The Department of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management at the University of Duisburg-Essen has been headed by Prof. André Niemann since 2010. He studied civil engineering at Leibniz Universität Hannover from 1989 to 1996. After successfully graduating, he was a research assistant and DFG fellow at the Department of Urban Water and Waste Management at the University-GH Essen. He completed his doctorate (Dr.-Ing.) in 2000. His subsequent professional career led Prof. Niemann to Dahlem Beratende Ingenieure, where he last worked as an authorized signatory in 2010. In 2010, he was appointed professor of the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management at the University of Duisburg-Essen.

In recent years, Prof. Niemann and his team have worked on numerous projects with a total volume of €1.8 million, with particular mention of the project phases for the feasibility study of an underground pumped storage plant in a mine in the Ruhr region. Furthermore, the staff of the institute deals with the management and use of water bodies, the protection against floods as well as the protection and preservation of natural water bodies. Focal points of interest here include hydropower and water quality. His scientific findings are documented in more than 40 publications.

In addition to his duties at the Institute of Hydraulic Engineering and Water Resources Management, Prof. Niemann is active in various DWA technical committees and working groups. Since 2013, he has been a board member of the Center for Water and Environmental Research at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Furthermore, he has been a visiting professor at the College of Hydropower and Water Resources at Wuhan University in China since 2013 and head of the sustainability process at the University of Duisburg-Essen. Since 2019, Prof. Niemann has headed the DWA working group GB 2.20 "Deadwood in watercourse maintenance". As the main committee chairman of the DWA, he has headed the HA BIZ (Education and International Cooperation) since 2022. Currently, eight scientific staff members are doing their doctorates at Prof. Niemann's institute, with the main topics being watercourse continuity and restoration, success monitoring of restoration measures, development of sensors and measuring techniques, and the creation of overall concepts for integral water management.