Hadeel Alzawaidah

ir. Hadeel Alzawaidah

PhD candidate Environmental Fluid Mechanics

I am a river lover looking forward to stopping plastic litter flows by understanding the physics and mechanisms governing their spread in riverine systems. I got my bachelor degree in Civil engineering at the University of Jordan, Jordan. Afterwards I had the opportunity to explore the different aspects of the engineering market. With some curiosity turning into interest, I pursued a master degree in environmental engineering. During my time at the University of Auckland, New Zealand, I grew an interest in rivers and their components interactions. Especially the emerging riverine plastic litter and how such a foreign material behaves and interacts with natural riverine components. For my master thesis, I studies the formation of accumulations of materials with different densities (macroplastics and instream wood) at collection racks systems and the associated flooding risks (e.g., geomorphic changes and backwater rise).

Now at WUR, I am excited to delve deeper into the realm of riverine plastics, specifically addressing fundamental questions about the transport and behavior of microplastics in turbulent environments. Using a combination of numerical and physical modeling, my goal is to contribute to our collective understanding of microplastic dynamics in rivers, ultimately enhancing environmental quantification and mitigation efforts.