Executive Director’s Message | June 2021

Building Partnerships to Address our National Needs

Along with the various milestones and successes we have celebrated over the years, a significant achievement we are proud of is forming lasting and strong relationships with our stakeholders in Qatar and around the world.

These partnerships contribute significantly to further develop Qatar’s thriving research ecosystem and help our local capacity-building activities. Similarly, these partnerships have also helped to forge cross-border cooperation between our researchers and their colleagues from other countries and have helped to promote knowledge exchange.

On the national level, we take special pride to have partnered with the Qatar Genome Programme to jump-start research in the field of genomics and precision medicine by launching five Path toward Precision Medicine calls so far. Similarly, through our collaboration with the Ministry of Municipality and Environment, we have launched two research calls to address the food security challenges faced by Qatar. Lastly, we have advanced research on the Arab family and family-policy-related issues by launching five research calls with the Doha International Family Institute.

On the international front, we partnered with TÜBİTAK- The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey in 2015 to bring together the research, industry, and academic sectors of Qatar and Turkey to produce innovative solutions to challenges faced by both countries. So far we have launched four calls under this partnership and in this month’s Research Matters, we tell you more about the latest cycle focusing on Autonomous Systems. Moreover, QNRF has partnered with The National Center for Scientific and Technical Research-Morocco (CNRST) in Morrocco and offers a joint funding program on equine research to preserve the legacy of the Arabian Horse.

We have not forgotten about our budding scientists and researchers as far as our partnerships go. Recently, we collaborated with Northwestern University in Qatar and SIEMENS Energy to help local school students publish the STEM Magazine. Through this magazine, more students will develop an interest in STEM subjects and improve their science communication skills. You can learn more about the magazine and read the articles in our newsletter.

On a different note, I am glad to share with you that we have just launched the second cycle of the Rapid Response Call (RRC) as a follow-up to RRC1 to further help Qatar strengthen its response to the challenges created by the COVID-19 pandemic. You can learn more about RRC2 from our in-house expert, Ola Daher, who we feature in this month’s issue.

I hope you enjoy reading this issue and reach out to us if you have any questions about our ongoing research calls.