A three-day workshop with podium presentations delivered mainly by keynote and invited speakers who are leading experts in the field of food-energy-water (FEW) nexus, specifically addressing the fields of Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) and Water Treatment Technologies (WTT) with additional selected voluntary contributed presentations. Roundtable discussion sessions will follow on the topic of RAS and WTT.
The workshop will be held from October 7-9, 2026, and will include a full day of scientific lectures and discussions at the Sde Boker Campus of the Ben Gurion University of the Negev (BGU) located at the Midreshet Ben Gurion, and one day for a professional tour on aquaculture in the Negev (relatively close to the conference location).
The workshop will focus on RAS development in Israel, Europe, the USA and the world with similar aquaculture enterprises.
The desired outcomes of the proposed workshop are:
Location: All Sessions will take place at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research, Sde Boker Campus
RAS Workshop Tentative Program
Day 1: Wednesday, October 7, 2026 | |
| from 15:00 | Hotel check-in |
| 15:30-17:00 | Tour of the facilities at Midreshet Ben Gurion including Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research, and French Associates Institute for Agriculture and Biotechnology of Drylands |
| 17:00-18:00 | Cliff Walk |
| 18:30-20:30 | Evening Reception/Dinner for Invited Speakers |
| Day 2: Thursday, October 8, 2026 | |
| 9:00-11:30 | Session: From Waste to Resource in Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) Production |
| 11:30-13:30 | Tour of BIDR Aquaculture Labs |
| 13:30-14:30 | Lunch and Poster Session |
| 14:30-16:10 | Session: Novel Membrane Technologies for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) Water |
| 16:10-16:30 | Coffee Break |
| 16:30-18:10 | Session: Functional Materials for Recirculating Aquaculture Systems (RAS) Water Treatment and Sensing |
| 19:00-21:00 | Dinner and Poster Winner Award |
| Day 3, Friday, October 9, 2026 | |
| until 9:00 | Check-out from Hotel |
| 9:00-14:00 | Professional Tour Day: Aquaculture in the Desert: A visit to commercial aquaculture companies and an R&D center in the Negev Desert and in the Arava. |
| 14:00-15:00 | Roundatable Discussion at Arava R&D Center |
| 15:00 | Return To Sde Boker Campus |
Dr. Ronen is a Senior Lecturer at The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR) of BGU. His research focuses on advanced membrane technologies for water treatment, with an emphasis on electrically conducting membranes for fouling mitigation, nutrient recovery, and PFAS removal. He is also involved in developing electrochemical water treatment solutions for RAS, aiming to enhance water quality, remove contaminants, and improve system sustainability through innovative filtration and disinfection technologies.
Dr. Arnusch is an Associate Professor at The Zuckerberg Institute for Water Research (ZIWR) of BGU. His research focuses applying advanced materials to water technology. He is particularly interested in Laser-induced graphene for environmental technology
Prof. Zilberg specializes in fish health in intensive aquaculture production. Her research focuses on the development of sustainable alternatives for fish production in recirculating aquaculture systems, such as use natural diseases treatment alternatives; immunostimulation through dietary manipulations; and sustainable fish feed formulations. She teaches at the Jacob Blaustein Institutes for Desert Research (BIDR) of BGU.
Prof Wickramasinghe obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees from the University of Melbourne in Chemical Engineering. He obtained his PhD from the University of Minnesota, also in Chemical Engineering. He joined the Department of Chemical Engineering at the University of Arkansas in 2011 where he holds the Ross E Martin Chair in Emerging Technologies and was appointed an Arkansas Research Alliance Scholar. He is the current director of the Membrane Science, Engineering and Technology (MAST) Center, a National Science Foundation Industry/University Cooperative Research Center. He is Executive Editor of Separation Science and Technology. His research interests are in membrane science and technology, and he focuses on synthetic membrane-based separation processes for purification of pharmaceuticals and biopharmaceuticals, treatment and reuse of water and for the production of biofuels.
Prof. Qian is a professor of Biomedical Engineering at University of Arkansas, Fayetteville, USA. She has a Ph.D. in Theoretical Chemistry from the George Washington University, USA and postdoctoral experience in Condensed Matter Theory at the Max-Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics, Germany. Her major research interests focus on investigating the fundamental processes involved in carbohydrate conversion, membrane and membrane processes for water purification and downstream bioprocessing using complementary experimental and theoretical tools. Recent efforts have been dedicated to developing membrane purification platform for viral vectors for gene therapy applications and vaccines. She is currently the director of NSF funded multi-campus Membranes for Virus Purification (MVP) center. Dr. Qian is the recipient of 2009 NSF CAREER award and has over 120 peer-reviewed journal publications, 10 book chapter publications and 4 patents.