QNA
Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development (QF) plays a strategic role in creating an education sector that attracts the most prestigious universities internationally to the State of Qatar. The foundation also and supports scientific research and innovation, it also promotes the role of culture in society and enables young people to acquire the necessary skills necessary for the knowledge-based economy.
The current year saw QF sign many agreements and memoranda of understanding. The foundation also held several events that contribute to achieving its goals. It announced that they plan to raise the minimum female representation to 50%, at the level of speakers participating in all its local and international conferences and events, starting in 2020.
QF signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to form a partnership designed to further enhance the caliber of pre-university education in Qatar. It also signed an agreement with Qatar Shell that will see the energy company co-fund Qatar National Research Funds Undergraduate Research Experience Program. That is in addition to a Memorandum of Understanding with Kahramaa and Siemens to establish Education City as the test-bed for an electric car-charging unit.
Qatar Foundation hosted also a number of lectures called the Education City Speaker Series. The series provided Qatars community with opportunities to benefit from the perspectives of experts and thought-leaders across a range of fields.
An Executive Committee for the Memory of Qatar project, chaired by Her Excellency Sheikha Hind, as Chairperson of the Board of Trustees of Qatar National Library, was established in February 2019. The committee includes government representatives from Qatars culture and heritage sector. The project aims to document, illustrate, and reconstruct Qatari history through Qatar National Librarys articles, books, lectures, exhibitions, and other content, to recount historical events, places, and ideas that continue to shape Qatar today.
The World Innovation Summit for Education (WISE), a QF initiative, hosted its WISE Summit 2019, and Doha Learning Days, Qatars first experiential learning festival, which took place over a six-day period.
Meanwhile the World Innovation Summit for Health (WISH), a QF initiative, published the first-ever Arabic version of a manual aimed at providing emergency care for children suffering from blast injuries.
Doha International Family Institute, a QF member, hosted a symposium titled Child Wellbeing in Qatar, which saw participants create a series of comprehensive family policy recommendations for the region.
In the pre-university education field, QF announced the launch of Academyati. It is a new progressive school which is the first of its kind in Qatar and offers a globally-unique model of personalized learning. It also brought Tariq Bin Ziad School in Doha under the umbrella of its Pre-University Education (PUE) from the 2019-20 academic year onwards.
The eighth annual THIMUN Qatar conference organized by PUE brought together 1,800 students from 64 local and international schools. PUE also organized the LEAPS Summit. It brought together the worlds first progressive schools summit. Founders and leaders of these progressive education institutions gathered from around the world to discuss topics related to the field.
As for higher education, QFs annual Convocation ceremony in May 2019 honored the academic achievements of 786 graduates from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) and the foundations eight partner universities.
Meanwhile HBKU and edX, the non-profit online learning program founded by Harvard University and Massachusetts Institute of Technology, signed an agreement that makes the former the first university in the Middle East to provide interdisciplinary courses that are accessible around the world. HBKU also held the first Qatar International Cybersecurity Contest, highlighting efforts to protect critical information and networks from cyber threats. It also collaborated with IBM to equip its students with future-ready skills in new and emerging technologies.
As for the partner universities, A team of researchers from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar discovered a new area of research that could lead to more effective breast cancer treatment with fewer side effects.
Georgetown University in Qatar for its part hosted the GU-Q 100: A Celebration of Knowledge event to commemorate more than 100 books published by its faculty and staff since the university was established in 2005.
Northwestern University inaugurated the Qatars Media Majlis, the first media museum in the Arab world and Qatars first university museum. It also established a Media Innovation Lab. Texas A&M University at Qatar graduated its 1,000th engineer this year.
Qatar Museums and UCL Qatar announced a partnership that will deliver a new legal framework for cultural heritage in Qatar. Virginia Commonwealth University School of the Arts in Qatar issued a book commemorating its 20th year in Qatar titled “Cultivating the Arts”.
Weill Cornell Medicine-Qatars research discovered that desert toxins could help to find a cure for Alzheimers disease, and an existing malaria drug could improve the effectiveness of a new class of cancer therapies.
As for research and development, the foundation organized the Catalyzing the Future, a celebration of the 10th anniversary of Qatar Science & Technology Park, which marked Qatar Foundations achievements in the field of research, development, and innovation and emphasized how a nationwide commitment to advancing innovation will create a legacy for Qatar.
QF Research, Development, and Innovation marked the launch of its new funding initiative, Innovation Coupon, by signing an agreement with its first beneficiary, ADGS, a local private sector SME that sells a suite of products utilizing Artificial Intelligence, behavioral biometrics, and emergent behavior.
Qatar Genome Programme, a QF member, signed a strategic research and development agreement with Genomics England, aimed at enabling novel scientific discoveries and providing medical insights in genomics and precision medicine.
While Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) and Texas A&M University at Qatar launched the STEM Hub, a facility designed to promote creative applications of engineering and science.
Hamad bin Khalifa Universitys Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) launched the Qatar Center for Artificial Intelligence (QCAI), an initiative to develop and promote the use of cutting-edge Artificial Intelligence solutions.
Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, a part of HBKU, released the results of its intensive six-year study on the Prevalence of Autism Spectrum Disorder in Qatar, the first of its kind for both the nation and the region.
In medicine, Sidras first pediatric epilepsy surgeries, pediatric and infant cataract surgeries, and pediatric hip preservation surgeries were performed. Surgeons from Sidra Medicine and Hamad Medical Corporation also carried out the hospitals first live-donor renal transplants.
QF, in partnership with the Ministry of Culture and Sports, launched Qatar Reads, an initiative designed to build on the success of its National Reading Campaign and create a culture that places storytelling and discovery at the heart of the nation.
QF also announced the winning project in in Cycle 2 of QFs Akhlaquna Award, during its annual Convocation ceremony in May 2019. Mobsron is an innovative mobile application that provides people who are blind and visually impaired with a tool to order food, review ingredients, and compare prices.
Hundreds of young people gathered at QF to participate in discussions about three key issues confronting the world which are climate change, education in conflict zones, and uprooting radicalism. This took place at the second Doha Forum Youth Edition, organized through a collaboration between Doha Forum and QF.
In community development also, Qatar Career Development Center, a member of QF, held the first edition of its Career Academy program, attracting almost 60 high school students who participated in activities designed to provide insight into multiple career tracks.
While QatarDebate organized the first-ever European Universities Arabic Debating Championship, held in Vienna, Austria, in January 2019 and featuring 20 universities representing 15 European countries.
