Lettre n° 158 – JUIN 2026

1) What is your academic background ?

My academic background integrates engineering, water and sanitation science, and social sciences, with a strong focus on applied research in low‑income and displacement‑affected contexts. I hold a Bachelor of Engineering in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Khartoum, where my undergraduate research addressed performance optimization of conventional water clarifiers. I later completed a Graduate Diploma in Science and Engineering at Kaplan International College, London.

I obtained an MSc in Urban Water and Sanitation from UNESCO‑IHE (IHE Delft) through the Netherlands Fellowship Program. My master’s research evaluated the sustainability of productive sanitation systems in IDP camps in South Darfur, including field piloting of urine‑diverting toilets and faecal sludge characterization, and received the Max Havelaar Lecture Award.

My academic training is complemented by extensive practical experience in water and sanitation and hygiene (WASH), fecal sludge management, and decentralized biogas systems across Sudan, Kenya, and Uganda, involving system design, field piloting, and implementation in informal settlements and refugee contexts. I am currently a PhD candidate at Université Paris Cité (ED 624 – Social Sciences and Humanities), conducting interdisciplinary research on sustainable sanitation and biogas systems in East Africa, with additional admission to the IHE Delft / TU Delft PhD program, reflecting the technical and socio‑economic orientation of my work.

2) What research themes are you working on ?

My research focuses on sustainable sanitation and decentralized biogas systems in low‑income, high‑density urban settlements: informal and refugee contexts, examined through a socio‑technical and Science and Technology Studies (STS) lens. A central theme is the persistent underperformance of biogas systems despite large-scale deployment, driven by low-rate digester designs, mono-substrate operation, weak process control, and exclusionary governance models.

Technically, I study anaerobic co‑digestion, high‑rate reactor configurations (UASB, ABR), methane yield optimization, pathogen inactivation, and greenhouse‑gas mitigation using GWP₂₀ and GWP₁₀₀ frameworks. Socially, my work examines gender, cooperative management, particularly how women and marginalized groups bear sanitation and energy burdens while being excluded from decision‑making and ownership.

Additional themes include climate resilience, carbon finance for sanitation, community‑led cooperative models, and policy barriers to innovation, informed by comparative insights from French micro‑methanation. Overall, my research integrates engineering, public health, climate mitigation, and social justice to understand how sanitation infrastructure can transition from underperforming technologies to inclusive, climate-relevant systems.

3) What projects are you currently working on?

The project focuses on piloting and scaling sanitation‑linked biogas systems in displacement‑affected settings to address sanitation, energy access, and environmental health challenges. It integrates fecal sludge management and organic waste valorization within decentralized biogas systems adapted to refugee and host‑community contexts. Emphasis is placed on applied research, technical piloting, and knowledge transfer through engagement with local stakeholders, humanitarian agencies, and service providers. The project functions as a living laboratory to assess technical performance, governance arrangements, and operational sustainability, while generating transferable lessons for similar low‑income and fragile settings. By combining engineering practice with socio‑technical analysis, the project contributes evidence‑based pathways for circular, resilient sanitation and energy solutions in fragile environments.

Additionally, I serve as a peer reviewer for the Journal of Water, Sanitation and Hygiene for Development (WASHDEV) and continue to publish and present research on sanitation, and biogas performance.

4) What do you hope to contribute through your research?

Through my research, I aim to contribute actionable, interdisciplinary knowledge that reshapes how sanitation‑linked micro methanation systems are designed, governed, and valued in marginalized settings. Technically, I seek to demonstrate that compact, high-rate co-digestion systems can substantially improve methane recovery, reduce reactor size and costs, enhance pathogen removal, and deliver meaningful climate and health benefits compared to conventional low-rate digesters.

Equally important, my contribution is conceptual and social. I aim to show the technology alone cannot deliver sustainable sanitation without addressing governance, gender, and power relations. By foregrounding women‑led cooperative models and community ownership, my research challenges extractive, top‑down infrastructure approaches and proposes inclusive alternatives to improve safety, and economic participation.

At a policy level, I seek to bridge gaps in climate finance and technological innovation, demonstrating how carbon markets and substrate diversification can improve micro-methanation systems. Ultimately, my goal is to contribute to climate-resilient, just, and context-responsive sanitation transitions that are relevant to communities in France and the Global South.