Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) is among today's core environmental policies in all European countries that are transposing the Water Framework Directive into their national legislation. Since the beginning of the 2000's, this Directive has induced water managers and policy makers to develop entirely new approaches and operational modes, thus triggering the complete renewal of research demand …. An analysis of 60 research programmes, carried out in 13 European countries, shows that, since the beginning of 2000, transposing the Directive has considerably changed the content of national or regional government-funded research programmes, and that issues and questions reflect two different aspects: the necessary consistent scientific approach in the long-term, and a consumer-oriented political action in a much shorter term. Owing to this complex situation and the importance of the topic, it appears then necessary to develop a networking tool among national and regional research programmes, in order to help their managers to enhance their practices, both by transferring good practices, and by developing new shared practices, methods and tools. Identifying IWRM issues and research needs in the short- and long-term, improving social understanding about research, promoting interdisciplinary research works, mapping of IWRM issues (both needs and current knowledge), constitute some of the main working axes of IWRM.Net network. The 19 partners, from 18 European member states, involved in the project agree on a shared vision of what should be IWRM.Net by 2010, then to launch a new ERANet schema to improve a networking of research activities and to co-ordinate national research policies for IWRM, with closed links with the actual PRBs to implement the WFD.