmith
Institute,
USA
Country Coordinator
Global inventory of pollution sites. Managing GIP Investigators in Azerbaijan, overseeing and reviewing InitialSite Assessments of polluted sites, conducting Initial Site Assessment, and reporting country activities to the Regional Coordinator andProgram Directors in Blacksmith’s New York office.
February 1,
2012-to
present
Azerbaijan
OXFAM GB
DRR expert
Supporting Community and Gender Resilience in Neftchala and Salyan districts, Azerbaijan. To increase
resilience and reduce vulnerability of local communities and relevant national institutions by supporting strategies
that enable them to prepare for, mitigate and respond to natural disasters, in the South Caucasus Region.
Visiting scholar
Long-Memory ARFIMA Modeling of Caspian Sea level fluctuations and prediction of changes over the next
50 years.The case of the Caspian Sea level time series demonstrates that both the long rangedependence and
some secular long term trend may exist together in geophysicalphenomena. Even after removing the long term
trend from the Caspian Sea level timeseries, the residual time series still demonstrate long range dependent behavior. The confidence bands of the forecastsare estimated using the probability density functions of the residuals
without assuming aknown distribution.http://www.buchhandel.de/detailansicht.aspx?isbn=9783319015040
Visiting scholar
Indexing the Environmental Vulnerability of Mountain Streams in Azerbaijan. A simple environmental vulnerability assessment scheme is developed and illustrated using several streams in Azerbaijan as examples. Vulnerability of a river ecosystem is defined in terms of a combined impact of pressure factors such as water withdrawals, pollution, climate change impact on flow variability, and land use. These factors are used to measure the sensitivity of various elements/components of the system to impacts.http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRDJOURNAL-D-11-00012.1
August
2010August
2011
May, 2010August,
2011
USA
Germany
University of
California
Freie University, Berlin
Environmental Security and Resource Management in the Caspian Region, Curricula Development. This
course has a integrative character and contains ecological, environmental, economical and political knowledge.
For the first time, authors of the project looked at the Caspian region as an entire educational area. The course
was delivered taken into consideration only regional interests of Caspian countries, since regional or global approach is the best way to solve environmental problems and protect environmental security.http://www.khazar.org/s445/Environmental-Research-Center
February,
2009-June,
2010
HungaryAzerbaijan
2009-2010
Azerbaijan
OXFAM GB
Japan
International
Lake Environmental
Committee,
Japan
2008
Rovshan Abbasov
DRR expert
Participatory multi-hazard disaster (floods and droughts) risk reduction in Azerbaijan and Georgia. Environmental Vulnerability Assessment and Capacity Development for various vulnerable communities of Azerbaijan.
Visiting Scholar
Analysis of non climatic origins of floods in the downstream part of the Kura River, Azerbaijan. More recently, there are numerous non climatic factors occurring in and around the Kura River basin that have increased
the frequency of floods. Sediment accumulation in the riverbed over a long period of time has led to the reduction
of channel capacity and has raised the elevation of the riverbed above the surrounding territory. Results show that
high rates of hydraulic conductivity of soils will decrease MAF rates. MAF computations before high-water season
allow for further regulation of outlets further downstream in order to prevent flooding and enable flood forecasting.
Date from Date to
Location
Company
Position
Description
While the study focuses on a specific region, the overall approach suggested is generic and may be applied elsewhere.http://www.springerlink.com/content/a6646l88836q5778/
2007-2008
2008-2009
2006-2007
Rovshan Abbasov
Azerbaijan
Khazar University,
Azerbaijan
Project Coordinator
Curricula development for secondary schools of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan. Because the Caspian Sea
provides economic value to many nations, wise management of its resources is essential to maintaining peace in
the region. However, low level of the public awareness does not make possible to find ways to solve many problems related to many issues of this water body. In the secondary school education of aforementioned countries
there are no enough materials concerning Caspian Sea. Authors of the proposed project developed Caspian Sea
curricula on which teachers on these countries may work.
Azerbaijan
Green Way
Environmental Union
Project Coordinator
Increasing public control over water and air quality in the cities of Baku and Sumgait.The aim of the project
is to strengthen public control over water and air quality in Baku and Sumgayit. For that purpose the experts of the
“Green Way” organization are planning to take regular water and air testing in different points in two cities and
provide independent expertise using special equipment.www.gwpu.org
USA
Institute of
Water Research,
Michigan
State University, USA
Visiting Scholar
Introducing environmental thresholds into water withdrawal management of mountain streams in the Kura
River basin, Azerbaijan.The study aims to set and implement environmentally relevant limits for the exploitation
of mountain streams in the Kura River basin of Azerbaijan. Such streams represent the preferred spawning
grounds for valuable sturgeon of the Caspian Sea, but experience continuously increasing exploitation in the form
of water withdrawals for industry and irrigation. Since no detailed environmental flow assessments have been
conducted on any of the Kura basin streams, an interim approach is suggested based on minimum flow, referred
to as "base environmental minimum". The latter may be estimated from the unregulated parts of observed or simulated daily flow.http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1623/hysj.54.6.1068
Selected Publications:
1. Ercan Ali, Abbasov R.K. (2013) Long-Range Dependence and Sea Level
Forecasting. DOI 10.1007/978-3-319-01505-7Springer International Publishinghttp://www.buchhandel.de/detailansicht.aspx?isbn=9783319015040
2. Abbasov R.K, Smakhtin V.U. (2011) Indexing Environmental Vulnerability of
Mountain Streams of Azerbaijan. Mountain Research and Development
32(1):73-82. 2012 doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00012.
http://www.bioone.org/doi/full/10.1659/MRD-JOURNAL-D-11-00012.1
3. Abbasov Rovshan Assessment of Ecological Flow for Mountain Rivers of the Kura
Basin (2011) Survival and Sustainability Environmental Earth Sciences 2011 Part 8,
1369-1379 DOI: 10.1007/978-3-540-95991-5_129
http://www.springerlink.com/content/n17401242364661g/
4. Abbasov R.K. &Smakhtin V.U. (2009) Introducing environmental treshholdls into
water withdrawal management of mountain streams in the Kura basin, Azerbaijan.
Hydrological Sciences Journal, 54 :6 1068 – 1078 DOI: 10.1623/hysj.54.6.1068
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1623/hysj.54.6.1068
5. Abbasov R.K. &Mahmudov R.N. (2009) Analysis of non climatic origins of floods in
the downstream part of the Kura river, Azerbaijan. Natural Hazards 2009, 50, 235-248
DOI 10.1007/s11069-008-9335-2
http://www.springerlink.com/content/a6646l88836q5778/
6. Abbasov R.K. (2007) Assessment of the environmental flow for the mountain rivers of
the Kura basin. Conference paper, American Institute of Hydrology, Reno, Nevada,
USA
7. Abbasov R.K. &Kondratyev A.N. (2006) Morphological origins of floods (case study
on the Kura River). Trans GeomorpholComm Russ AcadSci 2006, 29, 245-253 (in
Russian)
8. Mahmudov R.N., Abbasov R.K., Fanelli R.M. (2007) Analyses of natural and human
made factors contributing to flooding in the mouth part of the Kura. Conference paper
Proceedings of the international symposium “Natural Cataclysms and global problems
of the modern civilization”. Baku-Innsbrusk, 2007. pp.-347-353
9. Mamedov M.A., Abbasov R.K. Hydroecological safety of the trans-boundary rivers of
Azerbaijan. The Proceedings of the International Conference “Ecological security of
Southern Caucasus”. Tbilisi, 2004, p.27-33
Selected Trainings:
o 2012: 13th meeting of the CDM DNA Forum and DNA training for representatives of
designated national authorities (DNAs) or national focal points (NFPs) for countries
with no DNA and 1st Sustainable Development Mechanisms Joint Coordination Workshop/ 20-25 March, 2012
o 2012: GREENHOUSE GAS INVENTORY HANDS-ON TRAINING WORKSHOP OF
THE CONSULTATIVE GROUP OF EXPERTS FOR ASIAN REGION, Colombo, Sri
Lanka, January 30-February 3
o 2009: Post Graduate School DEVELOPING ECONOMIC OPPORTUNITIES FOR
MOUNTAIN AREAS” Faculty of Agriculture, University of Torino/ July 1-August 10
o 2008 January-2008 March: Japan International Cooperation Agency fellowship. Participant of the Course “Integrated basin Management for Lake Environment”. Organized by International Lake Environment Project (ILEC). Kusatsu city, Japan
o 2006 – 2007: Junior Faculty Development Program. Environmental Studies. Michigan
State University, Institute of Water Research, visiting scholar. East Lansing, USA.
o 2006-2007: Watershed management, Watershed Inventory, Water Resources management postgraduate courses. Michigan State University, East Lansing, USA
o 2007: Intensive ESL (English as a Second Language) course. Applied English Center,
University of Kansas, USA
o 2006-2007: ESL (English as a second language) training course. High Intermediate
class. Organized by International Ministry, USA
o 2005-2006: “Training of trainers” Educational course for university teachers. Organized by National Council on Economic Education (NCEE), USA.
Rovshan Abbasov
o
o
o
Rovshan Abbasov
2003-2006: “Pre-service education training for Azerbaijan”. Curricula development
project for secondary schools. Organized By International Research and Exchange
Board (IREX), USA
2003: Educational summer school for university professors. Aegean University, Turkey. Organized by Turkey International Development Agency, TIKA, Turkey
2002: Ecological Summer school for junior University professors. Soros scholarship.
Yekaterinburg, Russia. Organized by Open Society Institute, USA