Keith John Beven FRS (born 23 July 1950)[3] is a British hydrologist and distinguished emeritus professor in hydrology at Lancaster University.

[4] In 2017, Beven was elected a member of the National Academy of Engineering for contributions to the understanding of hydrological processes and development of the foundations of modern hydrological modeling.

Beven was educated at Chislehurst and Sidcup Grammar School, graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in geography from the University of Bristol in 1971 and was awarded a PhD from the University of East Anglia (UEA) in 1975 for research on catchment hydrology supervised by Keith Clayton.

[1][5][2] Beven worked at the University of Leeds (1974–1977) and the Institute of Hydrology, Wallingford (1977–1979 and 1982–1985).

He has held visiting positions at the University of California, Santa Barbara (1996)[citation needed] and École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland (1997);[citation needed] KU Leuven, Belgium (1999–2000)[citation needed] and Uppsala University and the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) Uppsala, Sweden as Konung Carl XVI Gustafs Gästprofessor i Miljövetenskap in 2006–2007.