Qatar University's (QU) Requirements Programme, affiliated with the College of General Studies dean, organised a student research posters exhibition recently. The event aimed to enhance students' understanding of community partnership, train them early on the fundamentals of scientific research, and address several important societal issues related to the curriculum.
“The posters represented hundreds of community engagement research and projects conducted by students enrolled in the first-year seminar course (UNIV 100), the Innovation, Leadership, and Community Engagement course (UNIV 200), and the Social Service-Learning course (UNIV 220),” explained Dr Saba Qadi, director of the University Requirements Programme.
Abdulrahim Abdelrashid, a member of the 'Education Expenses in Qatar' poster team, said the UNIV 100 course equips students with various important skills, including the ability to create presentations and posters, while broadening their academic, intellectual, and personal horizons.
The posters of UNIV 100 addressed topics such as 'The Impact of Economic Development in Qatar on Qatari Society,' 'Economic Inflation and Price Hikes in Qatari Society,' 'Ethics of Artificial Intelligence and its Applications in Health and Education Sectors in Qatar' and 'The Impact of Artificial Intelligence (Chat GPT) on Higher Education.'
The posters for UNIV 200 highlighted important outcomes of the course, including developing entrepreneurial and leadership thinking among students, enhancing their problem-solving skills, promoting community engagement, and fostering social entrepreneurship through innovative and creative solutions to societal problems.
This was reflected in creative projects such as the award-winning project 'The Green House' from the University Requirements Department, which focuses on cultivating and greening home gardens with the aim of increasing vegetation cover, thereby achieving environmental and economic impacts through food self-sufficiency.
Another project, 'Reached,' was about a wristband connected to an application that allows parents to monitor their children's movements from the moment they leave home until they safely board the school bus and arrive at school.
The UNIV 220, which integrates academic study with interactive community service activities, reflected students' sense of social responsibility through posters of projects such as the “Automated Response Bot.” This project aims to answer students' inquiries at the university library using artificial intelligence.
On the sidelines of the exhibition, awards from the University Requirements Programme were distributed. Mustafa Youssef was the winner for the Electronic Achievement File of UNIV 100. Hamda al-Marzouki won the award for Community Engagement for UNIV 220. Ibrahim al-Musaiferi, Zaid Ashour, Ismail Sinan, and Mohammed Mallah received the award for Innovation and Entrepreneurship for their project 'The Green House' in UNIV 200.
