Tenured: Andrea Cominola appointed W3-Professor of Digital Water Systems at Technische Universität Berlin
ECDF Professor Andrea Cominola was officially appointed to a W3 professorship at Technische Universität Berlin on November 13, 2025. Cominola now heads the Digital Water Systems Chair. The appointment highlights his commitment to interdisciplinary research in the field of digital water and human-environment systems.
“I am very pleased to continue researching and teaching at TU Berlin and the ECDF. I owe this success to both institutions, which offer inspiring environments where interdisciplinary research truly thrives. Receiving tenure is a great honor for me and also a motivation to push our work on next-generation water systems – supported by digital technologies – and on sustainable solutions for human-water systems with even more energy and dedication,” said the Italian-born professor.
Cominola studied Environmental Engineering and Information Technology in Milan, Italy, before moving to Berlin. From October 2018 until receiving tenure, he was ECDF Professor for “Smart Water Networks” at the ECDF and TU Berlin, where he continues to conduct research on digital water systems. His main research areas include modeling and management of water and energy demand, leakage and anomaly detection, behavior modeling, data mining and machine learning for water and coupled human-environment systems analysis. He develops tools that inform planning and management decisions by combining intelligent water monitoring technologies and models based on advanced data analysis, artificial intelligence, and optimization techniques. Since 2023, he has also been a member and vice-speaker of the ECDF Board of Directors.
During his time as a junior professor at the ECDF, Andrea Cominola worked on various projects, including the establishment of the ide3a university network (international alliance for digital e-learning, e-mobility and e-research in academia) and, more recently, the project “iOLE – Intelligent Online LEakage detection”. The project provides digital solutions for water conservation by identifying and localizing emerging leaks as quickly, automatically, and reliably as possible. The project began on September 1, 2023, and is expected to run until January 31, 2026. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) as part of the funding initiative “Digital GreenTech – Environmental Technology Meets Digitalization”, which aims to develop technologies that conserve natural resources and reduce environmental impact.
“The tenure confirms to me that we are on the right track with our research priorities: making water and wastewater systems smarter and more resilient, using resources more efficiently and bringing technological innovations responsibly into society. Major challenges in the water sector will continue to increase in the coming years and I see it as my mission to work together with my team and our interdisciplinary partners to tackle them,” Cominola explains.
The Einstein Foundation Berlin and the Senate Department for Higher Education and Research, Health and Long-Term Careattach particular importance to the long-term establishment of the ECDF in Berlin as a center of science and research. The Senate Chancellery has therefore promised ten permanent ECDF professorships at an early stage. The selection process for these positions was carried out in 2020 and 2021, with five professors selected for each year. In 2023 and 2024, the first professors were able to take up their permanent positions, with more to follow after the appointment of Andrea Cominola.