The Faculty of Engineering at the University of Balamand is proud to announce that it has secured research funding for two major projects through the Erasmus+ Programme – Capacity Building in Higher Education, Call EAC/A02/2019 for EU co-funding. UOB is actively engaged in 2 out of the six projects in which Lebanese universities are part of and 1 of 2 Lebanese universities leading on a project.

The project, Sustainable Wastewater Treatment for Hospitals (SWaTH), was submitted by Dr. Makram El Bachawati, a researcher who was recently successfully promoted to the rank of Assistant Professor at the Department of Chemical Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering. It is a 3-year project with a total budget of 999,744 Euros that promises to transform wastewater treatment in a sector that is always heavily burdened, especially in the current situation with the COVID-19 pandemic.

SWaTH aims to set and implement a framework for assessing the methods currently used in Lebanon for the treatment of hospital wastewater. This will be achieved in compliance with European and International standards. The project will also tackle social and environmental life cycle analyses.

The Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency received 1005 eligible applications for this call. Only 164 applications were selected for funding rendering the overall success rate at 16% and 12% in the Southern Mediterranean countries.

Dr. Rima Manneh, Chairperson of the Chemical Engineering Department, stressed the department's commitment to embracing multidisciplinarity in research and the importance of national and international collaboration towards sustainable development.

Vice President for Internationalization and Engagement and Dean of the Faculty of Engineering Prof. Rami Abboud congratulated the Chemical Engineering Department for their continuous efforts to promote excellence in research: “Such international collaborations serve our prime goal of bringing the world to Balamand and taking Balamand to the world through our skills and expertise. I’m particularly proud of the achievements of our young and newly promoted colleague Dr. Makram El Bachawti.” In this context, Prof. Abboud also emphasized UOB’s unrelenting commitment to serving society and making use of applied research to augment teaching. ​