About us

Welcome Note

Welcome to the home of NIREAS – the International Water Research Center. The activities of Nireas-IWRC were launched on the 31st of December 2010, while on the 22nd of March 2011 the official inauguration was held to coincide with the celebration of the International Water Day. This effort was made possible after the successful evaluation of a proposal submitted by our research group to the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation for the establishment of research units under the Call “Strategic Infrastructure”, the aim being to lay the foundations for substantial growth of research in Cyprus. Our research Center was co-financed by the European Regional Development Fund and the Republic of Cyprus through the Research Promotion Foundation and the University of Cyprus between 2011 and 2015. After a Decision taken by the Council of the University, the Council of Ministers and the Cyprus Parliament, the Center became one of the official Research Units of the University of Cyprus in December of 2013.

Our objective is to conduct research of high international caliber while at the same time serving the research needs of Cypriot society, economy and industry.

For Cyprus, water availability has historically been a problem and through the years several extended periods of drought have been recorded that decimated the population. In modern times, Cyprus has responded with the creation of a network of fresh water reservoirs, while recently water supply, has been enhanced by a network of desalination plants and wastewater re-use schemes. These large infrastructures have made the problem of water scarcity in modern Cyprus less pressing, but have at the same time created a number of other issues that must be faced. Among the most important are the presence of xenobiotics and water quality, salt-water intrusion, water loss to evaporation, water quality issues regarding cyanobacteria, infrastructure integrity, etc.

Nireas-IWRC was created with the vision to leverage scientific and engineering expertise in order to tackle these important problems in Cyprus. However, these problems are not unique to Cyprus; they are faced in almost all countries around the world. Thus, while placing emphasis on solving the local water-related problems, from the beginning Nireas-IWRC was created with an outward view, evidenced by establishing international collaborations and partnerships.

Water is, of course, one of the most important issues that humanity will have to deal with in the 21st Century, and Nireas-IWRC was created with the vision to reaching out to the wider scientific community for exchange of know-how and best practices with the mutual benefit in mind and also to wider society for strengthening awareness on water-related issues.

Nireas (Nereus) is one of the most important water deities of Greek mythology, known for his truthfulness and virtue and often referred to as the ‘old man of the sea’.  In the Greek language, the name NIREAS connotates flowing water…

This site provides information on the organizational structure of Nireas-IWRC, its main scientific and research pillars and operations, its network of collaborators and partners and on its main research outcomes and achievements. I hope you will find this information useful and interesting.

Despo Fatta-Kassinos

Nireas- IWRC Former Director

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