Egyptian scientist Dr. Abeer Adel seeks an environmentally friendly method of water purification using agricultural residues

01/09/2021

Dr. Adel, from Egypt, holds a PhD by the University of Cairo (Egypt). She is a senior researcher in Sustainable and Biomaterials isolated from agricultural wastes and is specialized in nanocrystalline cellulose extraction using chemical & physicochemical methods.

She carries out her research at the Material Physics Center (MPC-CFM) thanks to the funding of the Provincial Government of Gipuzkoa and she hopes to come out with an eco-friendly method for purifying water by using agricultural waste.

It consists of using simple and cheap membranes from agro-wastes to purify water from heavy metals, and it has the potential to decrease the environmental hazard.

Hence, it will fill the gaps for sustainable development in terms of innovation, technology transfer and international leadership in science and technology using new advanced methods.

What encouraged you to pursue a scientific career? What made you incline towards your specialty?

My family encouraged me to pursue a scientific career besides my teachers in secondary school. My specialty is chemistry, and this field has many applications in industry, as an applied job, and in academic career (including teaching and research). So, I select chemistry to open many job fields.

Have you felt supported throughout your career?

Yes, I felt supported throughout my career from my family especially my father and my husband.

Do you feel that being a woman has made it harder for you? In what way?

Yes, for the woman the research career is hard due to different types of responsibilities in her shoulder, you must organize your time carefully to cover all kinds of responsibilities on my shoulder. In my schedule beside my work, I should have a time for my family, my kids, my mother, my home, etc. The harder time for me during my research career is during my PhD, all these responsibilities were harder.

How do you think your work can help your research area?

I published many researches with higher index factor and I have an international and national project besides I have a MSc, PhD student and post doctor staff. Also, I am working in training field for student in faculty of science. So, my work helps in my research area

What do you expect from your stay in MPC-CFM?

From my stay in MPC-CFM, I will learn many different things in research fields besides that, I will learn how to use the different instruments with myself like FTIR, TGA, AFM…etc.

Have you had models of women scientists or others who have inspired or supported you?

In EGYPT, we had many models for scientific women in different fields like SAMEERA MOUSSA, NAGWA ABDEL MEGUID and others. In my work in NRC in Egypt, we had many models for scientific women and supported me during my research career like Prof. Dr. Nabila El-Shennawy, Prof. Dr. Karima Haggag and Prof. Dr. Nivin Ahmed.

What would be your advice to a girl who wants to pursue a career in STEM and more specifically in your specialty?

All scientific fields are similar, and these fields are hard for a girl and needs time, patient, calm and concentration. So, my advice is organizing your time well and do not waste a time and put your goal in front of your eye all the time, concentrate in your goal and do not disturb. Work hard, dream big.

How do you see the current coronavirus situation in general and especially in Africa and in your country?

The current coronavirus situation becomes more satisfied than the previous year 2020, especially after the production of vaccine and NOW, many people in the world take the vaccine. In Africa, especially Egypt, some people take the vaccine and others wait their dates but generally, we are on the trak.

What are your forecasts ? Do you think the scientific community is being effective in dealing with this crisis ?

Yes, the scientific community is effective in dealing with this crisis, it has been a challenge for them and the prove is the production of vaccine after one year from the appearance of covide19, although, I imagine in my opinion, there were some research on that virous previously.

Do you think there will be a before and after marked as a result of the pandemic?

Yes, there will be a marked as a result of the pandemic, many peoples suffer from this virus and others died but by passage of time the people will forget everything. I hope this pandemic will finished completely from all the world.