Manama: The Qatar Computing Research Institute is now up and running, and is recruiting researchers, an official from the Qatar Foundation said.
The institute, an initiative by QF's Research Division and one of three research hubs that will form the Qatar Research Institute (QRI), will be looking to "shake computer science" using Arab scientists from labs around the world, said Dr Ahmad Al Magarmid, QCRI director. "This is a new concept for us. We are not funding or sponsoring external research, we are creating the labs and doing the research in-house," said Al Magarmid, quoted by local media.
The institute will focus on core computing research, which revolves around developing Arabic language technologies, internet computing, data mining, and computer enabled scientific discovery. "Computers are pervasive in our offices and homes, and for some people, they are their work spaces," he said. "Now is the time not only to use computers for analysis, but to make the computer a part of the scientific experiment itself."
QCRI is opening its doors to scientists from around the world, but some of the researchers hired will be part of the Arab Expat Scientists Database, inspired by Shaikha Mouza Bint Nasser Al Misnad, wife of Qatar Emir Shaikh Bin Khalifa Al Thani. "I was one of the scientists who came here when Shaikha Mouza began her effort to communicate with Arab expat scientists in 2005. We started working on this database in 2007, and now have about 5,000 records in it. We expect to eventually have 10, 000," Al Magarmid said.
The initial scope of QCRI had been refined through the Qatari Arab Joint Committee (QAJC), made up of four Arab expat scientists and four Qataris.
