Hani Sewilam Appointed Egypt's Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation

Hani Sewilam, professor at AUC’s Institute of Global Health and Human Ecology and director of the Center for Applied Research on the Environment and Sustainability (CARES), has been appointed Egypt’s minister of water resources and irrigation.

The appointment comes amid a major cabinet reshuffle that took place on Saturday during an emergency session initiated by President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi.

Sewilam brings with him three decades of experience in sustainable development, water resource management, water-energy-food nexus, desalination and capacity building — all of which will serve him in boosting Egypt’s resilience to water stress.

“I’m looking forward to making use of our innovative research results to face water scarcity on the ground and contribute to securing the Egyptian water resources needed for achieving Egypt’s Vision 2030 for sustainable development,” he said.

In addition to his roles at AUC, Sewilam also currently works at RWTH Aachen University in Germany as the academic director of the Department of Engineering Hydrology and executive director of the UNESCO Chair on Hydrological Changes and Water Resources Management. He is the lead scientist at the Center of Excellence for Water, and holds a PhD in water resource management from RWTH Aachen and a Master of Science in irrigation management from Southampton University.

He was also recently awarded the 2022 Water Energy Food Ecosystem (WEFE) Nexus prize by the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area, known as PRIMA.

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