Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a division of the Qatar Research, Development and Innovation (QRDI) Council, held the 14th annual Undergraduate Research Experience Program (UREP) Competition recently at Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar (WCM-Q).
The annual competition aimed to encourage undergraduate students in Qatar to strengthen the country’s research infrastructure through participation in research projects led by their academic supervisers.
Students from Qatar University (QU), Community College of Qatar, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Northwestern University in Qatar, University of Calgary in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) and Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar showcased their research projects on topics ranging such as Environment and Energy, Social Arts and Humanities, Biomedical and Health, and Information and Communication Technology.
This year’s UREP competition saw 43 poster presentations from eight academic institutes and five oral presentations from four universities.
The winning poster presentations were created by Yahia Boray, Hesham Zaky and Omar Osman from QU, followed by Maryam al-Quradaghi, Tala Abu Samaan, Shamin Mahmud and Asmaa Farah from WCM-Q. Qatar University’s teams of Safa Kilani, Nuha Mohamed, Ebtihal Sharif, Aycha Dalloul, Mirna Abdelnabi and
Hafsa Alabdulhamed, and Yousef Mohamed, Omar Ghonim, Ahmad Madkour, and Eisa Al
Mohannadi tied for the third place.
Almayassa al-Naimi, Amal Alkorbi, Reem al-Haddad and Sara AlHemaidi from CMU-Q won first place for their research project in the oral presentation category, while Fatima al-Khuzaei, Dana AlYafei and Leen Al Homoud from Tamuq, and Shaikha al-Thani, Hissa al-Mahmoud, Yasmin Meqdad, Aysha AlKhalaqi, Fatima al-Naimi and Rouda Qasmi from QU were awarded the second and third places, respectively.
The contending projects were evaluated on project significance, research outcomes, student learning experience and presentation quality. The winning projects will receive funding from the UREP programme to facilitate the supplies and equipment required by the students to continue and publish their research.
Poster presentations were evaluated by a panel of 17 industry experts, while the judging panel for oral presentations was composed of leaders from WCM-Q,
TotalEnergies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
The competition also held a contest for the Best Representative Image of an Outcome (BRIO), which endorses visual communication of scientific concepts and research in Qatar through art.
The BRIO contest received 20 entries and received more than 1,500 votes from members of the public and Qatar’s scientific and academic sector. From the shortlisted submissions, the contest was won by Abdulrahman Abushannab from QU for 'Microstructure of Sustainable Concrete', followed by Dr Mohamed Emara from QU for 'Stress Granules in Pluripotent Stem Cells' and Dr Yasser Majeed from WCM-Q for 'Aging Under the Microscope'.
Since its introduction in 2006, UREP has awarded more than 4,970 undergraduate students from universities across Qatar for 1,208 projects during the 28 UREP cycles held to date. A significant 1,105 UREP projects have been completed in the past 16 years.
The annual competition aimed to encourage undergraduate students in Qatar to strengthen the country’s research infrastructure through participation in research projects led by their academic supervisers.
First place in poster presentation.
Students from Qatar University (QU), Community College of Qatar, University of Doha for Science and Technology, Northwestern University in Qatar, University of Calgary in Qatar, Texas A&M University at Qatar (Tamuq), Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar (CMU-Q) and Weill Cornell Medicine - Qatar showcased their research projects on topics ranging such as Environment and Energy, Social Arts and Humanities, Biomedical and Health, and Information and Communication Technology.
From the competition
This year’s UREP competition saw 43 poster presentations from eight academic institutes and five oral presentations from four universities.
The winning poster presentations were created by Yahia Boray, Hesham Zaky and Omar Osman from QU, followed by Maryam al-Quradaghi, Tala Abu Samaan, Shamin Mahmud and Asmaa Farah from WCM-Q. Qatar University’s teams of Safa Kilani, Nuha Mohamed, Ebtihal Sharif, Aycha Dalloul, Mirna Abdelnabi and
Hafsa Alabdulhamed, and Yousef Mohamed, Omar Ghonim, Ahmad Madkour, and Eisa Al
Mohannadi tied for the third place.
Oral presentation judges' recognition.
Almayassa al-Naimi, Amal Alkorbi, Reem al-Haddad and Sara AlHemaidi from CMU-Q won first place for their research project in the oral presentation category, while Fatima al-Khuzaei, Dana AlYafei and Leen Al Homoud from Tamuq, and Shaikha al-Thani, Hissa al-Mahmoud, Yasmin Meqdad, Aysha AlKhalaqi, Fatima al-Naimi and Rouda Qasmi from QU were awarded the second and third places, respectively.
The contending projects were evaluated on project significance, research outcomes, student learning experience and presentation quality. The winning projects will receive funding from the UREP programme to facilitate the supplies and equipment required by the students to continue and publish their research.
Poster presentations were evaluated by a panel of 17 industry experts, while the judging panel for oral presentations was composed of leaders from WCM-Q,
TotalEnergies, Hamad Bin Khalifa University and the Middle East Council on Global Affairs.
The competition also held a contest for the Best Representative Image of an Outcome (BRIO), which endorses visual communication of scientific concepts and research in Qatar through art.
The BRIO contest received 20 entries and received more than 1,500 votes from members of the public and Qatar’s scientific and academic sector. From the shortlisted submissions, the contest was won by Abdulrahman Abushannab from QU for 'Microstructure of Sustainable Concrete', followed by Dr Mohamed Emara from QU for 'Stress Granules in Pluripotent Stem Cells' and Dr Yasser Majeed from WCM-Q for 'Aging Under the Microscope'.
Since its introduction in 2006, UREP has awarded more than 4,970 undergraduate students from universities across Qatar for 1,208 projects during the 28 UREP cycles held to date. A significant 1,105 UREP projects have been completed in the past 16 years.