Manama: Undergraduate students from across Qatar are set to compete in the annual Undergraduate Research Experience Programme (UREP) contest, hosted by Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF).
Participating students, who will face a panel of expert judges to present their research in front of the public, will be competing for prizes in categories relevant to the Qatar National Research Strategy (QNRS), including engineering and technology, information and communications technology (ICT), and social sciences and humanities.
By investing in cutting-edge research, QNRF is enhancing a culture that supports Qatar Foundation on its mission to build Qatar’s innovation and technology capacity, and help the nation develop into a hub of research excellence through Qatar Foundation’s science and research pillar, Research and Development (QF R & D), organisers said.
“The UREP competition is an opportunity for young undergraduate researchers to showcase their potential and gain exposure for their outstanding work,” Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, QNRF Executive Director, said. “This competition, one of QNRF’s most popular, is also an opportunity for the wider community, outside of the academic or scientific realm, to gain insight into the research undertaken by Qatari youth with the support of the Qatar National Research Fund.”
QNRF believes that facilitating research opportunities for undergraduate students is a crucial part of the development of a sustainable knowledge-based economy, as they not only encourage a research culture among the nation’s youth, but they also help prepare them to undertake sound research at the doctoral level, he added.
The annual UREP competition, now in its seventh successive year, is the culmination of each year’s UREP grant.
The contest on March 18 will see undergraduate student researchers present the findings of a year’s worth of research in an area of direct relevance to the QNRS.
