The ninth annual Qatar Process Safety Symposium (QPSS), hosted by ConocoPhillips and Texas A&M University at Qatar, has concluded after two days of knowledge exchange between academia and industry.
The event opened with a keynote speech by Dr Ali al-Mulla, assistant secretary-general for Industrial Projects Sector at the Gulf Organisation of Industrial Consulting (Goic), who spoke about the benefits of leveraging the combined expertise of process safety scholars and professionals.
Centred on the theme ‘Emergency Preparedness’, QPSS included a total of 21 speakers from 16 local and international organisations, and gathered about 300 attendees, including experts from the oil and gas industry, academics, students, regulatory institutions, media, and the wider community.
“Throughout my career, I have believed the key to advancing knowledge of process safety lies at the intersection of thought leaders in our industry and educational institutions. When we co-operate with like-minded bodies to pursue common goals, our impact is magnified. I fully support and congratulate ConocoPhillips and Texas A&M at Qatar for their leadership in bettering process safety in the industry,” said al-Mulla.
Al-Mulla was instrumental in launching Texas A&M at Qatar’s Mary Kay O’Connor Process Safety Centre – Qatar (MKOPSC-Qatar), which furthers theoretical and practical process safety knowledge. Many students of MKOPSC-Qatar, which is now celebrating its fifth anniversary, attended the event and participated in discussions with top industry experts and researchers.
Dr Luc Vechot, MKOPSC-Qatar managing director and chair of the QPSS organising committee, said: “A sound, well-rounded understanding of process safety is paramount to ensuring industrial operations are carried out safely and responsibly around the world.
“By creating synergies between academia and industry, while facilitating the interaction of students and professionals, QPSS creates knowledge that helps to save lives. We are proud to collaborate with ConocoPhillips to improve process safety in ways that are beneficial now, and will be for many years to come.”
During the symposium, the QPSS Process Safety Excellence Award was presented to Yousef Abdulla Rebeeh, chief operations officer of Qatar Petrochemical Company (Qapco), for the exemplary initiative he has taken to advance the process safety field.
Texas A&M at Qatar student Shaikh Nawayd was also recognised at QPSS for his outstanding dedication to process safety research. As a graduate student, Nawayd conducts process safety research at MKOPSC-Qatar. He was honoured by QPSS for his groundbreaking work, a methodology to predict and simulate crowd evacuation in emergency situations.
Al-Mulla along with other dignitaries participating at the ninth annual Qatar Process Safety Symposium hosted by ConocoPhillips and Texas A&M University at Qatar.
