Pedon 23 - Physical Land Resources - Universiteit Gent

COMMUNICATIONS RECEIVED
May 9, 2011: Prof. Dr. Christianto Lopulisa (M.Sc. ITC-
Ghent, 1982, Ph.D. ITC-Ghent, 1986) and Dr. Hernusye H.
L. (M.Sc. ITC-Ghent, 1983, Ph.D. ITC-Ghent, 1989) from
Hasanudin University, Makassar, Indonesia visited the
Department of Geology and Soil Science.
December 18-19, 2011 : Prof. Dr. Huajun Tang (M.Sc.
ITC-Ghent 1987 and Ph.D. ITC-Ghent 1993), Vice
President of CAAS, Beijing, China paid a visit to the
Laboratory of Soil Science.
WHERE ARE THEY NOW
Eric Van Ranst
Former winners of the Prize
Foundation De Boodt-Maselis
for the Promotion of Studies in Eremology
(now within the Physical Land Resources Programme)
Dr. Mohamed Ouessar (Tunisia) (1 st winner 1991)
Since his appointment as researcher at IRA in 1994, he has
contributed actively, as coordinator or team member, to the
realization of numerous joint research projects funded by
national and international agencies (WB, ABOS, EU,
CSFD, UNU, USDA, UNESCO). His research programs
focused mainly on water harvesting, GIS based
Hydrological Modeling and Decision Support Systems,
Impact Assessment, Watershed Management, Climate
Change Impacts and Adaptation, Combating
Desertification and Drylands Management.
He contributed also to the training and capacity building
through supervision of trainees and students of all levels
from national and international centers and organizations
and universities, part time teaching at the universities on
drylands and natural resources management related issues,
and organization of specialized local and international
training sessions.
He has been solicited to provide expertise for studies
and/or projects conducted by national (Ministries of
Agriculture, Environment, Planning) and international
organizations (FAO, GTZ, OSS, UNU) in addition to the
assistance of the local development agencies (Agriculture,
Environment, Development).
He visited several research departments and centers in the
world: International Centre for Agricultural Research in the
Dry Areas (ICARDA, Aleppo, Syria), Office of Arid Land
Studies (University of Arizona), National Soil Erosion
Research Laboratory (West Lafayette, Indiana) Southwest
Watershed Research Centre (Tucson, Arizona), Maison de
la Télédétection (Montpellier, France), International
Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) (Trieste, Italy),
Gobabeb Desert Research Centre (Namibia), Central Arid
Zone Research Institute (CAZRI) (Jodhpur, India), Soil
and Water Conservation Centre (Xian, China), Keio
University (Japan), etc.
Born in southern Tunisia, Dr. Mohamed Ouessar
completed his undergraduate Studies at Institut National
Agronomique de Tunis (National Agronomic Institute of
Tunisia) (INAT) in 1989 and received his M.Sc. and Ph.D.
degrees in Agricultural Sciences (Soil and water
management) from the Faculty of Bioscience Engineering
(International Centre for Eremology), Ghent University
(Belgium) in 1991 and 2007 respectively. He was the first
winner of Prize of “Foundation De Boodt-Maselis for the
promotion of studies in Eremolgy”, Ghent (Belgium) in
September 1991.
He is currently a senior researcher at the Arid Zone
Research Institute (Institut des Régions Arides) (IRA)
(Médenine, Tunisia) and the coordinator of the Remote
Sensing and Geographic Informations System Unit of his
institute.
He is affiliated to several international professional
associations: IUSS, Réseau Erosion (IRD), Réseau
Télédétection (AUF, France), BPD (UK), IGU
(Commission on Land Degradation and Desertification).
He is also volunteering in many NGOs operating in his
region (ASNAPED, UTAIM, AAMTT).
He published several scientific papers in national and
international journals in addition to his contribution to the
edition of books and book chapters. He is also reviewer for
several international journals
Contact:
ouessar@yahoo.com, med.ouessar@ira.agrinet.tn
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