Northwestern Qatar (NU-Q) students participated in Northwestern University’s 2021 Undergraduate Research and Arts Expo, an annual event celebrating original research and creative work by Northwestern undergraduate researchers. This year, students from Northwestern Qatar presented projects with students from across the university.
“The presentations by Northwestern Qatar students and the recognition their projects received at this year’s university-wide expo illustrate the immense talent, imagination, and drive of our student body,” said Marwan M Kraidy, dean and CEO of Northwestern Qatar.
The two-day virtual symposium – organiSed by Northwestern’s Office of Undergraduate Research – included Onnie Rogers, assistant professor of psychology at Northwestern University, as the keynote speaker and featured submissions under three categories: poster presentations, oral presentations, and the Creative Arts Festival entries.
Among this year’s Creative Arts Festival award winners were Northwestern Qatar students Juyoung Choi and Saad Ejaz. Their documentary, ‘Home to Home: How a Yemeni Refugee Found Love in South Korea,’ received a second-place award in the category of social justice, diversity, inclusion, and equity.
The film, which premiered in 2020 at the Pulitzer Center Film Festival, takes a looks at the lives of Yemeni refugees in South Korea, telling the story of Ameen, a Yemeni chef who married a South Korean after escaping the civil war in his country.
Other Northwestern Qatar projects featured at the Expo included Kayan Khraisheh’s short story ‘Work in Progress,’ a reflection on the experiences of Palestinians in the diaspora; and ‘Of All Things that Shouldn't Be,’ a cinematic poem submitted by Princess Collado and Mohammed al-Khulaifi exploring Paulo Freire’s critique of the ‘Banking Concept in Education,’ a method of teaching and learning where the students simply store the information relayed to them by the teacher.
In addition to the creative entry, Khraisheh also presented findings from her research on the impact of religion-based movements in shaping environmental attitudes and inspiring eco-friendly behaviour. Her project, ‘The Rise of Eco-Islam,’ examines the work of Islamic organisations in the United States and Europe and how they are tackling climate change and promoting sustainability within their communities by adapting Islamic environmental ethics.
This year’s expo also featured a group of Northwestern Qatar students – Farina Amir, Inaara Gangji, and Khadija Islow – presenting a digital marketing strategy to promote a student loan repayment application they developed in a strategic communication class.
This is the fifth year that Northwestern Qatar students have participated in Northwestern’s annual conference. In past years, projects that have been recognised in the Expo have also received recognition globally, including being featured in international film festivals such as the 1905 International Human Rights Film Festival and the American Documentary and Animation Film Festival.
 
 
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