Pandemic Has Huge Effect on Qatar’s Medical Research Institutions

Emergency Response Grants

In response to the pandemic, Texas A&M University at Qatar launched a Covid-19 program encouraging applicants to develop models and algorithms to support the university’s response and the understanding of its effect on people.

The Qatar National Research Fund established a rapid response call offering researchers grants of up to 100,000 Qatari rials (about $26,000) each for three-month projects related to the coronavirus.

The Research Support Office of the Vice President’s Office for Research and Graduate Studies at Qatar University also organized an emergency response grant dedicated to Covid-19 research.

The grant supported several research tracks with a budget of 150,000 Qatari rials ($39,000) for each track.  The tracks covered basic molecular research, clinical research, social behavioral research, epidemiology, infectious diseases, public health, and e-health.

“Various research centers and colleges at Qatar University have mobilized their research efforts to address the pandemic,” said Mohammed Hassan M.A. Al-Salem, the university’s director of research support. “Scientists from Qatar University worked closely with physicians at Hamad Medical Corporation (the government body that manages health care in Qatar) to develop innovative approaches to disease management and to handle the high flow of cases.”