Qatar unveils its new national research strategy

Posted on 21 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

At the opening of the three day Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum, Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, chairperson of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, unveiled the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS), laying out the country’s plan to reach a knowledge economy.

Faisal Alsuwaidi, president of research and development at Qatar Foundation, said the strategy was planned to transform Qatar into an international centre for research and development excellence and innovation. To do this, the country plans to continue hiring world-class researchers while also training and developing local capacities and developing world-class R&D facilities for them.

To build up local capacity, the strategy will strengthen K12 and undergraduate programmes in fundamental sciences and mathematics. To ensure a more robust R&D environment, the new plan will improve the management of intellectual property resulting from Qatari research and will implement policies to ensure research up to global standards.

The QNRS, adds Alsuwaidi, will be reviewed annually and updated if necessary to make sure they are on track in a changing world. The strategy plan was put together through input from all national stakeholders and partners, including government, academia, and research institutes.

Thomas Zacharia, vice president of research and development at Qatar Foundation, stressed that collaborations, both regional and international, are an important part of the new research plan.

“The QNRS provides opportunities for researchers to network with one another and to find new research collaborators. It inspires collaboration for future research, within Qatar and with international collaborators, including the Arab Expatriate Scientists (AES) Network,” said Alsuwaidi.

The new plan will guide investments in R&D in Qatar, which has raised science spending to 2.8% of its high GDP. the plan outlines five “pillars” for its national priorities in research: Health and biomedical, energy and environment, computer and information technology, and arts, social sciences, humanities and Islamic studies.

Alsuwaidi said they hope “to build and maintain a competitive and diversified economy which will benefit not only Qatar but also the region and the larger world, since science has no borders.”

“Today represents one more step towards the process of transforming Qatar from a carbon economy into that knowledge-based economy,” he added.

Nile University students discuss their dissertations in makeshift tents

Posted on 18 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

Salma Shabayek is the latest Nile University postgraduate student to defend her thesis in the protest tents.{credit}Nile University{/credit}

It has been 52 days since the protesting students of Nile University have started an open sit-in, demanding their university be accredited as a national university and that they be allowed to use the disputed campus that was originally built for them, but which the government has reallocated to the Zewail City of Science and Technology.

With the start of the new academic year, the students set up makeshift tents in the garden outside the disputed campus to carry on with their classes. They brought electricity generators to power their computers and what little equipment they have there. Three postgraduate students have even held their dissertation defenses in the tents.

“I visited the sit-in yesterday and it was very sad,” says Moustafa Ghaniem, the vice president of research at Nile University. “The students are struggling with miserable conditions to keep up their studies and continue the sit-in.”

The first thesis, discussed on 30 September, were on software engineering. Loay El-Alfy, a nanotechnology postgraduate student whose work involved trying to use carbon nanotubes to desalinate water, also defended his thesis on the same time. He has traveled to Munich to continue his postgraduate studies there.

On 14 October, Salma Shabayek defended her nanoelectronics thesis successfully. Her thesis suggested a design for an ultra low energy radio frequency receiver for use in wireless sensor networks. This can be used for sensors placed in hazardous conditions where they get little maintenance. “Reaching this very low amount of power, techniques can be applied to let the circuit be self-powered and gather its needed energy from the ambient environment without the need for batteries at all,” explains Shabayek.

She has been in the sit-in since it started in late August. “We have been literally living in these tents, taking classes, sleeping and eating here. I’ve been working on the thesis documentation and a conference paper with my design and results during the sit-in days – in the tents when we set them up and before that in the sun,” she adds. “A dissertation defense there was the easiest.”

While Shabayek has plans to continue her studies abroad, she is delaying them till next fall. For now, she wants to teach the Nile University undergraduates. “I felt that this is the least that I could do to them and to the university at this critical period.”

The students started their sit-in on 28 August, 2012 when they managed to force their way into the campus and occupy a corner there, where they set up tents, and demanded they be allowed to use the building. They were joined by concerned parents and university faculty as well. However, after nearly a month, they were forcefully moved out of the campus by the police. Since then they have been camping outside the building, continuing their sit in outside.

Several public figures and other universities, including the American University in Cairo and the German University in Cairo, have joined the protest there to support the students. The problem, however, remains unresolved.

Mentoring programme graduates new batch of science journalists

Posted on 12 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

{credit}© Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

After two years of ongoing mentoring, 58 science journalists from the developing world have graduated from the World Federation of Science Journalists’ (WFSJ) largest science journalism training programme.

SjCOOP, which is the WFSJ flagship activity, twins budding science journalists from Africa and the Arab world with established science journalists from leading science outlets, such as Nature and Science. This is the second round of the project.

“During the programme we worked with some 80 journalists but not all of them made it through to the graduation,” says Olfa Labassi, the programmer’s coordinator. Only 58 science journalists from the Arab world, English-speaking Africa and French-speaking Africa are graduating.

Through the programme, each mentor works directly with four or five science journalists, offering advice, criticism and evaluating their work. They exchange experiences and help them improve their work and find better opportunities. The project aims to create stronger science journalism in the developing world, teaching the journalists to be more critical and hopefully to boost the role of science in policy-making.

“It has been quite an interesting journey over the past two years,” says Deborah-Fay Ndhlovu, a mentee who works at Research Africa and, through the programme, went on to intern and freelance for Nature. “After two years on the course I have learned that learning on how to report science is an ongoing process and there’s still much to learn,” adds Bibi-Aisha Wadvalla, a freelancer from South Africa who writes for Nature Middle East.

{credit}© Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

In preparing for the next phase, SjCOOP 3, the organizers are now evaluating the successes and shortcomings of the programme. “Part of the idea behind the programme was to form closer collaborative connections between the mentees, so they can in the future work together and help each other. We have seen strong connections forming within each of the three different language groups. But this isn’t happening across the groups as much as we had hoped,” says Labassi.

The selection criteria of both mentees and mentors also needs to be tightened, adds Labassi. “We need really reach the people with high potential.”

For the next phase, which should start in 2013, the WFSJ wants to use the programme to strengthen local science journalists associations, making them a primary partner in the training course.

“This is a capacity building project for both science journalists and their associations,” explained Labassi. “One of our biggest achieve to has been joint projects and support we gave to five science journalists associations in Africa to expand and have their own activities.”

The WFSJ is also supporting the formation of Egyptian and Jordanian science journalists associations. “Through our partners, we would like to work more closely with Arab Spring countries” to strengthen science journalism there and give it a more prominent role in the future of their countries, says Labassi.

Qatar seeks to lead date palm research

Posted on 07 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

{credit}Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar (WCMC-Q) has partnered with the Qatar Ministry of Environment’s Biotechnology Center to launch the Date Palm Research Program, which they hope will make Qatar the world’s leader in date palm research.

Four years ago, WCMC-Q researchers, led by geneticist Joel Malek mapped a draft version of the date palm genome. This helped the team to identify the gene sequences responsible for sex in the tree. This could potentially increase yield by 100% – since only the females of date palms, which are dioecious, can bear fruit. The gene families responsible for fruit quality are next on Malek’s agenda to help breeders improve the varieties of date palms.

The new programme has received seed funding of US$4.5 million from the Qatar National Research Fund over five years to set up. It will rank up basic, applied and human health research into dates and date palm. The researchers are hoping that, in the future, the progamme leads to the establishment of a Qatar Institute of Date Palm Research.

Dates, the sweet fruit of date palms, are a staple food in the Middle East. Historical evidence show date palms have been cultivated there as early as 6,000BCE.

Malek says this research is particularly interesting because no one region in the world is focusing on date palms, which are an important regional resource for the Middle East. “We have a great team of scientists assembled for this project from a broad set of backgrounds. The joining of local and international expertise will ensure that project stays focused on the needs of Qatar and the region while bringing the latest technologies to bear on challenges in date palm biotechnology.”

“What we aim at now is to translate our basic research know-how into real-world applications,” said Karsten Suhre, director of metabolics at WCMC-Q.

Qatar to lead date palm research

Posted on 06 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

{credit}Mohammed Yahia{/credit}

Dates, the sweet fruit of date palms, are a staple food in the Middle East. Historical evidence show date palms have been cultivated there as early as 6,000BCE.

“What we aim at now is to translate our basic research know-how into real-world applications,” said Karsten Suhre, director of metabolics at WCMC-Q.

Is drilling in the Red Sea good for science?

Posted on 04 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

A Canadian company has started a study to determine whether deep-sea mining in the Red Sea to extract minerals from hydro-thermal basins could be feasible, reports SciDev.Net. But will this provide Saudi Arabia and Sudan, who are interested in this project, an economic boost or will it wreck havoc on the sea’s fragile environmental system?

On the positive side, the project will supply a large amount of metals, such silver, cooper and zinc, worth up to US$8.21 billion according to a paper published last year by the Kiel Institute for World Economy.

The mining operations could also bring high-tech, good-paying jobs for local skilled workers. It could also bring jobs to local scientists, who would be trained up to international standards when they join the project. “The more locals you hire, the more goodwill you generate,” Wayen Malouf, the director of Diamond Fields International Ltd. (DFI) which is conducting the study, told SciDev.Net.

This has raised some concerns, however. Scientists from Saudi Arabia will likely be better trained than their Sudanese counterparts due to a better quality higher education system. This could lead to tensions in the relationship, as Saudi Arabian scientists will probably take most of the managerial and leadership positions.

On the other side, there has been no environmental assessment so far, though this will be part of the study prepared by DFI. The Red Sea is home to many rich coral reefs. Additionally, the mining operations may disturb microbes and bacteria living in brine pools under extreme conditions. Recent research suggests these bacteria may be a rich source of enzymes with numerous applications in biotechnologies. The feasibility study will test if the pumping system can bypass these bacteria and reach the mineral beds without disturbing them.

Click here for the full story on SciDev.Net.

Saudi bio-bank to shed light on common diseases in the Kingdom

Posted on 02 Oct 2012 by Mohammed Yahia

In a bid to improve healthcare services in Saudi Arabia, the King Abdullah International Medical Research Center’s (KAIMRC) large bio-bank project is studying diseases widespread in the Kingdom.

The bio-bank will collect 200,000 samples from volunteer patients from hospitals and clinics run by the National Guard Health Affairs in Saudi Arabia. The diseases the bio-bank will study will include diabetes, cancer, coronary artery disease, hepatitis, obesity, bronchial asthma, chronic renal impairment and failure, stroke and more. These represent some of the most widespread health risks of the country.

Besides collecting blood, saliva, urine and tissue samples, the bio-bank will also gather and store information from interviews with the volunteers about their lifestyle and physical assessments. KAIMRC has another bank for storage of unbilical cord blood. The Umbilical Cord Blood Bank will be used for stem cell research and to help patients who need cord blood stem cell transplantation.

The large number of consanguineous families in Saudi Arabia makes it a particularly good place to study diseases with a genetic element. Physicians and researchers will use the data collected from the bio-bank to conduct a large-scale study of the combined effects of genes, environment, and lifestyle on these diseases. Besides using the bio-bank to educate people on risk factors for these common diseases and encouraging them to donate specimens, the researchers will also to study disease incidence patterns and develop new diagnostic and therapeutic approaches.

The bio-bank’s study is an ongoing effort. There will be annual examinations and reports collected from all living volunteers who have donated samples to the project. These will provide ongoing information on physical activity, blood pressure, diet, body weight, work environment and hazards, social factors, and personal habits such as smoking.

House of Wisdom

a blog from Nature Middle East

Monthly Archives: October 2012