A professor with the prestigious Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) has been chosen as the laureate of the 10th edition of the prestigious ‘Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water’ (PSIPW).
Prof T Pradeep, a Padma Shri awardee, was selected for the Award under ‘Creativity Prize’ category given for ‘breakthrough discovery’ in any water-related field. He is a professor with the Department of Chemistry.
The research group led by Pradeep developed environmentally friendly ‘water positive’ nanoscale materials for the affordable, sustainable, and rapid removal of arsenic from drinking water. He had earlier received Nikkei Asia Prize and many other awards for delivering clean water to over 1.2 crore people.
The bi-annual international scientific award was established on October 21 2002 by Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia. The prize carries a cash component of $ 2,66,000 (approximately Rs 2 crore) besides a gold medallion, a trophy, and a certificate.
The awards ceremony will take place on September 12, 2022 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. The award mentions Prof. T. Pradeep’s team members - Mr. Avula Anil Kumar, Mr. Chennu Sudhakar, Ms. Sritama Mukherjee, Mr. Anshup, and Mr. Mohan Udhaya Sankar.
“Clean water is truly a problem of advanced materials. We could contribute to the area in a small way, thanks to our great nation. There is much to do in every area of water such as desalination, humidity harvesting, sensing and recycling. Our wonderful team is working on each one of them. The area is wide open for all to contribute,” Pradeep said.
The Prize Council, under the chairmanship of the President of King Saud University Dr. Badran Al-Omar, and under the direction of PSIPW President HRH Prince Khalid Bin Sultan Bin Abdulaziz, approved the winners for the 10th Award (2022) of the Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz International Prize for Water (PSIPW) on June 5, 2022.
The PSIPW is a leading, global scientific award focusing on cutting-edge innovation in water research. It gives recognition to scientists, researchers and inventors around the world for pioneering work that addresses the problem of water scarcity in creative and effective ways, the IIT-M said.