stronger society
TAU-Style Tikkun Olam By Maayan Hoffman
Researchers’ academic innovation impacts India and other parts of the developing world
Prof. Hadas Mamane in India
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One of the greatest challenges of the modern age is securing an environmentally sustainable supply of energy, water and food that can meet the needs of billions of people in developing countries. Researchers at TAU’s Boris Mints Institute for Strategic Policy Solutions to Global Challenges hope to find solutions through the new Initiative for Sustainable Development (ISD). The program harnesses the academic and lab work conducted on campus in areas such as water and agri-tech, public health, public policy, economics and data science, and takes it outside the walls of the university to farms and villages in developing countries. “To understand if you are developing the right technologies you can’t only examine them in the lab, you have to test them out in the field,” says Prof. Hadas Mamane, Head of the Water Tech Laboratory at TAU’s Iby and Aladar Fleischman Faculty of Engineering and a member of the Moshe Mirilashvili Institute for Applied Water Studies. The concept is non-traditional. With its emphasis on theories and models, academia is often far removed from ground realities in developing
countries. But Mamane says that by moving the classroom and the lab to villages located in India or other parts of the developing world, researchers can more effectively develop and prove new approaches to achieving sustainable development goals.
Water is life “We face a growing challenge to provide access to potable drinking water,” Mamane says. For almost 15 years, she has been researching dirty water, specifically in India, where she says statistics show that in some places 20% of children under the age of five become sick due to water pollution and environmental factors. “The water is contaminated with harmful bacteria and viruses and these pathogens can kill,” Mamane says. “Without safe water, humanity cannot exist. Water is life.”
Currently, Mamane and her team of students are searching for solutions that reduce energy and water consumption and that can be viable for use by poor communities. Specifically, they are focused on using solar technologies to deactivate bacteria, control biological pollution, and chemically oxidize the water to improve its quality for consumption and for agriculture. Mamane is exploring a remotecontrolled disinfection system using LEDs in a project supported by Israel’s Ministry of Economy. The team also received a grant from the Environmental Protection Ministry to learn how to make ethanol – a replacement for gasoline – out of paper, agricultural waste and trimmings. “We are trying to see how these innovative technologies can be implemented on tight budgets and by people with limited skill sets,” Mamane explains. To ensure success, she and her students spend a lot of time – as much as six months to a year – doing field work.
