Sihem Jebari

Sihem holds a Ph.D in Water Resources from Lund University (2009).  Her original background is Agricultural Engineering. She has been working as a researcher at INRGREF (Tunisian National Research Institute for Rural Engineering, Water and Forestry) since 1999 and is currently a guest researcher at CMES (Center of Middle Eastern studies). Her research work is focused on semiarid and arid areas. In 2010, Sihem was awarded the prize for the Best Feminine Scientific Research in Tunisia.

Current Research

Sihem’s research commitment  deals with one of the most relevant targets of the MENA countries “Hydropolitics, Security and International Law”. This issue is mainly focused on future joint transboundary water management that could prevent conflicts and generate benefits. Actually, several factors affect the effective implementation of the fair sharing of water resources in the region. The most prominent are the lack of adequate modeling tools. Sihem joins who think that, today more than ever, the MENA transboundary catchments are subject to competitive water use. She is investigating new methodologies and applying relevant techniques in order to enable the drawing of adapted scenarios for better Integrated Water Resources Management in the specific Mejerda River basin in Tunisia.

Main interests

Sihem’s main interest involves water erosion modeling based on limited rainfall observation, human activities & climate change  impacts on water availability, Agricultural environment degradation, reservoir siltation and transboundary water management for the MENA region. She undertook most of her research work in INRGREF-Tunisia in collaboration with the Department of Water Resources at Lund University.  Innovative ideas and advanced hydrological analysis techniques characterized their fruitful partnership through scientific publications.

Publications

Articles

Jebari S., R., Berndtsson, J., Olsson, A, Bahri (2012). Soil erosion estimation based on rainfall disaggregation. J. Hydrol.436-437, 102-110.

Jebari S., Berndtsson R., Lebdi F., Bahri A. (2012). Historical aspects of soil erosion in the Mejerda catchment. Hydrological Sciences Journal 57 (5): 1-12.

Jebari S., Berndtsson R., Bahri A., Boufaroua M. 2010. Spatial soil loss risk and resevoir siltation in semiarid Tunisia. Hydrological Sciences Journal 55 (1): 121-137.

Jebari S., Berndtsson R., Bahri A., Boufaroua M. 2008. Exceptional rainfall characteristics related to erosion risk in semiarid Tunisia. The open Hydrology Journal (2), 9: 1-9.

Jebari S., Berndtsson R., Lebdi, F., Bahri A. 2008. Sediment, discharge and precipitation variation in the wadi Mellegue catchment during the last 50 years. Annales de l’INRGREF 11, 116-122.

Jebari S., Berndtsson R., Uvo C., Bahri A., 2007. Regionalizing short-term rainfall affected by topography in semiarid Tunisia. Hydrological Sciences Journal 52 (6): 1199-1215.

Doctoral Thesis
Jebari, S., 2009.  Water erosion modeling using fractal rainfall disaggregation- a study in semiarid Tunisia. PhD Thesis, Rep. 1047, Dept of Water Resour. Engng, Lund Univ, 1-140.