The research group is coordinated by Dr. José Luiz Stech, and has been leading several research on inland water quality monitoring. Our research have been supported by several agencies such as: CEPEL - Centro de Pesquisas de Energia Elétrica; Chesf - São Francisco's Hydroelectric Company; CNPq - National Council for Scientific and Technological Development; Eletronorte - North Brazil Central Electric; FAPESP - São Paulo Research Foundation; Furnas Central Electric and the Brazilian Ministry of Fishery and Aquaculture.

Because of the large number of projects developed by Dr. Stech's group, the International Expert Panel on Global Challenges of Water Governance was created as an oportunity to analyzed the contribution of scientific community to the water governance, as well as, to create new paths to continue the development already started by our group.

The International Expert Panel on Global Challenges of Water Governance is an opportunity for researchers with different expertises to discuss the main challenges of a global problem: the Water Governance of Inland Waters. This panel has as its main goal the establishment of partnerships among research groups to list the main research lines to help the policy makers to improve the water governance on their cities, states or countries.