Qatar research agency to unveil strategy, latest grants

Manama: Future initiatives and new research grants by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) for the next five years will be revealed at the funding agency’s fifth annual forum in the Qatari capital Doha starting today (Tuesday).

In a statement ahead of the forum, held under the theme Research Forward, Faisal Al Suwaidi, president of Research and Development at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, congratulated QNRF on its “success in building research culture, human capital and infrastructure for Qatar since its establishment in 2006”.

“QNRF is making a vital contribution to Qatar’s research community,” he said. “They have paved a sustainable path for Qatar’s research advancement and made wise investments in human capacity and research infrastructure. As QNRF embarks upon a new phase in its growth cycle, it will expand its role as the prime enabler of research by directing its funding towards the national priority needs of Qatar as specified in the Qatar National Research Strategy,” he said in the statement e-mailed to Gulf News.

Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director at QNRF, said that the agency had “more than 75 approved research offices in Qatar”.

“Under the NPRP, we have funded more than 29 of these organisations for research worth more than $500 million (Dh1.83 million) over the past five years, and with collaboration from more than 385 international research institutions,” he said in a testament to QNRF’s impact on research development in Qatar,
QNRF is embarking on a new phase of development, aimed at further expanding the country’s flourishing research culture and driving research forward to find solutions to the “grand challenges” facing Qatar and the region, he said.

The various aspects of the funding agency’s five-year plan will be highlighted at the forum.
Topics to be taken up include details on new funding opportunities, financial re-structuring of existing programmes, plans to address the country’s grand challenges, increased stakeholder engagement and partnerships, enhancing QNRF’s research management capabilities and infrastructure and evaluating and leveraging research outcomes.

The highlight of the forum will be the announcement of results of the sixth cycle of the agency’s flagship programme, the National Priorities Research Programme.