11.06.2015 |Teheran: From 8 – 10 June 2015 a 7-member GFZ delegation visited Iran.  Included in the program were visits to Iranian Research Institutions and the University of Teheran. A highlight of this visit was a meeting between the Scientific Executive Director of the GFZ, Prof. Dr. R. Hüttl and the Iranian Deputy Minister for Energy, Dr. Sattar Mahmoudi. 

The 45-minute discussion centered around questions referring to the application of renewable energy and the future use of the geological underground.  Dr. Mahmoudi, a geologist himself, showed great interest in a future collaboration with the GFZ. The required basis for collaboration is to be outlined in a Memorandum of Understanding. The existing expertise in earthquake research on both sides formed the basis of an agreement signed by Prof. Hüttl and the President of the International Institute of Earthquake Engineering and Seismology, IIEES, Prof. Jafari. Future cooperation with the IIEES, an internationally renowned research institution in the field of applied seismology will focus initially on two prominent research themes:  1. investigations on the construction of a Tsunami Early Warning System in the South of Iran, as a potential extension of a recently  - in cooperation with the GFZ - installed system in Oman  and 2. the establishment of an  „Urban Fault Observatory“ for the metropolitan area of Teheran.  Here, to the north of the immediate exurban fringe an active earthquake zone poses a constant threat to the 14-millionen metropolis.

During a meeting with the Rector of the University of Teheran, Prof. Mahmoud  Nili Ahmadabadi, possibilities for advancing scientific exchange and opportunities for the promotion of young scientists were looked into.  An extension of a MoU signed in 2014 will form the basis for this. With more than 50.000 students, the University which was founded in 1934 is today viewed as one of the key academic locations in the country.

And finally the operationalization  of a MoU signed in 2014 dealing,  amongst others topics,  with an optimization of groundwater management  and an interdisciplinary research approach for a better understanding of landslides was discussed with the Head of the  Forest, Range and Watershed Organisation, FRWO, Dr. Jalali. Both aspects are directly linked with the,  in Iran, intensely perceptible impact of the worldwide climate change.