Professor Kiran Tota-Maharaj

Professor Kiran Tota-Maharaj is Professor, Chair, and Head of Civil Engineering at the University of Hull, England, UK. An internationally recognised scholar, Chartered Engineer, and academic leader, Professor Tota-Maharaj brings over two decades of global academic, industrial, and strategic leadership to Hull, specialising in sustainable hydro-systems engineering, nature-based solutions, circular water-energy nexuses, and resource recovery.

Prior to joining the University of Hull, Prof. Tota-Maharaj held dual strategic appointments as Professor and Chair of Water Resources Management and Infrastructure and Director of the Water, Energy and Environmental Engineering (WEEE) Research Cluster at the Royal Agricultural University in Cirencester, Gloucestershire, alongside serving as Technical Director for Water, Wastewater & Environmental Engineering at the Water Research Centre Ltd (WRc) in Swindon, Wiltshire. His extensive industrial experience and academic career span senior executive and academic leadership roles across the UK higher education sector. These include Head of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Deputy Head of School at the University of the West of England (UWE Bristol), Associate Dean for External Engagement and Reader in Civil Engineering (Water and Environmental Engineering) at Aston University, Senior Lecturer in Water and Environmental Engineering at the University of Greenwich, Lecturer in Environmental Engineering at the Urban Water Technology Centre (UWTC), Abertay University Dundee, and Lecturer in Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Salford, Manchester.

Prof. Kiran holds premier professional credentials reflecting his multidisciplinary engineering leadership. He is a Chartered Engineer (CEng), a Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers (FICE), a Fellow of the Institute of Water (FIoW), a Member of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers (MIMechE), and a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (FHEA). Internationally, he is registered as a Professional Engineer (REng) with the Board of Engineering of Trinidad and Tobago (BOETT) in the West Indies.

A prolific researcher, Prof. Tota-Maharaj’s work bridges the gap between fundamental environmental engineering processes and field-scale infrastructure applications. Beyond his institutional leadership, he plays an active role in shaping sector-wide innovation and policy, serving on the official judging panel for the Ofwat Water Innovation Fund's £50 million Water Breakthrough Challenge to evaluate transformative initiatives across the UK water utility sector. He also serves as an External Examiner for several UK and international undergraduate and postgraduate engineering programmes and regularly delivers keynote addresses at major international summits on civil, environmental, and infrastructure engineering.

At the University of Hull, Professor Kiran Tota-Maharaj leads the Civil Engineering discipline in delivering world-class, industry-aligned education, expanding strategic research partnerships across the water, energy, and environmental engineering domains, and driving sustainable infrastructure engineering solutions to address global climate resilience.