Mohammed Hassouna (1978-2023)

On 17 December we lost our dear colleague and project member, Mohammed Hassouna, who was brutally killed in an Israeli air strike in Gaza together with his wife and his oldest son.

Mohammed Hassouna worked at the University College of Applied Sciences in Gaza (UCAS), a partner institution in the Norad-financed NORHEDII project E-Pal together with the Palestine Polytechnic University, the University of Oslo and OsloMet.

Hassouna was the Director of the UCAS Incubator, which supports entrepreneurs with creative and ambitious ideas by providing them with administrative, technical and financial support. Hassouna worked hard to assist these startups to become successful businesses.

Moreover, Hassouna had a deep engagement for technology-enhanced teaching in higher education and was continuously looking for new ways to use digital technologies to support- students’ learning. During the COVID pandemic, he introduced several innovative teaching and learning approaches to support the conversion to online learning for UCAS staff and students.

Hassouna was also very active in the E-Pal project research group. Together with several colleagues at UCAS and the Islamic University of Gaza, he worked on a research and development project in our digital simulations group. They were developing and testing a digital tool to provide students with opportunities for more authentic English language learning, particularly within the domain of oral communication skills.

His colleagues remember him as a profoundly kind man, who went out of his way to support friends and colleagues both at work and in the local community. With the brutal murder of Hassouna, we have lost both a valued project member and a human being who was a great resource for his society.

Hassouna and his wife leave behind three children, who have now been orphaned due to the ongoing genocide perpetrated by the Israeli occupation forces.

May Hassouna, his wife and his son rest in peace. May his homeland soon be liberated.

On behalf of the E-Pal project
Ola Azam, University College of Applied Sciences
Mohammed Tamimi, Palestine Polytechnic University
Iyad Abualrub, University of Oslo
Hege Hermansen, University of Oslo and OsloMet