Prof. Imad Khatib

Imad Khatib is a professor of fluid dynamics and thermal fluids at the faculty of engineering of Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU). He holds a Ph.D. (1998) from Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) in modeling the transport and dispersion of the atmosphere in the meso- and micro-scales and the scales' interactions, an M.Phil. (1990) in renewable energy engineering from Cardiff University and the British Standards Institute (BSI) in validating standard testing procedures and models for testing renewable energy conversion systems, and a B.Sc. (1985) in mechanical power engineering from Helwan University. Khatib has founded and directed the Renewable Energy and Environment Research Unit (REERU) of PPU (from 1999 to 2013). He was assigned as the principal investigator of the German BMBF funded program titled: "GLOW-Jordan River (2003 – 2009)" that was mainly directed to investigate the global climate change impact on the hydrology cycle of east Mediterranean basin; as a mesoscale domain, and the Jordan River basin; as a downscaled smaller region. Khatib contributed to the National Communication Report of the Climate Change: Mitigation and Adaptation (2015) as a main expert in the ClimaSouth Euro-Mediterranean Program. He also prepared the first National Energy Efficiency Action Plan (NEEAP 1) in the cooperation framework between European MED-ENEC and the League of Arab States (2015-2016), as well as being a senior scientist of the Dutch Government funded program: "Strengthening Palestinian Environmental Action Plan" (SPEAP) and of the World Bank METAP program. He was assigned by the UN-ESCWA as a technical advisor to the ESCWA-Technology Center, and the UN-ESCWA-Science, Technology, and Innovation Observatories (STIOs), and was assigned by the UNESCO to prepare the STI National Framework Policy Report. Besides, Khatib contributed as a scientific reviewer to the IPCC's Fifth Assessment Report (FAR), and the preparation of the UNEP Global Environmental Outlook (GEO6), as a panelist of the UNEP GEO6, and as an advisor the the German BMBF Strategy for Fostering Innovation in MENA (2017-2020). Khatib has initiated/co-initiated several programs and projects that were funded by and implemented collaboratively with the EU-FP programs 5,6,7 and H2020, USAID, US-CEP, AFD, HPF, BMBF, WB-QIF, ESCWA, UNDP, UNEP, UNIDO, IDB, UPM, and IAP.

Since 2014 Khatib was appointed the president of Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU), where he is leading the university and the effort of transferring it to an entrepreneurial university (interim strategy 2015-2018), then through the second interim strategy, which focused on strengthening the university competitiveness on national and international dimensions (2019-2021). In 1999, Khatib was assigned as the advisor to Palestine Academy for Science and Technology (PALAST) and since the beginning of 2001, he was assigned (on a part-time basis) as the Secretary-General of Palestine Academy for Science and Technology. In his capacity as Secretary-General, Khatib managed to direct and expand Palestinian scientific membership in several prestigious scientific organizations (e.g. IAC, IAP, IAMP, NAS, HRN, NAISC, and MAS), and to initiate and implement several national intiatives, e.g. International Conference on Water: Values and Rights (2005, 2009), and the BMBF funded Palestine-German Science Bridge (2017).

Khatib was a visiting scientist to the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki in Greece, Birzeit University in Palestine the University of Central Florida in the USA, the Florida Solar Energy Center in the USA, the University of Sapienza (Rome 1) in Italy, the University di Pavia in Italy, Michigan University in the USA, and Oakland University in the USA.