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About us

Impacting Lives and Industries around the Mediterranean

The Mediterranean region's diverse communities are constantly engaged in a dynamic exchange. This interconnectedness brings about common challenges, particularly in areas like climate, energy use, and sustainable building practices.

SERMED

We continue the long-standing tradition of collaboration by bringing together researchers, industry leaders, and students from across the Mediterranean.

Our mission is to accelerate the adoption of innovative solutions, while fostering the creation and exchange of local knowledge to address the region's unique needs.

01

Learning Modules

Enjoy flexibility and variety of topics and categories while remaining relevant to real-world problems. These learning modules are designed to empower users with the insights needed to understand and implement sustainable energy solutions effectively.

02

Industry Challenges

By inviting industry to share their challenges and potential problems, we facilitate the adoption of research knowledge through actionable approaches. This connection informs academic research and drives innovation tailored to real-world needs.

03

Virtual Labs

We provide interactive remote labs where users can participate in ongoing experiments. This hands-on experience fosters skill development and encourages a deeper understanding of sustainable energy practices through practical application.

04

Community

By fostering a collaborative community, we encourage ongoing dialogue and problem-solving, enhancing both academic and industry outcomes while driving sustainable futures and promoting humanity's well-being. We will help you unlock your inner potential so you can excel in your professional field.

University Partners

To offer top quality training we work with a number of innovative organizations that offer cutting edge, high quality training and professional development opportunities to individuals and organizations.

Our team

Meet our team

Our team consists of top-notch academics from leading universities who are passionate about their research and dedicated to supporting industries in applying their findings. They believe in the critical importance of collaborating with industry to ensure the well-being of future generations and promote social equity through sustainable practices and transformative sustainability initiatives. Together, we strive to make a meaningful impact in the field of sustainable energy.

César Valderrama
UPC

Samer Alsadi
PTUK

Gabriella Calderari
UNIROMA

Nesreen Ghaddar
AUB

Dana Al Batlouni
AUB

Sameer Khader
PPU

Assaad Zoughaib
PSL

Paolo Venturini
UNIROMA

Abed Ellatif Samhat
LU

Katiuscia Cipri
UNIROMA

Carlos Gonzalez De Miguel
UPC

WHAT THEY THINk

Our students love us

“What stood out to me about SERMED was its focus on real world relevance. The platform doesn’t just teach; it immerses us in the region’s most urgent sustainability and energy topics. Exploring the content gave me a deeper understanding of how Mediterranean challenges are tackled in practice, and it inspired me to think more critically about applying solutions in my own work. It’s a space that motivates and informs.”

Zahraa Diab

“SERMED’s tools such as the learning modules, hands-on virtual labs, and industry challenges, developed by top Mediterranean researchers and professionals, really empowered me to bridge theory and practice. Guided by experts and supported by a vibrant regional network, I gained essential skills and confidence, and I can’t wait for more!”

Hussein Krayem

Do you know someone who shares our vision?
Tell them about us!

You can use the hashtag #SERMED to talk about us on social media.

Connect with us

Who we are

We give every desiring student the opportunity to enrich their lives through training and online education relevant to the real world!

Get in touch

info@ser-med.com

Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
Copyright © 2024

César Valderrama

César Valderrama is a full professor in the Chemical Engineering Department at the Barcelona Tech UPC. Since 2011 he was appointed coordinator at the UPC of the Master in Sustainable Energy of the KIC Innoenergy of the European Institute of Technology (EIT) and since 2020 he is the program director. Since 2023 he is deputy director of the Barcelona East School of Engineering. He has published more than 140 research articles and has received several grants from national and European competitive programs such as H200 and Horizon Europe. His research interest focuses on the analysis of the processes and supply routes of resources for the European energy transition through the recovery and circularity of critical and strategic materials in urban and industrial cycles. He is also developing research in the areas of the analysis of the sustainability of the European economic model and the viability of implementing alternative post-growth models from a transdisciplinary perspective that allow addressing the challenges of the socioeconomic model.

Gabriella Calderari

European Projects Designer and Manager with international experience in the coordination and monitoring of complex projects, with a strong focus on environmental sustainability, circular economy and international cooperation.

Graduated in Law at the University of Bologna, PhD in Energy and Environment at Sapienza University of Rome, PMP® certified, she collaborates with numerous international public and private organizations as project writer, project manager and external monitoring and quality expert.

Sameer Khader

Prof. Sameer Khader is a Full Professor of Electrical Engineering at Palestine Polytechnic University (PPU). He has held various leadership roles, including Dean of Graduate Studies & Scientific Research (2012-2015) and University Academic Provost. In 2010-2011, he was a visiting professor at the University of Hartford, USA. He currently directs the Power Electronics & Signal Processing Research Unit at PPU.

His research focuses on electrical machines, drives, power electronics, renewable energy, smart grids, and engineering education. He has received multiple awards, including the AMIDEAST Teaching Excellence Award (2008), and has published several IEEE papers. Prof. Khader has led multiple international projects, including World Bank and EU-funded initiatives. He is also a certified LabVIEW Associate Developer (CLAD).

Samer Y. Alsadi

SAMER Y. ALSADI. was born in Jenin City, West Bank Palestine in 1971. He received his B.S. and M.S. degrees in power systems engineering from Moscow Power Engineering Institute, Moscow, Russia, in 1996 and a Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering from the same institute, in 2000.

From 2000-2001, he was an Electrical Engineer in the electrical department of Jenin’s Municipal. Since 2001 he has been an Assistant Professor with the Electrical Engineering Department, at Palestine Technical University-Kadoorie. He is the author of some articles. His research interests include renewable energy, power systems, simulation, and analysis. He has been a Professor since 2019, dean of scientific research since 2020, distinguished Professor in 2025, and a senior IEEE member since 2017.

Nesreen Ghaddar

Nesreen Ghaddar is Qatar Chair of Energy Studies, and professor of mechanical engineering at the American University of Beirut. She is also the Director of the Munib and Angela Masri Institute of Energy and Natural Resources at AUB. She joined the University in 1991, and subsequently served as Chair of the Mechanical Engineering Department (2001-2007), coordinator of the Chemical Engineering program and Acting Associate Provost (2008-09), before being appointed Associate Provost in 2009. Dr. Ghaddar’s first academic appointment was as an assistant professor at Kuwait University (1985-90). She obtained her BE (1980) from Kuwait University; and her Master’s (1982) and PhD (1985) in Mechanical Engineering from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

The focus of Dr. Ghaddar’s research is computational and experimental heat transfer enhancement for efficient cooling, solar energy applications, energy conversion, personalized ventilation and localized cooling systems, indoor air quality, modeling of moisture and heat transport processes for clothed humans and thermal comfort. Dr. Ghaddar was named a Fellow of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences in 2007 and was elected to the Lebanese Academy of Science in 2009. In 2012 she received the Distinguished Scholar Medal and Certificate for Research Excellence from the Lebanese Council.

Dana Al Batlouni

Dana is a design researcher and the founder of MAJAZ, a design firm dedicated to fostering thoughtful, research-driven solutions across industries. She earned her PhD from the Cardiff School of Art and Design, UK, where her research focused on knowledge creation within university–industry collaborative design projects. Upon returning to Lebanon, Dana set out to advance the integration of design research across sectors, beginning with academic institutions. Her work is grounded in a deep commitment to human-centered design and a systems-oriented perspective, empowering organizations to craft purposeful services and interventions that reflect both the needs of users and stakeholders and the complexities of the broader ecosystem.

Assaad Zoughaib

Assaad Zoughaib is a full professor at Mines Paris, PSL University, where he leads the Energy Master program. He is also adjunct director of Center for Energy, Environment and Processes(CEEP). With a PhD in Energy from Mines ParisTech, his research focuses on applied thermodynamics, energy efficiency, and sustainable industrial processes. He has authored over 120 publications and developed the CERES platform, an open-source tool for optimizing energy recovery in industrial settings. His work integrates methodologies like pinch analysis and exergy optimization to design flexible, low-carbon energy systems. Zoughaib is also the author of "From Pinch Methodology to Pinch-Exergy Integration of Flexible Systems," published by ISTE Press – Elsevier.

Abed Ellatif Samhat

Abed Ellatif Samhat joined the Lebanese University in 2009 and he is the director of the Scientific Research Center in Engineering (CRSI) at the Faculty of Engineering - since 2021. His areas of interest include mobile and wireless networks, IoT, security and applied AI. He is also involved in several capacity building Erasmus+ projects. He received the engineering diploma in electrical and electronics from the Lebanese University, Beirut, Lebanon, in 2000, and the master degree and the Ph.D. degree in computer science from Pierre et Marie Curie University, Paris - France, in 2001 and 2004, respectively. From 2005 to 2008, he was a Research Engineer with France Telecom Group, Orange Labs–Paris, where he was involved in several national and European projects, including ambient networks and Gandalf.

Katiuscia Cipri

Katiuscia Cipri was a researcher and academic in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome, now external consultant for the same Institution. MSc in Engineering, PhD in Energetic, her primary research areas included cryogenic engineering, renewable energy systems, and sustainable development. With a commitment to academic excellence and interdisciplinary collaboration, Cipri has coordinated multiple European Union-funded projects under the ERASMUS+ and TEMPUS programs. These initiatives, such as JAMILA, DALILA, WESET, ECO-RED, DIEGO and SERMED, aim to develop academic curricula on sustainable energies and the green economy, particularly in collaboration with universities in Africa, the Middle East and Asia. She continues to engage in activities that promote innovation, critical inquiry, and knowledge dissemination within her field.

Carlos Gonzalez De Miguel

Carlos González, PhD is assistant professor with the Electrical Engineering Department at Barcelona Tech UPC. Before joining UPC, he worked as self-employed energy consultant and lecturer on energy markets and innovation methodologies. Previously, he was postdoctoral researcher at ESADE Business School (Spain) on regulatory, market and business analysis for implementing innovative, flexible solutions in the electricity grid. He obtained his PhD from KU Leuven, Belgium, and from the European Institute of Innovation and Technology (EIT) and joined Bausch Datacom NV for implementing the patented short-circuit detection algorithms developed during his PhD. From 2006 to 2010, he was researcher at CITCEA-UPC and developed software to assist the integration of renewables in the grid.

Paolo Venturini

Paolo Venturini, a Mechanical Engineer with a PhD in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering at Sapienza University of Rome (Italy). His multidisciplinary research encompasses fields such as multiphase flows, erosion and fouling modelling, turbomachinery, energy systems, biofuels, sustainable mobility, and hydrogen technologies. He develops advanced models to predict erosion and particle deposition in critical systems, including gas turbines, compressors, wind and tidal turbines. His work extends to experimental investigations into the use of vegetable and waste cooking oils as sustainable fuels for internal combustion engines, as well as the potential of biomass gasification for producing hydrogen-rich syngas. Additionally, he focuses on integrating hydrogen-based solutions into energy systems to support decarbonization efforts especially in the energy and transportation sectors.