The Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), a member of Qatar Foundation for Education, Science, and Community Development, will play a significant role in this year’s Annual Research Conference (ARC’16) with the participation of its research institutes, Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI), and Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute (QEERI) for the first time under the auspices of the university.
Three of the five parallel sessions on the first day of the conference will be moderated by HBKU officials, with Dr Said Ahzi from QEERI, chairing the session on Energy and the Environment, Dr Mounir Hamdi, dean of HBKU’s College of Science and Engineering, chairing the session on Computing & Information Technology, and Dr Hilal Lashuel from QBRI chairing the session on Health. Dr Ahmed Elmagarmid, executive director of QCRI will share insight from some of the university’s research projects in the field of data science, and Dr Khalid al-Subai, executive director of QEERI, will discuss the HBKU research institute’s work relating to Qatar’s environment and energy grand challenges.
Dr Ahmad Hasnah, president of HBKU, noted: “As a research university in Qatar, HBKU is focused on academic research degrees as well as pursuing innovative, interdisciplinary research that will address national priorities and foster major developments, ultimately impacting national and regional growth. Qatar Biomedical Research Institute, Qatar Computing Research Institute, and Qatar Environment and Energy Research Institute are an integral part of HBKU.”
Representatives from across the university will be presenting their research at ARC’16. The presentations will focus on a diverse range of specialised research areas such as Novel Tri-Hybrid Desalination Plants, the Characterisation of Circulating MiRNAs in Insulin-sensitive and Insulin-resistant Arab Individuals in Qatar, Cost Optimisation for Software Defined Measurement, and Big Data Analytics in Diverse Data Processing Platforms.
Dr Omar El-Agnaf, acting executive director of QBRI, will share insight from his research on “Biomarkers for Parkinson’s Disease and Disorders”, an area in which he continues to explore with the support of a research grant from the New York-based Michael J Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research.
In addition, students from HBKU’s Juris Doctor (JD) law programme will assist Dr Clinton Francis, founding dean of HBKU’s Law School, in his presentation on “Crowd Inventing: An Innovation about Innovation”.