Experience (Work History)
1. National Institute for Environmental Studies (NIES), Japan Apr 2025 — Cont.
Climate Change Impacts Assessment Research Section
Designation: Research Associate
Project: Impact of global oceanic circulations on climate change
· Simulating the global hydrological model (5-arc minutes) to study the impact of changing climate on global oceanic circulations (AMOC) due to global warming.
2. The University of Tokyo, Japan
a) Research Scholar (Japanese Govt. funded) Oct 2021 — Sept 2024
Department of Civil Engineering, School of Engineering.
Incorporated dynamic crop area changes in a distributed hydrological model for realistic assessments.
Modeled the long-term crop area changes driven by farmers' responses to hydrometeorological and socioeconomic factors using a System Dynamics (SD) approach in the Indus Basin.
b) Research Assistant Aug 2022 — Mar 2025
Project: Social Collaboration Course by Suntory Corporation and Nippon Koei.
· Conducted a literature review on forest change and hydrology, analyzed its ecosystem impact, and standardized studies to a common index.
· Developed a database for literature and Land Surface Models (LSM) studies, identifying key variables for integrating physiology into the H08 (Global hydrological model).
· Analyzed the LSM’s variables for forest hydrology and manuscript preparation.
c) Academic Writing Consultant & Teaching Assistant (Head) Feb 2024 — Mar 2025
English Writing Consultants (ERIC), Division of Global Education.
· Academic consultant for scientific publications at the University of Tokyo.
· Assistance for the course “Academic Writing & Presentation”.
3. United Nations University (UNU-FLORES), Germany Oct 2022 — Dec 2022
Co-Hosted By TU Dresden, Germany
Designation: Visiting Researcher
Funded By: DAAD Germany, PAJAKO Program (Partnerschaften mit Japan und Korea) for NEXUS Studies.
· The research focused on offering solutions related to Water & Food Security in the Indus Basin, due to climate change, by coupling NEXUS and hydrodynamic modelling approaches.
· Collaborated as a physical modeler with NEXUS modelers at United Nations University and TU Dresden.
4. Pakistan Agricultural Research Council (PARC/NARC) Jan 2020 — Nov 2021
Climate, Energy and Water Resources Institute (CEWRI)
Designation: Research Assistant
Project: "Prime Minister's National Agriculture Emergency Program".
· Hydrological Modelling to estimate future water availability for agriculture in Pakistan and identify the optimized irrigation schemes and cropping patterns.
· Conducted field trials on water-intensive crops, exploring different irrigation techniques and alternative methods to enhance water management and improve rice crop productivity.
· Estimated Energy and Water withdrawals for water-intensive crops in Pakistan.
· Development of technical reports, capacity building assistance, and farmers' awareness seminars.
5. NUST Institute of Civil Engineering (NICE) / UNESCO, Pakistan Oct 2018 — Dec 2019
Designation: Research Assistant at UNESCO and JICA Project.
Project: "The Strategic Strengthening of Flood Warning and Management Capacity of Pakistan".
· Flood Modelling under data-scarce and transboundary environment.
· Identified alternative techniques of flood model calibration in data-scarce and complex basins.
· Application of precipitation products for flood modelling and identified the most efficient dataset with least biases.
· Organized technical workshops and community awareness programs on flood hazard assessments.
· Technical reports and article write-ups of all the tasks performed during the project.
6. AAJ SONS Pvt. Limited, Pakistan Oct 2017 — Sept 2018
Engineering Consultants & Builders
Designation: Water Resources Engineer
· Hydrological analysis, feasibility studies, and design for Dams and Hydropower projects.
· Estimated financial cost of projects for feasibility assessments and quotations.
7. Punjab Well Drilling Department, Pakistan Aug 2017 — Sept 2017
Designation: Intern Engineer
· Studied technical aspects of electrical resistivity surveys, well-drilling operations, and their assessments.
8. Institute of Hydroponic Agriculture, Pakistan Jul 2016 — Sept 2016
Designation: Intern Engineer
· Studied various aspects (structural, thermal, etc.) of hydroponics, including irrigation and drainage systems.
Research Publications/Thesis
i. Umer, M., Gabriel, H. F., Haider, S., Nusrat, A., Shahid, M., & Umer, M. (2021). Application of precipitation products for flood modeling of transboundary river basin: a case study of Jhelum Basin. Theoretical and Applied Climatology, 143, 989-1004, Access here.
ii. Ali, Z., Iqbal, M., Khan, I. U., Masood, M. U., Umer, M., Lodhi, M. U. K., & Tariq, M. A. U. R. (2023). Hydrological response under CMIP6 climate projection in Astore River Basin, Pakistan. Journal of Mountain Science, 20(8), 2263-2281, Access here.
iii. Asif, M., Nadeem, M. U., Anjum, M. N., Ahmad, B., Manuchekhr, G., Umer, M., ... & Liu, T. (2022). Evaluation of Soil Moisture-Based Satellite Precipitation Products over Semi-Arid Climatic Region. Atmosphere, 14(1), 8, Access here.
iv. Akbar, G., Islam, Z., Umer, M., & Salam, S. (2022). Water productivity of furrow, drip and flood irrigated rice under loam soil. Sarhad Journal of Agriculture, 38(5), 95-103, Access here.
v. Rizvi, F.F., W. Khan, S.M.R. Kazmi, and Umer, M. (2020). Application of MATLAB for designing and simulation of high efficiency center pivot irrigation system. Pakistan Journal of Agricultural Research, 33(2): 362-370, Access here.
vi. Umer, M. (2019) "Flood Modeling of Transboundary River Basin: A Case Study of River Jhelum Basin" (master’s Thesis, National University of Science and Technology (NUST), Islamabad 44000, Pakistan).
Manuscripts to be published (Under review/preparation):
i. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Gopalan, S.P., Ali, Z., Oki, T. Incorporating Dynamic Crop Area in Global Hydrological Model to Address Interannual Variability in Water Withdrawal and Enhance Sustainable Water Management. (Under review with moderate revisions in Journal of Hydrology)
ii. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Oki, T. Understanding Human-Hydrology Interactions in the Indus River Basin: A System Dynamics Approach to Investigate Crop Area Changes and Water Withdrawals.
Conference Presentations
i. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Gopalan, S. P., Oki, T. (2025, July 19–21). Dynamic crop area modeling for improved water withdrawal assessment in the Indus River Basin. 2nd International Sociohydrology Conference (ISHC 2025), Tokyo, Japan. Abstract ID: C000176.
ii. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Oki, T. (2023 December 12th). Understanding Human-Hydrology Interactions in the Indus River Basin: A System Dynamics Approach to Investigate Crop Area Changes and Water Withdrawals. Presented at the American Geophysical Union (AGU) Fall Meeting, San Francisco, California, US. Abstract ID: H21Z-1687, Available online.
iii. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Oki, T. (2023, September 4th). "The Impact of Profit-Driven Human Activities on Groundwater in Indus Basin: A Human-Hydrology Interaction Modeling Approach". Presented at the Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources Annual Meeting, Nagasaki, Japan. Access abstract.
iv. Umer, M., Hanasaki, N., Oki, T (2024 February 14th). “Modeling the Human-Hydrology Interaction using a Distributed Hydrological Model: Understanding varying Water Withdrawals in Indus River Basin due to Cultivated Area changes.”. Presented at the River and Environmental Engineering, Winter Conference, University of Tokyo, Japan.
Soft Skills – Level of Expertise
• Linux/UNIX – Expert Level
• Fortran – Intermediate Level
• Python – Intermediate Level to Expert level
• R – Basic Level
Microsoft Office – Expert Level
HEC-HMS (Hydrological Modeling System) – Expert Level
H08 (Global Hydrological Model) – Expert Level
Integrated Flood Analysis System (IFAS) – Expert Level
AutoCAD – Expert Level
ArcGIS (Geographic Information System) – Expert Level
Soil Water Analysis Tool (SWAT) – Intermediate Level
HEC-RAS (River Analysis System) – Intermediate Level
Photoshop Tools – Expert Level
Languages
English: Professional working proficiency.
Urdu: Native or bilingual proficiency.
Punjabi: Native or bilingual proficiency.
Hindi: Speaking proficiency only.
Japanese: Beginner.
Medals, Awards & Grants/Fundings
· Japanese Govt. (MEXT) fully funded research scholarship (UTokyo, 2021 – 2024).
· Millennium Sustainability Foundation Scholarship (UTokyo, 2024)
· Grant from DAAD Germany for hosting as a Visiting Researcher (UNU, 2022).
· President's Gold Medal for master’s studies (NUST, 2021).
· Certificate of appreciation (The University of Tokyo, 2025).
· Grant award for distinction in master's (Punjab Govt., 2017 – 2019).
· Scholarship during bachelor's and master's (Federal Govt., 2013 – 2019).
· Certificate of appreciation for 2nd Position in Poster Competition (UAAR, 2016).
Certifications, Memberships, Workshops & Short Courses
· Microsoft Office Certified (MS Word).
· Registered Engineer, Pakistan Engineering Council (PEC).
· Member of American Geophysical Union (AGU).
· Two Days of Training for Irrigation Management under the Prime Minister's Agriculture Emergency Program held on 15 and 16th September at the National Agriculture Research Centre (NARC).
· Young Engineers as Future Consultants, PEC (and several others).
· Two-day International Workshop on Hydro-Informatics and Water Management held on 27th and 28th June 2018 at the NUST Institute of Civil Engineering, Islamabad.
· World Water Day 2016, held at the Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi.
Other Certifications from Courses:
· Information Security Awareness – Foundational | United Nations Human Rights Responsibilities for staff in DEVNET, INFONET, LEGALNET and POLNET | Ethics and Integrity at the UN | United to Respect for Managers at the UN | Preventing Fraud & Corruption at the UN | Prevention of Sexual Exploitation & Abuse by UN Personnel: Managers & Commanders.