News
CEKA 2025 - 12th International course and field seminar "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer" will be held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 19 to 24 May 2025! Number of participants is limited to 20. Provisional CEKA 2025 programme and more information will be published by the end of January.
CEKA 2024 - 11th International course and field seminar "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer" was held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 26 May to 01 June 2024. The report can be found on the link below:
CEKA2024
The international course Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - CEKA will be held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 26 to June 1, 2024. Preliminary application form for CEKA 2024 can be found at the links below. Number of participants is limited.
CEKA 2023 - 10th International course and field seminar "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer" and anniversary of 15 years of CKH was held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 29 May to 04 June 2023. The report can be found on the link below:
CEKA 2023 Second Announcement
CEKA 2023 will be organized in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina from May 29 to June 4th 2023. Below are detailed program and application form:
New textbook "Hydrogeology 101" written by Dr. Neven Kresic have recently been published. "Hydrogeology 101" is a college textbook introducing basic concepts in groundwater science and engineering with 16 lectures. It covers introduction to hydrogeology, groundwater use, principles of groundwater flow, aquifers and aquitards, groundwater recharge and discharge including springs, groundwater chemistry, groundwater contamination and remediation, field investigations, groundwater in water supply, and guest lecture on groundwater drought in California by Alex Mikszewski. Free download can be found on link below:
FIRST ANNOUNCEMENT – CEKA2023
The international course Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - CEKA will be held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from May 29 to June 4, 2023. As part of the course, a celebration of the decennial anniversary of this expert course in the field of karst hydrogeology will be organized.
At the beginning of the course, a Ceremonial Academy will be held on the occasion of 15 years of existence and work of the Centre for Karst Hydrogeology – CKH, furthermore a Workshop will be held, with lectures by eminent experts dealing with karst hydrogeology, who will later be lecturers at the decennial CEKA course.
Promotional posters, the preliminary program, as well as the “Preliminary application form for CEKA 2023” for applying to the course can be found at the links below:
Promotional poster for CEKA 2023
Promotional poster for 15 years of CKH
The multidisciplinary conference Importance, State of the Art, and Prospective of Utilization and Protection of Resources in Karst took place on October 21st 2022 in the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SASA), Belgrade, Serbia
Announcement
The multidisciplinary conference Importance, State of the Art, and Prospective of Utilization and Protection of Resources in Karst will be held on October 21st 2022 in Belgrade, Serbia. The plenary lectures and oral presentations will take place at the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), Kneza Mihaila St. 35, Belgrade, Serbia. The conference will provide space for both working professionals and the academic students, to present results of their challenging work in the karst environments.
The conference will be organized by Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts (SANU), Board on Karst and Speleology, University of Belgrade - Faculty of Geography, Geographical Institute „Jovan Cvijić“ of the Serbian Academy of Sciences and Arts, Centre for Karst Hydrogeology of the Faculty of Mining and Geology and Karst Commission of the Serbian Geological Society.
CEKA 2022 - 9th International course and field seminar "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer" was held in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina from 26 to 30th May 2022. The course report can be found on the link below:
CEKA 2022 Second Announcement
CEKA 2022 will be organized in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina from May 26 to 30th 2022. Below are detailed program and application form:
Lands of Karst Published ! Free download
A book of nice photographs, “The Lands of Karst. A Visual Story” has just been published and is available for free download on our web site. It is a contribution to the International Year of Cave and Karst declared by the International Union of Speleology and supported by UNESCO and numerous institutions and organizations.
The book comprises several hundred color photographs from six Lands of Karst - Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and North Macedonia, which had been recorded by more than 70 geologists, speleologists, biologists, archaeologists, mountaineers, professional photographers or simply amateurs - karst and caves lovers.
The editors of this story are Neven Kresic and Zoran Stevanović, who following the rule “a picture is worth a thousand words” prepared very short informative texts for 10 chapters featuring photographs of noisy rivers, wild mountains, silent lakes, the sea, limestone walls, rough surfaces, fountains of life, windows to unknown, magic chambers, underground creatures, wildlife, and past and present human inhabitants.
You are welcome to step with us into Our Worlds, The Lands of Karst !
The event “A Week with Karst” which included the traditional 8th course Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers, a special thematic session “Lecturing by Distinguished Guests” and Virtual Conference KARST 2021 “From Top to Bottom” was successfully organized from 1 to 6 June 2021, as the celebration of “International Year of Caves and Karst”. The event “A Week with Karst” was organized by the Centre for Karst Hydrogeology from Belgrade University.
The Report of the event and the Book of abstract can be found below.
Report of the event "A Week with Karst"
Book of abstracts of the Virtual Conference KARST 2021 “From Top to Bottom”
A WEEK WITH KARST - from 1 to 7 June 2021 - dedicated to the International Year of Caves and Karst
Traditional 8th course „Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers“ (CEKA) will take place virtually from 1 to 4 June 2021 via Zoom platform. During the course, 11 professors will provide 18 lectures ranging from basic karst hydrogeology to special engineering solutions and their environmental impacts. The tentative program and application form can be found below:
The course is supported by the UNESCO-IHP, Regional Waterworks of Montenegro Coast, City of Trebinje, Hydro Power System “Trebišnjica”, Geological Survey of Montenegro, Geological Survey of Republic of Srpska, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Northern Arizona University, Edwards Aquifer, TX and The National Committee of IAH for Serbia and the KARMA project.
Provisional program of the CEKA 2021 online course
A special thematic session “Lecturing by Distinguished Guests“ with online presentations of 12 invited eminent karst experts (Augusto Auler, Jianhua Cao, Francesco Fiorillo, Derek Ford, Nico Goldscheider, Chris Groves, John Gunn, Hervé Jourde, Attila Kovács, Peter Malik, Bartolomé Andreo Navarro, Abe Springer) will take place on Zoom platform on 5 June 2021 starting from 10 AM (CET). This session is dedicated to 40 years of work of Prof. Zoran Stevanović in karst hydrogeology and his retirement from the University of Belgrade.
Program of the special thematic session “Lecturing by Distinguished Guests“
Virtual Multidisciplinary Conference for karst researchers and professionals “Karst: From Top to Bottom” will take place on Zoom platform on 6-7 June 2021. The conference will cover many aspects of research in karst, so we encourage researchers from various fields of karstology and karst hydrogeology to join the event. The conference is open to all, but is especially devoted to younger and talented karst researchers – those preferably, but not limited to, under the age of 40.
The Conference is supported by the UNESCO-IHP, Regional Waterworks of Montenegro Coast, City of Trebinje, Hydro Power System “Trebišnjica”, Geological Survey of Montenegro, Geological Survey of Republic of Srpska, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Northern Arizona University, Edwards Aquifer, TX and The National Committee of IAH for Serbia and the KARMA project.
“Karst: From Top to Bottom” Conference Programme
“Karst: From Top to Bottom” promotional leaflet
CEKA 2020 CANCELLATION - click here
IMPORTANT INFORMATION FOR CEKA 2020 - click here
International Course and Field Seminar Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers will take place in the two Dinaric "karst countries" Montenegro and Bosnia & Herzegovina from 11 to 20 June 2020. Tentative schedule and Application form can be found on the link below:
List of participant - up to March 2020
Provisional program for CEKA 2020 - MARCH UPDATE
Geo Trip of the Karst Commission of IAH in the karstic terrains of Romania and Serbia had been successfully organized by joint effort of Romanian and Serbian hydrogeologists between 14 and 18 June, 2019.
The National Chapter for Serbia of the IAH in cooperation with the Karst Commission of IAH and the Karst Commission of the Serbian Geological Society had organized 4th Conference of the Central European Group of IAH in Donji Milanovac, Serbia, between 18-20 June, 2019. The Proceedings of the Conference can be found HERE.
CEKA 2019 - 6th International course sponsored by UNESCO "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer" was held in Belgrade and Carpathian karst of Eastern Serbia between 27. May and 1 June 2019.
The report4th Conference of Central European Group (CEG) of IAH - Second Announcement
CEKA 2019 New Announcement - Due to some financial and administrative problems which our sponsors and supportive institutions are facing this year the Organization Committee of the CEKA 2019 has decided to change place and to conduct training course and field seminars at the University of Belgrade and in the Carpathian karst between 27 May and 1 June, 2019. The programme is also slightly modified. The foreign students in need of Serbian visa have to make a short notice in order to prepare invitation letters for them.
The Jubilee of Cvijić's "Das Karstphaenomen"
On 7 November, 2018 the Special Session was organised in the Serbian Academy of Science and Arts, Belgrade to commemorate 125 years since publishing of one of the milestones in development of karstology and karst hydrogeology – the Monograph “Das Karstphaenomen” written by Jovan Cvijić. The 20 invited lectures related to Cvijić’s work and life and state of art in karstology, speleology and karst hydrogeology, have been presented by experts from Bosnia & Herzegovina, Montenegro, Slovenia and Serbia. More information can be found here while book of abstracts is available here.
International Course and Field Seminar Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers will take place in Trebinje, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Virpazar, Montenegro from 26 May to 04 June 2019. Promotional leaflet and Application form can be found on the link below:
Tentative schedule for CEKA 2019Djerdap Gorge: Some photos and promotional leaflet for the Djerdap Aspiring Geopark as location of forthcoming events in 2019 are posted in the section Gallery.
The IAH Karst Commission (KC) and the National Chapter of IAH for Serbia jointly organize the two events in Mid June, 2019 in Carpathian karst of Serbia and Romania. The Geo Trip in karstic terrains of the two countries will take place between 14 and 18 June, while the 4th Conference of Central European Group (CEG) of IAH (open for attendants from all countries) will continue from 18 to 20 June, 2019, in Donji Milanovac (Danube gorge), Serbia.
The organizers made an effort to reduce cost to maximal possible extent, as such that Geo Trip will be without any fee (participants will just cover real expenses), and for CEG event minimal fee is imposed, payable at the spot. The Application list is available and preliminary response should be sent before 31 October, 2018
Granted Awards of the CKH in Occasion of 10th Anniversary
On the occasion of 10th Anniversary since establishment and successful operation, the CKH has granted five Awards to renowned experts who „contributed to development of the Centre and karst hydrogeology science”. They have actively cooperated in implementation of the CKH projects, programme activities and organization and lecturing of the international course „Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers“. The nominees are:
- Dr Petar Milanović,
- Dr Neven Krešić,
- Dr Ognjen Bonacci,
- Dr Derek Ford,
- Dr Borivoje Mijatović (posthum).
Along with experts one special Award has granted to the institution the Hydopower System Trebišnjica – HET, Trebinje for their continual support of the internacional course „Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers“.
The awards are delivered in Trebinje, during the opening ceremony of the international conference „KARST2018 – Expect the Unexpected“, on 6 June, 2018.Visit of eminent karstologists Derek Ford and Petar Milanovic to Centre for Karst Hydrogeology
Symposium KARST 2018 "Expect the Unexpected"
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - Trebinje, B&H, Virpazar, Montenegro, 27 May - 05 June 2018
NEW INFO Symposium KARST 2018 "Expect the Unexpected"
CEKA 2018 Announcement
Symposium KARST 2018 "Expect the Unexpected"
CEKA 2018 Announcement - Preliminary schedule
We are pleased to announce the Symposium KARST 2018 "Expect the Unexpected" in honour of 80th Anniversary of professor Dr. Petar Milanovic to be held in Trebinje from 06 to 09 June 2018.
Report on participation of CKH members on 44th Annual IAH Congress held in Dubrovnik, Croatia
CEKA 2018 - 27 May to 05 June 2018 to be held in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina and Virpazar, Montenegro
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers REPORT - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 01 - 08 June, 2017
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1 - 8, June, 2017
Report on visit of CKH members to IRCK, Guilin, China
Members of the Centre for Karst Hydrogeology, Dr. Saša Milanović, Scientific Researcher and Veljko Marinović, MSc Hydrogeologist, took part in International Training course on Integrated Control on Rocky Desertification, Carbon Cycle and Sink in Karst System, held in Guilin, China in the period from November 13 to 27 of 2016. The course was organized by the International Research Center on Karst (IRCK) under the auspices of UNESCO
The 4th Intrernational Course "Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers" for the year 2017 which will be jointly organized by CKH and North Arizona University, USA is announced. It will take place between 1 and 8 June 2017 in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina. Information on previous courses and movie from the last event are available here under. More organizational details will be placed on this web site after February 1. The interested participants are very welcome and have to fill the Application form
Movie CEKA 2016 is now available on Youtube
Participation of CKH members to the IWA Specialst Groundwater Conference, 09 - 11.06.2016.
Visit of eminent hydrogeologist to FMG - CKH, 08.06.2016.
Visit of CKH members to the Source Bolje Sestre tapped for Regional Waterworks of the Montenegrin Coast, 07.06.2016
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers REPORT - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, May 30 - 06 June, 2016
Karst Aquifers Management in the frame of the IWA Conference to be held in Belgrade, 9-11 June, 2016
See more at
IWA Specialist Belgrade Groundwater Conference 2016
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 30 May-05, June, 2016
Application form for 2016 course
Logistic issues for the CEKA course 2016
Report on participating of CKH member to IRCK training course, Nanning, China
Member of the Centre for Karst Hydrogeology, Branislav Petrovć, BSc Hydrogeologist, took part in International Training Course on Karst Landscape, Geopark, Natural Heritage, Environmental Geology Mapping and Data Mining, held in Nanning, China in the period from September 20 to October 04 of 2015. The course was organized by the International Research Center on Karst (IRCK) under the auspices of UNESCO
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers REPORT - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1 - 7 June, 2015
NEW Book - "Karst Aquifers - Characterization and Engineering"
Stevanović, Zoran (Ed.)
Written by 22 authors, experts in Karst hydrogeology from 11 countries. 692 pages, 17 chapters. This practical training guidebook makes an important contribution to karst hydrogeology. It presents supporting material for academic courses worldwide that include this and similar topics. It is an excellent sourcebook for students and other attendees of the International Karst School: Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers, which opened in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina in 2014 and which will be organized every year in early summer.
- Concise explanation of karst and exploration methods
- Systematic and step-by-step explanations facilitate understanding of how to sustainably use and protect groundwater
- Great number of practical examples and lessons
- Considerable number of sketches and figures perfectly illustrate the descriptions provided
As opposed to more theoretical works, this is a catalog of possible engineering interventions in karst and their implications. Although the majority of readers will be professionals with geology/hydrogeology backgrounds, the language is not purely technical making it accessible to a wider audience. This means that the methodology, case studies and experiences presented will also benefit water managers working in karst environments.
More information on Springer web site http://www.springer.com/gp/book/9783319128498
Visit of CKH members to IRCK, Guilin, China
In the period from 15. 10. to 31. 10. 2014 year, members of the Center for Karst Hydrogeology, Dr. Sasa Milanovic and Ljiljana Vasic, BSc. geol. were guests of IRCK in Guilin, China, where they took a part in 6th IRCKs “International training course in karst ecosystem and geomicrobiology”, as well as in the international Symposium "Sustainable utilization of water resources in developing countries" Guilin 2014. During visit, Dr Sasa Milanovic was called by Academician Yuan Daoxian to give a lecture at Southwest University in Chongqing with topic “Modeling of karst aquifers - physical setting from conceptualization to application”.
150 Anniversary of Jovan Cvijić`s birth - International conference in Belgrade, October, 2015
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 1 - 7, June, 2015
Preliminary list of participants
Logistic issues for the CEKA course
Application form for 2015 course
Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifers REPORT - Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina, 3 - 10 June, 2014
Read moreKarst school Trebinje - Karst summer school logistical info final
Karst summer school logistical info final
Read moreNEWS for the Karst school Trebinje
The Organizer is making an effort to get support from UNESCO and DIKTAS Project and to ensure for the course to be free of charge for all participants. Moreover, the travel cost and accommodation for those arriving from remote destinations would be reimbursed up to the amount of 150 USD per participant.
List of received applications until May 2014.
Read moreMonographs and papers
In section Library are posted some of the papers and monographs written by members of CKH. Among others: Speleology and speleo diving in karst hydrogeology, Our 40 Years (History of the Department of Hydrogeology), Water supply and sustainable management of groundwater resources in Serbia, etc.
Read moreKarst School Trebinje
The international course and field seminar Characterization and Engineering of Karst Aquifer which is equivalent to accredited course of MS study at the Department of Hydrogeology FMG will start in June of 2014 and will be traditionally held in Trebinje, Bosnia & Herzegovina.
Read moreWorkshop on Numeric Modeling of Karst Aquifers organized by CKH held in June 2013 in Trebinje
Report on international workshop „Problems and Solutions in Numeric Modeling of Karst Aquifers“...
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