Research Matters

On June 5^th, 2022, QNRF, along with the world, celebrated World Environment Day (WED), the United Nations’ day for encouraging worldwide awareness and action to protect our environment. The theme for this year was aptly identified as “Only One Earth” drawing importance towards sustainable living in harmony with nature through consistent efforts by all of us to save the planet.

This month’s Spotlight On features Qatar Research Leadership Program Graduate (QRLP) and QNRF-fund recipient Mousa Abuhelaiqa, Ph.D.  Dr. Abuhelaiqa is a Qatari Materials Engineer with an expertise in energy science and data analytics. He graduated from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Lausanne (EPFL) and University College London (UCL) where he researched emerging solar materials.  Through the QRLP program, which is dedicated to producing homegrown scientists who are capable of steering the continuous development and sustainability of Qatar’s research agenda and adding to the nation’s pool of science and research talent, Dr. Abuhelaiqa focused on researching on perovskite solar cells, new types of solar cells with limited long-term stability. His critical research adds to the current body of knowledge on the emerging solar material and tackles the stability challenge by applying novel thin films within the solar cell architecture.

The evolution of communities over millennia and how these communities interacted with each other has shaped the world we live in today. Studying how our ancestors lived, what their routines and dietary habits were, analyzing their migration patterns and their rituals contain important lessons for us and can help us better understand our societies and the challenges faced by them. The Arabian Peninsula has a rich history and a lot of it is yet to be discovered.

After the health sector, the education sector has been one of the most affected as delivery of education was disrupted worldwide. However, this also provided a window of opportunity to bring about a pedagogical shift to make education more accessible and enable our institutions to cope with unforeseen situations like the coronavirus pandemic.

Dr. Dena Al-Thani, Assistant Professor and the Director of Interdisciplinary Programs at the College of Science and Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, also saw this opportunity and set out to develop a solution for students in special education programs and centers- a task that came with its own set of unique challenges and requirements. To realize her ambition, Dr. Al-Thani successfully applied for a research grant under the inaugural cycle of the Rapid Response Call and was able to successfully develop an interactive online platform for autistic children.