Samira Omar Asem
For more than five decades, Samira Omar Asem, has led many projects to conserve biodiversity, restore ecosystems and promote sustainable agriculture for local, regional, and international organizations. She has bachelor鈥檚 degree in botany and chemistry from the University of Kuwait, as well as a Master鈥檚 degree in Range Management and a Ph.D. in Wild Land Resource Science from the University of California Berkeley. Her career has been a model of applying her academic knowledge to real-world situations.
She is currently Principal Research Scientist at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR), where she was previously the Director General (2016-2021). Her contributions in Kuwait include establishing protected areas, classifying soils, and helping to restore damaged ecosystems. Her environmental and managerial expertise has been shared through journal articles and books.
Omar's international work includes serving as International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources (IUCN) Regional Councilor for West Asia Region, a board member by election in the Society for Ecological Restoration (SER), Executive Board Member and Vice President for the Arab Region in the Organization for Women in Science for Developing World (OWSD) and a board member for the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Area (ICARDA).