Minister of Education and Higher Education, H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi; and Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director of QNRF; along with other dignitaries during the launch of the NSRW 2019 at QNCC.
Doha: The National Scientific Research Week (NSRW) officially opened yesterday with the participation of over 3,000 students from schools across the country. They will be taking part in a series of events and competitions during the week.
The 11th edition of the NSRW under the theme ‘Promising Researchers for Qatar,’ was launched by Minister of Education and Higher Education H E Dr Mohammed Abdul Wahed Ali Al Hammadi at Qatar National Convention Center (QNCC).
The event organised by the Ministry of Education and Higher Education and Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), a member of Qatar Foundation (QF), is a pioneering initiative that encourages students to learn research skills and approach science subjects through a hands-on, learning-by-doing approach from a young age, with the aim of nurturing the next generation of Qatari scientists and researchers.
Senior officials from the Ministry, representatives from QNRF including Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director of QNRF, and members of the academic and research sector were also present at the event.
The dignitaries toured the Students’ National Exhibition being held as part NSRW and interacted with students.
Dr Al Hammadi said that NSRW enables students to acquire skills in science and ethics. “The promotion of scientific research is a strategic objective of the Ministry of Education and Higher Education, in line with our mission to strengthen the human development pillar and achieve the objectives of Qatar National Vision 2030. It is particularly in the wake of the development of new curricula under the framework of Qatar’s national educational curriculum, which focuses on building 21st Century skills such as research, problem-solving, critical thinking, and effective communication skills, in addition to language skills and mathematic competencies, which are important when it comes to scientific research methodologies,” said the Minister.
The Minister praised schools for participating in the exhibition and appreciated students for doing high-quality research projects in the computing, biomedicine, mathematics, natural sciences, and engineering fields.
“These efforts reflect growing student awareness and contribute to advancing Qatar’s development priorities,” he added.
Activities of 2019 NSRW begun on March 10, with the first day seeing primary, middle, and high school students participate in the finals of the Qatar National Scratch Coding Competition. Using ‘Scratch,’ a visual programming language, they created their own interactive stories, animations, games, music, and art. This year, 70 teams from 32 schools participated in the competition, the winners of which will be awarded during the Grand Award ceremony on March 13.
The evaluation and review round of the Design for Change competition was also held on March 10, where judges shortlisted 60 projects from a total of 191 projects submitted by 573 students.
Finals of the 4th Qatar National Physics and Astronomy Olympiad, featuring around 500 students from 72 schools across Qatar, took place on the same day.
Members of the public are invited to attend the NSWR’s exhibition from 8am to 9am today at Exhibition Hall 1, QNCC.
