Connecting geoscience, engineering and academic research to address energy, water and resource challenges under real operating conditions.
At CRETA, we connect the questions emerging from real projects with the analytical depth of research and the discipline of engineering.
Our focus is the relationship between energy, water and the subsurface: how resources behave, how systems interact and how a promising concept can be evaluated in practice. We welcome collaboration that brings a clear research question, a meaningful application and a plan for generating useful evidence.
A Living Lab brings researchers, technology developers, site operators and users around a shared challenge in a real operating environment. Together, they shape the questions, test possible responses and learn from the results.
Our proposed collaboration model connects academic enquiry, industrial capability and societal needs. Partners help define the problem together, co-design the trial and evaluate technical performance alongside usability and local relevance. The scope, site and responsibilities are agreed for each programme.
Potential formats include faculty-led studies, jointly scoped postgraduate research, student capstone projects and supervised field learning.
CRETA’s proposed role combines application knowledge, geoscience and engineering input with coordination of the technical development process.
Site operators and end users help define what a useful solution must achieve and whether it can fit the realities of day-to-day operation.
Farmers, workers, local organisations and other affected groups can help shape priorities and assess whether proposed solutions respond to practical needs.
CRETA has announced a three-year collaboration agreement with UOWD focused on sustainable solutions, emerging technologies and knowledge exchange between academia and industry.
Living Lab projects are developed through separately agreed scopes; the collaboration announcement does not establish a specific operational lab.
Explore the questions that can shape a research collaboration. Each project needs its own baseline, testing plan and evidence of readiness.
Investigating how subsurface heat exchange, greenhouse design and controlled airflow can work together to reduce resource demand in hot climates.
How does performance change with soil conditions and operating schedules? Which measurements distinguish short-term cooling from seasonal thermal behaviour? How can water and energy use be compared against a defined baseline?
Exploring treatment and reuse configurations that respond to variable water quality, local operating constraints and the value of recovered resources.
How should treatment respond to changing influent characteristics? Which combinations of water quality, energy demand, residuals and cost make a reuse pathway practical?
Evaluating pathways that convert suitable waste streams into useful gases, hydrogen and recoverable products through an integrated technical and environmental assessment.
Which feedstocks and conversion routes are appropriate? What pre-treatment and gas cleaning are required? How do mass and energy balances, emissions and product specifications affect feasibility? This theme concerns hydrogen produced from waste, distinct from naturally occurring geological hydrogen.
CRETA’s featured project in Al Ain explores subsurface thermal exchange, greenhouse architecture and controlled airflow to reduce the water demand associated with agricultural cooling.
The Mohamed bin Zayed Water Initiative has published a case study of the approach. Field evaluation is central to understanding its performance and the conditions for wider application.
We propose a staged process so partners can make informed decisions about continuing, refining or stopping a development pathway.
Agree the challenge, baseline, participants and success criteria.
Output: research brief and project boundaries.
Set the experimental method, measurement plan, responsibilities and resources.
Output: test protocol and delivery plan.
Collect data, record operating conditions and revise the approach as evidence develops.
Output: documented findings and limitations.
Review performance, feasibility and the requirements for further development.
Output: a justified next-step decision.
Applied research draws on specialist project knowledge. Explore the services that can inform the technical design and environmental and social assessment of a study.
Connect thermal research with subsurface evaluation, heating and cooling applications, reservoir studies and existing-well opportunities.
Bring baseline conditions, stakeholder perspectives, potential impacts and mitigation measures into project planning and evaluation.
Agree background knowledge, ownership of new outputs, data access, confidentiality and publication review before the work begins.
Separate measured results from simulations and targets. Report the baseline, test conditions, uncertainty and limits of each conclusion.
Define approvals, supervision, equipment responsibilities and operating limits for researchers, students and site teams.
Agree contributions, milestones, costs and review points. A collaborative study does not assume a guaranteed commercial outcome.
Choose your role and research interest to prepare a focused opening conversation with CRETA.
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