Oman donates Quantitative Water Management chair to Utrecht University

Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences has received a philanthropic donation of €2.5 million to continue funding its Quantitative Water Management chair. An Oman government delegation will sign the agreement at the Utrecht University Hall on 22 May 2014.

Despite major differences in climate, water problems in the Middle East are virtually identical to those in the Netherlands. According to Ruud Schotting, however, the solutions are completely different. Schotting holds the Quantitative Water Management chair and his research focuses on similarities and differences in water problems and solutions in the wet deltas of Western world and the extremely dry areas in the Middle East. This understanding has resulted in a huge enrichment of both education and research in Schotting’s disciplines. 

History

The history of this chair goes back to 2005, when former Dutch Prime Minister Jan-Peter Balkenende created a special chair in Quantitative Water Management at Utrecht University to mark the 35th anniversary of the accession of the present Sultan of Oman, Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said. The chair was originally funded by major Dutch companies with business interests in Oman, such as Shell and Damen Shipyards.

Schotting was appointed to this chair for a five-year period in 2007. Six years later, in 2013, the Sultanate of Oman proposed that it would fund the chair, but from then on as a full-time chair in the Faculty of Geosciences. The €2.5 million to be donated by the Sultanate to Utrecht University will be used to fund the chair. 

Independent research

Sultan Qaboos bin Said Al Said views science as the ultimate means of bringing cultures and nations together, and has shown this by establishing chairs at various leading universities. He has previously donated funds for fifteen chairs at major universities, including Oxford, Beijing and Melbourne. The Utrecht chair will be the sixteenth. For those chairs the Sultan does not expect anything in return, other than his name being associated with the chair. The chair holder has full academic freedom.

Ceremony

An Oman government delegation will sign the agreement at the Utrecht University Hall on 22 May. The ceremony will be attended by Habib Al Riyami, Secretary General of the Sultan Qaboos Higher Center for Culture and Science in Oman, Marjan Oudeman, chair of the Utrecht University Executive Board and Ronald van Kempen, dean of the Faculty of Geosciences.

More information

• Tom de Kievith MA, Press Public Relations Officer at Utrecht University’s Faculty of Geosciences, T.deKievith@uu.nl, +31 30 253 5593;

Faculty of Geosciences: a sustainable Earth for future generations