Internal Research Grants Awards 2023 was announced by QU

An event was organised by the Research Support (Grants and Contracts) at the Research and Graduate Studies Sector in Qatar University (QU) to announce the Internal Grant Awards, with the presence of Prof. Mariam Al Maadeed, QU Vice President for Research and Graduate Studies. Attendees were shown a preview of the submitted grants. QU yearly supports around 300 undergraduate and graduate students in research funding, motivating them to pursue various research fields during the event.

This year saw an increase of 18 percent among the awarded students. A specific bridging programme called the National Science Promotion Program (NSPP) is dedicated to build the national capacity and is focused on the smooth transition of high school students to the university by engaging them in excelling towards learning and scientific research. Globally, most of the other grant programmes had seen an important increase in the total number of submissions compared to last cycle, with the total reaching 232 this year. 

Most of the submitted proposals were in the Energy & Environment and Health & Biomedical Sciences fields, in addition to the grants in Social Sciences and Humanities and Information and Communications Technologies, which are the essence of the research priorities in QU. The International Collaboration, through the International Research Collaboration Co-Fund (IRCC) remains highly attractive with proposals from all over the world and particularly first-time collaborations with universities from new countries. This includes the research project awarded under the Collaborative Grant titled “Integration of Materials Science and Engineering Design concept on Sports Materials.” 

QU also strengthened its specific IRCC Strategic Track with Oman with its constant collaboration with Sultan Qaboos University in a group of joint ventures, this year. The figure below shows the global repartition of the co-funded projects during the last 5 years of the IRCC lifecycle. Seven projects have been dedicated to the specific collaboration on Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) with universities from the Academic Network for Development Dialogue (ANDD), which was launched in cooperation with the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Western Asian (ESCWA) and supported by the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). 

The Office of Research Support launched three new programmes: Transformative Research Priorities Readiness Program (T2RP) aimed to support research projects in cross cutting edge of Qatar University Transformative Research Priorities. It specifically addresses solutions with High Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and High Societal Readiness Levels (SRL). Post-Doc (PDOC) Programme which aims to attract talented international post-doctorate applicants to pursue research as a career path and train the next generation of scientists, with a special emphasis on fulfilling the QU research strategy. And, Visiting Fellow, Scholar & Researcher (VFSR) Programme, aimed to host prominent visiting fellows, scholars, and researchers for short stays, to perform intellectual and research endeavours, and contribute to Qatar University’s excellence and international collaboration.