Faculty & Staff

Director Office

Prof.Sami Sayadi Director of Sustainable Development Center

Bioprocesses ▪ Bioremediation ▪ Nutrient recovery and reuse ▪ Scaling-up ssayadi@qu.edu.qa (+974) 4403-7560 Profile website Prof. Sami Sayadi joined Qatar University beginning 2019 as Distinguished Professor in Applied Microbiology and Sustainable Development. His field of expertise is the implementation of biological systems and bioprocesses dealing with food and water security, waste recovery, bioremediation, algal biotechnology and bioenergy. He got his PhD from the University of Technology of Compiègne (France) in 1988. He was recruited at the Centre of Biotechnology of Sfax (CBS, Tunisia) in 1990 where he led the Bioenergy Research Unit and founded a research laboratory entitled Laboratory of Environmental Bioprocesses in 2002. Prof. Sayadi was appointed General Director of CBS from 2010 to 2018. He has successfully led several international projects such as European Union-FP5, FP6, FP7, H2020, USAID PEER and SATREPS. Currently he is Lead-PI for 2 Research projects funded by QNRF and QU. Prof. Sayadi published more than 350 publications in international journals cited (Scopus h index = 59; 11500 cites). He founded two start-up in environmental biotechnology and signed several collaboration agreements with national and international stakeholders.

Ms.Mariam Mohamed Al Emadi Research Services Manager

malemadi@qu.edu.qa +974 44034550 Download Resume

Faculty

Dr.Probir Das Research Associate Professor

Bioremediation ▪ Resource recovery ▪ Bio-based bulk chemicals and feed ▪ Biorefinery probir.das@qu.edu.qa +974 44036446 Profile website Dr. Probir Das is a Research Associate Professor at the Center for Sustainable Development of Qatar University (QU). He has over 15 years of experience working with different microalgae-based projects – covering biofuel, bioremediation, bulk chemicals, high-value products, feed, etc. Prior to joining QU, he was working as a Scientist at the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Sciences (Singapore). He received his Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from the National University of Singapore (NUS). At present, he is involved in multiple microalgae-based projects; through these projects, together with other completed projects, Dr. Das and the other colleagues at the center are developing large-scale microalgal biomass production in the Qatari desert for various applications. He has over 35 international peer-reviewed publications related to microalgae biomass cultivation, harvesting, downstream processing, and LCA analysis.

Dr.Imen Saadaoui Research Associate Professor

Molecular Biology ▪ Biotechnology ▪ eDNA and biodiversity ▪ Food security imen.saadaoui@qu.edu.qa +974 44033907 Profile website Dr. Imen Saadaoui, PhD in Biological Sciences, is a Research Associate Professor in the Centre for Sustainable Development, Qatar University. Dr. Imen joined Qatar University in 2011 as Post-Doctoral Researcher for the Biofuel project, funded by Qatar Airways, QSTP and Qatar University. Within this project, she had a key role in the establishment of the Qatar University Culture Collection of Cyanobacteria and Microalgae (QUCCCM), and the investigation of the potential of local isolates for Biofuel’s production. From 2015-2021, she was active as a Research Assistant Professor, in which capacity she led various research projects related to Microalgal Biotechnologies for animal feed production and food security, pharmaceuticals and drug discovery, biofertilizers for crop production. More recently, Dr. Imen led projects related to eDNA for environmental monitoring and marine biodiversity. Findings from a number of these projects were recently published in Q1 and Q2 journals. Finally, she contributed in the supervision of undergraduate and graduate students (MSc and PhD).

Dr.Hareb Al Jabri Research Assistant Professor

h.aljabri@qu.edu.qa +974 4403 4545 Profile website Dr. Hareb Al Jabri is holding a PhD in Bioprocess Engineering from Nantes University, France and a Master of Sciences on biochemistry from Virginia tech University. Dr. Hareb Al Jabri has great experience in research management, technology transfer, IP management scale up and implementation. He has been involved in Research and Development projects related to Algal Technologies for several applications such as bioenergy, food security, bioremediation, CO2 sequestration and Crop production. Dr. Al Jabri led several projects funded by academic and private institutions and participated in numerous publications in high impact factor journals.

Dr.Mohammad Al-Saidi Research Assistant Professor

Natural resources governance ▪ Sustainability transition ▪ water policy malsaidi@qu.edu.qa +974 44034952 Profile website Since 2016, Dr. Mohammad Al-Saidi is a research assistant professor for "Human Sustainability" at the Center for Sustainable Development at Qatar University. He has worked on projects and published papers on the Gulf, east Africa, Yemen, and Jordan, ranging from development and the environment to water resources management, and sustainability transitions. From 2011 to 2016, Dr. Al-Saidi worked as a senior researcher for the Institute for Technology in the Tropics (ITT) at the TH Köln - University of Applied Sciences. He has taught courses related to natural resources governance, sustainable development, water policies and international cooperation. In 2020, he served as an adjunct faculty member at the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies in Qatar teaching a course on human and environmental security. Dr. Al-Saidi holds a Ph.D (economics)., an M.A., (political sciences) and an M.S. (economics) from Heidelberg University, as well as an M.A. (sociology) from Hagen University.

Dr.Helmi Hamdi Research Associate Professor

Sustainable crop production,Agricultural reuse of biowastes and TSE,Food and water security,Remediation of degraded soils,Ecotoxicology hhamdi@qu.edu.qa +974 44037574 Profile website Dr. Helmi HAMDI holds a MS degree in Agricultural Engineering and a PhD in Resource Management and Environmental Science earned at the Research Institute for Bioresources, Okayama University, Japan in 2006. He also obtained a Habilitation degree in Crop Production, Soil and Environment in 2017. Prior to joining Qatar University, Dr. Helmi Hamdi held successively the positions of senior research engineer, assistant professor then associate professor at the Water Research and Technology Center in Tunisia from 2000 to 2018. Dr. Helmi Hamdi has been carrying out research in the field of Agri-Environmental Sciences for the past 20 years. During his scientific career, Dr. Helmi Hamdi has been awarded international fellowships for visiting researchers from Japanese Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), the US Fulbright Scholar Program, and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). As of March 2021, Dr. Helmi Hamdi has published two books and more than 45 peer-reviewed papers, conference papers and research reports in the fields of sustainable crop production, biowaste reuse in agriculture, soil fertility and contamination monitoring as well as bioremediation technologies and nanotoxicology.

Dr.Abbas Roozbahani Research Associate Professor

Water resources management, Hydrological modelling, Urban water systems, Water systems simulation and optimization, Risk and vulnerability assessment a.roozbahani@qu.edu.qa +974 44037561 Profile website Dr. Abbas Roozbahani holds a PhD in civil engineering from University of Tehran, Iran and his main specialization is water resources engineering and management. He joined CSD at Qatar University in 2022 as a research associate professor and before that also served the same position at University of Tehran for 8 years. His main research and teaching interests focus on water resources systems analysis, hydrological modeling and forecasting, urban water systems, agricultural water management, risk and uncertainty analysis in water resources, groundwater management and application of AI in water management. Dr. Roozbahani has more than 15 years of experience in leading several projects funded by academic and private institutions, supervising MSc and PhD students as well as publishing numerous papers in high impact journals.

Dr.Mohamed Shibl Research Associate Professor

Simulation and Modeling mfshibl@qu.edu.qa +974 44034698 Profile website Dr. Mohamed Shibl received his Ph.D. from the Free University of Berlin (Germany) in 2006 where he finished his first postdoctoral research. He returned to Cairo University (Egypt) and became an assistant professor (2008-2010) and then moved to Texas A&M University in Qatar as a research fellow (2010-2012). He worked as a visiting scientist at cornel university (USA) in 2013. He visited Delft University of Technology (The Netherlands) and Rostock University (Germany) several times. Dr. Shibl worked as a senior researcher at the gas processing center, Qatar University (2015-2017). He served as an assistant professor at the department of chemistry and earth sciences, college of arts and sciences, Qatar University (2018-2022). He joined the Center for Sustainable Development in 2022 as Research Associate Professor to be part of the renewable energy program. In 2016, he was appointed an associate professor of computational chemistry position at Cairo University. His area of expertise is molecular simulation and modeling that extends between Quantum chemistry and dynamics applied in different fields, namely, renewable

Dr.Ioannis Chachladakis Research Assistant Professor

Solid waste and resource management ▪ Circular economy ▪ Plastic marine litter ▪ Advanced remediation technologies ichachladakis@qu.edu.qa +974 44037559 Profile website Dr. John (Ioannis) N. Hahladakis (Chachladakis) is a Chemical Engineer, graduated from University of Patras, Greece. He is a member of Technical Chamber of Greece, of the Panhellenic Association of Chemical Engineers and of the American Chemical Society (ACS). He, in turn, obtained 2 M.Scs in “Geotechnology and Environment” and in “Quality and Environmental control”, respectively, as well as a Ph.D in “Environmental and Sanitary Engineering”; all three degrees from Technical University of Crete (TUC), Greece. He later served as a post-doc Research Fellow at School of Civil Engineering, at University of Leeds, UK and at TUC for a total of 4 years. He has co-supervised more than 15 undergraduate and postgraduate students' theses, has participated in respective Research Programs, International Conferences and has published various articles in International peer-reviewed Scientific Journals. Finally, his academic skills include also membership in the organizing and scientific committee of CRETE International Conference Series, editing and submission of scientific proposals to attract external funding (EU and national projects), participation in Workshops and Seminars, R&D reports, etc. He serves as a regular referee in more than 30 peer-reviewed international scientific journals. He is currently an Asst. Professor at the CSD, of CAS, at Qatar University. He has more than 15 years of experience in various research fields, operating in a cross-disciplinary research environment that spans the width of chemical engineering, electrochemistry, environmental chemistry and environmental engineering, specializing in solid waste management, circular economy and optimization methods for recycling and recovery of valuable resources from waste.

Research Staff

Ms.Touria Bounnit Research Associate

Microalgal biology ▪ Biorefinery and bioproducts development ▪ Energy touria.bounnit@qu.edu.qa +974 44034578 Download Resume

Dr.Kira Schipper Research Associate

Microalgal Biotechnology ▪ Carbon Capture & Utilization ▪ Biochemical Engineering ▪ Business Development kira.schipper@qu.edu.qa +974 44033906 Download Resume

Ms.Ghamza Al-Ghazal Research Assistant

Culture collection ▪ Isolation ▪ Purification ▪ Cryopreservation ali88@qu.edu.qa +974 44034541 Download Resume

Ms.Maryam Al-Muraikhi Research Assistant Algal cultivation ▪ Culture Collection ▪ Product development m.almuraikhi@qu.edu.qa +974 44036443 Download Resume

Lab Technicians and Assistants