Dipartimento di Ingegneria civile, ambientale ed architettura, Università di Cagliari (UNICA)

Website

The Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering and Architecture is the polytechnic expression of the University of Cagliari. Scientific culture of project, planning, preservation, restoration and enhancement of environment and landscape, architectural, historical and archaeological heritages, structural and infrastructural assets, land and geological resources in the broadest sense are the aims that the Department proposes. It is the place of training for architects, civil and environmental engineers, with important projections to applied geosciences, professionals and researchers in planning and land management. Expertises inside the Department, such as environmental protection, sustainability, energy efficiency, Cultural Heritage, ICT, are key themes for the third millennium model of development in advanced societies. The hydraulic and hydrology group aims to promote projects and studies mainly related with the hydraulic risk evaluation, protection of the environment, protection of the marine environment, environmental hydraulic and soil–atmosphere interactions. Design of civil structure/infrastructures, hydrological networks, design of maritime structures and Hydraulic System Design are also the main themes promoted. The expertises in the fields of water resources planning and management, ecohydrology, micrometeorology, geophysic, and design of hydraulic infrastructures allow to address the activities and the objectives of the proposal and match the tasks.

Ente Acque della Sardegna (ENAS)

Website

The ENAS, Ente Acque della Sardegna (the Sardinian Water Authority) is the nation’s largest public water utility based on multipurpose dams; it was established to construct and manage a freshwater supply system for the sustainable and rational use of water resources on the regional scale. The system comprises works and infrastructure for the collection, storage and conveyance of water. The demand nodes serve a population of 1.6 million, about 160,000 ha of irrigated farmland and 11 industrial zones. This system, based on the use of surface water resources, accounts for about 75% of the water resources currently available in Sardinia.
In particular, ENAS carries out the following activities:

• integrated planning of water use and development of preliminary studies for environmental, territorial, socio-economic and engineering aspects for the construction of water schemes and multi-sectoral distribution;
• direct design and control of construction of large hydraulic works, irrigation tools and the related environmental studies;
• design and construction of plants for energy production also from renewable sources with the aim of reducing production costs and distribution of water for agricultural purposes;
• operational management of complex water systems with a high level of interconnection;
• planning of water resources distribution quantity and quality;
• promotion, development and participation in international cooperation projects in the thematic areas of water and environmental issues, water reuse in Tunisia, Morocco, Palestine, Bulgaria, Albania, Jordan, Afghanistan, Serbia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Venezuela, Ghana, etc.
  Enas provides raw water to the treatment plants and water for irrigation and industrial purposes. Enas manages the multi-sector water system.
  Enas will provide input data and constructive feedback during the development of the proposed products and support the implementation of this project to the extent his competence and capability.

Agenzia forestale regionale per lo sviluppo del territorio e l’ambiente della Sardegna (FORESTAS)

Website

The Sardinian Forest Agency (Agenzia FORESTAS) – named Ente Foreste della Sardegna up to 2016 – is the main public agency involved in forest and natural resource management in Sardinia. The Agency manages over 220.000 hectares of land, including the most ancient forests and sites of high natural value (Natura2000), although its activities span the whole island (24.000 sq. km), and employs more than 6000 workers. With a special focus on sustainable forest management, its main fields of activity concern: 1) natural resource and historical heritage management; 2) forest health and pest control; 3) fire prevention, detection and suppression; 4) silvicultural research and knowledge transfer; 5) plant nurseries for reforestation, habitat and species conservation; 6) consultancy in all areas of forest management; 7) civil protection and disaster management; 8) soil conservation and hydraulic planning and managing of watersheds (mostly in an exstensive way); 8) forest fire fighting and prevention. The Forestas Agency will play a key role in the project, contributing with its data, know how, networks and facilities to the development of the project

Ecole Nationale Supérieure d’Hydraulique (ENSH)

Website

The Higher National School of Hydraulics of BLIDA (ENSH), is a public institution of higher education under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, created in 1972. The ENSH offers training in graduation and postgraduate degree: Engineer’s degree in hydraulics, Master’s degree in water engineering, Magister’s diploma and PhD degree. Since its creation, it has trained hundreds of Algerian and foreign engineers and researchers. Our institution participates in many national and international research and cooperation projects. The research axes are multiple. They concern climate change, water resources, erosion and solid transport, watershed management, and urban hydraulics and hydrotechnical structures. ENSH is involved in European projects such as: ERANTMED, TASSILI, AUF (University Agency of Francophonie) and IRD France. Laboratory of Water Engineering and Environment brings expertise on agrohydrology, agrometeorology, irrigation water management, agricultural hydraulics, soil physics and chemistry, surface and groundwater hydrology, modelling, remote sensing and GIS in agriculture, climate variability, Drought.
ENSH has been working for many years on the plain of Mitidja surface awater and Groundwater in tremens of a availibilty and quality. This plain is knoun by his agricultural production. During the last decads, drought as a negative impact on disponibility owter water of irrigation. Our work will be focused on: – define strategies for the water sustainability under current and future climate change scenarios, optimizing water infrastructure (e.g., reservoirs, wells network design) and water use; – Estimate evapotranspiration, the main parameter of the water budget in our region. To do so we use advanced technical tools (remote sensing observations); – Analysis of climate and land use scenarios wich gives the inputs for the water resources management and planning to optimally use both surface water and groundwater.

Energy, Environment and Water Research Center, The Cyprus Institute (CyI)

Website

The Cyprus Institute is a non‐profit research and educational institution with a strong scientific and technological orientation, created in 2005. It is an issue‐orientated institution, emphasizing international collaborations and cross‐disciplinary research and education. The CYI has established three interdisciplinary research centres that are developed in partnership with leading institutions in their respective thematic areas. Since its foundation CYI actively participated in several EU projects (including an ERC) and it is ranked as the first Institute in Cyprus (normalized by its personnel) in EU grants. The Energy, Environment and Water Research Center (EEWRC) of the Institute, which was launched in 2007, was developed in partnership with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is guided by an international Scientific Expert Panel, chaired by Prof. Ghislain de Marsily. Research at EEWRC deals with societally relevant issues related to energy, environment, climate and water. EEWRC’s overarching mission is the understanding of and preparing for the major challenges and changes in the environment, socio-economic structures and societies in the Eastern Mediterranean in the 21st century. Problems of national and regional importance and global significance are addressed with an emphasis on their specific regional, Eastern Mediterranean manifestations. The Center has also a PhD program in Energy, Environmental and Atmospheric Sciences. EEWRC is involved in various European and national funded projects related to water and natural resource management, environmental observations, and climate change modelling, impact assessments and adaptation. EEWRC cooperates with various government organizations and local enterprises on water, climate and environmental research.

Irrigation and Hydraulics Dept., Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University (UNIAS)

Website

The Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams University, is a public institution of higher education under the supervision of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and was founded on 1950. The mission of the irrigation and hydraulics department is to develop technical expertise capable of understanding the physical environment related to water sciences and its application to the benefit of Egypt. The department aims to develop well-educated civil engineers with a special expertise in water-related engineering projects who can enrich the water resources and public works field. The department also aims to prepare its graduates to appreciate sustainable integrated water systems and environment-related issues. The Irrigation and Hydraulics department offers training in graduation and postgraduate degree: B.Sc. degree in water engineering, M.Sc., Ph.D.and Diploma in different water engineering branches (i.e. hydraulics, hydrology, marine, coastal,…). The department is involved in many national and international research and acadmic projects concerning water scince (i.e. Flood management, water resources, watershed management, River engineering and urban hydraulics). UNIAS is involved in European projects such as: EXCEED, TEMPUS and others.

INRA Bordeaux Sciences Agro UMR 1391 (INRA)

Website

The Research Unit “Atmosphere Plant Soil Interactions” (ISPA) is a joint INRA– Bordeaux Sciences Agro research unit (UMR) located in Bordeaux. INRA-TCEM has 73 permanent staff (35 researchers/teachers and 28 staff and technicians). Scientists from INRA –ISPA are also members of the executive committee of the experimental research cluster XyloForest. TCEM is also a member of the LABEX (Laboratory of Excellence) “COTE” (“Continental to coastal ecosystems”) that was graded A+ by the AERES after le last evaluation). ISPA gathers competences in functional ecology, greenhouse gases, eco-hydrology, stable isotope geochemistry, forestry and agronomy. Our research aims are to understand better the physiological responses and short- and long-term adaptation of terrestrial ecosystems to environmental changes, management practices and extreme climatic events. We are also interested in understanding what the repercussions of management and environmental change will have on plant productivity as well as the water, CO2 and energy budgets at the Earth’s surface. The main goals of this research unit is to contribute to the sustainable management of terrestrial ecosystems. Its two main research axes are 1) process–‐ based modeling of fluxes of water, carbon and nutrients from soil to plants, 2) modeling of biogeochemical cycling in croplands, pastures and forests, and 3) energy in anthropised, agricultural and forest ecosystems. Our work aims to assess the sustainability of agro-ecosystems in a changing climate and anthropogenic stresses in order toensure a sustainable crop production in quantity and quality, and preserve the environment. Several ISPA scientists are associated with the Doctoral School from the University of Bordeaux (Life Sciences, geosciences, sciences for environment) and are therefore habilitated to host and supervise graduate students.

Ecole Nationale d’Ingénieurs de Tunis, University of Tunis El Manar (ENIT)

Website

ENIT is an engineering school of Tunisia, launched in 1969. It belongs to Tunis El Manar University (UTM) which is the first University in Tunisia, ranked 703 in Shangai classification (2017-2018). UTM is ranked 9 in Africa according to the same classification. ENIT has several Master degrees and PhD studies. ENIT research laboratories developed a lot of national and international scientific projects with France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Canada, USA, Japan, etc. The team participating to this project includes researchers from the ENIT Civil engineering department and involves also a collaborative action on groundwater renewal with a researcher from the Faculty of Sciences of Tunis (FST). The water research laboratory of ENIT was launched in 1999. It involves a staff of 50 researchers. The team participating to this proposal has activities in hydrology and climate issues, using deterministic as well as statistical modelling. Climate data sets recorded by the Tunisian hydrological and meteorological offices are studied and more and more, the team adopts also satellite data in the modelling approaches. ENIT has a strong financial department that helps researchers to achieve the equipments acquisition, mobility, young researcher’s salaries etc. ENIT has also a rigorous management of engineering and Master degrees and PhD studies, applying the national rules and the rules of the hosting university (UTM) for curricula and mobility programs. The PRIMA project presents a great opportunity for the ENIT team to enhance its expertise in climate and hydrological studies.