The annual Christiaan Brunings Lecture brings together the scientists, practitioners and managers of rivers and estuaries as well as other professionals in the field. Until 2020, the keynote lecture was given by a leading international scientist, and a second lecture was given on the same topic by a nationally recognised expert from an institute or industry.

Usually the lecture is followed by a visit to the Metronome, a novel experimental setup where rivers and estuaries are created at a scale of about 1:2000.