In 1972, Mr. Van Beek graduated cum laude at the Delft University of Technology in Civil Engineering. He joined Delft Hydraulics (now Deltares) in 1976. During the 45+ years of his career, Prof. Van Beek has carried out many water resources development projects, ranging from projects with emphasis on long-term planning to real-time operation. He is co-author of the textbook on water resources management “Water Resource Systems Planning and Management – An Introduction to Methods, Models, and Applications” with Professor Pete Loucks. In 1992, Mr. van Beek was appointed part-time (30%) professor in Modelling in Water Resources Management at the Delft University of Technology, a position he kept till 2004. From 2007 till 2017 he held a similar position (also 30 %) at University of Twente. He teaches also at IHE-DELFT. From 2012 till 2018 Prof. Van Beek was member of the Technical Committee of GWP.