Patrice Droz is a civil engineer with more than 40 years of experience and a track record in dam design, rehabilitation and safety. He graduated at EPFL in 1982 and obtained a PhD, also at EPFL, in 1987. After a post-doc at Northwestern University, he oriented his activities towards consulting engineering, first at Bonnard & Gardel and then at Stucky, now Gruner, where he has been Technical Director for several years. He has been involved in many projects in Switzerland and worldwide, particularly in China, DR Congo, France, Georgia, Haiti, Iran, Kirghizstan, Libya, Morocco, Myanmar, Philippines, Portugal, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Ukraine and Zambia. Patrice Droz is currently expert for the safety of four large dams in Switzerland and member of the ICOLD technical committee on “Integrated Operation of Hydropower Stations and Reservoirs”. Besides his activities of consulting engineer, he has been teaching “Water Resources Management” at EPFL for 20 years.
Presently, as independent, he is involved in the Dam Safety Technical and Institutional Assistance project in Lao PDR, a project financed by the Swiss Agency for Development and Cooperation.