MIT Technology Review Arabia has announced the winners of its eighth annual IU35 MENA Award. Through a rigorous judging process, 20 exceptional innovators were selected for their groundbreaking projects and research that contribute to enhancing the quality of life and shaping a more advanced future.

The innovations of this year spanned a range of fields, including biotechnology, medicine, energy, environment, and chemistry, showcasing the expanding creative landscape of the region.

Winners of the 2025 Edition of the IU35 MENA Award

  1. Ahmed Khalid Mohamed AlZaabi is an Emirati PhD Candidate in Earth Science and Engineering, at Imperial College London. He has developed a pioneering pore-scale imaging framework that directly compares hydrogen and CO₂ behaviour in reservoir rocks to enable safe, efficient underground clean-energy storage.
  2. Bader Hamza Shirah is a Saudi physician, researcher, and Founder and CEO of Nebula Research & Development. He has served as the principal investigator for Saudi Arabia’s first human spaceflight research mission (Axiom Mission 2), where he led an unprecedented portfolio of neuroscience experiments aboard the International Space Station. He has architectured a comprehensive, non-invasive neuroscience platform that provides a continuous monitoring and analysis of the brain health of astronauts under microgravity conditions. This platform leverages new tools validated during Saudi Arabia's first manned space mission.
  3. Islam ElKholi is an Egyptian Postdoctoral Fellow at the Department of Oncology at McGill University in Canada. The overarching goal of his research work is to define therapeutic targets and/or prognostic approaches to prevent and/or halt cancer metastasis, the leading cause of death in cancer patients. He has uncovered a potential therapeutic target to blunt breast cancer metastatic relapses.
  4. Mariam Ouda is a Palestinian Postdoctoral Fellow at the Research & Innovation Center for Graphene and 2D Materials (RIC2D) at Khalifa University. She has developed a modular 2D-material based electrified membrane system that integrates coagulation and filtration into a single compact, low-energy, and highly antifouling unit.Her work focuses on designing next-generation membrane systems that reduce fouling, energy consumption, and chemical reliance in water treatment.
  5. Fatima Alrashdan is a Jordanian Postdoctoral Associate at the Robinson Lab at Rice University and a Senior Engineer at the brain-computer interface therapeutics company, Motif Neurotech. Her research advances wireless power and communication systems for implantable bioelectronics, aiming to develop reliable and scalable technologies for clinical translation She has engineered the first magnetoelectric backscatter communication system for data transmission in deep implants and developed magnetoelectric networks for cardiac pacing and neural stimulation in preclinical models.
  6. Marieh Bassam Al Handawi is a Syrian Postdoctoral Associate at NYU Abu Dhabi (NYUAD). She has engineered conical biodegradable hydrogels for passive irrigation and designed humidity-responsive organic crystals for microscale water collection and transport in microfluidic systems to capture fresh water from fog and humidity to address water scarcity in arid regions.
  1. Mohamed Al Essawe Abdel Fattah Marouf is an Egyptian COO and Co-Founder of AKHDAR, a climate-tech start-up delivering AI-driven MRV (Monitoring, Reporting, and Verification) solutions to enhance the credibility and scalability of carbon credit generation in Saudi Arabia and the MENA region. It ensures every carbon offset is accurately measured, verified, and reported according to international standards.
  2. Nadin Nagy Younes is a Postdoctoral Fellow at Qatar University in infectious disease diagnostics and biomedical research, and also serves as Co-Founder and CEO of RapidDx Biotech, currently incubated at Qatar Science & Technology Park (QSTP). She has developed NorTest, a fluorescence-based rapid diagnostic test designed for the detection of Norovirus with accuracy approaching laboratory results at the point of care.
  3. Nour Shehade Abdelrahman is a Jordanian Chemical Engineering Researcher in Nanotechnology & Materials at Khalifa University in the UAE. She has engineered is a multi-approach material and separation platform designed to selectively recover lithium from complex aqueous streams such as desalination brine, seawater, and industrial effluents.
  4. Rawan AlMallahi is a Jordanian Senior Research Specialist at Dow Chemicals Company. She has developed a catalytic membrane codesign that integrates chemical conversion and selective separation in a single reactor, increasing efficiency, reducing emissions in industrial processes such as propane-to-propylene conversion, and overcoming reaction thermodynamic limitations.
  5. Razan Salem Bahabri is a Saudi PhD Candidate in Biomedical Engineering & Telerehabilitation, and Founder and CEO of Teleab, a home-rehabilitation system that enables stroke survivors to perform hand therapy through simple game-based exercises, supported by remote clinician monitoring to track progress and recovery. She has developed a game-based medical device that helps stroke patients perform guided hand rehabilitation exercises at home with remote medical monitoring.
  6. Balsam AlKouz is a Jordanian Global Postdoctoral Fellow at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). She has engineered a Swarm-based Drone-as-a-Service framework that transforms drones into coordinated fleets capable of delivering goods and providing resilient communication services beyond the limits of any single drone.
  7. Dina Sam'an is a Jordanian Managing Director and Co-Founder of CoinMENA, a cryptocurrency trading platform with over 1.5 million users in the MENA region. She has developed a regulated and secure financial mobile and web application that brings everyday users and institutions into the future of decentralized finance through simple access to digital assets.
  8. Salma Younes is an Egyptian PhD Candidate at Qatar University. She holds a patent for a new class of polymer-free, two-dimensional metal gels that form nanosheets to enable purer, higher-performance cosmetic and medical solutions.
  9. Abdullah AlSalmani is an Iraqi Co-Founder & CEO of SpacePoint, a UAE-based EdTech startup making satellite development accessible to students from middle school through university. He has launched SatKit, a hands-on learning platform that enables students to study, build, and test small satellite systems.
  10. Maryam Tariq Ahmed Khaleel Alhashmi is an Emirati Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University. She has developed a materials-engineering approach that uses controlled crystallisation to enable scalable and high-performance hierarchical porous structures for clean-energy technologies
  11. Nour Issa AlKhatib is a Palestinian Graduate Research Assistant at NYUAD. She has engineered atomic-scale simulation and machine learning tools to accelerate the discovery, understanding, and design of porous materials for atmospheric water harvesting and toxic pollutant removal.
  12. Yuxiang Liu, a Chinese currently residing in Saudi Arabia, is a PhD Candidate in Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST). He has developed Sun-Fi, a complete hardware-software solution that transforms the concept of sunlight modulation into a working communication system for smart cities.
  13. Weiwei He, a Chinese currently residing in the UAE, is a Postdoctoral Associate at NYUAD. He has integrated experimental data with AI-guided molecular simulations to precisely model and control RNA structures for next-generation therapy design.
  14. Jawaher Darweish AlYammahi is an Emirati Postdoctoral Associate at NYUAD. She has revolutionised “Halal Cultivated Meat” using tissue engineering and biomass valorisation.

About IU35 MENA Award

The IU35 MENA Award stands as one of the most prestigious awards, celebrating the excellence of young people in the fields of science and technology. It has honoured spotlighting individuals who have become leading figures in the world of innovation. The global award operates through regional editions, including the one organised by MIT Technology Review Arabia, a Majarra platform, in the MENA region.