30th April 2019

The Peninsula Newspaper Doha

A national survey on public perception on the reuse of treated industrial water was launched during the Annual Research Open Day 2019 of Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU)’s College of Science and Engineering (CSE), yesterday. 

The survey will be rolled out soon with the support of the Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development.

The event was held in the presence of H E Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada; Dr Hessa Al Jaber, Member of the Shura Council; Dr Richard O’Kennedy, Vice President for Research, Development, and Innovation at Qatar Foundation and HBKU Vice President for Research; Dr Mounir Hamdi of CSE; and others. 

“It is a very important survey and it supports one of the sustainable development goals to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all by 2030,” said Dr Jhon Kilani, Director, Sustainable Development and Programmes, who was joined by Howard Bevan, Director Energy Affairs  at Abdullah Bin Hamad Al Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development.

“Based on the outcome of the survey, hopefully, we identify some areas of awareness and policy development,” they told The Peninsula. 

The survey will be conducted in two phases. Initially, data will be collected and then in the second phase, it will be analyzed. It will be conducted by PHD students at HBKU’s CSE with the help of the Ministry of Development Planning and Statistics. 

CSE’s Annual Research Open Day aimed to nurture scientific research while creating an integrated ecosystem that encourages the exchange of innovative work, at Multaqa (Education City Student Center). The event’s eight research pillars of artificial intelligence and data analytics; cybersecurity; energy and resources; health and human-centered technologies; logistics and supply chain management; nanotechnology; sensing, communication, and networking; and water, food, and environment were introduced by Dr Amine Bermak, Professor and Associate Dean. 

“The purpose of the  Annual Research Open Day is to showcase our research, share our mission and vision and outreach to the community. Also to get feedback and to see how to contribute to the community,” he said. 

The event also featured a panel discussion on ‘University Research: Successful Paths to Technology Transfer, Licensing, and Commercialisation.’