Monthly Archives: November 2011

Takeaways from Qatar’s Annual Research Forum

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This is a guest blogpost from Hazem Zohny, one of Nature Middle East’s regular freelancers based in Cairo, Egypt.

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© Adrian Haddad

Qatar’s Second Annual Research Forum took off in Doha on November 20 with a panel of nine highly distinguished speakers discussing the conference theme of “globalization of research.”

Discussions ranged from the potential of regional and intercontinental collaborations, to the pivotal role of Qatar in the future of global research, to the needed of a paradigm shift in science education and science journalism. There was an obvious focus on what Qatar can offer the global community, a theme that was prevalent throughout most of the sessions in the meeting.

Yet perhaps what stood out most was the lack of any women among the nine all-male speakers of this opening panel. When discussing something as global as the “globalization of science”, it would have been nice to get some input from the other half of the human population.

At the risk of sounding like an angry feminist, let me quickly add that I was impressed by the overall role of female scientists throughout the core of this forum – which largely served to highlight some 350 research findings coming out of Qatar this year.

The research itself was exhibited in the form of poster presentations of varying quality. A select dozen of high quality research from the different field covered — environmental, computational, biomedical and social sciences — were further highlighted in intensive oral presentations. Here, male and female scientists played a fairly equal role.

Ultimately, there are two things to take away from this forum:

1) While at times Qatar is clearly of interest to specialists of the aforementioned fields, it is still by no means generating regular, world-class research as of yet.

2) The kind of zeal shown by the scientists and institution directors here — along with Qatar’s ample resources to reinforce that zeal with pretty much all the funding they need — suggests that this tiny Gulf state may well continue to host increasingly impressive Annual Research Forums in the coming years.

Globalization of research

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Qatar’s second Annual Research Forum, currently underway in Doha, hopes to set up the small Gulf state as an important player in the global researcher sector.

“For any country to take it’s place in the world and thrive in a globally competitive marketplace, it must offer value to that global comment,” said Abdelali Haoudi, vice president for research at Qatar Foundation. “The success of Qatar locally should not be separated from the creative use of Qatar’s resources and leadership to advance global development.”

The opening panel brought together a strong, international panel of scientists, including Bruce Alberts, former president of the United States National Academy of Science, Sir Marc Walport, chief executive of the Welcome Trust, and Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, secretary general of The Organization of the Islamic Conference.

The panel discussed how science research in Qatar can take on a more global aspect, and how educational systems and curricula can be overhauled to take this vision into account.

“That panel is very much intended to be an opening conversation to a real strategic process on what can the Qatar Foundation do, and what should the Qatar Foundation do, to implement that vision of a true renaissance of science in the Arab and Muslim world,” says Richard Klausner, the former director of the National Cancer Institute and producer of the session.

Klausner expects there to be a lot of discussions and work over the next few months to set up real, tangible projects and products along the lines of the advice given by the panel.

“Qatar is committed to becoming a force for global change and development, especially in the fields of science, technology and innovation,” added Haoudi.

Klausner thinks there is much that Qatar can offer the international community. “There’s the actual support of the new tools which are leapfrog tools. These virtualizing and communication tools have a real role to play in enabling science to take place without waiting to build huge institutions with critical masses in every area – that’s going to take a long time.”

He also adds that there is the non-virtual angle, which are real resources, such as scholarships, research collaborations or institutional support. “I think all these options are on the table, last night was the opening of the strategic process to think about what the Qatar Foundation can do. I think the opportunities are endless.”

Hepatitis C workshop scholarships available to Arab young researchers

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Sphinx, a European Union-Mediterranean region scientific cooperation project to study Hepatitis C, is offering young researchers from Arab states scholarships to attend a workshop to learn from leading international researchers.

The Clinical Epidemiology and Biomarker Discovery Workshop will be held at Institut Pasteur, Tunis on 11 – 22 June 2012. It will include theoretical lectures as well as hands-on practical training from experts.

The full scholarships are available mainly to Mediterranean Partner Countries, which are mostly North African states. The organizers are urging young Arab scientists with a background in either epidemiology, immunology or virology to apply, since there will be a significant number of full bursaries available.

Hepatitis C is the largest healthcare burden in Egypt, with some estimates suggesting it infects some 500,000 new people annually.

The Sphinx consortium is linking up researchers in Europe, Egypt and Tunisia to study Hepatitis C virus (HCV) 4, which is the HCV strain persistent in Africa and one of the least studied strains, in order to improve treatments and come up with new therapies.

Young researchers interested in applying for the scholarship have until the end of the year to do this, by filling the workshop form at Sphinx’s website.

UNESCO vote recognizes Palestine

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unesco.jpgIn a landmark vote on 31 October, 2011, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) voted to admit Palestine as a full member of the organization.

Palestine became the 195th state in UNESCO, passed by a vote of 107 to 14, with 52 abstentions.

France, Ireland, Austria, and most of Latin America and Asia – along with Arab states, voted “yes”. The United States, Israel, Sweden, the Netherlands and Germany were among those who voted “no”. The United Kingdom and Japan were among the states that abstained.

The vote does not create a Palestinian state nor does it play part in critical decisions such as borders and the status of Jerusalem city. The recognition of Palestine in UNESCO is seen largely as a symbolic move. But it is part of larger Palestinian efforts to seek more international recognition, hoping to inch slowly towards an independent state.

Following the vote, the United States said it will cut off its funding to UNESCO, which it is legally bound to do due to a decision taken by Congress in 1994, which would stop funding to any UN organization that recognizes Palestine. The US is the largest funder to UNESCO, amounting to 22% of its budget – more than US$80 million annually. The funding gap could jeopardize much of UNESCO’s work worldwide.

The Palestinians already plan to submit an application to make the Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem a world heritage site, and this is expected to be the first fruit from UNESCO’s recognition of Palestine.