Announcing the Launch of UREP's 9th Cycle

Qatar National Research Fund, QNRF, announced today the outcome of the 9th cycle of its funding program; the Undergraduate Research Experience Program, UREP.

UREP aims at spreading research culture amongst undergraduate students by engaging them in "hands on" research projects under the guidance of their academic supervisors. UREP also encourages collaboration between academic and non-academic institutions to promote cross breading of expertise between academia and other institutions in Qatar.

During the 9th UREP cycle QNRF received 118 research proposals, each of which was evaluated by three independent peer reviewers. The average score of all proposals was 78%. In order to maintain a high quality level for the awarded UREP proposals while maintain a good success rate, QNRF Steering Committee has decided to adopt a cutoff score of 82% for this cycle, which resulted in the award of 44 research proposals engaging 183 undergraduate students across 7 academic institutions.

Commenting on the above, Dr. Abdul Sattar Al-Taie, QNRF's Executive Director, said "QNRF has implemented, since October 2006, nine UREP cycles in which a total of 992 research proposals have been submitted for peer reviewing and 456 proposals have been awarded. Dr. Al-Taie added "UREP was the first in QNRF's portfolio of research funding programs, which now includes a number of other programs. As UREP matures, so does its contribution to cultivating and widening the participation of university students in research targeted to improve life in Qatar and to achieve Qatar's 2030 Vision."