MEDRC
MEDRC is an International Organization mandated to find solutions to fresh water scarcity. Established in 1996 it conducts research, training, development cooperation and transboundary water projects. The MEDRC Headquarters is in Muscat in the Sultanate of Oman, where it operates a state of the art research facility including desalination plants, laboratories, lecture halls and administrative offices.
Ministry of Higher Education, Research & Innovation
The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation is the government body in the Sultanate of Oman responsible for higher education institutes and concerned with regulating scientific research affairs as well as promoting and supporting research using various means.
Panel of Experts
Kevin Price
He started his career with the U.S. Bureau of Reclamation over 35 years ago studying the world’s largest membrane problems at the Yuma Desalting Plant, later managing water treatment engineering and research for the agency, and retiring as the coordinator of the Advanced Water Treatment Research Program. He has been a strong advocate for research and innovation including service on the boards of the American Membrane Technology Association and the International Desalination Association, on the Water Reuse Research Foundation’s Research Advisory Committee, on the National Water Research Institute’s Research Advisory Board, on the steering committee for the WHO Guidance Document on Desalination for a Safe Water Supply, and working with a number of governmental and non-governmental organizations. He was one of the two primary authors of the Desalination and Water Purification Technology Roadmap and was responsible for the design, construction, O&M, R&D, and policy for Reclamation’s Brackish Groundwater National Desalination Research Facility. He graduated from the College of Idaho with a BS in Zoology, from Columbia University with an MS in Chemical Engineering, and from the University of Denver with an MBA in Finance.
Samer Adham
He is responsible for delivery of technical support and analytical capability across the water spectrum of ConocoPhillips. His responsibility also includes directing of ConocoPhillips Global Water Sustainability Center (GWSC) located at Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). The GWSC mission is to develop innovative solutions for treating and recycling by-product water from oil and gas (O&G) operations. Dr. Adham has more than 20 years’ experience in addressing environmental challenges of the municipal & industrial sector. He received several national and international awards of excellence and participated in various conferences worldwide as an expert on advanced water technologies. Dr. Adham received his B.S. in Civil Engineering and M.S. in Environmental Engineering from King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals in Saudi Arabia. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.
Dr. Jamilla Al Hinai
Before that, she worked for the Ministry of Regional Municipalities and Water Resources as Head of the Water and Food Microbiology. She also worked as Teaching Assistant at the College of Science of Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) and she is a member of Oman Association for Consumer Protection since 2003. She studied Microbiology and Molecular Biology at the College of Science of SQU. She also obtained a Diploma in Management Consultancy from the British Institute of Business Consultancy, UK. She studied her PhD at Cardiff University School of Geography and Planning, UK. Her research was about knowledge commercialization and academic entrepreneurship in biosciences research.
Gary L. Amy
and Visiting Professor in the Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering Department at the National University of Singapore (NUS). He is also Emeritus Professor, and Former Director, in the Water Desalination and Reuse Center (WDRC) at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia.Over a career of almost 40 years, Dr. Amy’s main areas of expertise have been on drinking water treatment and wastewater reclamation/reuse. He has published over 400 articles in referred publications, and supervised more than 50 PhD students. Dr. Amy is a member of the International Water Association (IWA), the International Desalination Association (IDA), and the American Water Works Association (AWWA). He serves on the editorial boards of Water Supply and Technology (IWA), International Ozone Association (IOA), and the Journal of Drinking Water Engineering (on-line). He is the recipient of the 2017 A. P. Black Research Award from the American Water Works Association. He has received best paper awards from the Journal AWWA and the Journal of the Water Environment Federation.
Abdallah Salim Said Daar
international commitments and affiliations. In 2017 he was made an Officer of the Order of Canada. His academic work has been in the fields of surgery; organ transplantation; bioethics; and global health. Professor Daar publications include: 320 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals; 6 authored book and 85 authored chapters. Notable awards/prizes include; Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; The Patey Prize of the Surgical Research Society of Great Britain; The Hunterian Professorship of the Royal College of Surgeons of England; The UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics of Science; The Anthony Miller Award for Research Excellence, University of Toronto; and the Ontario Genomics Institute’s Societal Impact of Genomics Prize. He has been an expert advisor to the World Health Organization; UNESCO; the United Nations; and various governments.
Saied Delagah
in Environmental Engineering and a BS in Chemical Engineering. He has an MS in Technology Commercialization from UT Austin. He has been in the field of Water Treatment for 15 years and has worked in various design and research capacities, along with program management of the Desalination and Water Purification program. The research work includes solutions for inland brackish desalination challenges specifically focusing on concentrate management, reuse and disposal. He also has been involved in technology transfer and prize competitions having led the Desal and More Water Less Concentrate Prizes for Reclamation. He is a Country Technical Representative to Middle East Desalination Research Center for the US.
Jauad EI Kharraz
academic and policy specialists on a wide range of water issues. Hailing from Morocco, he spent 17 years in Spain and France earning his MSc and PhD in Physics as well as a Diploma in Enterprise Management and Strategies. He has worked as Information & Projects Manager at the Euro-Mediterranean Water Information System (EMWIS), France, and researcher at the Global Change Unit, Spain. He conducted and contributed to several EU projects and was representative of France at the intergovernmental framework for EU Cooperation in Science & Technology (COST Action TN1301). He has published and contributed to hundreds of conferences, journals and reports in the fields of water management, drought, water information systems, remote sensing applications and scientific research.
Tony Fane
aspects, including desalination and reuse. He is former Director of the UNESCO Centre for Membranes at UNSW (now Emeritus Professor at UNSW). He has directed research in Singapore from 2002-2017 at Nanyang Technological University, and in 2008 was the Founding Director of the Singapore Membrane Technology Centre (SMTC). He is on the Advisory Board of the Journal of Membrane Science (former editor, 1992- 2005) and Editorial Board of Desalination. He is a Fellow of the Academy of Technological Science & Engineering and Patron of the Membrane Society of Australasia. He was a recipient of the International Water Association’s Membrane Technology Award in 2013 and co-recipient of the Prince Sultan International Water Prize (Alternative water) in 2016.
Maria Kennedy
She has over 25 years of professional and academic experience in water supply engineering. She has supervised over 150 MSc research theses and more than 20 PhD research and has conducted numerous international short courses on desalination and membrane technology. She has over 100 peer reviewed journal publications, and has edited numerous book chapters on desalination and membrane related technology. She has directed large capacity development projects in the field of water supply and training in Iran, Jordan, Palestine, Oman, Bahrain, Israel, St. Maarten, Yemen, Dominican Republic, Saudi Arabia, Chile and South Africa. Recently appointed President of the European Desalination Society (2017 – 2019) she is also a member of the Science and Technology Board of the EU-Joint Programming Initiative (JPI), and is a jury member of prestigious international technology events such as the USAID Water For Food Desalination Prize (2014-2015) and the Aquatech Innovation Award (since 2011).
Neil Trevor Palmer
construction, operations, project development, regulation, research and executive management. Neil’s recent specialisation includes desalination with a leading Australian manufacturer and a national research centre. Neil is passionate about managing existing sources and creating new sources of fresh water with innovative but robust technology ranging from simple solutions to complex municipal, industrial and agricultural systems. He has a keen interest in harnessing renewable energy for water supplies. Neil has a strong interest in water policy and is well known in the national and international water industry. He was voted No 1 in World Water International’s 2015 survey of 25 water leaders of influence.
Thomas Michael Pankratz
advisor on some of the world’s largest and most technically advanced desalination projects and has been appointed to serve on committees by the National Academy of Sciences, World Health Organization, Middle East Desal Research Center and Australia’s Nation Center of Excellence in Desalination. A former vice president of CH2M Hill, and the director of corporate projects for USFilter/Veolia Water, he has authored five water-related books, and has been the chapter author of numerous others.
Harry Seah
research and development of water technology essential to future-proof the water system. He is also leading the integration of R&D efforts with the facilitation of water industry development and the commercialization of new water technology. Kevin Price
Brendan Tuohy
He is President of the Irish Academy of Engineering and Chairman of; Marine and Renewable Energy Ireland (MAREI); the National Maritime College of Ireland Advisory Board; the Global eSchools and Communities Initiative and the Irish Longitudinal Study of Ageing, based in Trinity college, Dublin. Previously, he was Secretary General of the Department of Communications, Energy and Natural Resources and, prior to that, had worked in the Departments of Public Enterprise, Department of Transport, Energy and Communications and Department of Environment and Local Government. He was also Vice Chairman of the United Task Force on ICT for Development. He holds a degree in Civil Engineering from University College Cork and postgraduate qualifications from Trinity College Dublin in both Environmental Engineering and Management.
William Warren
he was CEO and co-founder of VaxDesign Corporation before it was acquired by SP in 2010. He is the co-founder of nScrypt Inc. a company that develops and manufactures 3D printing and bioprinting systems, has directed a diverse portfolio of R&D programs and was a Principal Member of the Technical Staff at Sandia National Laboratories. He received his B.Sc. Honors and Ph.D. degrees in Engineering Science from The Pennsylvania State University, where his Ph.D. was awarded the best materials science thesis at the University. A Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, distinguished alumni of the Pennsylvania State University, he has authored 200 referred publications, with one of the top cited papers in both the Journal of Applied Physics (top 20) and Applied Physics Letters (top 50), and over two dozen patents or patent applications. He has won several R&D awards, and several outstanding paper awards.
John Wilson
Dr. Wilson joined USAID in 1988 and has been with the Middle East Bureau since 1997. During his career at USAID, Dr. Wilson has been responsible for providing technical leadership in developing and implementing environmental, resource conservation, and water policy and programs. Prior to joining USAID, Dr. Wilson was a National Research Council Fellow at NASA Langley Research Center. Dr. Wilson received his B.A. from Harvard College and his Ph.D. from Boston University.