Doha, Qatar: The expansion of a school supporting children with autism and their families, an autism community hub, AI-driven innovations, and groundbreaking genetic research are all part of a new blueprint launched by Qatar Foundation that maps out how autism support and action will be amplified within its ecosystem and community over the next decade.
The Qatar Foundation Autism Strategy 2025-2035, unveiled today at an Education City event, has been developed in alignment with Qatar’s national autism agenda and efforts, reflecting how autism is one of the nation’s foremost health challenges, and Qatar Foundation’s (QF) role as a key stakeholder in national development and a longstanding champion of disability rights, accessibility, and inclusion.
Created following the establishment in late 2023 of a QF Autism Task Force, the strategy unifies QF’s existing work in the field of autism, identifies how gaps can be bridged to ensure those with autism and their families have the best possible support, and outlines 10-year targets to be achieved in multiple areas – from education and employment to community support services, healthcare, and research and innovation.
Through the implementation of the strategy, QF aims to achieve the following within its community by 2035:
A 50 per cent increase in QF-developed technology and innovative products and services that support improved outcomes for people with autism.
Among the cornerstones of the strategy are expanding Renad Academy – a pioneering school under QF’s Pre-University Education that has a pivotal role in meeting the needs of children with autism in Qatar and the region – to the point where it ultimately caters for students aged from 3-21 years; and implementing measures for early autism identification and intervention within QF schools.
QF will establish a community hub offering digital solutions to parents of children with autism, who will also benefit from QF’s provision of culturally relevant autism support, counseling, and peer networks; while a vocational hub will be created at Education City to provides autism programs and services.
The strategy also earmarks AI as a key focus, with QF leveraging this technology and its partnership-building capacity to generate innovations that advance early autism detection, interventions, education, assistive technology, and parental support. Genomics and multi-omics research at QF will seek to identify the genetic factors behind autism, enabling personalized healthcare and therapies to be developed, with QF’s Sidra Medicine – a world-leading women’s and children’s hospital and medical research center – introducing an integrated care model that meets the unique needs of people with autism.
“Qatar Foundation has always aimed to build an inclusive society, and this strategy is one of the key steps that we are taking in that direction,” said Dr. Dena Al Thani, Associate Professor and Head of the Information and Computing Technology Division at QF’s Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Science and Engineering, who chairs QF’s Autism Task Force.
“It brings together health, education, innovation, compassion, and coordinated action to better support individuals with autism and their families.”
The QF Autism Strategy 2025-2035 reflects the nation’s state-level autism support framework and the need for integrated, multidisciplinary action to tackle autism that reaches across different sectors; the importance to national development of an inclusive society where everyone can thrive; and the way in which, through its unique ecosystem, QF is ideally placed to drive meaningful social change in the sphere of autism.
In the 30 years since its establishment, QF’s ongoing autism efforts have spanned research and innovation, inclusive education, national and global advocacy, and forging international partnerships and collaborations to catalyze action on autism – driven by its belief in ensuring every young person has equal opportunity to fulfil their potential.
“Every autism journey is unique – and so our response must be too,” said Dr. Hilal Lashuel, Research, Development and Innovation Advisor to the Chairperson of Qatar Foundation and QF’s Executive Director of RDI.
“This strategy reimagines autism support as a lifelong, personalized partnership that grows with each individual and responds to their evolving needs, from early diagnosis to adulthood.
“It fosters dignity, independence, and opportunity through early diagnosis, inclusive education, accessible care, research, and innovative technologies that empower individuals and families at every stage of life. And it reflects QF’s vision that no individual with autism will be left behind – not in healthcare, not in education, not in employment, and not in the story of innovation shaping the future of Qatar.”
