Page 3
MENA NWC Update
MENA NWC Holds First Biennial Congress in Muscat,
Oman in November 2015
More than 80 Middle
East water professionals and researchers
came together for the
first time in November
2015 at the Middle East
and North Africa Network of Water Centers
of Excellence (MENA
NWC)’s First Biennial
Congress.
The event was coconvened by the Network’s two Centers in
Oman—Sultan Qaboos
University (SQU) and
the Middle East Desalination Research Center
(MEDRC). The primary Young Researchers Participating in the MENA NWC Congress
focus of the Congress
was for the Network’s 24 member water research Centers
to define a research agenda that is directly relevant to
During the three-day Congress, participants were given the
“real world” needs and has the potential for rapid impact
opportunity to vote for the following four awards:
at scale.
One of the more unique events during the Congress was
the first-ever in-person meeting of the Network’s eight
Young Water Scientists and 10 Water Innovations Fellows, who presented their small grant interventions.
“We saw some outstanding young scientists during their
presentations and talks,” said Rachael McDonnell, International Center for Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA). “It is
such a bonus at this early stage in your career to have
your own grants, to define your own research areas and
to follow that idea that you have—those are going to be
our water leaders of the future and we need to nurture
them and keep them in the region.”
The Congress was facilitated with modern participatory
meeting techniques. Participants were exposed to handson activities and use of small groups to internalize learnings through an open discussion between participants
and organizers.
“The key takeaway for me is that facilitation is an important skill,” said Rana Ardah, Royal Scientific Society. “I
facilitate groups with young people in Jordan and I
thought you can only use group discussions and breakout
groups in small groups. But after this event, I learned that
you can use such innovative facilitation techniques with
large groups.”
♦
The Most Interesting Project: The winner was
“Application of Near-Real Time Monitoring Systems for
Irrigated Agriculture.”
♦
The Largest Creative Leap: The winner was
“Promoting Water Use Efficiency in Green Schools.”
♦
The Greatest Potential Impact on Policy or Commercialization: The winner was “Developing Diagnosis Techniques and Strategies to Reduce NRW in the
Middle East Region.”
♦
Most Frequently Recognized Project: The winner
was “Radar Probing of Groundwater in Hyper-Arid Environments: Understanding Aquifer Dynamics in High
Discharge Areas.”
The Congress also provided an opportunity for the Network’s Board of Directors to hold its Annual Meeting and to
convene the Network’s Assembly of Governing Members
who represent the Network’s 24 member centers.