International research call to support humanitarian desalination challenge

Muscat: An international research call has been put out to support Oman’s humanitarian desalination challenge.
In partnership with USAID, Middle East Desalination Research Centre (MEDRC) is launching an international research call for proposals to boost innovation in small scale desalination technologies.
The Humanitarian Desalination Challenge Research Call will support pathway research, which aims to come up with a family-sized desalination device that, in addition to reducing pressure on existing water pressure in the developing world, could be downsized to meet the Challenge Prize Criteria for a single-user device.
The initiative is designed to run in parallel with and in support of the Oman Humanitarian Desalination Challenge, launched by MEDRC and The Research Council (TRC) in March 2018.
Prize
It offers a $700,000 prize for the person or team that is able to come up with a hand-held, stand-alone, low-cost, desalination device suitable for short-term use and rapid deployment in the event of a humanitarian crisis.
MEDRC will award up to two Pathway Research Grants up to a maximum of $90,000 each in 2019. Should the Oman Humanitarian Desalination Challenge not be won in 2019, another Desalination Challenge Research Call will be made in 2020.
Specifically, the funding aims to deliver a family-sized (120 litres of water per day) brackish desalination device as a precursor or earlier generation to a hand-held device that the Oman Humanitarian Desalination Challenge Prize looks for.