Home
© 2025 National Center of Meteorology

Activities

As a leading event tackling urgent water and sustainability issues worldwide, IREF provides a platform for discussion of the latest efforts to find innovative solutions to water security issues through advancing scientific understanding and sharing knowledge in rain enhancement.

IREF

IREF is an international platform in the UAE, which gathers the leading international and national experts, researchers, scientists and stakeholders to address key pressing sustainability issues.

Hosted by the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science under the supervision of the UAE’s National Center of Meteorology (NCM), IREF highlights the latest scientific and technological advances in the field of rain enhancement.

The event aims to discuss innovative strategies securing and sustaining freshwater globally. It seeks to leverage on the UAE Water Security Strategy and the UAE Science Strategy, positioning the country as a global hub in rain enhancement and promoting its key role in knowledge transfer.

As a biennial  event, IREF facilitates productive discussion between UAEREP awardees and many leading scientists on the broadest possible range of topics related to rain enhancement science.

 

IREF Strategic Objectives:

  • Contribute to the UAE Water Security Strategy and the UAE Science Strategy, positioning the country as a global hub in rain enhancement and promoting its key role in transferring knowledge.
  • Activate interdisciplinary discussion between the Program awardees and local and international leading scientists in attendance on the broadest possible range of topics related to rain enhancement science.
  • Promote collaborative research on rain enhancement science and technology globally
  • Offer an overview of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science’s role in capacity-building globally, as well as its collaborative work with international universities and research institutes.
  • Highlight the advances made in the fields of Numerical Weather Prediction, Artificial Intelligence and intelligent system applications in meteorology and climate sciences, novel materials and methodologies for rain enhancement, robust evaluation methods for rain enhancement efforts, and the transitioning from research to operation.

 

IREF Pillars and Structure

IREF sessions showcase the progress and achievements of the UAE Research Program for Rain Enhancement Science’s 14 awarded projects, led by distinguished multinational awardees over the past decade.

In previous cycles, the event has been part of the launch of call for proposals by providing details on the submission process and defining the targeted research areas.