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Award-winning, ‘A Hero’ by Asghar Farhadi, Academy Award winning director and a collaborator of Doha Film Institute (DFI) will get the ball rolling for the 9th edition of Ajyal Film Festival, it was announced on Tuesday. The seven-day festival from November 7-13 will feature a diverse mix of virtual and in-person events including film screenings, interactive discussions, multi-media art exhibit, Qatar’s largest pop-culture event, Geekdom, and a drive-in cinema as part of a multisensory experience for all ages. Speaking at a press conference, Fatma Hassan Alremaihi, festival director and chief executive officer DFI, said: “The festival will feature 85 films from 44 countries. It includes 31 Features and 54 shorts; 22 Arab films; 32 films by women filmmakers. It will also feature 13 diverse films supported by the Doha Film Institute, which include recipients of the Spring/Fall Grants, co-financing, Qatari Film Fund and mentorship through the year-long labs and development workshops.” Alremaihi noted that the past two eventful years have been full of uncertainty due to Covid-19 and its wide social and economic impact has resulted in a display of the strength of the human spirit. “The collective crisis has helped us realise the importance of social interaction, and that we are all in it together. Ajyal 2021 reflects our deepened understanding of the world, where we appreciate now more than ever the importance of people coming together for creative expression and community,” she said. The festival’s physical presence include locations at Katara, Sikkat Wadi Msheireb, Lusail and Vox Cinemas Doha Festival City. “The festival returns with this year’s theme, 'Press Play' to move forward out of pause mode and rekindle people’s passion for play, exploration, and discovery through shared cultural experiences. As one of the first film festivals in the world to adapt to a hybrid format last year, Ajyal demonstrated that we have the can-do spirit and this year, as the world slowly starts to re-open- we continue to represent the innovation and forward thinking of Qatar’s leadership,”Alremaihi explained. The ninth edition of the festival will deliver a weeklong calendar of film screenings and community-oriented events under the theme ‘Press Play!’ to celebrate the return to in-person events in the spirit of togetherness and the resilience of the nation in addressing the pandemic. DFI officials said that the festival will follow all directives of the Ministry of Public Health to deliver a safe festival experience with a balance of virtual and safe in-person elements. The inaugural film 'A Hero' is poignant and understated, and the moral dilemma the film unearths, demonstrates Farhadi’s unique ability to turn ordinary human situations into cinematic masterpieces. Tickets for the 8th Ajyal Film Festival have already gone for online purchase from Tuesday ( today). This year’s DFI supported films include 1982, And Then They Burn the Sea, Border, Costa Brava, Lebanon, Don’t Get Too Comfortable, Fever Dream, Land of Dreams, Little Palestine, Diary of a Siege Night, Olayan, Orca, School of Hope and Virtual Voice. The 2021 Made in Qatar programme presented by Ooredoo, includes 10 films that represent the evolution of our homegrown talent and storytellers. This year’s programme includes world premieres, and screenings of films presented to international audiences at leading film events in Locarno and Venice. The Made in Qatar selection includes: A Lens Under Water; Don't Get Too Comfortable; Olayan, And Then They Burn the Sea, When Beirut was Beirut, Border, Fever Dream, Kan Fe Nas, Remnants and Virtual Voice. Abdulla al-Mosallam, chief administrative officer, DFI and deputy director of Ajyal Film Festival and Aya al-Blouchi, Ajyal Film Programme and Youth Programmes special director were also present at the press conference.    

Qatar National Library (QNL) received a book donation from the Nation’s Library of the Presidency, Turkey yesterday at a special event held at the library. HE Dr Hamad bin Abdulaziz al-Kawari, Minister of State and President of QNL, welcomed the Turkish delegation led by Mehmet Nuri Ersoy, Minister of Culture and Tourism. Other members of the Turkish delegation included M Mustafa Goksu, ambassador of Turkey; Batuhan Mumcu, chief of cabinet; Selim Terzi, adviser to the minister; Gokhan Yazgi, director-general; Nese Cildik, adviser to the minister; Burcu Kuyucu, first secretary; Fatih Gurkan, chief of protocol and Kadir Serdar Zengin, protocol officer. The delegation also included a number of businessmen. Speaking to Gulf Times, HE al-Kawari said: “Turkey is an important partner for Qatar economically, politically and culturally. The minister has come with a great collection of books as a gift to Qatar National Library. The books are in different languages including Arabic, Turkish and English. Moreover the library is an important stop for every visitor to the country.” HE al-Kawari said that QNL has received book collections from embassies of several countries. “During the visit of the Turkish delegation, we discussed many topics to enhance the relationship with our library and Turkish libraries in general. This Wednesday, we are going to sign an agreement between QNL and Uma Library in Ankara,” said the QNL president. “Uma Library is one of the newest libraries and a very important one which opened a few years ago. The library is planning to open its doors for other libraries around the world for collaboration and our agreement signing will be followed by a visit to the Turkish library soon.” The Turkish minister highlighted the historical relations between Qatar and Turkey. “We want to provide additional value through the establishment of these events and collaborations,” he added.    

Two experts from Qatar Foundation Research Development and Innovation (QF RDI) have suggested several tips to make sustainability tech startups to be successful in the evolving and challenging sustainability sector. John McEntire, director, Industry Development and Knowledge Transfer and Abeer al-Hammadi, director, Innovation and Economic Development both from QF RDI, have pointed out a five point formula: Thinking Corporate; Flexibility and Adoptability; Moving towards Independence; Thinking twice about Intellectual Property (IP) and Listening to the Market as the mantras to be successful . “Since the turn of 21st century, the world has become accustomed to a steady and multiplying stream of electric vehicles on the roads, increased usage of solar and wind power, and implementing greener industrial methods across construction, manufacturing, transport, and agriculture, among others. The startup community is at the forefront of developing the latest sustainability-based technologies, whether renewable energies, sustainable materials, or waste management solutions,” noted, McEntire. Al-Hammadi says that the prime focus should be on thinking corporate. “Although your startup may be focused on driving change for the greater good, it is vital that you act like any other business and have a fixed focus on generating revenue. If you do not have a coherent and robust business plan, including ways to sustain your venture, for example in the form of human resources, infrastructure or funding – it will not succeed, despite all your green credentials,” explained al-Hammadi. According to McEntire, for every startup there are always twists and turns and flexibility and adaptability are the keys. He remarked: “Markets and competition are never static; situations can alter in the blink of an eye, and startups must be prepared to adapt to circumstances and make changes to their initial plans. Competition can arise from anywhere, and your competitors may not look like you. Competing firms may be using a range of approaches to solve the same problems as you are, so you’ll have to think outside the box to identify and counter them.” He also stated that funding is vital for startups to gain traction and begin to mature, especially in the beginning. “Firms that rely solely on currently available grants can quickly become insolvent as strained economies can disrupt the availability of these types of funds. Startups that develop and, in time, learn to stand on their own two feet, however, tend to generate and sustain higher amounts of revenue and create more job opportunities,” he said. Al- Hammadi highlighted that IP is incredibly important to any business, and for those at the forefront of technology and innovation, it’s even more crucial. “Entrepreneurs must identify the parametres of their IP and decide whether their idea is worth patenting. In some instances, maintaining a trade secret and not putting a patent into the public domain may well be the better choice. It’s advisable to seek specialised counsel and discuss all the options available to protect your creation,” she pointed out. The experts also maintained that to be successful, it is important to allow holes to be poked in your ideas. McEntire advised: “Keep your customer and the problem you are trying to solve front of mind. Listen to what people are saying about your idea or product and find quick solutions to recurring issues. Make sure that you are transparent and accountable, especially when it comes to your sustainability, so that you can communicate these aspects of your business to the market and respond effectively when questioned.”

Qatar Green Building Council (QGBC), part of Qatar Foundation, is to launch the sixth edition of its national campaign, Qatar Sustainability Week (QSW), from October 23-30. “This year we have more partners and more sustainability initiatives with several activities," QGBC director Meshal al-Shammari told a press conference on Tuesday at Msheireb Museums. Some of the major activities will take place at the Qatar National Convention Centre, Museum of Islamic Arts among other locations. "The objective is to raise awareness among the community through sustainability-oriented activities, as well as showcase the progress Qatar has made in the area of sustainability,” he explained. “We have more than 200 initiatives across a range of seminars and conferences including family, sports, and awareness-based activities. Two of the biggest events that are planned to take place are Msheireb’s QSW exhibition and the Talk Green Series at Baraha. QGBC will also be hosting dedicated Focus Days during this year’s QSW, covering Green Hotels and Eco-Events for Qatar, challenges and pathways, in addition to Climate Change and Adaptive Strategies,” explained al-Shammari. Al-Shammari also said that QGBC’s Sustainability Summit will be held at a later date and its loyalty programme, ‘ Green Passport’ is being revamped along with its partners. In line with Qatar’s Sustainable Development Goals, QSW aims to provide individuals and community groups with innovative and practical solutions to the environmental challenges facing Qatar and the region, in order to drive the adoption of more sustainable lifestyles. QSW is a unique platform for engaging public and private sector stakeholders under an overarching umbrella to link various sustainability practices and transform dialogue into action. It includes conferences, awareness sessions, exhibitions, guided tours, edutainment events, and public interest activities and initiatives. Strategic partners of QSW include Msheireb Properties, Supreme Committee for Delivery & Legacy, Qatar Museums, Qatar Tourism, Tarsheed/Kahramaa, Qatar Rail, Qatar Free Zones Authority, Total Energies, QNB, Education Above All, Al Wakra Municipality and Tadmur Holding. “The success of any form of sustainability focused initiative is dependent on collaboration, in our case between both public and private sector businesses, as well as individuals and the wider community. We’re proud to be working with such a strong group of strategic partners on this year’s Qatar Sustainability Week and without them we would not be able to achieve our mission to promote and champion Qatar’s sustainability efforts,” said al-Shammari. “As we move towards a post-pandemic society, we must take action to once again prioritise sustainability, for the sake of our environment as well as the health of our population. Together, we can make a difference and match our power and passion with action, in order to drive real change.” Representatives of the strategic partner organisations of the event were present at the press conference and gave insights on their involvement in this year’s QSW, as well as their partnership with QGBC. The press conference also introduced this year’s community partners, which include Greener Future, Doha Environmental Actions Project, BigB MeetUp and the International Business Council Qatar-Businesswomen Building a Sustainable Future.    

The Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE) of India is likely to announce this week the schedule for the new format of examinations for classes 10 and 12, Indian media have reported. CBSE in July had announced that for classes 10 and 12, the academic year will be divided into two, - Term 1 and Term 2 - with separate examinations held at the end of each term. The first term examinations are slated for November –December while the second term examination will be held in March – April. Until this year, there was only one Board examination for these classes, conducted at the end of the academic year. While Term 1 examinations would be held in MCQ (Multiple Choice Questions) format wherein students would be asked to fill in the OMR (Optical Mark Reader) sheets, Term 2 examination will have case-based, situation-based, open-ended questions. Ideal Indian School principal, Syed Shoukath Ali told Gulf Times that the timetable for the examinations can be expected very soon and the examinations are to take place in November –December for the first term. “The first term examinations are conducted with multiple choice questions. The exams will be held online for a duration of one and half hours. The second term examinations will be for two hours and likely with theory questions,” he continued. As for the syllabus for the examinations, Ali said that it will be similar to the semester system. “The portions taught in the first term will be used only for the Term 1 examination and not to test in the second term as in the previous years. The second term examination will cover only the portions taught in that term. Term 1 and Term 2 marks would be clubbed for final CBSE Board Result.” He also noted that CBSE has not yet disclosed how the weightage of marks of each term will be allotted when the final results are declared. The final decision will be taken by the board depending on the situation and the nature of the examination incase of any Covid-19 interruption happens. The First Term examinations will be conducted by CBSE but students can take the examinations at their own schools and not at different exam centres as in the case of previous examinations. Though students have to take two examinations, they need not register twice for the examination as the registration formalities are completed at the first instance. Quoting Sanyam Bharadwaj, controller of examinations at CBSE , several Indian media outlets said that additional blank space or circle would be given in the OMR answer sheets for the comfort of candidates. “While revising, if the candidate realises that they have selected the wrong choice, they can strike it off, select the correct circle and write the same in the additional blank space,” Bharadwaj told Indian media. He said that such responses will be calculated on the basis of a combination of intelligent character recognition and optical mark recognition techniques. He added that the Term1practicals will be conducted by schools themselves. However, Term2 practicals will be conducted by the CBSE based on the Covid situation.

The Delta variant of Covid-19 is far more contagious than smallpox and virulent than other mutations of the virus, says a study recently published by Qatar Medical Journal and featured on QScience. “The R-naught of the original Covid-19 strain found in Wuhan was 2.4-2.6 while that for the Alpha strain was 4-5 and for the Delta strain, it was 5-8. This implies that a person infected with the Delta variant of Covid-19 can transmit the infection to eight people,” it is explained. R-naught is an epidemiological term indicating how contagious an infectious disease is. It is a reproduction number to measure the transmisibility of infectious agents. Mohamed A Hendaus and Fatima A Jomha, the authors of the study ‘Delta variant of Covid-19: A simple explanation’ note that with such high R-naught, the Delta variant could be twice or even more transmissible than original Covid-19 strain. “These data signify that the Delta variant of Covid-19 is more infectious than smallpox, which has an R-naught of 3.5-4.6. Hence, it is crucial for people to comply with physical distancing and other precautionary measures to better take control of the infection caused by the Delta variant,” says the study. The article also suggests that several of these Covid-19 mutations may affect immune responses, especially at the level of antigenic regions of receptor-binding proteins, permitting better attachment to the receptor cells and evading immunity more easily. The article highlights a study in mainland China which identified 167 patients with Delta variant infections. “Data were retrieved from daily, sequential polymerase chain reaction testing of the isolated subjects. The authors showed that the viral load of the first positive test of patients with Delta variant infections was ∼1000 times higher than that of the patients with 19A/19B strain infection, which caused the epidemic in early 2020. This insinuates the impending faster viral replication rate and more infectiousness of the Delta variant in the initial phase of the infection,” it said. Another major point in the article is that vaccine efficacy showed modest differences against the Delta variant and the Alpha variant after the administration of two doses. "However, these differences in vaccine effectiveness were more prominent after the administration of the first dose. A recent study published in the 'New England Journal of Medicine' included a total of 19,109 patients affected by Alpha variant or Delta variant. It demonstrated that the efficacy after one dose of Oxford/AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine or Pfizer–BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine was particularly lower in individuals infected with the Delta variant than in those infected with the Alpha variant," said the article. After administering two vaccine doses, the effectiveness of Pfizer vaccine was 93.7% among patients infected with the Alpha variant compared with 88.0% among those infected with the Delta variant. The same study showed that for AstraZeneca vaccine, the efficiency of two doses was 74.5% in individuals infected with the Alpha variant and 67.0% in those infected with the Delta variant. The article also points out that halting the spread at the source remains the key in preventing the spread of the virus as well as preventing new variants of the virus. "Regularly used precautions employed since the beginning of the pandemic should be strictly followed. These measures include physical distancing, avoiding closed places or crowds, wearing a face mask or face shield, and cleaning hands frequently. By reducing the amount of viral transmisibility, the odds of a new variant emerging are low. Making the Covid-19 vaccine available globally is crucial in ensuring herd immunity,” it concluded.

Students of Qatar Academy for Science and Technology (QAST), a STEM-focused school and part of Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education, are seeking solutions to real-world sustainability challenges in collaboration with a team of professionals from Qatargas through a programme titled, ‘Carbon Footprint Project’. Vaughan Lewis, assistant principal, QAST, said: “ One reason Qatargas collaborated with our school on this project is that we focus primarily on science, technology, and mathematics, and instead of just lecturing them or giving them some information about the carbon footprint, we allowed our students to find some sustainable solutions themselves.” Lewis explained that the goal of this activity is for students to realise that they do not have to wait until they graduate from school or university and get a job to make a difference in their community, but that they can do so while at school by coming up with their own solutions. A four-day workshop brought together Grade 8, 9 and 10 students as the Qatargas team explained to them the importance of reducing their carbon footprint. The purpose of this activity was to encourage students to think about how they can reduce their carbon footprint and help reduce global warming. QAST students presented new ideas through presentations, in both Arabic and English, on how to reduce the carbon footprint of their community through sustainability in various areas such as electricity and water consumption, food waste, transportation, and buying and selling. A Grade 9 QAST student Salma Hossamelden Ratab, said: “I learned a lot – I didn’t realise before how food waste relates to our environment and climate change. “My team’s project was about food waste and what can we do to reduce it, as food waste or food imported from abroad is one cause of global warming emissions, so we were looking for solutions and ways to reduce it and improve our lives.” Another student Samir Shabaneh said: “We learned the importance of reducing our carbon footprint for society, and about many solutions to stop or reduce our carbon footprint – because if it continues to rise, we will no longer have enough fresh air to breathe.” Jenna Yaser Darweesh, a Grade 8 student, said: “From this experience, I learned how much energy an air conditioner consumes to make the place the right temperature for us. Through our project, we aim to encourage others to use the Metro instead of the car, because it does not pollute the air and so reduces carbon emissions.” “The carbon footprint is a tremendous challenge facing our world, and we can’t reduce it without changing our daily habits that may affect the environment, such as the excessive use of electricity and water. If we don’t, there will be dire consequences for life on this planet,” noted, fellow Grade 8 student, Huxley Lewis. Afra Mubarak al-Hajri, senior environment regulatory and compliance officer at Qatargas, remarked: “Through our cooperation with QAST, we aim to raise awareness among students about environmental challenges, and the reason we chose QAST is that it is one of Qatar’s leading schools in various fields of science.” Dr Gregory J Moncada, director of QAST, added: “Our mission empowers students to become innovators who master the knowledge and skills required to create solutions for challenges that face Qatar and the world. The Carbon Footprint project is an excellent example of how QAST invites stakeholders into school to share their challenges and then inspire our students to learn about and then participate in the development of real-world solutions.”

Cyberattacks are increasing during the Covid-19 as people are being lured to visit Covid-19-themed malicious domains, cautioned a scientist from Qatar Computing Research Institute ( QCRI) a Qatar Foundation entity. “The Covid-19 pandemic has impacted profoundly every aspect of our society and in the cyber world, attackers quickly exploited the confusion, uncertainty, and anxiety caused by the pandemic, and launched various types of Covid-19-themed attacks," said, Dr Faisal Farooq, principal scientist, QCRI. Malicious domains are a key component of many such attacks. People who are lured to visit such domains could have their credentials stolen, get infected by malware, or fall victim to scams, cautioned Dr Farooq, who pointed out that cyberattacks on healthcare systems are on the rise globally. “Cybercriminals have launched complex and coordinated attacks from financial threats to those targeting privacy. The health sector has unique vulnerabilities, providing very large attack surfaces because of the number of diverse interacting entities, the fast adoption of the Internet of Things, and remote connectivity. Insider breaches and compromised credentials also pose very real threats, as different entities access electronic medical records, often with conflicting interests,” he noted. According to the scientist, attacks against health systems are mainly motivated by financial goals while privacy and identity theft are also among the top motives. He explained: “The health industry faces a new paradigm with the three main challenges: Privacy, medical device security and financial attacks against healthcare systems. To facilitate scientific research and collaboration, techniques have to be developed to enable data sharing while protecting an individual's privacy. Such research requires a deep understanding of the domain knowledge of healthcare, and close collaboration between security researchers and healthcare experts.” “Compromises of medical devices impose significant risks to patients. They could also be entry points for attackers to penetrate the whole healthcare system. One challenge is supply chain security. The devices themselves may have vulnerabilities when shipped. Further, applications that are deployed as cloud-based services are expected to induce significant growth in the healthcare industry. Fast adoption of such systems without establishing the right technological measures to validate their security properties may cause significant damage,” he continued. Dr Farooq maintained that while healthcare systems are increasingly connected to the internet, they are exposed to financial attacks, such as ransomware. "Healthcare systems tend to have IT infrastructure which is not well maintained or is hard to patch as many systems are based on old Windows systems that are not supported officially anymore. This requires, on the one hand, continuous training of healthcare personnel to follow best cybersecurity practice, and on the other hand, processes for regularly cybersecurity evaluation,” he remarked. Dr Issa Khalil, another principal scientist at QCRI, said that cyberattacks are especially concerning because these attacks can directly threaten not just the security of health systems but also the health and safety of patients. “Some cyberattacks expose sensitive patient information and lead to substantial financial costs to regain control of hospital systems and patient data. From small, independent, practitioners to large, university hospital environments, cyberattacks on healthcare records, IT systems, and medical devices have infected even the most hardened systems. Hackers of all types have found numerous ways to make money from illegally obtained healthcare data,” he pointed out. Cybersecurity must be the responsibility of every healthcare professional, from data entry specialists to physicians and board members. Importantly, patients also have the responsibility to safeguard their personal information and be vigilant when providing information electronically. Effective cybersecurity goes beyond privacy and reputation to control of patient data and healthcare systems and, ultimately, to providing safe, accurate, and uninterrupted treatment,” added Dr Khalil.    

Technologies such as Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Big Data Analytics could be the “firewalls” against any future disease outbreaks and epidemics and can help develop vaccine candidates faster, according to two scientists of the premier computing research institute in Qatar. The duo from Qatar Computing Research Institute (QCRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University have also highlighted that AI has had a major role in identifying new variants of Covid-19 such as the Delta. “As for therapeutics, AI can be used for the rapid development of vaccine candidates. AI has been successfully used to identify segments of the viral genetic code that are most susceptible to change and the change to its structure, virulence, and attack mechanism,” said Dr Faisal Farooq, principal scientist, QCRI. “With this information, immunologists can design vaccines for a more manageable number of targets which can then be tested in animals. This significantly reduces the discovery or candidate generation phase and reduces the overall time a potentially successful vaccine candidate gets into a trial,” he said. According to Dr Issa Khalil, principal scientist, QCRI, modern technologies such as AI and Big Data Analytics are going to be a giant firewall against disease outbreaks and epidemics due to their potentials for rapid detection, screening, and diagnosis. “When it comes to outbreak detections, AI-based models can be developed and trained to analyse massive amounts of data from heterogeneous sources, taking on a task that typically requires human experts to work tirelessly around the clock and with incredible speed. This is the real strength of AI-based methods, making analysis more efficient and scalable, complementing, and learning from human intelligence to support timely decision-making. AI is likely to play a critical role in the early detection of future outbreaks to stop or limit spread and save lives,” explained Khalil. He noted that identifying and validating a new variant like Delta is somewhat a classical in-vitro study which is performed mostly manually in a lab using sequencers with little to no use of AI techniques. “However, where AI has been very useful is to identify possible clusters and outbreaks that present very differently from the expected spread caused by the current variant. This can point to a new variant which is then confirmed in the lab,” he said. He cited that the first variant of Covid-19 called the Alpha was detected in Kent, UK because 50% of the samples coming in for testing were all similar forming a cluster which after further sequencing were identified to be a variant. “AI techniques are very efficient and accurate in detecting such anomalous patterns very early. As such AI models provide the added value that such variants can be identified early. However, the verification of the actual variant has to be performed in the lab.” Dr Farooq said there are AI models that learned from the way the Covid-19 genome has been evolving to generate possible future variants and detect changes in the code that can be consequential e.g. ones that can evade the current vaccines. “These modelling experiments are in-silico (performed on computer or via computer simulation) and as such cheap, effective, and can be run in a matter of hours instead of the in-vitro counterparts that would take months. One key thing to note is this does not eliminate the need for lab testing. However, once these strong in-silico candidates are identified, now a significantly smaller set needs to be tested in the lab. As such, we can have a huge jumpstart in identifying new vaccines, boosters, or therapies,” he said. Dr Khalil said that right from the beginning of the pandemic, scientists at QCRI have developed AI models for various aspects of Covid-19 – ranging from epidemiology, contact tracing, mobility analysis, self-assessment tools as well as drug discovery. “We developed AI techniques to generate drug candidates that can bind to key coronavirus proteins, inhibit replication, and hence have the potential to be a therapy. Our work was cited internationally especially by a company called, Innovation Pharma that produces the drug Brilacidin for some other condition,” he said.    

Two photographs of Qatar Foundation's Education City buildings have been placed among the top 10 photographs in Matrix4Design and Urban Photo Award for 2021. The 10 finalist photographs were exhibited at the Metroquality showroom, via Solferino 24, Milan from September 6 to 17 on the Fuorisalone. An Indian expatriate’s photograph of Education City Mosque is one among them. Arnab Sarkar, an architect by profession, is very passionate about photography and was mentored by Indian National Award winning photographer, Kamalesh Kamila. The Urban Photo Award organises photography competition every year across the globe and thousands of photographers submit entries. Post judging, the photos are displayed in multiple exhibitions across Italy and other European countries. From last year, Matrix4Design joined hands with them to select 10 best architecture photographs, which have changed the shape of those countries and are true photography gems. Sarkar participated in the competition this year and got selected among the final top 10. He said,” I chose the Education City Mosque in Qatar because I wanted to spread the message to the world that religion is not just about being confined to a specific group. It is about love and constructive ideas too.” Sarkar started photography from the age of 16 and has 23 years of experience. He has bagged several awards and global recognitions. He was a student of the Department of Photography at R K Mission Vidyamandira, Belur, West Bengal. His passion for photography has led him to specialise in areas such as nature, wildlife, travel and cultural photography. “I love photography, especially wild and nature photography. I have extensively travelled in 11 countries so far starting from South Africa to South Asian countries. I have been able to picturise these countries beautifully to my audience,” he said. Sarkar has worked in multiple assignments with National Geographic and other renowned organisations. His works on Travel and Architecture, Eyes of people from different communities have been highly appreciated. Sarkar who is in Qatar for the last several years, has captured almost all major events in the country. His photographs have been exhibited at Indian Cultural Centre. Presently he is on mission to capture the inner beauty of Qatar to display to the world at the FIFA World Cup next year. “People have a lot of pain and stress in their day to day life. Photography should reflect positivity and help them get away from their troubles. I look forward to bringing a smile on the faces of people through photography,” he added. Box A photograph of the Ceremonial Court in the Education City by Francesca Pompei has also been placed among the first 10 photographs of the competition. The Ceremonial Court is located inside the Education City of Qatar Foundation. It is a large multi-functional open space designed to host events, ceremonies and concerts.    

Two Australia-based Indian siblings have set a world record of memorisng and singing the national anthems of 193 countries in six hours with the programme ‘Salute the Nations’ at an event in Brisbane on Tuesday, the World Peace Day, marked annually on September 21. Teresa Joy and Agnes Joy are looking forward to repeat the feat in as many countries as possible and are hoping for an opportunity to perform during the Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup to promote the message of global peace. They have become the first individuals singing more than 100 international languages at a stretch as well as memorising and singing the national anthems of all the countries under the UN. The world record documents were handed over to the duo by UN officials after the event on Tuesday. The feat has been registered in several record books including the Universal Book of Records. “The sisters plan to travel around the world and repeat the feat in as many countries as possible with the help of the UN. The proceeds from the events will go to UN’s peace and charity efforts, philanthropic organisations and outfits working for women’s safety,” a relative of the siblings and a resident of Qatar, told Gulf Times. “They are also looking to get an opportunity to perform during the football World Cup here in Qatar. Their motto is to promote world peace, children’s safety and women’s empowerment. They aim to contribute the proceeds from the concerts for these goals,” she added. Officials from various world record organisations, including the Universal Book of Records watched the event. The duo completed the feat in three rounds. They sang continuously for two hours and took a break of 10 minutes and resumed singing. The duo learnt to sing the national anthems after conducting extensive research for over eight years. They learnt the meaning of each national anthem and its history before memorising them and then worked for months to perfect their recitation. In 2020, the sisters were selected to perform the anthems in various countries as part of the 75th anniversary of the UN but the event was cancelled due to Covid-19. However they have sung and uploaded the national anthem of each country on various social media platforms, expressing solidarity with the Covid-19 hit people. Teresa is a third year undergraduate student of criminal psychology at Griffith University, Queensland while Agnes is a class 12 student of Calamvale Community College. They also run the Agnes and Theresa Peace Foundation for the empowerment of women and children.    

A Qatar Foundation (QF) scientist has highlighted the need to restore services for people with autism at the earliest, as Covid-19 related treatments and vaccine developments were priorities for the entire world in the last 18 months. “Every step of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) journey took a hit in the past 18 months, whether diagnosis, treatment or research,” said Dr Fouad al-Shaban, senior scientist at the Neurological Disorders Research Centre at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI) at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, part of QF. According to a survey conducted in Qatar by Dr al-Shaban, 80% of children with ASD have not had access to a qualified specialist since the pandemic began. Over 50% of the respondents said they had noticed a regression in their child’s previously gained skills. The survey was conducted in collaboration with Qatar Autism Family Association and QF’s World Innovation Summit for Health to evaluate how Covid-19 control measures impacted individuals with ASD and their families in Qatar. 156 families took part in the first round of the survey. ASD prevalence in Qatar is reported to be one in every 87 children. A respondent of the survey said: “The pandemic has added more stress to an already stressful situation. Children with autism have daily routines, and when that routine is disrupted it has a mental and physical effect on the families and the child. Life is difficult with autism, and with the pandemic it's been impossible to have any normalcy whatsoever. More support needs to be made available for children with ASD.” “Lack of outings and staying at home has caused a negative shift for us as a family and for our child. His skills and behaviour have changed and that is our main challenge; we are worried about how he will resume when life goes back to normal,” another respondent, added. For most children with autism, it isn’t just that they have not been able to learn new skills, but that they have unlearned previously gained skills. “They are back at square one, which is obviously very frustrating for the parents,” said, Dr al-Shaban. Local institutions, such as QF’s Renad Academy, Hamad Medical Corporation and Shafallah Centre have been trying their best to safely restore their services at the highest possible capacity in compliance with guidelines outlined by the Ministry of Public Health. “Access to therapy is life-changing for kids with ASD, and not having access to it for prolonged periods will harm their chances in life,” said Dr al-Shaban. As restrictions ease, therapy has been made available to some extent, but the backlog of 18 months means the demand is much more than the supply. “We need more therapists to help these children catch up as best as we can and as soon as we can,” he maintained,. Another major cause of concern is all the kids that have gone undiagnosed since the pandemic started. Timing is crucial for ASD diagnosis. The earlier a child is diagnosed, the better their chances of improvement. “The learning curve of a child diagnosed at 12 months is hugely different from a child diagnosed at two or three years. For children with ASD, every month counts when it comes to diagnosis,” remarked the scientist. Dr al-Shaban stressed that urgent action must be taken, both locally and globally, to ensure services for those with ASD are safely restarted at maximum capacity as soon as possible. “The consequences of not doing so will be grave not just for the children with ASD but for their families and society as a whole,” he added.    

A Qatar Foundation (QF) academic is using a different path to foster creativity in the learning process of the students by making use of cartoons in the classrooms. Marc Deragon, a teacher at Qatar Academy Sidra, part of QF’s Pre-University Education is able to inspire students by bringing some of the most cherished cartoon characters to classrooms during breaks between classes. “Animated characters, especially the ones from Disney, have become a part of children’s daily lives. Watching cartoons regularly has effects not only on the socio-emotional development of children, but also on their daily behaviour, perspective of life, relationships with others, and understanding of what is good and bad. Therefore, I thought it would be a good idea to bring this imaginary world to my classrooms,” he explained. Deragon believes that it could be more interesting for children by having their favourite cartoons as part of their studies at school – cartoons that spark discussions with their friends at school – opening up opportunities for creative and critical thinking. “Students are given a list of family movies to select from and vote to watch. In the past few years, we’ve watched several movies, such as A Bug's Life, The Incredibles and Brave; while this year we watched The Lion King, Inside Out, among others,” he said. The teacher feels that dedicating 10 minutes to animated movies during class breaks has a direct benefit on children which is an enjoyable experience that creates a productive learning environment. According to Deragon, after watching an animated movie, children start writing down their notes and reviewing different aspects of the movie in depth. They explore what there is to learn about life, and about teamwork, tolerance, friendship, and other meaningful attributes that cartoons usually teach. “Enhancing skills of critical thinking and questioning is a key objective of this activity. We always discuss how the story has unfolded, and ask students thought-provoking questions like ‘how do you perceive the characters, how would you react in that specific situation’?” he remarked. “Sometimes, we give students a written exercise to explore different and important concepts, including decision-making, change, responsibility, etc. We ask them questions such as, why did Simba of The Lion King change his mind and return home? To what extent were decisions of Riley from Inside Out influenced by the feelings of fairness and happiness?” he, described. Deragon maintains that watching animated video clips during class breaks is an effective way to attract students and encourage them to reflect on what they see on the screen and in the media, and how to respond to human issues. It is a way that has proved fruitful and more engaging than lecturing on positive values, such as empathy or friendship. “This activity enables children to criticise the movie and come up with new dialogues and different endings. It also inspires them to create their own stories. Ultimately, it enhances their critical thinking so that they can distinguish right from wrong and make the right choice,” added the academic.    

Schools in Qatar opened yesterday for the new academic year 2021-22 following blended learning system with 50% of the students attending the classes physically on campus, on a rotation basis. Each student has to attend campus classes for five days in two weeks. Strict Covid-19 preventive and precautionary measures are in place at all schools to prevent the spread of the virus. All government and private schools received students at their campuses on Sunday. Most schools reported a good number of students on the campus on the first day of the academic year. Both the Ministry of Education and Higher Education as well as the Ministry of Public Health (MoPH) have adopted a number of measures to protect the children from Covid-19 and for the smooth conduct of the teaching and learning process. MoPH has also issued a number of guidelines highlighting the need to enhance the efforts to fight the pandemic, especially on the occasion of the beginning of the new academic year. In a video message on social media channels, Dr Layla al-Dahnaim, community medicine consultant and the manager of School Health said that several precautionary measures have been taken to ensure the safe return of students to schools which will enhance the efforts to combat Covid-19. “The School Health Department has launched the ‘Back to School Campaign’ in every public school under the theme ‘A safe return to school challenging Covid-19,’ said al-Dahnaim. “We will highlight the most common communicable and infectious diseases among students and how to combat and prevent them, including Covid-19, chickenpox, influenza, lice, infection of the hands, feet, mouth and scabies,” she said. “This aims at improving and supporting students’ health and provide them with all preventive measures against the spread of diseases among them,” she continued. Dr al-Dahnaim also said that many activities and educational lectures are being launched to enhance the health awareness of students about the most common diseases. “This includes how to follow the most important ways of disease prevention in their environment whether at home, school or public places by preparing flyers, educational messages, colouring books and informative posters,” she explained. Dr al-Dahnaim noted that parents also will be involved in the campaign and will receive educational and informative messages on a regular basis. “We would like to emphasise the role of parents in preparing their children to return to school. They must ensure an early bed time, maintain a healthy diet and educate children about preventive measures. They should visit the health centres if the children feel sick,” the official added.    

Staff Reporter     Fawzia Abdulaziz al-Khater: the ministry has put in place measures in preparation for the new school year.   • Education ministry ensures safe and healthy school environment The new academic year begins in Qatar today with the blended learning system in place, and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE) has ensured a safe and healthy school environment for all concerned. Under the blended learning system, 50% of students will be in the classroom and 50% will attend lessons remotely, and this will be done on a rotational basis. While some private schools have been imparting lessons since Tuesday, others will do so from today, along with government schools. The fast and effective rollout of coronavirus (Covid-19) vaccines has helped the country resume academic sessions with on-campus learning at 50%. While 93.7% of the eligible population having received at least one dose of vaccine, it was recently reported that seven out of 10 children in Qatar aged 12-17 have already received at least one vaccine dose, with no major side effects reported. The MoEHE, in collaboration of Ministry of Public Health (MoPH), has finalised arrangements to receive students under strict Covid-19 precautionary and preventative measures. It has been ensured that all the Covid-19 protocols will be in place, and the authorities issued the necessary guidelines a few days ago for the smooth functioning of schools. The MoEHE has also announced the bubble arrangement in schools, which can act as an effective preventative measure to help reduce the spread of Covid-19 within schools. In a press statement yesterday, the MoEHE’s assistant undersecretary for Educational Affairs, Fawzia Abdulaziz al-Khater, underlined that the ministry would continue to apply the blended learning system in government schools for the 2021/2022 academic year, in addition to the adoption of the rotating attendance system across all academic levels in schools, following co-ordination and consultation with the MoPH in light of the analysis of the current situation and the Covid-19 rate of infection in the country, and upon reviewing the procedures followed by other countries in this regard. She confirmed that the Educational Affairs Sector at the MoEHE has planned and implemented a package of targeted measures in preparation for the new academic year, ensuring an effective kick-off across all grade levels in a healthy and safe school environment. Al-Khater added that blended learning involves face-to-face learning and online learning using Microsoft Teams, in line with the rotation plan set by the school. However, the official said, in low-density schools in remote areas and low-density specialised schools, as well as speciality schools for students with disabilities, all students will be attending, with 100% face-to-face learning. She said the ministry has put in place several measures in preparation for the new school year, including the need for school administrations to adhere to precautionary measures to ensure the safety of students and staff in schools, and the need for having nursing staff on the school premises on a daily basis. The measures include educating new students and parents about the school policy in dealing with and preventing the spread of Covid-19. In addition, all visitors and employees must show the Ehteraz application and have their temperature checked before entering the school premises. Further, any Covid-19 infections must be reported immediately to the MoPH and MoEHE, and in case of an increased number of Covid-19 cases reported, the respective school or kindergarten will have to switch to 100% online learning, with the approval of the Ministry of Public Health and following the notification of the School Affairs Department. Schools are also required to commit to the circulars issued by the relevant authorities, she added. According to Circular No 16/2020, students must attend class on five days in every two consecutive weeks, while teachers must teach 30 lessons per week across all grades. School hours will be from 7.15am-12.30pm, with six 45-minute lessons per day, and a 25-minute recess. Al-Khater added: “Children in kindergartens will attend at a rate of 50% for the 2021/2022 academic year.” “The Ministry of Education has issued guidelines for face-to-face and online learning in kindergartens with a maximum 15 students per classroom, with the need to utilise the school theatre and sports halls as classrooms to maintain social distancing,” she added. “Kindergartens need to communicate with parents, informing them of their children’s rotation schedules.” “In addition, morning assemblies, group activities such as excursions, camps and celebrations are to be cancelled and organised virtually where applicable,” she said. The official noted that the MoEHE would issue a detailed package of circulars and instructions for schools to organise the blended learning and rotation attendance systems, including student attendance rates in the school building, student rotation schedules, staff working hours, the number of lessons per week and school hours, Qatar News Agency (QNA) added. On academic requirements for the new academic year, al-Khater confirmed that the competent departments in the Educational Affairs Sector prepared modified semester plans for subjects for all levels and provided interactive educational units in order to support distance learning for the students, in addition to producing awareness videos in sign language for deaf students and providing electronic learning resources for all subjects and grades, according to QNA. She noted the measures adopted for students with disabilities, stressing in this context co-ordination regarding the registration and transfer of students with disabilities in schools and the preparation of the necessary instructions for school administrations and their educational staff to ensure the provision of special education services in the required form, in addition to listing the needs of schools and students for the necessary tools, equipment and educational and technological resources. Al-Khater congratulated school principals, administrative and teaching staff, students and parents on the occasion of the start of the new academic year, calling on students to benefit from the opportunities and the unlimited support provided by the wise leadership for the education system. Meanwhile, Indian schools – which cater to the largest expatriate community in the country – are set to open their doors to students with strict Covid-19 measures in place. While classes resumed at MES Indian School last week for the ongoing academic year with the 50% blended learning system, Ideal Indian School opened with online classes. Lessons in other schools will resume today following instructions from the MoEHE.   Learning resources Regarding the activation of learning resource centres in schools during the application of the blended learning system, the Ministry of Education and Higher Education (MoEHE)’s assistant undersecretary for Educational Affairs Fawzia Abdulaziz al-Khater noted that guidelines have been provided in order to facilitate the work of learning resource officials in activating learning resource centres for students during distance study, in addition to preparing a work agenda that includes the most prominent programmes and activities of the learning resource centres for the year 2021-2022, according to Qatar News Agency. She highlighted preparations and directives to limit and compensate for learning loss among students, stressing that the Educational Affairs Sector is keen to limit the learning loss in learning that resulted from the application of blended learning or distance learning, in terms of knowledge and practical, applied and intellectual skills in all age stages. The competent departments provided schools with the proposed tools and strategies to identify learning loss, such as direct monitoring and diagnostic evaluation, using evaluation methods and tools that reveal learning loss among students. Al-Khater noted that the issues of learning loss were also taken into account in the semester plans, and schools were directed to prepare and implement plans to bridge the gap based on students’ results in diagnostic tests, and to provide reinforcement lessons to students in some educational subjects, in addition to creating special learning teams on the MS Teams platform for some categories taking into account individual differences. The Sector has prepared a plan to supervise the compensation of educational losses for students in all schools.

College of the North Atlantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) is developing a five-year research strategy to meet the country's needs, disclosed president Dr Salem Al-Naemi. “We are developing a five-year research matrix for the future. This will hopefully be announced with the launch of the university. Our research strategy is well aligned with the research priorities of the country,” he told Gulf Times. “We do have some research programmes in the pipeline in the national priority areas such as sustainability, food security among others. The five year research plan is the continuation of the several research programmes that are going on in the college. However, we will expand the scope of some of the research. Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) has set certain research priorities for the country and our research areas are aligned with these priorities,” he explained. Dr Al-Naemi said: "We do have several research programmes going on and most of them are funded by QNRF. We have a spectrum of research such as in energy and we work with Shell, Qatar Gas and Qatar Petroleum in some of these projects. We have some very good research in healthcare as well as in environment and sustainability,” CNA-Q president said that the college will be really emphasising on research. "We are an applied technology institute with strong relations with several partners in different industries such as energy, health and financial industry as well as other organisations in the private sector. Therefore, we want to tap and develop our research plan according to the needs of these industries. This will enrich and bring opportunities for our faculty and the students will be very much engaged on the research. When they graduate, they will have very strong relations with the industry they will be serving,” he noted. Dr Al-Naemi remarked that the college is re-engineering its strategy as it is getting ready to transition to a university. “We are developing a strategy to align with university goals and objectives to be a major pillar for the nation. We are looking at providing the best education and learning, curriculum and services on par with any other university nationally and internationally. We are working on it and will be implementing it with the announcement of the launch of the university,” he said. Dr Al-Naemi said that the college plans to nurture the alumni and train them to be part of the academic staff. "We aim to attract our graduates or other graduates in applied majors and we are planning to work with the Ministry of Education and Higher Education to send them abroad for further specialised studies. Hopefully, they will be part of our academic community in the future. We currently have highly qualified teaching faculty from around the world and they will be able to cover the newly introduced programmes successfully. Presently the college has a total of 288 academic staff, including instructors, deans, and chairs." he said. The president also stressed that the college wants to build on the existing engagement with the community at large. “We want to develop a much stronger engagement with the community and be a centric service provider for the community not just in education but also in cultural and sports fields. We want to collaborate with national and international universities in higher education and specifically in applied education. We aim to be ranked top among the young universities in applied university category and will be working hard to reach the milestone. We are open for collaboration and in talks with some universities in the US, Europe and India in areas such as exchange of faculty and students, joint research and learn from the programmes of other universities,” said Dr Al-Naemi.    

With its student population set to cross 5,000 this Fall Semester starting from August 29, College of the North Atlantic - Qatar (CNA-Q) is gearing up for a huge transformation as it will soon be the first applied university in Qatar, said CNA-Q president Dr Salem Al-Naemi in an exclusive interview with Gulf Times. “As I understand, the Cabinet has recommended the draft for changing CNA-Q to a national university. Once the decree is signed, we will become officially a university and only then we can reveal the actual name and the new identity. We are waiting for the approval and we hope the decision will be sooner than later,” said Dr Al-Naemi. “We hope that the college will soon be recognised as a university and the faculty, students, alumni among others are eagerly waiting for the moment. We hope that the moment is not far away and meanwhile, we continue our business as usual,” he said. Dr Al-Naemi, the sixth president of CNA-Q, noted that there is a great demand for the programmes of the college and the demand for the newly launched graduate programmes this year, have exceeded the expectations. “Last year, the college announced three bachelor's degrees and there was great demand for the programmes. This year we are offering about 20 new programmes. Seventeen of them are bachelor's programmes and three of them are master's. For the first time we are offering master's programmes. The demand for master's programmes is very high and the number of applicants are almost double or above. With all these programmes, we will have over 5,000 students from this Fall Semester,” explained Dr Al-Naemi. The president said that the college offers over 50 different programmes including master's, bachelor's, diploma and certificate. “The three new master’s programmes are from the School of Health Sciences and from the School of Business and Information Technology. Each master’s programme will have 15 students each and the demand is so high that we have to go through a strict and rigourous screening programme. The admission criteria consist of interview and language proficiency in English among others. The master’s programmes in pharmacy and radiography are particularly in very high demand,” he pointed out. According to Dr Al-Naemi, CNA-Q, over the last 20 years, has graduated over 7,000 graduates who play a major role in the nation-building process of Qatar. “CNA-Q has adopted a curriculum that is aligned with skills and knowledge required worldwide. Our alumni, both nationals and expatriates, are very well contributing rich knowledge to the industry and they are with both the government and private sector. Some of them are working in their own countries either running their business or working, while majority are working in Qatar. Most of them are working in the energy industry, health sector or the IT sector,” he said. As for expanding the programmes of the institute, the president said that it is done according to the needs of the country and the industries. He said: “We are very much aligned with Qatar National Vision 2030 and mindful of the national requirements. We really design and align our curriculum for our graduates to be market ready. While we are focusing on the applied and technical programmes, many of our programmes have social or community service elements embedded in them, especially in the health science programmes.” As CNA-Q is an applied technical college, Dr Al-Naemi noted that it is very important to have physical classes for the students for hands on experience. "There are several programmes that need the presence of students in the college. For this academic year, we are planning for blended learning with 50% capacity of student population on campus. We will allow the most required students for on campus learning such as students of Schools of Health Sciences, Engineering as well as some students of Information Technology.” “The rest will be taught online and all the exams will be on campus. We are committed to observe all the Covid-19 protocols and follow the directions of the Ministry of Public Health and the Ministry of Education and Higher Education. Over 95% of our staff are vaccinated and we have taken all the measures to face the Covid-19 situation,” added Dr Al-Naemi.    

There is no way to distinguish whether an idea is good or bad until it is tried, noted, the co-founder Netflix at an event by Qatar Foundation on Monday. “What I have learned as an entrepreneur over 40 years is that it is almost impossible to tell whether an idea is a good idea or bad idea. The only way to know whether it is good or bad, is to try it. It is a dangerous fallacy to think that you are looking for a good idea because the only thing you are doing is valuating it in your mind and of course in your mind every idea is a great one,” said, Marc Randolph, the co-founder and first CEO of Netflix at the latest edition of the Education City Speaker Series. “Successful entrepreneurs do more and think less – when an idea pops into their head, they don’t think of whether it’s good or bad, these people quickly execute it,” he continued. In the virtual talk, titled 'Don’t Let Dreams Be Dreams: What to Do With an Idea' and themed around innovation and entrepreneurship, coupled with sustainability, Randolph shared lessons from his journey at what is now the world’s largest streaming service with audiences, as he discussed ways to foster a startup culture and entrepreneurial mindsets. Shaping a post-pandemic future is bringing great opportunities for startups across the world and has created, “the most exciting thing we have seen in a long, long time” for entrepreneurs, Randolph, told at the event. He highlighted, “Entering into a world with tremendous uncertainty is, in my opinion, the most exciting thing we have seen in a long, long time for entrepreneurship. Everything is now up for grabs, everything is going to be done differently, and the people prepared to take advantage of that are the people who have an entrepreneurial mindset. And I think the change we will see will be driven by new business formation.” Interacting with the moderator, Agata Braja, Randolph recounted his journey at Netflix – of how the idea emerged, and what it took to become the streaming service that it is today – saying: “The idea of Netflix came over a long period of time. Netflix co-founder Reed Hastings and I brainstormed hundreds of ideas such as personalised shampoo among others before settling into an idea of a DVD rental service.” Focusing on how to prepare startups for a post-pandemic world, Randolph said, “The worst thing for any entrepreneur is status quo” – meaning taking for granted that if something worked in the past, it will continue to work in the future." “Before Covid-19, we had a world where very, very large companies operated in an incredibly predictable and dependable way,” he explained. “They could see their sales and revenue for 8-12 quarters into the future. Then along comes a world where, all of a sudden, everything is changing. “We all know that, eventually, things will go back to normal, but nobody knows what that normal will look like. There has been an incredible acceleration of e-commerce and mobile medicine, but what’s going to happen in 12 months’ time? Nobody knows whether it will stay the same or go back, and that is the most wonderful circumstance for entrepreneurs who have trained themselves not to predict the future, but to be ready for whatever the future happens to bring them." Randolph advised the entrepreneurs to think how to build a business that is relevant today, and one that will still be relevant when the world changes. “Don’t fall in love with the idea. Fall in love with the problem,” he added.