KAUST is a state-of-the-art research university with a broad range of expertise in science and engineering. Such expertise is required if we are to meet our goals of finding solutions to developing sustainable crop production systems for the Kingdom by 2030.
At present, the CDA has a primary focus on the research theme “field-based cropping systems”, with three CCF project proposals covering important aspects of sustainable agroecosystem agriculture in KSA:
Over the next five years, the CDA will collaboratively focus on these three research projects, while simultaneously building the infrastructure and intellectual capacity needed to foster sustainable agricultural practices in field and controlled environment agriculture settings. As the Center grows and matures, the CDA will increasingly partner with existing KAUST faculty members (e.g., in engineering, artificial intelligence and machine learning, visualization, desalination, etc.), as well as hire additional faculty members who complement our existing strengths. The CDA will exploit this complementarity to accelerate our quest to develop novel ways to meet our vision.