In 2002, the Federal Office for the Environment (FOEN), together with the research institutes VAW (ETH Zurich), LCH (EPF Lausanne), Eawag and WSL, initiated the research program "River Engineering and Ecology". The aim of the program is to develop scientific foundations for answering current practical questions in river management and to prepare outreach products for knowledge transfer.

To date, four projects have been completed under the research program:

1. Rhone-Thur (2002-2006),

2. Integrated river management (2007-2011),

3. Sediment and habitat dynamics (2013-2017), and

4. Riverscape – sediment dynamics and connectivity (2017-2021).

5. The project "Resilient Rivers" has been running since January 2022.

Researchers and practitioners from various disciplines participate in the program. The program financing is matched by the FOEN and the participating research institutions. The results are available to the public as well as professionals from federal authorities, private industry, NGOs and research in the form of

• Practice tools

• Overview and popular science articles

• Scientific articles

• Dissertations, master theses and student work