Executive Director's Message

Developing Qatar’s Future Science and Research Leadership

Dear Readers,

I hope you and your families are doing well and keeping safe. I welcome you to the eighth edition of QNRF’s newsletter, ‘Research Matters’, providing you with a glimpse into the cutting-edge and innovative research funded by QNRF.

The gripping spread of coronavirus and its implications serves as a timely reminder of how fragile our health care system and economy are. It also underpinned the important and crucial role of research and innovation in solving our challenges.

Similarly, while we must allocate our collective and individual efforts and resources to dealing with contemporary challenges, we must also think about tomorrow. Considering the changing global landscape, depletion of natural resources, and degradation of our environment; we must prepare our future generations with the necessary skills and knowledge, so they are equipped to face, navigate, and propose solutions to these challenges.

To help Qatar navigate such challenges, QNRF has developed a diverse portfolio of capacity building programs which cater to all levels, from K-12 students to postdoctoral scholars. I am glad to share with you the news that, earlier this month, we announced the awardees for the 27^th cycle of our Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) and 7^th Graduate Sponsorship Research Award (GSRA). After a competitive evaluation process, we selected 38 projects for UREP and 37 students for the GSRA. To help you learn more about the impressive outcomes our capacity building programs are creating, we are focusing this month’s newsletter on the success stories generated by such programs.

Lastly, I am glad to share that our webinar on the 2^nd call of our Food Security Call generated huge interest, as more than 160 interested candidates joined us from around the world to learn more about the program. I hope you all enjoy reading this month’s newsletter and encourage you to browse through our website to learn more about our programs, upcoming events, and how QNRF-funded research is helping solve the foremost local and global challenges.