Manama: Qatar has celebrated the success of 12 professional and student researchers who were recognised for their ground-breaking discoveries during the third Annual Research Forum award ceremony.

The prized grants will support the winning projects’ research and advance the nation’s developmental goals, organisers said.

“It is a true honour to award these talented scientists grants, as they will not only advance their own ambitions, but the agenda of Qatar’s National Research Strategy,” Faisal Al Suwaidi, President of Research and Development at Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development, said.

“Human capital is what drives research, and we must continue to find ways to invest in those who can help carry out the strategy’s implementation. This year’s Annual Research Forum has been an important milestone for the nation, and I have no doubt that these winners will further Qatar’s ongoing development in the fields of energy and environment, computing and information technology, health and social sciences,” he said in a statement emailed to Gulf News.

A key goal of this year’s forum was to inspire collaboration for future research and winning abstracts were picked based on quality, merit, and relevance to the nation. The abstracts were reviewed by a committee comprising international scholars, academics, researchers, and members of the Arab Expatriate Scientists Network.

“Today is a celebration of all the stakeholders in Qatar who have come together and are able to truly look at the fruits of their work with the launch of the Qatar National Research Strategy. This participatory process has resulted in large dialogue amongst attendees regarding their abstract presentations,” Dr Dirar Khoury, Director of Institutional Research and Acting Executive Director of Qatar Foundation’s Research Division, said.

“And now, stakeholders are more aware of the research and development enterprises in Qatar. The quality of the science at this year’s forum has also improved tremendously and the workshops are targeting areas that directly address the Qatar National Research Strategy.”

The award for best Health and Biomedical Research Program of the Year was given to Lotfi Chouchane from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, in collaboration with Brown University, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, and Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar, for TNRC9 (TOX3) down regulates BRCA1 expression and promotes breast cancer aggressiveness.

The award for the Best Energy and Environment Research Program of the Year went to Nimir Al Bashir, from Texas A&M University at Qatar, for multi-scale investigations leading to the design of a novel Fischer-Tropsch reactor for gas-to-liquid processes.

The award for the Best Computing and Information Technology Research Program of the Year was given to Khalid Harras, from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar in collaboration with Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, Egypt, for OPERETTA: An optimal deployable energy efficient bandwidth aggregation system.

Ayman Shabana from Georgetown University — School of Foreign Service in Qatar, won the award for the Best Arts, Behavioural and Social Sciences, Humanities, and Islamic Studies Research Program of the Year for Sustaining Islamic bioethics research.

The award for the Best Student Health and Biomedical Research of the Year went to Maen D. Abou Ziki, from Weill Cornell Medical College in Qatar, in collaboration with Weill Cornell Medical College and Hamad Medical Corporation, Qatar for High prevalence of the ApoE Arg145Cys dyslipidemia at-risk polymorphism in African-derived populations.

Momina Zakzok from Qatar University won the award for the Best Student Energy and Environment Research of the Year for Concentrations and bioaccumulation of trace metals in soft sediments of mangroves, east coast of Qatar.

The award for the Best Student Computing and Information Technology Research of the Year went to Dania Abed Rabbou, from Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, for extending the reach of social-based context-aware ubiquitous systems.

Diaa Noufal from University of Angers, France, was given the award for the Best Student Arts, Behavioural and Social Sciences, Humanities, and Islamic Studies Research of the Year for Social sustainability and the historical district projects: Souq Waqif in Qatar as a case study.