The UP National Hydraulic Research Center (NHRC) was established in 1973 as a unit of the University of the Philippines with the aim of creating a research and development center within an academic environment to conduct research and provide technical advice on various problems of water resources development and management, hydrology, hydraulic and coastal engineering, fluid mechanics, and other related fields. Its creation in the 1970’s was very timely since the national government then started undertaking several water resources projects which required the technical inputs provided by both local and international experts in the field of water resources.

UP NHRC has developed and served as the national center of water-resources expertise, and provided the support organization and physical facilities for conducting the necessary physical and mathematical modeling research and producing technical output and advice in water resources engineering and management needed by government and the private sector. The outputs and activities of NHRC are in the forms of improved designs and plans of hydraulic structures (developed either by physical or mathematical modeling), engineering application software, technical training and transfer of technology to clients’ personnel, technical analysis and advice on particular problems, publications, lectures/seminars/conferences, and consultations and meetings with various concerned sectors in the water resources field.