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Tony Allan

January 29, 1937 - April 15, 2021

To all who knew him, Tony Allan was a humble, kind and generous individual. Professor Tony Allan was an eminent scholar, most noted for his pioneering work on virtual water. He had a long and established career at the School of Oriental and African Studies and most recently at King’s College London. He was a true interdisciplinarian, starting his career as a physical geographer making a mark since the 1960s with extensive studies of Libya and working at the cutting edge of remote sensing. He was a prominent expert on the Middle East and North African region. He later engaged deeply and enthusiastically with the politics and policy of water resources management, which led to the ground-breaking work identifying the significance and role of water embedded in production and consumption. He also created and led the London Water Research Group, an inclusive and intercollegiate network of thinkers. He pushed those attending the numerous informal seminars and workshops to be more critical and better communicators. Tony received the highly prestigious Stockholm Water Prize in 2008 as well as the Florence Monito Water Prize in 2013 and the Monaco Water Prize in 2013. His curiosity and research was unstoppable, producing several classic texts, including the Middle East Water Question (2001), Virtual Water: Tackling the Threat to Our Planet's Most Precious Resource (2011) and The Oxford Handbook of Food, Water and Society (2019). He devoted many decades to research, education and communication, inspiring generations of students, academics, activists, artists, farmers and professionals across the world. Tony was a singular figure remembered for his extraordinary dedication, integrity, creativity, hard work, and courage.

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Declan Conway 2021-04-19 10:45:52 wrote:

I first met Tony in May 1990 at a remote sensing workshop on the Sudd (also the first time I met John Sutcliffe, another water giant) and then later that year at the fascinating multi-disciplinary conference he organised with Paul Howells on the Nile (one of many strands in Tony's vast area of work). This was just as I was starting my PhD and he was incredibly supportive, enthusiastic and willing to share his knowledge, something many others have clearly experienced. Since then our paths crossed every so often, particularly in relation to the Nile and his probing questions about what climate change might mean for water in the basin. It was a great pleasure to join meetings in London and meet such a range of watery people – you never knew who you might meet, but you knew you would have interesting and challenging conversations. Highly interdisciplinary well ahead of his time, Tony had a strong and open hold on the need to understand water in all its complex settings. Many fond memories, what a loss to the world of water, but his legacy lives on in his ideas and the many students he taught and supported.

Declan Conway 2021-04-19 10:45:52 wrote: I first met Tony in May 1990 at a remote sensing workshop on the Sudd (also the first time I met John Sutcliffe, another water giant) and then later that year at the fascinating multi-disciplinary conference he organised with Paul Howells on the Nile (one of many strands in Tony's vast area of work). This was just as I was starting my PhD and he was incredibly supportive, enthusiastic and willing to share his knowledge, something many others have clearly experienced. Since then our paths crossed every so often, particularly in relation to the Nile and his probing questions about what climate change might mean for water in the basin. It was a great pleasure to join meetings in London and meet such a range of watery people – you never knew who you might meet, but you knew you would have interesting and challenging conversations. Highly interdisciplinary well ahead of his time, Tony had a strong and open hold on the need to understand water in all its complex settings. Many fond memories, what a loss to the world of water, but his legacy lives on in his ideas and the many students he taught and supported.

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