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Obaid Albarakati

PhD STUDENTS

PhD, Environmental Science and Engineering (Aug 2026 - Aug 2030)

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Biography

Obaid Albarakati is a civil and environmental engineering professional with academic and teaching experience in hydrology and urban water systems. He holds a Master’s degree in Civil and Environmental Engineering from the University of Adelaide, Australia, and is currently a Ph.D. student at KAUST, Saudi Arabia, within the Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering (BESE) Division and Urban Lab. He is also a Lecturer in Civil Engineering at Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia. Obaid’s expertise and research interests span hydrology, rainfall–runoff modeling, urban drainage systems, flood risk management, and sustainable urban water management. His research focuses on improving rainfall–runoff simulation in arid environments by integrating high-temporal-resolution rainfall data, urban surface characteristics, and artificial intelligence and machine learning approaches.

Research Interests

Obaid’s research focuses on advanced rainfall–runoff modeling to improve the understanding and prediction of urban flooding in arid environments. His work investigates the challenges associated with limited high-temporal-resolution rainfall and runoff data in Saudi Arabia and explores approaches for improving hydrological model performance under data-scarce conditions. His research integrates hydrological modeling, urban drainage systems, high-resolution rainfall data, and artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques to enhance rainfall–runoff representation and flood prediction. His work aims to support reliable approaches for urban flood risk management and sustainable stormwater management in arid and semi-arid environments.

Selected Publications

  • Mlybari, E. A., Elbisy, M. S., Alshahri, A. H., & Albarakati, O. M. (2014). The Use of Support Vector Machine and Back Propagation Neural Network for Prediction of Daily Tidal Levels along the Jeddah Coast, Saudi Arabia. Journal of Control Science and Engineering.

Education

  • MSc – Civil and Environmental Engineering, University of Adelaide, Australia, 2019
  • BSc – Civil Engineering, Saudi Arabia, 2012

Professional Profile

  • 2026: Lecturer, Department of Civil Engineering, Umm Al-Qura University, Saudi Arabia
  • 2012–2013: Civil Site Engineer, Saudi Binladin Group, Saudi Arabia

Awards

  • 2015–2019: Government Scholarship for MSc Studies, University of Adelaide, Australia

KAUST Affiliations

  • Climate and Livability Initiatives
  • Biological and Environmental Science and Engineering
  • Urban Lab

Research Interests Keywords

Stormwater Management Hydrological Modeling
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