Invited Talks

UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction. Presenter and moderator of a regional multi-stakeholder meeting on “A Systems Approach for Disaster Risk Reduction: Exploring the Nexus of Energy, Food, and Human Mobility in the Northern Countries of Central America”, Panama (Remote).

IWRA World Water Congress 2023. Moderator and Panelist in multiple sessions including a High Level Panel on “Water-Economy-Ecology Nexus Under Changing Environment” and side sessions on “Governing the Water-Energy-Food Nexus” and “Soil for Society Network”, Beijing, China.

GIZ, Arab Water Council, Water-Energy-Food Nexus Training Course. Panelist: Understanding Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots: Lessons learned from global case studies, Cairo, Egypt (remote).

Texas A&M Energy Conference. Moderator of the plenary session on “Smart Technologies and Energy Efficiency: Leveraging Digitalization to Optimize Resource Utilization”, Texas, USA. 

International Water Management Institute and UN ESCWA. Moderator of two-day regional dialogue on Water-Energy-Food nexus: Building resilience in fragile and conflict-affected agrifood systems, Beirut, Lebanon. 

Egyptian Knowledge Bank, PRIMA Program, Knowledge E. Co-led the “Masterclass in Water-Energy-Food-Ecosystems in the South Mediterranean, Cairo, Egypt.

PennState University, Makarere University. Co-delivered the “Collaborative Learning School” as part of SustainFood program focused on building US-Africa network of networks toward sustainable food systems, using a water-energy-food nexus approach, Kampala, Uganda.

The LEE Experience, Berytech. Co-delivered the “WEF Nexuspreneur bootcamp”, Beirut, Lebanon.

MIT Energy Conference. Panelist: Zeroing in on Health at the Nexus of Food, Energy, and Water, Boston, USA.

United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asia (UN ESCWA). Panelist: How does effective governance accelerate SDGs implementation for more sustainable and resilient cities?, Beirut, Lebanon. 

Global Forum for Food And Agriculture (GFFA). Invited Speaker: Food does not grow at supermarkets!, Berlin, Germany.

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) Science and Innovation Forum. Panelist: A Water-Energy-Food Nexus Approach for evaluating the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet: The case of Lebanon. 

World Resources Institute. Invited Speaker: Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Catalyzing cross-sectoral trade-offs dialogue. 

Penn State University. Colombia – USA Water-Energy-Food Nexus Alliance Workshop. Invited Speaker: Water-Energy-Food Nexus Tool 2.0: Catalyzing cross-sectoral trade-offs dialogue. 

Montana State University. Water in the West: Towards Convergent Solutions for Water Security Workshop. Invited Speaker: Lessons Learned: Adopting a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Approach in San Antonio, Texas. Bozeman, Montana, USA. 

University of Idaho. Engage INFEWS: Lessons Learned Lightning Talks. Invited Speaker: Lessons Learned from Stakeholder Engagement in San Antonio, Texas. 

Penn State University. The Water-Energy-Food Nexus Course, Ecosystem Science & Management. Invited Speaker: Localized Solutions for Global Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots. 

University College London. Future Resource Pathways and Visions Course, MSC in Sustainable Resources: Economics, Policy ad Transitions. Invited Speaker: Water-Energy-Food Nexus Analytics. 

Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA). Water, Energy, Food Nexus Innovation Week: Paving the way towards Entrepreneurship. Keynote Speaker: The Nexus approach applied to water, energy, and food security in the MENA region 2021. 

Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) & GIZ. WEFE Nexus in the Mediterranean: From Research to Practice. Panelist: Nexus Modeling: from ideas to policy makers. 

United Nations Food Systems Summit and Zero Hunger Pathways Project Dialogue Series. Session organizer and moderator: Trade-Offs Evaluation and Science-Policy Communication.

International Conference for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Session organizer and moderator: Water-Energy-Food Nexus Research Impact and Stakeholder Engagement.

Annual American Society for Agricultural and Biological Engineers Conference. Session organizer and moderator: Bridging Social and Physical Sciences to Achieve Water, Energy, and Food Sustainable Development Goals, Boston, USA. 

Annual American Chemical Society Fall Meeting. Session Organizer and moderator: Toward creating a Water-Energy-Food Nexus Community of Practice.

New Jersey Institute of Technology. Environmental Policy Class, Invited speaker. Understanding Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots: Multi-faceted Assessments with Localized Solutions.

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO) and Stockholm Environment Institute webinar series. Panelist: Water-Energy-Food Nexus approach for evaluating the sustainability of the Mediterranean Diet: The Case of Lebanon.

Sixth Global Symposium on Health Systems Research. Panelist: Health Systems in the Era of Climate Change and Planetary Health.

Turk Tractor Annual Meeting. Keynote Speaker: Introduction to the Water-Energy-Food Nexus.

IEEE Industrial Electronics Society webinar on Sustainable Smart Cities. Panelist: Understanding Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots.

European Union-Gulf Cooperation Council Webinar Series on Water-Food-Energy nexus concept as a tool for achieving sustainable development goals. Panelist: Governance of WEF Nexus Hotspots: The role of socio-technical analytics.

International Conference for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Solutions Network. Organized and moderated the session on Socio-technical Solutions for Water-Energy-Food Security Challenges, New York, USA. 

Water Innovation Lab-Global, Waterlution, Canada, Online. Invited speaker and coordinator for multiple sessions for 70+ global participants under the Water-Energy-Food Nexus theme.

Water Innovation Lab-Lebanon, Waterlution, Lebanon, Online. Invited speaker and coordinator for multiple sessions on systems thinking, WEF nexus, and Sustainable Development Goals, for 60+ young participants.

Texas A&M University, Energy Institute Lecture Series, Online. Presented a lecture on Convergence Research and launched the Convergence Research Incubator.

American Society for Civil Engineers, Houston Chapter. Invited lecture: Understanding Water-Energy-Food Nexus Hotspots: Holistic Multi-faceted Assessments with Localized Solutions 2019, Houston, USA.

American Geophysical Union Fall Meeting. Oral Presentation: Towards Creating an Environment of Cooperation between Water-Energy-Food Stakeholders in San Antonio, San Francisco, USA.

University of Texas at Austin. Invited lecture at INFEWS – NRT Seminar Series: The role of analytics in catalyzing a multi-stakeholder dialogue around resource challenges, Austin, USA.

Water Innovation Lab, Waterlution. Invited lecture: Systems Thinking and the Sustainable Development Goals, Calgary, Canada.

International Conference for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Columbia University. Organized and moderated two sessions on “Good Practices at the Nexus of Water, Energy, and Agriculture”; presented at the session on “Stakeholder and Community Engagement for Sustainable Urban Change”, New York, USA.

Texas A&M School of Law. Invited lecture: Water-Energy-Food Nexus, Sustainable Development, and International Law, Fort Worth, USA.

Penn State University. Invited to kick off Penn State’s Food-Energy-Water Nexus Seminar Series: delivered sessions on addressing resource hotspots, building interdisciplinary teams, and stakeholder engagement, Pennsylvania, USA.

Texas A&M University and the American University of Beirut, Webinar on the Water, Energy, Food Nexus, San Antonio, Texas. Co-organized, co-moderated, and presented at a webinar titled “Opportunities of Water-Energy-Food Nexus Approach: Innovatively driving economic development, social wellbeing, and environmental sustainability”

Texas A&M University, Energy, Law, and Policy Workshop. Presentation: Governance of the Energy, Water, Food Nexus: Evidence from the San Antonio Region, College Station, Texas, USA. 

International Conference for Sustainable Development, Sustainable Development Solutions Network, Columbia University. Presentation: Towards understanding the level of communication between Water-Energy-Food Government Organizations in San Antonio, New York, USA.

University of North Carolina Nexus Conference. Panelist in session on “Nexus Partnerships: Sharing Experiences and Lessons Learned” organized by UNHABITAT and United Nations University, North Carolina, USA.

TEDx Talk, Texas A&M University. TEDx talk: “How will you choose to contribute?” focusing on Water-Energy-Food security challenges and Sustainable Development Goals. Video Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P–Bc5yaU60, College Station, Texas, USA. 

American Geophysical Union – Fall Meeting. Oral Presentation: Modeling Resource Hotspots: Critical Linkages & Processes, in the session “Achieving Water-Energy-Food Nexus Sustainability: A Science and Data Need or a Need for Integrated Public Policy?”, New Orleans, USA.

International Conference for Sustainable Development, Columbia University. Oral Presentation: The Role of WEF Nexus in Implementing Sustainable Development Goals in Morocco,  New York, USA.

World Water Congress. Oral Presentations: Understanding the Science-Policy Gap: Proposing a Formal Delegation Principal – Agent Model and A Guideline for modeling WEF Nexus Hotspots, Cancun, Mexico.

Dresden Nexus Conference. Oral Presentation: Modeling the Water-EnergyFood Nexus: A 7-Question Guideline 2015-2016, Dresden, Germany.

Barclays Annual Energy Conference. Panelist: Understanding the Interconnected Risks Associated with Energy Investments, Austin, USA.

Texas A&M Energy Conference, Texas A&M University. Oral Presentation: Bridging the Texas Water Gap: A Holistic Approach with Localized Solutions,  College Station, Texas, USA.

World Water Week. Delivered concluding remarks for the Seminar on “Water and Economic Growth”, co-convened by Global Water Partnership, OECD, World Bank, and Stockholm International Water Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.

International Water Resources Association (IWRA) & the Sustainable Water Future Program Webinar. Oral Presentation: The Water–Energy–Food (WEF) Nexus Tool 2.0: Guiding Integrative Resource Planning and Decision Making.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs, Geneva, Switzerland. Participated at workshop on “Designing integrated assessment tools to support sustainable development and United Nations Sustainable Development Goals national strategies”. Oral Presentation: Decision Support Tools for Monitoring Sustainable Development Goals.

League of Arab States & Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). Participated at “Policy Briefs for the Water, Energy and Food Nexus in the Arab Region Workshop” Oral Presentation: WEF Nexus 2.0 and WEF Nexus Tools 2012-2014, Cairo, Egypt. 

International Water Assn. (IWA) and Int’l Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN). Participated at the “Symposium for Infrastructural Solutions in the Water-Energy-Food Nexus”, Oral Presentation: Water-Energy-Food Nexus: Analytical Framework and Applications, Beijing, China.

OCP Policy Center. Participated at “The WEF Nexus in Drylands: Bridging Science and Policy” conference. Oral Presentation: Food Security in the Desert: What does it take?, Rabat, Morocco. 

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Invited contributor, Expert Group Meeting: “Global Sustainable Development Report”. Panelist, Expert Group Meeting: Strengthening the Science-Policy Interface. Presentation: Strengthening the Interface between Science and Policy Communities through Inclusive Tools, New York, USA.

United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs. Invited contributor, Expert Group Meeting: “Global Sustainable Development Report”. Chapter VI: The climate-land-energy-water-development nexus, Stockholm, Sweden.

United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). Keynote speaker, Regional Symposium on Advanced Energy Technologies for Enhanced Water Desalination Systems in the Arab Region, Tunis, Tunisia. 

United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization (UN FAO), Rome, Italy. Panelist, technical workshop on “Moving ahead to implement the nexus approach: Lessons learned and discussion of next steps regarding integrated assessment of water-energy-food needs in a climate change context”

United Nations Climate Change Conference – COP18. Panelist, joint roundtable with QEERI, NASA & UNDP on “Understanding and Responding to Climate Change”. Designed and led a workshop on resource planning (“Become a Minister for an Hour”) for COP18 participants and public; selected to represent Civil Society at Ministerial Roundtable Discussion for one session, Doha, Qatar.