H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation, attending the 10th Annual Forum of Qatar National Research Fund.
DOHA: H E Sheikha Hind bint Hamad Al Thani, Vice-Chairperson and CEO of Qatar Foundation (QF), yesterday attended Qatar National Research Fund’s (QNRF) 10th Annual Forum at Qatar National Convention Center.
During the event, QNRF – a member of QF – announced the winners of the 11th cycle of its National Priorities Research Program (NPRP) and the recipient of the Best Research Office Award for 2018.
The NPRP is QNRF’s main funding program, and the primary means by which it supports research projects that address Qatar’s national priority areas under the four pillars of the Qatar National Research Strategy: Energy & Environment; Biomedical and Health; Information and Communication Technology; and Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities.
Its 11th cycle received 284 proposal submissions, 77 of which were awarded grants for research projects. Recipients included researchers from the Doha Institute for Graduate Studies, QF members Hamad Bin Khalifa University and Sidra Medicine, QF partner universities Weill Cornell Medicine – Qatar and Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMUQ), Hamad Medical Corporation, the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, and Qatar University. TAMUQ also received the Best Research Office Award at the forum for its outstanding performance in managing research projects during the pre-award and post-award stages.
“QNRF has helped increase significant capacity of research at all levels and contributed to creating advancing the knowledge for the benefit of Qatar. QNRF has contributed significantly to the enhancement of global standing of Qatar academic programs in various university rankings,” said Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director, QNRF.
He also mentioned that several new research programmes will be introduced in the next year, which will include grants for Stem lab hub for under graduates, new high school research programme and an early career research award.
Keynote speaker Dr. Catriona MacCallum, Director of Open Science, Hindawi, gave a plenary lecture on open access publication, open data access, and data management, as well as the challenges and opportunities presented by a global network of Open Science.
“Open Science will transform the way research is disseminated and discovered. Progressive leaders, such as Qatar National Research Fund, are already taking concrete action to increase the discoverability of the research funded by them,” Dr. MacCallum said.
This year’s Energy & Environment priority themes under the NPRP included research projects focused on solar photovoltaic systems, energy efficiency, water, and oil and gas. In the Biomedical and Health sector, emphasis was placed on diabetes, cancer, genetic diseases, and epidemiology.
Meanwhile, the Social Sciences, Arts & Humanities pillar included priority themes such as population growth sustainability, economic diversification, and cultural identity. Finally, the Information and Communication Technology sector focused on cybersecurity, smart grids, blockchain, and artificial intelligence.
