17.2.1 Direct involvement in national government SDG policy development
17.2.2 Initiating and participating in cross-sectoral dialogue about the SDGs
17.2.3 Participating in international collaboration on gathering or measuring data for the SDGs
17.2.4 Reviewing comparative approaches and develop international best practice on tackling the SDGs
17.2.5 Collaboration with NGOs and/or businesses to tackle the SDGs
GUST collaborates with London School of Economics & Political Science
Gulf University for Science and Technology (GUST) is collaborating with the London School of Economics & Political Science (LSE) on several ongoing projects among them the DiSTO Project and the creation of the DiSTO-Kuwait Chapter with a group of GUST professors, as well as a research collaboration with GUST professor, Dr. Rania Al-Nakib to explore how democratic citizenship is shaped by education in Kuwait.
The first collaboration is with LSE Professor, Dr. Ellen Helsper, who leads the global project “from digital skills to tangible outcomes” (DiSTO). The project aims to develop and improve global measures of people’s digital skills and engagement, as well as the types of outcomes they derive from these. It has been run in numerous countries around the world and its scales have also been incorporated into such projects as the World Internet Project, the International Telecommunications Union, the Global Kids Online, the UK Nominet Trust project, Benessere Digitale (Italy), and many others.
DiSTO-Kuwait, the local chapter of Prof. Helpser’s project, is run by a team from GUST, which includes Dr. Fahed Al Sumait, GUST Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Albaraa AlTourah, Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Mass Communication and Media (MCM) Department, Dr. Jibril Latif, Assistant Professor MCM Department, Nouf Al-Saif, Teaching Assistant and part-time instructor in MCM. At the same time, the GUST team is partnering with the World of Opinions Survey firm in Kuwait, which is one of the country’s leading survey companies who will help assist with interviewer training and fieldwork planning. Finally, GUST will also include approximately 20 volunteers from the GUST student community and beyond to receive data-collection training and assist with the national-level data collection which is planned for February-March 2020. This not only aids in collecting accurate information, but also helps to prepare the next generation of prospective researchers to engage with pressing social concerns and address these through the application of quality methodologies.
Professor Helsper spent a week in Kuwait conducting workshops and training sessions, meeting key stakeholders, and coordinating activities with the DiSTO-Kuwait team. Among the organizations she met with to discuss the project and evaluate the ICT situation in Kuwait were the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA), the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (KFAS), Zain Telecommunication Company, the GUST Center for Teaching, Learning and Research (CTLR), and faculty from the Information Science Department at the College of Computing Sciences and Engineering at Kuwait University.
Project Leader, Professor Ellen Helsper, said, “I’m very pleased to have had the opportunity to expand my project into Kuwait, and interact with experts and the upcoming generation of leaders who will no doubt be shaping the development of Kuwait’s digital footprint and usage. It is important that we keep our fingers on the pulse and continue to examine the role the internet plays in different aspects of our lives.”
Also during her visit, Prof. Helsper delivered a lecture at GUST on the global evidence for socio-digital inequalities gathered through the DiSTO projects. She introduced the DiSTO project and explained how it helps to develop and improve measures and models of people’s digital skills, digital engagement, and outcomes of Information and Communications Technologies. The goal of the lecture was to examine which interventions are most effective in preparing everyone for a digital future.
Dr. Fahed Al-Sumait, GUST Vice President for Academic Affairs and Co-PI for the DiSTO-Kuwait project: “We are honored to be working with the world-renowned expert, Dr. Ellen Helsper, to conduct such cutting-edge research about Kuwait’s readiness for an increasingly digital future. Kuwait is one of the most digitally connected in the world in terms of ICT infrastructure and mobile usage, but we currently do not have much information about which people and communities are benefiting most from this situation and who is being left behind. Through this research, we hope to gain a better idea of the conditions on the ground so we can identify possible actions that can be taken to help improve the quality of people’s lives as it relates to digital technologies.”
Professor Helsper has extensive experience in the world of digital inequalities and methodologies in media and communication research, and is known for her work in the UK Kids Online Project, UK Kids Online Project, her consultancy work with OSSWatch (Oxford University), Ofcom, the BBC and Plan International, and her role as Survey Research Fellow at the Oxford Internet Institute (OII, University of Oxford) where she managed and analyzed the biennial Oxford Internet Surveys (OxIS), the UK partner in the World Internet Project. She is a graduate of media psychology from Utrecht University, and has had her articles published in journals such as International Journal of Communication, European Journal of Communication, and Journal of Children and Media.
A second major collaboration project between the two universities is lead in Kuwait by Dr. Rania Al-Nakib, Assistant Professor at GUST’s Department of Humanities & Social Sciences, who is collaborating with Dr. Sam Mejias, Research Fellow at the LSE on a research project entitled, Empowering Democratic Citizenship through Education: Exploring Rights-Based Approaches to Educational Policymaking in Kuwait. This study is being funded by a grant from LSE’s Middle East Center.
GUST Department of Humanities & Social Sciences Assistant Professor, Dr. Rania Al Nakib, said, “We are exploring how schools have become contested ideological sites in which both explicit and ‘hidden’ structures and curricula can hinder the development of democratic citizenship norms and practices, the proposed study aims to assess the extent to which citizenship education approaches, that emphasize rights and responsibilities and extra-national citizenship, may motivate young people to participate in democratic processes in Kuwait. We are also interested in understanding how teachers functioning in a service delivery role understand the purposes, possibilities, and tensions of rights-based education approaches for building a democratic citizenry.”
The study utilizes both multidisciplinary and multi-method approaches that combines desk research and discourse analysis with qualitative and quantitative data collection. The research will draw on methodological approaches of critical discourse analysis, content analysis, and ethnographic social constructionism.
Dr. Mejias will be visiting Kuwait next month to join Dr. Al-Nakib for the first round of fieldwork in Kuwaiti public and private schools. Moreover, their first paper from this collaboration, entitled Discourses of Minimalist and Maximalist Citizenship in the Lives of Kuwaiti Youth, exploring youth-led democratic initiatives in Kuwait, has been accepted to the American Educational Research Association’s (AERA) annual conference, which will be held in San Francisco in April. They will also be hosting workshops at LSE and at GUST.
Founded in 1895, the London School of Economics is a public research university joined the University of London in 1900, and established its first degree courses under the support and backing of the University in 1901. Today, it ranks #1 in the world for thought leadership in management, #2 in the world for social sciences and management according to the latest QS World University Rankings. It is also currently ranked #1 in the UK for research in business and management studies.
GUST Holds Association of Chartered Certified Accountants Seminar with Field Experts
GUST's Accounting and MIS Department held an Association of Chartered Certified Accountants (ACCA) seminar on its campus this week with expert Alexander Leach, Senior Education Manager at ACCA Middle East. The main aim of the seminar was to introduce students to potential career opportunities in the field and what developments to look forward to in 2020s.
Like many professions, the accounting industry is changing at a rapid pace, where global trends are reshaping its existence. The seminar highlighted ACCA’s Future of Careers Report which considers the trends impacting professional accounting careers and their future, as well as helps identify potential broader areas of career opportunities.
Mr. Leach covered various areas of the subject matter and was able to help students, staff and faculty members better understand the drivers of change impactingaccounting careers, locate emerging areas of career opportunity, and how they can navigate their careers in an evolving landscape.
The university is continuously collaborating with field experts in the community and the profession to exchange knowledge and experience with our students. This is to be able to provide a well-rounded educational experience that brings together theoretical knowledge and practical application.
GUST Teams Wins First Place at Warba Bank’s Rowad Innovation Program
GUST students were awarded First Place at the closing ceremony of the Warba Bank Rowad Innovation Program. The four students competed against three other local university teams for the prize after a 10-week program of customized workshops and lectures led by Warba Bank coordinated through our Office of Student Life, which kicked off in September 2019. The goal of the program is to support the innovation of banking services and come up with creative solutions in the Islamic banking sector.
The participating GUST students were: Nouf Alghannam, Reem Mohamed, Sarah Alalban, Sundos Al Ashqar. The students were selected in September 2019 from the university by a Warba Bank Committee to enter the program. Over the 10 weeks, they completed workshops and lectures to learn all the information they need to know in the banking field, such as the different services and products currently available in order to successfully complete the assignment. The other participating universities wereKuwait University, Australian College of Kuwait, and the American University of Kuwait.
During the closing ceremony, the students had to pitch their idea to a panel of industry experts, and were evaluated based on their final presentation, innovative & fresh thinking, the practicality of implementing their ideas, and team effort in meeting all delivery requirements. The GUST team was awarded the first place prize for their innovative ideas and stellar presentation. The grand prize was KD5,000 and KD2,500 for the runners-up.
GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, Vice President for Professional Development and Community Services, Dr. Ahmad Al-Darbas, Senior Manager of the Community Engagement and Communications Division, Anwar Al-Sabah, and Head of the Office of Student Life, Aseel Abounemah, subsequently met with the students following their win to congratulate them on this outstanding achievement.
GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, said, “The creativity and determination of our students, armed with the knowledge they receive at GUST, is a powerful equation as demonstrated by their outstanding performance. I am confident that their success in the future is assured, and I wish them the very best of success.”
GUST continuously encourages and supports its students in all extracurricular activities that can develop and shape their character and their development for after they graduate. It prizes a both academic performance and community driven activities for a well-rounded educational experience.
GUST Hosts Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Award 2019 Closing Ceremony
GUST hosted the closing ceremony of the Sheikh Salem Al-Ali Informatics Award, under the patronage and attendance of Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali Al-Sabah, on its campus last week. The event was led by Himma Tech and the Kuwait Innovation Center. The event was also attended by GUST Board of Trustees Chairman, Mr. Mohammad Al-Bahar, alongside management representatives from local universities, and all the students who participated in the qualifying hackathons.
The event started with a showcase of the top three projects from each participating university, including: GUST, Australian College of Kuwait, Algonquin College, Arab Open University, Kuwait University, Kuwait College of Science & Technology, and the Public Authority for Applied Education and Training. The projects were all viewed by Sheikha Aida Salem Al-Ali as well as all the representatives from the local universities.
The ceremony was opened with a few speeches from the Awards Organizing Committee Chair, Engineer Bassam Al-Shammari, as well as the Founder of Himma Tech, Jassem Al-Mutawa, and the CEO of Kuwait Innovation Center, Engineer Mohammad Al-Rifae. The audience also to view a behind the scenes video that showcased all the students hardwork over the last few weeks to reach this stage.
The first-place winners from all universities got the chance to present their projects to the audience live as well, all of which were designed and implemented physical and digital products that promote positive social impact. GUST’s winning, Lulwah AlDyouly, Dalal AlMaghrabi, Zahraa Mahdi, Omar Tawfik and Ahmad AlDabak, presented their project the ‘Heat Glove’ which is tech glove that can sense the temperature of various objects, intended for the use in the industrial sector. The team has qualified to compete with the rest of the winners to compete in the regional competition as one team representing Kuwait.
The competition launched in 2001 in Kuwait and has since expanded into include competitors from around the world. The main aim of the prize is to encourage and promote the creation of digital solutions and innovation. GUST is always encouraging and supporting its students to take advantage of such opportunities and push their own boundaries, in order to develop and grow not only academically, but individually as well.
GUST Students Wins First Place at the Rowad Innovation Program
For the second time, GUST students were awarded first place at Warba Bank’s Pioneers of Innovation Rowad Program, which was organized for the 4th time. The four students competed against three other local university teams for the prize after attending a 3-week program of customized workshops and lectures led by Warba Bank, which kicked off on October 23rd 2022 and continued until December 15th 2022. The program aims to support the innovation of banking services and develop creative solutions in the Islamic banking sector.
The participating GUST students were: Abdulrazzaq Al Eisa, Khalifa Al Enezi, Essa Al Noufal, and Sarah Al Enezi, who were selected by a Warba Bank Committee to participate in the program. Over the three weeks, they completed workshops and lectures to learn all the essential information in the banking field, such as the different services and products currently available, to complete the assignment successfully. The other participating universities were Kuwait University, Australian University, and the American University of Kuwait.
During the closing ceremony, the students presented their ideas to a panel of industry experts. They were evaluated based on their final presentation, innovative & fresh thinking, the practicality of implementing their ideas, and team effort in meeting all the requirements. As a result, the GUST team was awarded the first-place prize for their innovative ideas and stellar presentation.
GUST Students Win First Place at 6th Annual Dell Technologies Graduation Project Competition
Kuwait City, 12 September 2021: GUST Computer Science senior students, Ayah Beidas, Fatme Ghaddar, and Kousar Mohi participated with their capstone project at the 6th Annual Dell Technologies Graduation Project Competition, which was elected among the top 25 projects and ranked first among numerous projects from Russia, Turkey, and the MENA region. Projects were submitted online, then reviewed and evaluated through a multi-stage evaluation process by international professors and senior Dell Technologies Experts from around the world.
Led by the Head of the Computer Science Department, Associate Professor, Dr. Mahmoud Elish, GUST students developed and presented “Autemo”, a cross-platform mobile application for iOS and Android intended to improve the quality of life of children suffering from autism by alleviating and enhancing their social skills. It targets autistic children’s inability to express emotions by training their facial, verbal and cognitive skills of the user child. “Autemo” won first out of 235 projects that were submitted. At the event, more than 100 universities participated, representing 19 countries from region with a total of 1060 participants.
The competition was open to senior undergraduate students from universities in the Middle East, Russia, Africa and Turkey. Students were invited to submit their project abstracts in areas related to the advancement of technology and applications related to the following focus areas: Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), and Multi-Cloud.
Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences, Professor Bashar Ibrahim said “This outstanding achievement is a further testament to computer science students' hard work as well as the dedication of their faculty members. Congratulations on the well-deserved success!”
Acting President and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Professor Bassam Alameddine said “We are very proud to have GUST represented at “Autemo” by GUST outstanding students. The project proved GUST great academic aptitude and the students’ excellent analytical skills. We congratulate our students for their immense efforts and for elevating GUST’s name in such a prestigious international event.”
This year students from GUST’s Computer Science Department have participated and excelled at several regional and local competitions, such as the 8th KCPC Tournament held in February. This is a testament to the highly competitive practical environment at GUST’s Computer Science Department, which is based on the University’s standards in academic excellence.
GUST Represented in First Place Winning Team at the NASA International Space Apps Challenge
GUST members were part of the team that won first place in the local NASA International Space Apps Challenge. The winning team was led by GUST Computer Science Teaching Assistant, Ali Kelkawi, and included GUST CS student, Abdulwahab Al-Saleh, as well as other students and alumni from the American University of Kuwait. The competition, held in the form of a hackathon, was organized by the Center for Research in Informatics, Sciences, and Engineering (RISE) at the American University of Kuwait (AUK) in collaboration with Kuwait Projects Company (KIPCO) earlier this month, and saw a total of 12 teams participating.
The winning team’s project was a multi-tier application called Oxylus, which allows communities at risk of a wildfire to support and help each other, as well as to coordinate more smoothly with rescue services. The mobile application is also able to safely direct and navigate users away from danger zones to safe areas. A prediction model was also developed to predict fires based on a location’s given features, to be able to better allocate resources to areas at risk.
Dr. Mahmoud Elish, Head of the Computer Science Department, said, “This achievement makes me proud, and justifies the challenges and tests we set in our syllabi. It is also a testament to the calibre of students we have, and to the high level of dedication, quick thinking, and creativity they harness to solve actual real-world problems. I congratulate them on such a great achievement, and wish them the best of luck in 2020!”
Kelkawi and Al-Saleh were recognized by the GUST management, led by Dr. Fahed Al-Sumait, Vice President of Academic Affairs.
The NASA International Space Apps Challenge is one of the world’s largest global hackathons, held locally in separate locations. On one weekend each year, a 48-hour sprint is held in which participants hack solutions to challenges that NASA proposes, creating games, smartphone and computer apps, videos, teaching tools and much more within the theme of Earth and space. Each local competition nominates two teams to compete in the global finals, where NASA experts choose the global challenge winners. With this win, the team will be submitting their project to the global finals, the results of which will be released in January 2020.
GUST has continued to excel in Computer Science, with its students claiming 3rdplace at the 2019 Kuwait Collegiate Programming Competition last month, a competition in which GUST has always ranked among the top 3 positions over the last few years. Our teams have also won the Gulf Region Champions Award at Arab Collegiate Programming Contest in 2017, ranked first place at the Gulf Programming Contest 2017, and fifth place at the Annual Carnegie Melon University Hackathon in Qatar in 2017. Moreover, two GUST teams won the Best Project Award and the Most Creative Project Idea Award at the 2nd GCC Students & Young Professionals Congress in 2019, which was part of the 10th IEEE-GCC Conference & Exhibition. In light of all these achievements, the university launched a scholarship specifically for the Computer Science program to encourage high school graduates to enter this ever more important field.
GUST Hosts UNESCO School Awards Closing Ceremony
Under the Patronage of the Ministry of Education Dr. Hamed Al-Azmi, and in a joint effort between GUST’s Center for Teaching, Learning and Research, the National Commission of Culture and Education representing UNESCO, GUST hosted the closing ceremony of the UNESCO accredited schools in Kuwait.
The event welcomed many leading educators and administrators, including GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, Dean of the College of Business Administration, Professor Antonis Simintiras, Al-Sheikha Sheikha Al-Abdullah Al-Sabah, patron of the event and schools, a representative from the Embassy of the United Arab Emirates, and Nadia Al-Wazzan, Director of the Kuwait National Commission for Education - UNESCO, Science and Culture,as well as students from all the accredited UNESCO schools. During the event, students from each school gave short performances ranging from poetry to plays to shadow shows.
GUST is always happy to support the local educational committee and encourage the youth to excel in both their education and honing their talents.
GUST student Talal Al-Qaoud attends GRC Training in Brussels
GUST sponsored one its Public Relations students, Talal Al-Qaoud, to attend the Gulf Research Center (GRC) Student Training entitled: “Understanding the Institutions and Policies of the EU and EU-GCC Relations,” which took place in Brussels. Al-Qaoud, was among many students from six GCC countries which took part in the training, which was organized by the GRC within their European Commission project “Promoting Deeper EU-GCC relations.” The students were welcomed by Dr. Christian Koch, Director of the Gulf Research Center Foundation in Geneva, on the first day of the training.
Read about his experience in his below recount:
"Arriving to the plane I thought it was going to be a long flight, I managed to get a few hours of sleep and felt energetic once I got there, I arrived at the exit and went looking for the GRC sign and didn’t have trouble finding the man holding the iPad with several other students from both the Emirates and Kuwait. We made our way to the hotel in the beautiful weather and got some rest for 3 hours before the opening dinner.
The next day we went to the Institute for European Studies (IES) where we held the welcome speech by Dr. Christian Koch and two other professional Drs. Joachim Koops and Jamal Shahin to explain the situation that’s happening between the EU and the GCC in terms of relations. Every day was a day of new information and opportunities, trying to shape and figure out ways to improve the relations that we already have to build on a better future. It helped me understand how the European system works with other countries and regions such as the GCC and talking about the politics and parliament and every way that can benefit both parties for a better future. The conference added a lot of insight and information about ways to tie loose ends between both regions such as the free trade agreement signed in 1989 which has not been updated since then due to little problems.
They paired us in groups with people from different nationalities and every day we would visit a different facility to ask questions and to discuss a better future for the upcoming generation. Our task as a team of 6 was to gather information and share ideas on how if we in our hands could improve the GCC-EU relations, We were given 3 meetings with each other to help discuss the topic we were going to look for and present to the professors and to people from the embassies. This experience helped shape my thoughts on how a completely different lifestyle and society could work with a very big parliament which holds up to 766 members and shows you that each representative from a country has his own team which meets up to discuss what’s best for each of the European countries in the union. The conference has included a lot of details, starting off with the overview of Institutions and Policy making which shows how rules and policies are made and how they come to life. We also met with the Kuwaiti Ambassador in Brussels Mrs. AlHamad which welcomed us to her embassy and encouraged the other range of students and myself to consider doing higher education abroad with a program called Erasmus and set to launch in mid-2014.
The next day we travelled to the city of Bruges, Belgium where we had a visit to the College Of Europe where we sat with Prof. Erwan Lannon to talk about opportunities offered by his university to students in the GCC region and to discuss social, political, security and economic challenges beyond the European Neighborhood Policy. In the last three days we visited the Parlamentium museum where we learned about the history of Europe and how it became a union, after that we headed off to the European Parliament to discuss the relations with the GCC. This mostly had a discussion of removing the Schengen visa policy from the GCC. On the day before last we went to the EU Commission center to discuss EU-GCC offers on future education and Training programs and EU-GCC trade relations.
The final day which was the day of the presentation and we were the second group to speak. We discussed and tackled the situations of education and how to make people aware of these opportunities available to the people from the GCC. The presentation also talked about how research centers just like the GRC should be made more often to give people the chance of participating in these conferences and to witness the lifestyle in person rather than to just read about it in class or watch it on the news. The third and final point of our presentation brought the attention of keeping contact with one another, building relations and exchanging ideas help take away the tolerance and also helps the culture influence grow to be more understanding. The trip hosted by the GRC to help build relations between the EU and the GCC was absolutely brilliant and I was proud to represent GUST and Kuwait to help build a better future."
GUST Management Attend 15th IFIP WG 6.11 e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society (I3E) Conference in the UK
GUST's Vice President of Academic Affairs, Dr. Salah Al-Sharhan, and the Dean of the College of Business Administration, Professor Antonis Simintiras attended the 15th IFIP WG 6.11 e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society (I3E) Conference held at the Swansea University School of Management, UK. The conference carried the theme: ‘Social Media: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’, and was held from 13th September to 15th September.
The conference attracted a large number of submissions and delegates from more than 25 countries across the world who attended and presented their papers on topics ranging from Digital Marketing Strategy & Adoption of Social Media to Using Facebook to Find Missing Persons. All accepted papers were published by Springer’s Lecture Notes in Computer Science Series.
Dr. Al-Sharhan and Professor Simintiras served as conference committee members, program co-chairs, and co-editors of conference proceedings. Moreover, they submitted an application bid to host the 17Th IFIP WG6.11 e-Business, e-Services, and e-Society (I3E) conference at GUST in 2018. The application was well received and the university is confident that the application will be successful.
At the event, GUST was an official sponsor of the Best Paper Awards and key note speeches. Dr. Al-Sharhan presented the best paper awards to the winners of the 15th IFIP WG6.11 Conference, including: “Breaking Anonymity of Social Network Accounts” by Hashimoto et al. from Japan; “Business Intelligence from User Generated Content” by Karan Setiya et al. from the Netherlands; “Technology Acceptance, Personality, Civic Engagement and Social Capital” by Vishnupriya Raghavan et al. from India; “Sharing Political Contents in Social Media: The Moderating Effect of Collective Opinion” by Mohammad Hossain et al. from Australia; “Influences and Benefits of Role Models on Social Media” by Lyndsey Jenkins et al. from the UK and Germany; and “Using Facebook to find Missing Persons” by Hattingh and Matthee from South Africa.
The key note speakers were Professor H. Raghav Rao from the University of Texas at San Antonio on “ICT Mediated Rumor Beliefs and Resulting User Behaviors during a Community Crisis”, Professor Ben Light from theUniversity of Salford on “The Inter of Us: Increasing Convergence Amongst Digital and Physical Actors”, and the Professor Viswanath Venkatesh from the University of Arkansas on “Pursuing the United Nations’ Millennium Developmental Goals: Lessons Learned from a Project in Villages in India”.
The university currently has an agreement with Swansea University to promote student, scholars and academic exchange programs, and other joint activities such as seminars, workshops, and collaborative research in areas of mutual interest.
GUST President Presents at 10th Arab Report on Cultural Development Symposium
Kuwait, 16th December 2018: In cooperation with the Arab Thought Foundation, the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Science (KFAS) organized the 10thAnnual Arab Report on Cultural Development Symposium, titled: “Innovation and Extinction – Arab Scientific Research: Its Reality, Challenges and Perspectives.” GUST President, Professor Walid Bouhamra, gave a presentation and participated in a discussion panel at the symposium that highlighted the importance of supporting the role of scientists to drive the research process and enhance the capabilities of science and technology.
Moderated by KFAS Director General, Dr. Adnan Shihab Eldin, the symposium hosted many other esteemed researchers and scientists including the Arab Thought Foundation Director General Professor Henri Al-Oweit, Secretary General of the National Council of Scientific Research in Lebanon, Dr. Moeen Hamzah, Secretary General of the Supreme Council for Planning and Development, Dr. Khaled Mahdi, Kuwait University Management Professor, Dr. Moudhi Al Hmoud, Kuwait University Sociology Professor, Dr. Mohammed Al Rumaihi, Kuwait University Assistant Vice President for Research, Dr. Laila Maarouf, Executive President of the Energy and Construction Center in the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Dr. Osama Abdullah Al Sayegh.
In his presentation, Professor Bouhamra, noted that embracing methodological scientific research to address the problems and issues of modern living has become necessary and inevitable to explore the root causes of the problems and propose suitable solutions for them in order to drive the wheel of sustainable development in our Arab countries.
Professor Bouhamra added that scientific research is undoubtedly the cornerstone for the progress and development of nations and in view of the challenges and political, economic, social, environmental and cultural changes that weigh heavily in today’s unprecedentedly accelerating and dynamic world.
Professor Bouhamra pointed out that the symposium presented a good opportunity for debating and discussing different points of view and new ideas among Arab scholars and academics who are enthusiastic and eager to find solutions to today’s issues, and to highlight the role of scientific research, constructive thinking, creativity and innovation for the future. This entails the necessity of supporting the role of scientists, to drive the research process and enhance the capabilities of science and technology.
He stressed the importance of supporting scientific research in the Arab societies particularly through Arab-international cooperation in joint projects with the best universities and research centers in the world. Such research ventures would culminate in notable scientific output which is a major indicator of scientific and cultural achievements. He appreciated the KFAS experiment with international programs and agreements, particularly with the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), as the best example of the importance of joint research and the resulting added value. The cooperation yielded major projects and gave the opportunity for new project suggestions in the areas of water, energy, environment and health.
Professor Bouhamra also shed light on the major challenges facing Arab researchers in international research cooperation, the most important of which are intellectual property and patents rights, defining the criteria of the rights in accordance with the performance and achievement of the research, variation of expenditure and funding rate, as well as highlighting each researcher’s role when publishing the scientific research according to scholarly performance.
GUST as a university has always been keen on supporting scientific research within its faculty, and even more so today. The university aims to provide its faculty with every opportunity to strengthen and develop research collaborations through KFAS as well as annual fellowship programs with affiliated universities internationally.
