DOHA: Qatar Foundation Annual Research Forum yesterday honoured five academics and 10 students for their excellence in pioneering innovative scientific research. The professional and student researchers were recognised for their work in bio-science, energy, environment, computing arts, social science, humanities and Islamic studies. The research programmes selected for awards received a monetary grant of $100,000 each to continue their research efforts. The winners of the student awards were given academic grants of QR20,000 each for best oral and poster presentations. “The research awards will absolutely foster the culture of science in Qatar. This Forum is not the end of the path, but truly just the beginning of a scientific endeavour that we should all look forward to,” said Dr Abdelali Haoudi, Vice President, Research at Qatar Foundation. The project presented by Rihab Nasr of the American University of Beirut in Lebanon won the award for best research in biomedicine. It was for a research project on the results of using a combination of arsenic and interferon to target chronic myelogenous leukaemia stem cells, thus mitigating relapse. The award for best research programme in energy was awarded to the project ‘New Catalysts for Next Generations of Plastics,’ which was presented by Manal Sami Farah from Total E&P Qatar. A research project on the development of statistical modelling techniques to build biomedical data sets for use in biomedical data analytics – focused in particular on diabetes and obesity, won the award for best computing science research. The project was presented by Halima Bensmail of the Qatar Computing Research Institute. Ashraf Galal Hassan Mohamed Bayoumy was awarded for his research paper on problems of social reality of Qatari population: an applied analytical study on needs assessment and solution analysis. These winners were selected out of 280 abstracts presented at the forum. The awards were distributed by Dr Haoudi and the President of Qatar Foundation, Dr Fathy Saoud, who were joined by representatives of ExxonMobil, Shell, and Total– the forum’s corporate award sponsors. The award for best student research in arts, social sciences, humanities and Islamic studies was awarded for a research project using qualitative methods to evaluate the impact of consumer culture by exploring the impact of the Villaggio Mall on Qatar and its residents. The project was presented by Amani Ahmed of Qatar University. A study on the improvement of cancer immunotherapy by Mariam Abdulaziz Al Muftah who was awarded best student research in biomedicine. Manir Al Faisal of the College of the North Atlantic – Qatar was awarded in the environment category for her project Home: Designing and Fabricating Occupancy Sensors. Ameena Al Zeyara from the Carnegie Mellon University was awarded for computer science research. From the 353 abstracts submitted for consideration, 280 were selected for either oral or poster presentation. Student posters were awarded for research on the following topics: Parkinson’s disease, the next generation of internal combustion engines, bio-insecticides, assistive technology for people with hearing and speaking disabilities, and tribal settlement patterns as a model for contemporary sustainable urban design. The student posters were reviewed by a panel of national and international academics and researchers. The Peninsula

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