The Qatar University has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Gulf Organisation for Research and Development (GORD), Qatar’s leading research, consultancy and training institute and developer of the Global Sustainability Assessment System (GSAS), an integrated green building assessment system that makes use of the Arab region’s environmental and cultural data, and offers an advanced system that adheres to the recent technological advancements through the use of Internet. The agreement was signed by QU vice-president for research Hassan Rashid al- Derham and founder and chairman of GORD Yousef Mohamed al-Horr to co-operate in the launch of joint initiatives and projects aimed at conserving energy, reducing carbon emissions and creating an integrated community based on economic and environmental equilibrium while preserving the architectural identity of the Arabian Gulf. The agreement comes in line with the shared vision of promoting the adoption of the concept of sustainability in Qatar and the Gulf region as a whole. The two sides agreed to develop a general framework for co-ordination to teach and integrate GSAS into the university’s education curricula to raise awareness of sustainable building practices and encourage optimum consumption of energy, water and environmental resources. They will also co-operate more effectively in the field of development and research in environmental issues of common interest as well as the application of the system’s criteria in QU facilities and activation of joint research through grants provided by competent authorities or through postgraduate programmes offered at the university. Under the agreement, QU will be granted the right to use all the tools available in the system through a free and unrestricted “Educational Licence,” which can serve all scientific teaching, research, and academic purposes focused on green building, excluding consulting activities or research with financial returns. QU will provide GORD with scientific observations and results of studies that may be used to further develop the system. Commenting on the agreement, al-Derham said: “We are honoured to enter into a strategic partnership with a high-profile research organisation like GORD. We will work on activating joint research practices either through research grants provided by competent authorities or through postgraduate programmes offered by the university.” Al-Derham also noted that QU will, under the terms of the agreement, involve the participation of PhD researchers from GORD in supervising the students’ Graduation Research, especially researches and studies on the development of a sustainable environment.l The Qatar University College of Law (QULAWC) hosted a team of senior officials from Siemens Group recently for a presentation on the company’s operations in Qatar and worldwide. LAWC Associate Dean for Research Francis Botchway, standing in for LAWC Dean Hassan O’kour, welcomed Siemens Qatar CEO Matin a’ Porta, Chief Compliance Officer Josef Winter, Chief Financial Officer Alia al-Rifai, Compliance Officer Nadeem Anwer, and an accompanying team of Siemens lawyers. The event was attended by 50 students and faculty from the college.Botchway said it was important for the college and students to interact with a global company such as Siemens which has a presence on all continents and in a large number of countries. “Such interaction is in line with the vision of the university and the College of Law to produce lawyers that are of the highest international standards and are knowledgeable not only in the theory but also in how the law works in the real world.”In his presentation, a’Porta traced the history of Siemens from the first half of the 19th century and its presence in the Arab world since 1856. He outlined various aspects of Siemens’ work, noting that the company has had a glorious past in mobile telephone business but is now moving away from that field. He said the present and future business of Siemens includes building technology, telecommunications, security products, healthcare products, energy and infrastructure and many others. In Qatar, Siemens has been involved with a number of projects such as the Tornado Tower, Lusail project, and Ras Laffan, he said.Winter, assisted by Anwer, spoke about the difficulties Siemens faced and how they dealt with corruption issues in 2006/07 that threatened its reputation and survival. He stated that the company learned from its mistakes and invested heavily in a very robust and comprehensive compliance system that is not just ‘a programme’ but the company’s way of life. “Todate, the company has over 600 compliance officers all over the world. It is effectively engaged with all stake-holders in its anti-corruption fight. These efforts have paid surprising results with the company registering in the top two spot on the Dow Jones anti-corruption index and also doing very well by Transparency International’s standards.”