BIOGRAPHY

Abdelsalam Elawwad is a Professor of Environmental Engineering at Cairo University. He joined the Environmental and Sanitary Engineering department at Cairo University in October 2005. Dr. Elawwad leads a distinguished research group focusing on Sustainable Water-Energy Nexus Technologies. His research tracks include Bio-electrochemical Systems (Microbial Desalination Cells), Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBR) for water reuse, and Advanced Modeling of Wastewater Treatment Plants (BioWin/ASM). 

He is the Principal Investigator (PI) of several international research projects, including the PRIMA-EU project for AnMBR technology and the US-Egypt Joint Fund project with USC. He has supervised over 30 MSc and PhD fellows and published extensively in high-impact peer-reviewed journals.

Elawwad earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering in 2012 (Joint supervision with Halle University, Germany), his M.Sc. in 2008, and his B.Sc. in 2005 from Cairo University.

Main disciplines

Water treatment processes development, Environmental process technology, Microbial Desalination Cells (MDC), Anaerobic Membrane Bioreactors (AnMBR), Resource Recovery from Waste, Biological wastewater treatment, Plant-wide Modeling & Simulation, Membrane technologies, Seawater desalination, Sludge Management.

Professional Activities

  • Registered in the Egyptian Syndicate of Engineers.
  • Deputy Team Leader, Egypt Sludge Management Strategy (Egis/TetraTech - EIB Funded) (2024–Present).
  • Process Expert, Fayoum Wastewater Expansion Programme (Stantec - EBRD/HCWW) (2020–Present).
  • Specialist Consultant, Integrated Rural Sanitation in Upper Egypt (AfDB) (2024).
  • Former Design Manager at Khatib & Alami and Expert at ENVIROCONSULT.
  • Member, International Water Association (IWA).
  • Member, American Water Works Association (AWWA).
  • Member, Egyptian Society of Engineers, Cairo, Egypt.
  • Reviewer for top-tier international journals (Desalination, J. Cleaner Production, Bioresource Technology).

Awards & fellowships

  • 2023: Gold Medal, 7th Cairo International Exhibition of Innovation, Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT).
  • 2020: Cairo University Incentive Award in Engineering Sciences.
  • 2012: Best PhD Thesis Award from Cairo University, Egypt.
  • 2009–2011: DAAD PhD Scholarship (GERLS), Halle University, Germany.
  • 2016: Nuffic Fellowship: Desalination and Membrane Technologies, UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands.
  • 2015: Nuffic Fellowship: Modelling of Wastewater Treatment Plants, UNESCO-IHE, The Netherlands.