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The first scholarship holder of the Women for Africa Foundation and the UC has joined IHCantabria

Hajar Haddou has been granted a 10-month scholarship for carrying out research into resilient solutions for urban growth
Academic
1/9/2018

The young Moroccan student Hajar Haddou, Master's in Environment and Civil Engineering, is the first beneficiary of the Women for Africa Foundation scholarship system, enabling her to pursue her research at the University of Cantabria (UC).

Selected for a 10-month scholarship jointly funded by the Women for Africa Foundation and the Vicerectorate for Research and Cooperation at the UC, Haddou will take part in a research project over a period of 10 months at the Environmental Hydraulics Institute at the UC, IHCantabria.

Under the supervision of Professor César Álvarez, Director of the Hydraulic Engineering Group, the student is carrying out a study on the integration of hydraulic calculation models of flood risk and urban development.

The objective of this research is to put forward a new methodology, applicable to the sustainable growth of emerging cities in developing countries, aimed at integrating aspects of natural hazard mitigation and finding resilient solutions for urban growth. 

This field of work is applicable in her country and also well known to Haddou, as her Final Master's Project studied flooding in urban areas. In this sense, Professor Álvarez has explained that besides the importance of this scholarship in her curriculum vitae, her work "will serve to establish ties with areas that are of particular interest to us".

Hajar Haddou, aged 24, has a degree in Environment and Civil Engineering from the Science Faculty at Mohamed I University (Oujda, Morocco) and she has received the Annual Master's Award in Environment and Civil Engineering from the same university, in the field of Geo Risks and Territorial Development. This young student's professional dream is to be able to apply all the new knowledge obtained from her line of research on her return to Morocco.

This scholarship is the fruit of the framework agreement for collaboration signed last year by the President of the Women for Africa Foundation, María Teresa Fernández de la Vega, and the Rector of the UC, Ángel Pazos, whereby both institutions committed to studying proposals for improving the development of the African continent through projects and programmes in the field of training and university research.

The Women for Africa Foundation is a non-profit organisation, committed to sustainable economic and social development, human rights, peace, justice, the dignity of people and, in particular, that of women and girls in the African continent.