Contributors

Abdulhalim Zaryab received his MSc in Hydrogeology and Engineering Geology in 2016 from Kazakh National Research Technical University after K.I. Satpayev, Kazakhstan. He currently works as assistant professor at the department of Engineering Geology and Hydrogeology, Kabul Polytechnic University.

Mr. Alamgeer received his M.phil in remote sensing and GIS from Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi and M.Sc.in GIS from University of Punjab Lahore Pakistan. Currently he works as GIS Expert in Aga Khan Agency for Habitat (AKAH) Pakistan. His specialties are Hydrological and Hydraulic flood and flash flood modeling, remote sensing and GIS in water resource especially Glaciers, weather forecast, Intergraded watershed management Plan. Mapping and modeling of Geo Hazards and simulation of Snow avalanches. He is currently working on assessing climate change impact on glaciers in Gilgit- Baltistan and Chitral region in AKAH. He has experience in fieldwork in remote region of karakoram and Hindu Kush regions of Chitral and Gilgit- Baltistan Pakistan.

Dr. Rittger received his BS at Brown University in 2002 in Geology-Physiscs/Mathematics and his MA and PhD at the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2006 and 2012. His specialties are snow hydrology, remote sensing of ice and snow, Earth surface energy and water balance and large-scale data modeling. Dr. Rittger uses NASA satellite data for both scientific research and capacity building focused for large scale physically based distributed modeling of snow and snowmelt. He has experience in modeling and fieldwork in data rich regions in the Western United States and data poor regions like the Himalaya.

Dr. Masoud Ghulami is currently working as Postgraduate researcher at University of Nice Sophia Antipolis, France where he was awarded a PhD degree in water Engineering and Management. He worked a year and half in Nepal with the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development (ICIMOD) as Research Associate to conduct a research on Hindu-Kush-Himalayas in the areas of Climate Change and Water. Before joining the PhD program, he was working with Afghanistan Ministry of Energy and Water for almost two years. He has experience of working as the Deputy Project Manager for Shah Wa Arus dam project in Afghanistan. The areas of Masoud’s interests are hydrology, water resources, agriculture, climate change, downscaling and uncertainty, adaptation, and hydro-climatic data analysis, modeling, including WEAP software applications.

Dr. Toqeer Ahmed is currently working as Assistant Professor, Centre for Climate Research and Development (CCRD), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT). Since his education, he has worked at responsible positions in several different Government departments and R & D organizations. He has completed many national projects as well as international projects in collaboration with the University of Edinburgh, UK and International NGOs. He has >25 research publications in the field of food and water quality assessment, wastewater treatment and Nano-biotechnology. Dr. Ahmed has lectured and presented Research Papers in both national and international conferences. He is currently working in the fields of Environment, Climate Change, Water resources and Health. He is on the Editorial Boards of few International impact factor Journals and active member of scientific societies.

He has completed Bachelors in computer science from PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. He is pursuing research work of MS Remote Sensing and GIS on Chitral Kabul River Basin Snowmelt Runoff from PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. He developed data encryption and decryption software, immigration system software, develop teacher student portal. Currently I am serving as a faculty member at department of Management Sciences and department of Bio Chemistry in PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi. He has taught various courses like Introduction to Computing, Introduction to E-commerce and IT in Business as well as working as GIS Officer in MER Solutions.

Jamal Abdul Naser Shokory is the director and board member of a research organization in Afghanistan called ROD “Researches Organization for Development”. As well as he is working at the office of Afghanistan President - Agriculture and Development Advisory as Water Resources and Climate Change Specialist. He has completed his master’s degree in Japan at University of the Ryukyus in the field of Climate Change and Water Resources Management.

Master’s degree in Integrated Water Resource Management, German-Kazakh University, Kazakhstan Prior to starting his master’s degree, he was an adjunct lecture at Jami University, Afghanistan, having more than 4 years of working experience with international organizations. He currently works on development of the integrated surface and underground modeling for Kabul City Region using DHI MIKE SHE/11 , WEAP supported by USAID PEER (http://sites.nationalacademies.org/PGA/PEER/PEERscience/PGA_174150).

Mr. Maqbool Ahmad is PhD scholar in COMSATS (IIT), Pakistan. He has been a GIS Analyst in transport planning and traffic engineering unit, Mass transit & Transport Unit (TPU) KPK, government project.

Mr. Mohammad Salem Hossaini graduated in Engineering Geology Master’s degree (2012) by successfully defending his thesis titled, “Evaluation of Engineering Geological Properties of Kabul city”, through which first database for engineering geological parameters of soil as well as several soil zonation maps for Kabul city area have been developed by GIS Program. He is currently working as an Assistant Professor at Engineering Geology & Hydrogeology Department of Geology & Mine Faculty at Kabul Polytechnic University. In addition, he has worked for major infrastructural projects throughout Afghanistan such as feasibility study of water supply for New Kabul City.

Bromand has Master degree in civil and environmental engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Japan (2015). Bromand was a research fellow with the Department of Environmental Science, University of Kabul, where he conducted a research on hydrology and water resources in the Kabul Basin. Bromand also worked on the European Union co-funded development project: “integrated water resources management in Amu River Basin”, Kunduz, Afghanistan from 2011-2013.

Muhammad Amin is specialized, experienced, result oriented and highly motivated professional having 12 years of work experience in Satellite Remote Sensing and GIS. He has in-depth knowledge of geospatial application in Navigation Mapping, GIS web application development, natural resources management; infrastructure & urban planning and Agriculture gained through professional national and international work experience. To his credit, he has more than 7 National and International research publications. He has also completed 4 National and International research projects. He has also organized three international Conferences and a training workshop on Use of Geo-Information Technology in Agriculture in Pakistan. Currently, he is working as lecturer in the Institute of Geo-Information & Earth Observation at PMAS-Arid Agriculture University, Rawalpindi.

Mr. Muhammad Zahir is an Environmentalist and currently working as Research Associate at CCRD. He has done M.phil Environmental Sciences from University of Haripur (UoH). Previously he worked as a Coordinator with HEED Association of ERRA project on Promotion of Rain Water Harvesting Project (PRWHP) in Abbottabad District. His research interest is Climate change and its impact on water resources, food security and climate modeling regarding water resource management.

Ms. Rabbia Murtaza is currently working in Centre for Climate Research and Development (CCRD), COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT). She has received MS Environmental Sciences from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST). She has also worked with Climate Change Atmospheric Research Group (C-CARGO) with NUST.

Muhammad Roman Khan holds BS degree in Geology from University of Haripur, Pakistan. He is having BS research on, “Sedimentology and reservoir characterization of upper cretaceous kawakargh formation, Qamar mela section, Nizampur basin, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan”. He is working as a GIS analyst at MER Solutions, Survey of Pakistan. He is working on “Satellite enhanced snowmelt flood and drought predictions for Kabul River Basin with surface and groundwater modeling” project. He is currently an MS research scholar at PMAS Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan. The primary research interests are Geographic information system, Spatial Analysis, Remote sensing, Geo-information, Earth Sciences, Environmental geology, Water resource management, Environmental impact assessment, Hydrologic and water resource Modeling and simulation, Watershed hydrology, Hydrogeology, Ground water Modeling.

Completed BS-Geology from the University of Azad Jammu and Kashmir Muzaffarabad. Currently enrolled as research scholar in Institute of Geo Information and Earth observation (IGEO), PMAS-Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi, Pakistan. He is currently working on the research project, “Quantification of groundwater storage variation and stress area using multi temporal grace data of Kabul River Basin”. Also working as GIS analyst in MER solution, Survey of Pakistan. His final BS research project was in petrography of Sedimentary and Igneous rocks. He is also having research on examination and identification of Sedimentation and Sedimentry Basin of Pakistan, and mineral identification of Northern areas of Pakistan (Higher Himalayas, Lesser Himalayas and Sub Himalayas). The primary research interests are Remote Sensing and DIP, Geo spatial Data Modelling, Geo spatial analysis of Hydrology, Water resource Modelling and simulation, Geological mapping, Disaster Management, and Environmental impact assessment using RS and GIS application. He believes to utilize and enhance the capabilities, knowledge and skill in a valuable manner for the benefit of the humanity that encourages innovation and creativeness in the world.

Mr.Nasimi is currently working as a lecture at Kabul Polytechnic University, faculty of environmental and water resources engineering and Researcher at Afghanistan national water & Environmental research center. He received his first Master degree in Water Resources Engineering and Management from University of Moratuwa, Sri Lanka and second Master degree in Hydraulic structures from Kabul Polytechnic University, Afghanistan. He has a four years’ experience in teaching and research activities. His current research areas are in hydrological modeling, climate change, transboundary waters, IWRM, Irrigation, GIS & RS, Water treatment and wastewater treatment across Sri Lanka and Afghanistan.

Saiyed Momin Nori is currently doing his Master Degree in Integrated Water Resources Management at German-Kazakh University in Almaty, Kazakhstan. He has been working on GNSS technologies and GNSS Data Processing and WEAP modeling with Prof. Zhanay Sagintayev of Nazarbayev University and Prof. Rui Fernandes of University of Beira Interior in Portugal on RATINHA (ReAl-TIme geodetic data for Natural HAzard monitoring) project. In addition, He works as a consultant on Chitral-Kabul Transboundary River Basin Project, Under Partnerships for Enhanced Engagement in Research (PEER), USAID. He is an experienced expert on GNSS Data Processing and GNSS Trimble R8-4, Leica GS-16 Receivers, 3D Terrestrial Laser Scanner RIEGL VZ-4000, Total Station, and WEAP modeling. Saiyed Momin has been working as a GNSS Specialist on several projects with the Institute of Geography of Kazakhstan, the International Science Complex “Astana”, and School of Humanities and Social Sciences of Nazarbayev University. His fields of interest are Cooperative Management, Transboundary waters, Water Resources Management, GNSS Data and hydrological modeling with the WEAP based modeling tool.

Nurlan Ongdas received his B.A. degree in Environmental Science from Trinity College, University of Dublin. After graduation he worked as research assistant in the Laboratory of Ecology and Hydrology, National Laboratory Astana. His M.Sc. degree in HydroScience and Engineering is from Technische Universität Dresden. He has experience in hydrologic (TOPKAPI-X, ArcSWAT, etc.) and hydraulic (SMS, Iber-WQ, etc.) modeling. Currently he is working on the project related to hydrologic modeling of 2 lakes in Northern Kazakhstan.

Vadim Yapiyev received his B.Sc. from Eurasian National University majoring in Chemistry and Ecology, and M.Sc. from Central European University in Environmental Sciences and Policy in 1997 and 1999 accordingly. He is a PhD candidate (year 5) at School of Engineering at Nazarbayev University, Astana. His research activities are centred on interdisciplinary water resources research with particular emphasis on hydrology, soil science, environmental geochemistry and micrometeorology. His PhD project is devoted to lake hydrology of Burabay National Nature Park, Kazakhstan, Northern Central Asia), with a focus on open water evaporation and water balance.

Dauren Zhumabayev received BSc in physics at Eurasian National University and MSc in Computational Methods for Aeronautics at Imperial College London. He worked in project related to creation High Resolution Climate Change Scenarios for Central Asia. He modelled climate change impacts for Central Asia.

Gauhar Meldebekova is a research assistant in the field of GIS and remote sensing at Nazarbayev University. She received her BSc degree in ecology from Kazakh National University and MSc in Civil-Environmental Engineering from Yonsei University, South Korea. Within the project, Gauhar works with radar interferometry techniques (InSAR) for high-resolution land deformation monitoring in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Bekbayeva Aigul received her MSc in Geographical Information Science in 2016 from the University of Nottingham, UK. She currently works as research assistant at the GIS center, KATU. Her fields of interest are remote sensing, climate change. Practical knowledge of software at the advanced user level ArcGIS, SPSS, ENVI, SNAP, WEAP, ERDAS.

Valiyeva Sholpan received her MSc in Geography in 2016 from Belarusian State University, Belarus. She is head of the GIS center, KATU. She has taught various courses like remote sensing, GIS, photogrammetry.

Abdikaiym Zhiyenbek has received his master’s degree in Environmental Engineering from ETH Zurich in 2016. He is an expert in hydrological and groundwater modeling in python programming environment. He is also specialized in GIS and remote sensing fields. Furthermore, his research involves application of machine learning and AI in sustainable water resources management.

Aigerim Sultanbekova received her MSc in Geodesy and Remote Sensing in 2018 from Moscow State University of Geodesy and Cartography, Russia. She currently works as an engineer at the photogrammetry department of the NC Kazakhstan Gharysh Sapary, Nur-Sultan. She has good skills in Geodesy, Remote Sensing and GIS. Her field of interest is programming in Geoscience.

She graduated from the Omsk State Technical University with a specialization in standardization, certification, metrology in the aviation and aerospace industry in 2000. Over 15 years of experience and practical experience in the Republican State Enterprise "Kazakhstan Institute of Metrology" and JSC "NK Kazakhstan Garysh Sapary". She specializes in metrology in geodesy and cartography, and she is also a specialist in navigation. Sufficient experience in writing and implementing research and development. In the project, she was engaged in the creation of a geodetic range and metrological support.

PhD Candidate, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO). He was involved in the projects as Uzbekistan Social Protection System (World Bank, 2018), Qualitative survey on recruitment processes and practices in temporary seasonal agriculture in Uzbekistan, with a focus on cotton (United States Department of Labor, 2018), UNIWORK “ Working towards a network of career centers in Central Asia HEIS” (TEMPUS, Duration, 2016).

Сurrently doing PhD on Irrigation water Management in context of water distribution law at Center for Development Research (ZEF) at Bonn University Germany. He has a background on hydraulic structures and water management and conducted workshops on Aquacrop model calibration and validation, remote sensing and QGIS, Application of Remote sensing for agriculture water management. He has quantitative and qualitative research experience in Afghanistan, Turkey, and Pakistan that covers following topics: Water Resources Environmental and climate change Sustainable use of natural resources Land, water, food and energy

PhD Candidate, Leibniz Institute of Agricultural Development in Transition Economies (IAMO). He has more than three years of experience on water resource management and geographical information systems with certificates and degrees from recognized universities and short courses. The main research interests are connected with spatial data, GIS/RS and climate change analysis for making evidence – based solutions on sustainable development of land and water resource management in Central Asian region and beyond.

Qasim Mahdawi was born in Uruzgan, Afghanistan 1982. Eng. Mahdawi is a lecturer of Civil Engineering at Eshraq Higher Education Institute, Herat, Afghanistan. His main areas of research are integrated water resources management (IWRM), groundwater modeling and management, conjunctive use of surface water and groundwater. He has published some paper at journals and presented papers at several national conferences. In 2016, he started his PhD in water resources management in Department of Civil Engineering at University of Isfahan, Iran. Mr. Mahdawi received his master's degree and bachelor's degree in hydrogeology and science from Sistan and Baluchestan University, Iran respectively. Currently, Eng. Mahdawi is working on his dissertation entitled estimating sediment production and delivery in ungauged basins by applying remote sensing technique. At the same time, he has collaborated in many national projects on the study of water resources as an expert engineer.