A selected international high level jury of experts honored Mrs. Manar ‎Abdalrazeq, An-Najah Graduate from the Department of Chemistry, and ‎PhD Student in Biotechnology at the University of Naples Federico II, ‎along with 24 young researchers from 21 different countries as Green ‎Talents.‎

Mrs. Abdalrazeq, has been working on the development and production ‎of the so called "bioplastics". Bioplastics are obtained from plant or ‎animal feedstock and can be easily degraded by enzymes present in ‎different microorganisms or are even edible.‎

‎ Her research focuses on the utilization of milk whey, which is ‎accumulated as waste in large quantities by the dairy industry in the ‎production of cheese and curd. While whey is not easily disposable, it ‎contains a lot of functional proteins such as ß-Lacto globulin that bear ‎potential to be used for creating packaging films.‎

The jury was impressed by the highly significant and interesting research ‎topic of the young Palestinian scientist, who is the first Palestinian woman ‎to receive this award among ‎25 Green Talents awardees of 2019 out of 21 ‎countries. ‎

Awarded annually since 2009, this year's winners were selected out of ‎‎837 applicants from 97 countries. These awardees represent tomorrow's ‎leading scientists in the field of sustainable development.‎