As part of the University’s efforts to implement the sustainable development goals (SDGs), the University signed a two-years research collaboration agreement with Loughborough University in 2017. This collaboration is the result of the United Kingdom’s initiative to encourage scientific research collaboration between British universities and universities in the GCC.
The collaboration came as a result of both universities winning the UK-GCC grant in 2017, to be one of eight winning projects out of over 170 projects submitted jointly by universities in the UK and the GCC.
The joint project focuses on lead capacity building of future research and innovation experts in sustainable energy and water technologies, thus developing local expertise to design and operate such systems and reducing reliance on foreign expertise.
Also, it provides independent, trustworthy technical guidance for the design of integrated energy and water systems, well suited to the climatic conditions of the Gulf countries. Consequently, it will help to raise confidence in solar and wind as viable alternatives to oil and gas for providing secure energy and water supplies, thus reducing concerns and barriers in government and industry circles.
The collaboration also resulted in the establishment of Renewable Energy Research and Testing Labs at the University of Bahrain in 16 April 2019, which are strongly linked to the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST) at Loughborough University.
