We offer a range of courses and training opportunities on topics in our wheelhouse, including:
- Raven basic introduction and configuration
- Advanced Raven topics (e.g. reservoir routing, gridded inputs, basin delineation tools, model structure optimization)
- NetCDF file handling and use in Raven
- Model optimization and sensitivity analysis with Ostrich
- Introduction to R for hydrologic modelling
- Advanced R topics (package building, mapping and leaflet applications, time series analysis)
Our upcoming courses are listed below, but feel free to Contact Us or fill out our Future Course Survey if you are interested in seeing a specific course or customized training for your organization!
If you wish to be notified of upcoming course announcements, consider subscribing to our Newsletter to stay up-to-date with announcements and course offerings from Heron.
Offline Courses – New!
We are happy to announce that we are now offering offline (self-directed) courses, beginning with a course on Magpie for efficient model-building with Raven! Our first Magpie course is free to enroll into, so enroll today and update your skills with hydrologic modelling.
You can now enroll yourself directly in our courses, available at heronhydrologic.ca/courses

Upcoming Courses
No upcoming dates for live course deliveries, but please contact us if you are interested.
Check back here for new course dates as they are announced!
Past Courses
Introductory Raven Training Course
This introductory-level training course provides participants with the knowledge to use Raven and related tools for modelling and calibration work, and is useful to researchers and professionals alike. The course starts with the basics of understanding the Raven input files and running the model, and build up to modifying the model, manual and automatic model calibration, and using the R programming language to generate plots from Raven output files.
By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- understand the required Raven input files, and which templates or tools are available to help build these files;
- apply Raven to perform flood forecasting, reservoir management, water budgets and transport simulations;
- understand the hydrologic modelling process, Raven input/output files, and basic interpretation of these files;
- perform calibration of a Raven model using the Ostrich software; and
- use tools in R, such as RavenR, to analyze Raven files and generate visualizations.
Advanced Raven Course – February 22-23 2024
In this two day advanced Raven course will move beyond the basics, and provide an introduction to some useful topics in building and using Raven models for practitioners. By the end of this course, you will be able to:
- build a set of Raven input files from scratch;
- quickly develop a model structure and parameter files using R and RavenR;
- use BasinMaker to develop watershed delineations and model input files for Raven;
- download gridded data (from CaSPAr) and provide Raven with gridded inputs and forcings;
- configure the latest reservoir tools in Raven;
- use Ostrich to perform more advanced calibration, including calibrating to reservoir stage and applying custom diagnostics in calibration;
- use Magpie to build hydrologic models efficiently within a Colab environment.
Check back here our upcoming course offerings and registration links.
Interested in a specific course topic for your organization? Feel free to Contact Us, or consider arranging customized training for your group.