WaSec (Innovations in Water Education: Enhancing Water Security and Socio-economic Development in the Eastern Mediterranean under Climate Change) is an Erasmus+ project that aims to teach new technologies and methods to students that will incorporate them in water resources management plans and that eventually will be adopted in the water relevant organizations and businesses. The Open University of Cyprus (OUC), partner of the research project, specialized in open and distance education, contributed in WaSec through its Terrestrial Ecosystems Management Lab, mainly by offering knowledge and know-how in the use of distance learning methods and tools. The material created as part of the project will be used in various educational activities (i.e. postgraduate courses, professional training, software training).
One of the primary goals of the WaSec project, which was implemented between November 2018 and August 2022 with approximately 1 million Euro budget, was to review and upgrade undergraduate and postgraduate programmes of study of the participating Universities operating in Jordan, Palestine, Greece, Spain, the Netherlands, and Cyprus, on water/natural resources management and climate change adaptation with an emphasis on Mediterranean conditions. In the context of the WaSec project, partners have designed and developed a new joint postgraduate programme with the same title that has already been offered by the Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie and the Al Quds University both in Palestine.
Dr. Vassilis Litskas, OUC researcher, attended the project’s final conference and project meeting on July 25-29, 2022, representing the Open University of Cyprus. Project partners: Palestine Technical University – Kadoorie (coordinator), Open University of Cyprus, Jordan University of Science and Technology, International Hellenic University, The Amsterdam Centre for World Food Studies - VU University of Amsterdam, Al Quds University, University of Jordan, Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Princess Sumaya University for Technology, Palestinian Water Authority, Applied Scientific Research Fund (Jordan), Creative Thinking Development (Greece), Hydro-Engineering Consultancy (Palestine).
