Sirak Robele Gari is currently a researcher at the Centre for Marine and Environmental Research (CIMA), University of Algarve. His research activities are in the research line: Environmental Resources and Systems. He got a BSc in Biology from Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia, 1990. He has an MSc in Environmental Science, specializing in Water Quality Management from the UNESCO-IHE, Netherlands, 2005. He obtained a Joint MSc in Water and Coastal Management (WACOMA) from the Consortium of the Universities of Plymouth, Cadiz and Algarve, 2010. He earned a Joint PhD in Marine and Coastal Management (MACOMA) from Universities of Cadiz and Algarve, 2015. He has served as an associate professor at the Ethiopian Institute of Water Resources, Addis Ababa University. Besides delivering postgraduate courses, he has supervised 16 PhD candidates and 5 MSc students working on topics related to water management and WASH, promoting so far 6 PhD and 3 MSc students. Sirak has authored and co-authored more than 30 publications. He served as a senior water quality expert at the Oromia Regional Water Resources Bureau, Ethiopia. He coordinated fluoride mitigation project, led water quality monitoring system establishment, and actively involved in water quality mapping. He conducted research on bacteriological, limnological and physico-chemical aspects of surface water. He was involved in emergency water supply for communities affected by Acute Watery Diarrhea, establishing compact on-site water treatment plants. He has served as On-call water quality advisor with MS consultancy to the Federal Ministry of Water and Energy Resources of Ethiopia. Sirak has participated in three European projects (SPICOSA, DEVOTES and COMET-LA), and national projects such as Water and Cooperation in the Nile Basin (WACONI) funded by the EU and Hydro-Economic Analysis for Ethiopia (HEA-2) funded by the World Bank.

His research interest lies in finding ways to sustainably manage water resources in such a way that the society is benefited without damaging the resources base. The overall project can be titled as: Water Resources challenges in the Algarve and Management of Urban Aquatic Social-Ecological systems. Therefore, he attempts to address Water Resources challenges in the Algarve categorizing his activities in three themes. The first theme belongs to the assessment of the challenges of freshwater resources in Algarve focussing on precipitation, river basins and reservoirs (dams). The feasibility of rainwater harvesting in the Algarve region will also be considered. The theme focuses on the overall conditions and future prospect of water resources. Dams will be assessed from the economic, environmental and political perspectives. The second theme deals with Wastewater Treatment Plants. It assesses the possibility of reuse of wastewater, which is a resource by itself according to the Bellagio principle. The theme also addresses energy and nutrient recovery potential of wastewater. The third theme, subject to availability of funding, deals with the management of Urban aquatic Social-Ecological Systems. To shift towards more sustainable use of blue spaces such as ponds, rivers, lakes and streams, efforts need to be intensified aimed at the development of policies that utilize such environmental resources for the benefit of both society and the environment. The development of such policies is the aim of the theme.