Talal Rebhi Abd-Allah Shahwan (May 28, 1968) is a

chemist A chemist (from Greek ''chēm(ía)'' alchemy; replacing ''chymist'' from Medieval Latin ''alchemist'') is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of ...

, and a Palestinian university professor. He was appointed as president of

Birzeit University Birzeit University () is a public university in the West Bank, Palestine, registered by the Palestinian Ministry of Social Affairs as a charitable organization. It is accredited by the Palestinian Ministry of Education and Higher Education, Mini ...

from August 1, 2023.

Biography

Talal Shahwan was born on May 28, 1968, in Jordan, from a Palestinian family from the town of

Hableh Hableh (, also transliterated Hable, Habla, Hablah, Hibla, Hiblah) is a Palestinian village located in the Qalqilya Governorate of the State of Palestine, in the northwestern West Bank. According to the Palestinian Central Bureau of Statistics (P ...

in the province of

Qalqilya Qalqilya or Qalqiliya () is a city in the West Bank, Palestine, which serves as the administrative center of the Qalqilya Governorate. The city had a population of 51,683 in 2017. Qalqilya is surrounded by the Israeli West Bank barrier, Israeli We ...

. He acquired his high school degree in the scientific stream from Al Saadya high school in 1986 from the city of

. He studied in

but the Israeli lockdown of the university during the

first Intifada The First Intifada (), also known as the First Palestinian Intifada, was a sustained series of Nonviolent resistance, non-violent protests, acts of civil disobedience, Riot, riots, and Terrorism, terrorist attacks carried out by Palestinians ...

stopped him from continuing his studies. He later moved to

Turkey Turkey, officially the Republic of Türkiye, is a country mainly located in Anatolia in West Asia, with a relatively small part called East Thrace in Southeast Europe. It borders the Black Sea to the north; Georgia (country), Georgia, Armen ...

and acquired his

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

Chemical Engineering Chemical engineering is an engineering field which deals with the study of the operation and design of chemical plants as well as methods of improving production. Chemical engineers develop economical commercial processes to convert raw materials ...

from the

Middle East Technical University Middle East Technical University (commonly referred to as METU; in Turkish language, Turkish, ''Orta Doğu Teknik Üniversitesi'', ODTÜ) is a prestigious public university, public Institute of technology, technical university located in Ankara, ...

in 1994. He then acquired his

master's A master's degree (from Latin ) is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional prac ...

degree in 1997 and

doctorate A doctorate (from Latin ''doctor'', meaning "teacher") or doctoral degree is a postgraduate academic degree awarded by universities and some other educational institutions, derived from the ancient formalism '' licentia docendi'' ("licence to teach ...

in 2000 from

Bilkent University Bilkent University () is a private non-profit research university located in Ankara, Turkey. It was founded by İhsan Doğramacı, the first president of the Council of Higher Education and the head of the prominent Doğramacı family, with th ...

. He worked as a teacher and instructor in the same university in the years 1995–2002, then moving to Izmir Institute of Technology until the year 2008. He started his work for Birzeit University at September 1, 2008, then becoming an associate professor of chemistry in 2012. He was the head of the Chemistry Department in the Faculty of Science for a year, then became the Dean of Higher Studies and President of the Scientific Research Committee on 2013-2018 while also working as vice president of the university's academic relations president. On June 12, 2023, Hannah Nasir, the chairperson of the board of trustees in

announced his decision to appoint Talal Shahwan as the President of university from August 1, 2023, after the former president

Beshara Doumani Beshara Doumani () is a Palestinian-American academic who previously served as the president of Birzeit University from 2021 to 2023. Prior to that, he was the Mahmoud Darwish Professor of Palestinian Studies at Brown University. His research focu ...

resigned.

Stanford University Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a Private university, private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth ...

in 2022 chose him as amongst the 2% of the most quoted scientist in the world in their respective fields. He has over 41 published scientific articles.

References

1. ''Birzeit University leads the world’s researchers''. Jortn News. (2020). https://www.jortn.com/2020/11/%D8%AC%D8%A7%D9%85%D8%B9%D8%A9-%D8%A8%D9%8A%D8%B1%D8%B2%D9%8A%D8%AA-%D8%AA%D8%AA%D8%B5%D8%AF%D8%B1-%D8%A8%D8%A7%D8%AD%D8%AB%D9%8A-%D8%A7%D9%84%D8%B9%D8%A7%D9%84%D9%85 2. ''Dr. Talal Shahwan as President of Birzeit University''. Birzeit.edu. (2023a). https://www.birzeit.edu/ar/news/d-tll-shhwn-ryysan-ljm-byrzyt 3. ''Tala Shahwan''. Orcid. (2023). https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1947-1470 4. ''Talal Shahwan Appointed as President of Birzeit University''. Wafa.ps. (2023). https://www.wafa.ps/Pages/Details/72926 5. ''Talal Shahwan''. Birzeit.edu. (2023b). http://www.birzeit.edu/en/faculty-staff/talal-shahwan {{Authority control Living people 1968 births People from Qalqilya Middle East Technical University alumni Birzeit University Bilkent University alumni Academic staff of the İzmir Institute of Technology Academic staff of Bilkent University Palestinian expatriates in Turkey Palestinian expatriates in Jordan Palestinian chemists Presidents of Birzeit University Birzeit University alumni Arab chemists