The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences Vienna (BOKU) is a teaching and research institution that focuses on renewable resources that are a prerequisite for human existence. Research at the BOKU contributes to ensuring a sustainable and environmentally sound management of natural resources by allying the competences of the natural, engineering, economic, and social sciences. The Institute for Soil Physics and Rural Water Management uses and develops experimental and mathematical modelling approaches to advance the understanding of water fluxes and transport in the vadose zone and in groundwater with the aim to protect and sustainably use soils, soil water and groundwater resources. Our expertise includes monitoring of hydraulic soil properties, flow and transport modelling, estimation of irrigation water demand, soil erosion, groundwater protection and isotope and tracer hydrology.