Verena Munz is a planning engineer in the Hydraulic Engineering department at Dorsch Engineers. As a TUM alumna, she is featured in the fifth episode of the video series "Zukunft gestalten – Ingenieurinnen berichten aus der Praxis" (Shaping the Future – Female Engineers Report from Practice), produced by the TUM School of Engineering and Design (TU Munich), where she gives an honest and concrete account of her day-to-day work in flood protection planning and structural hydraulic engineering.
What she values about her profession comes through clearly in the video. Engineering, as she experiences it, is a field where competence speaks for itself. "In the end, it's really just about what you can do. And that's genuinely refreshing." Her decision to study environmental engineering at TUM was a deliberate one: she wanted a discipline that connected knowledge of natural systems with the practical goal of solving problems. That combination remains central to her work today.
The tasks she handles at Dorsch Engineers often begin well before any design work: First, historical flood events need to be researched and baseline data gathered, before the various specialist planning disciplines can be brought together and coordinated. In flood protection projects, whether involving embankments, retention basins, flood polders or pumping stations, understanding past events is the foundation for sound planning decisions.
The film illustrates this with a specific example: the flood protection project on the river Paar near Manching, where technical protective structures had to be integrated into an existing built environment and an established cultural landscape in a way that fulfils their protective purpose without visually dominating the surroundings.
For her personal dream project, Verena names the Sylvensteinspeicher reservoir in the Isar valley, one of the key flood protection structures in the Isar catchment area. Its function is, for her, not an abstract concept. "In 2013, for example, water levels in the city were right up to the underside of the bridges. The reservoir genuinely protects Munich." Projects like this show how tangible and long-lasting the effects of good hydraulic planning can be.
Alongside flood protection, structural hydraulic engineering on inland waterways is a second core area of the department. Locks, weir structures and harbour facilities, many of which have been in service for decades, require refurbishment, modernisation and in some cases complete renewal to keep the waterway as a transport route both economically and ecologically viable.
Verena also speaks openly in the video about her experience as a mother working in engineering, and about the lack of female role models in senior positions in the field. Her advice to young women entering the profession is direct: seek out experience wherever possible, take on challenges when they arise, and make the most of every opportunity.
The full video (in German) is available here and on the TU Munich YouTube channel.
🔗 Watch the video:vhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Viv0WMkl3LU