Top-level science for the world’s poorest

On Global Impact Day, people from across the world met to discuss water, electricity, healthcare and more. In just five years, a research community has emerged that is developing TU Delft's ingenuity in order to help alleviate hardship and suffering in Asia and Africa.

The idealism – applying Western technology for the world’s poor – sounds well-intentioned, but failure is common and the route to success is paved with pitfalls. Think of faulty water pumps that serve only as a reminder of good intentions or unusable equipment at a remote local hospital. Besides, TU Delft staff and students shouldn’t be pottering about in low-income countries, but developing publishable science that can really make a difference for people in such countries. With more than EUR 16 million in research funding and over 60 research projects, the TU Delft Global Initiative is proving successful in making a difference. So how are they doing that and how did it start?

Sustainable social impact

‘With all this knowledge and creativity, we shouldn’t restrict ourselves to fundamental science, but also do something to improve the living conditions of the world’s poorest, especially in the Third World.’ That was what Prof. Cees Dekker wrote to the then Dean of Applied Sciences Prof. Tim van der Hagen. Dekker had been inspired by Prof. George Whitesides who had developed cheap chemical chips for diagnoses in poor tropical countries. 

In Delft, he found an ally in ‘his’ deputy head of department Jennifer Kockx. At Aalto University in Finland, she had become acquainted with Aalto Global Impact, a program that applies research and education to achieve a sustainable social impact worldwide. She was looking to set up something similar in Delft.

Dekker and Kockx not only wanted to adopt the idea, but also improve it. They decided that the initiative needed the backing of senior academics, and brought in Prof. Huub Savenije for his expertise in tropical hydraulic engineering and Prof. Han Meyer for his experience in urbanism in delta regions. Later, Prof. Nick van de Giesen took over from Savenije when he retired. The Delft Environmental Initiative, then led by Van de Giesen, was renamed the Delft Global Initiative. That was on 1 January 2015, which means that this year will see Delft Global mark its fifth anniversary. 

Greater focus

Delft Global Initiative projects must meet several conditions: 1. projects must always be demand-led; 2. they must involve collaboration with local partners; and; 3. the end product must not be a report – it must deliver a product or service, with measurable impact.

According to programme manager Claire Hallewas, there have been numerous projects in recent years. “We’ve now identified the areas and domains where we can really make a difference. We’ve introduced greater focus and defined five research programmes: Energy, Healthcare (Diagnostics and Surgery), Inclusive Cities, Global Drinking Water, and Smart Sensors for Resilience.” Programme developer Roel Kamerlingh adds: “We started with a lot of great separate projects, as one should. But, eventually, you want to scale up certain areas that show genuine promise. This not only applies to research themes, but also the partner universities: in Kumasi (Ghana), Nairobi (Kenya), and Addis Ababa (Ethiopia).”

Global community

What’s the benefit in having a separate institution, such as the Delft Global Initiative? “We took on the role of a network”, explains Hallewas. “We get emails asking if we know someone in Addis Ababa for a new programme. Bundling a subject and all the associated networks really makes sense. The Global Initiative also creates a global community – there are now 250 TU Delft researchers who feel committed to Delft Global and some 500 students who’ve done projects. We regularly meet up for lunch. It shows you how people learn from sharing ideas. Without a Global Initiative like this, students and researchers tend to stay within the faculty.”

What are Delft researchers working on?

Affordable MRI

Modern MRI scanners are invaluable in hospitals, but cost millions. A cheaper magnet gives less reliable results and you need to add more data to get good images. Doctoral candidate Merel de Leeuw Bouter and mathematician Dr Martin van Gijzen are working on the complex mathematics needed to achieve that. There is already a working prototype, based on an LUMC design. This year, two are being built in the partner university Must in Uganda. The device is also being adapted there to cope with temperature changes and transport. One of its first diagnostic tasks is hydrocephalus (‘water on the brain’), a common disorder in babies that causes serious brain damage. Early diagnosis using MRI technology can prevent brain damage.

High-pressure pump 

In mountainous regions, the fields are often only on the riverside because pumping the water higher up is too expensive. Pratap Thapa, who co-founded the start-up aQysta and comes from Nepal, wondered if the movement of the water could be used to build up pressure. This is exactly what the rotating Barsha pump does. (Barsha means ‘rain’ in Nepalese). Rotating the water wheel builds up enough pressure in the hose to achieve 20 to 30 m in height. The pump floats in the river on an anchor. To reduce the risk for poor farmers, they pay using a fixed share of their harvest.

Electricity grid

If no electricity grid is available, people often put solar panels on their roof together with a battery in order to provide a limited power supply. Dr Nishant Narayan conducted research into how multiple households with solar panels can be linked together to create a local smart grid. Houses are linked together to a higher voltage via transformers. This reduces the number of batteries required, increases the power available (e.g. for a kettle) and makes the power supply reliable.

Arsenic removal

Millions of people in rural areas of Bangladesh have hardly any access to safe drinking water because the groundwater there is contaminated with arsenic. Arsenic is naturally present in groundwater and is toxic. In large concentrations it causes skin diseases and cancer. Delft scientists discovered that you can remove arsenic using iron that is also naturally present in the groundwater. In the Netherlands, this was done using a fast sand filter, in which water flows through a sand bed and a combination of screening and biology ensures the removal of impurities. PhD student Md Annaduzzaman Kajol of the group water management (Civil Engineering and Geosciences) (see pictures) investigates in the lab and in the field whether this is also applicable in Bangladesh. There the concentrations of arsenic are ten to one hundred times higher. If the fast sand filter works, this would enable arsenic removal from groundwater without the addition of chemicals or adsorbents.