Awards announced for water sector research

Energy Saturday 08/June/2019 21:25 PM
By: Times News Service
Awards announced for water sector research

Muscat: The Middle East Desalination Research Center (MEDRC) has announced the latest recipients of the organisation’s Innovation Initiative grant awards.
The awards help to boost innovation by supporting impactful projects in the water sector of Palestine and Jordan with small research grants or seed funding to help develop big ideas.
This is the second batch of awards granted by MEDRC and brings the total number of water research projects funded to date under the initiative, to seventeen. Facilitated through funding provided by the government of the Netherlands, the Innovation Initiative provides funding ranging from US$3,000 to US$5,000 per project and will have awarded a total of US$120,000 by the end of this year. The Innovation Initiative award funds are for special projects of resident-nationals, working on issues directly affecting the water security of Palestine and Jordan. These projects look to help extend the impact of the research conducted by MEDRC Master’s Research Fellows, by helping to move their work from the laboratory into the field where theories can be tested and practical solutions to water problems can be found.
From the organisation’s headquarters in Al Hail, Muscat, MEDRC implements a university capacity building programme that is a long term, demand driven programme of activities designed to maximise the capacity of in country water researchers in Palestine and Jordan.
Delivered in collaboration and in support of local partners the programme contributes to the sustainable development of the Palestinian and Jordanian water sectors. It includes awards for graduate student fellowships, targeted research projects, and strategic equipment funding.
MEDRC will select its next and final batch of awards from July 2019. More information can be found on the organisation’s website www.medrc.org/developmentcooperation The Innovation Initiative Award recipients announced are as follows:
Amna Al-Shabaki, Palestine
‘Optimal Utilisation of Reject Brine Water from Desalination Process for Zero Waste to Produce both Vital Products for Water Desalination Processes and Hydroelectricity source under Gaza Siege’
Ashraf Mustapha, Palestine
‘The Interrelation between Gaza Aquifer and the Mediterranean Sea in terms of Submarine Groundwater Discharge’.
Jehad Al Dasht, Palestine
‘Quantification of Recharge and Runoff from Rainfall Using Soil Moisture Balance and Curve Number Methods - North of Gaza Strip, Palestine’.
Bayan Khalaf, Palestine
‘Removal of Difenoconazole from Wastewater Using New Synthesized Nanomembranes’.
Mariam Al Reefi, Palestine
‘Use of Brine Water from Desalination Plants in Sewage Dilution and in Reducing Fecal Pathogens’.
Nidal Hussein, Jordan
‘Sustainable Atmospheric Water Harvesting Portable Device for Remote-Arid Area’.
Tamer Eshtawi, Palestine
‘Modeling Recharge Rates of Stormwater/Reclaimed Wastewater Ponds in the Vadose Zone: Gaza Strip Case Study’.
Kamal Sheikh El-Eid, Palestine
‘The Impact of Wastewater Reuse in Agriculture on Soil Properties and Production of Squash and Cantaloupe Crops at NGEST-WWTP’.
ShehdehJodeh, Palestine
‘Synthesis of Magnetically and Magnetic Nanoparticles Decorated with 2-Aminopyridine Functionalized Graphene Oxide for the Absorption of Malathion from Aqueous Solution’.