Abdullah Bin Hamad Al-Attiyah International Foundation for Energy and Sustainable Development (The Al-Attiyah Foundation) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU) on Sunday to collaborate in the areas of research in energy and sustainable development.

Al-Attiyah Foundation chairman HE Abdullah bin Hamad al-Attiyah and HBKU president Ahmad M Hasnah led the signing ceremony on Sunday at the Foundation’s headquarters at Barzan Tower, West Bay.
“It gives me great pleasure to see my Foundation work in close partnership with this prestigious university. I hope together we can offer valuable insights to our stakeholders here in Qatar and globally,” HE al-Attiyah said.
“We hope we can concentrate more in research projects that would benefit important institutions,” he stressed.
Al-Attiyah Foundation is a Qatar-based non-profit independent think tank, which provides insights and event on global energy and sustainable development topics while HBKU is a home grown institution of higher education and research which awards academic degrees in various academic disciplines.
Based on the agreement, Al-Attiyah Foundation and HBKU will seek mutually beneficial opportunities to work together on policy reports, research or engagements.
“Energy and sustainability are key research and academic themes at HBKU and our collaboration with the Al-Attiyah Foundation represents a commitment to building better partnerships with local stakeholders,” Hasnah said.
Such agreement, he noted, also includes developing solutions that serve a better future of Qatar.
“Knowledge-sharing and resource exchange are fundamental to a better understanding of the challenges we face,” Hasnah pointed out. “HBKU is fortunate to have the support of the Foundation, which will reinforce the impact of our research.”
Al-Attiyah Foundation and HBKU will share relevant resources and co-organise joint events, including symposia, roundtable discussions, or seminars.
The agreement will also see both institutions collaborating in sourcing research funding, fellowships and scholarship support.
Al-Attiyah Foundation has agreements with some international institutes as well and it hopes to bring their expertise here, according to its senior energy advisor Howard Bevan.
“Our mission is to provide energy and sustainability insights so we take data and work of not just of our own people but other people and we give our own spin on it, which we give out with our members,” he told Gulf Times. “But in order to get insights, we need to work and talk with lots of other parties.”
Bevan added that the Al-Attiyah Foundation is also set to launch a joint project this year with Shell on a ‘neutralisation of water project,’ which will involve HBKU (which as a statistical research body) staff and students.
“The project is about public perception of how we can use the water and some research on how water can be used safely and environmentally in the point of view of what people think,” he said.

Related Story