QNRF selects 52 proposals for grants Friday, 03 February 2012 04:29

DOHA: Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF) announced yesterday the outcome of the 11th cycle of its funding programme, the Undergraduate Research Experience Programme (UREP).

In this 11th UREP cycle, QNRF received 135 research proposals, each of which was independently reviewed by three international peer reviewers, none of whom had any affiliation or connection to the institutions whose proposals they reviewed. This principle is in line with QNRF’s policy of maintaining the utmost integrity and transparency throughout the submission and review processes to further ensure complete independence.

In order to maintain a high quality level for the awarded UREP proposals while achieving a good success rate, the QNRF Steering Committee decided to adopt a cutoff score of 83 percent for this cycle, which resulted in the award of 52 research proposals engaging 179 undergraduate students across six academic institutions and distributed across the following disciplines; natural sciences, engineering and technology, medical and health sciences, social sciences, and humanities.

Dr Abdul Sattar Al Taie, Executive Director of QNRF, said: “We were overwhelmed by the interest in UREP and very impressed with the calibre of the proposals submitted,” adding that “QNRF has implemented, since October 2006, eleven UREP cycles in which a total of 1,259 research proposals have been submitted for peer reviewing and 559 proposals have been awarded.”

“As we announce the results of this cycle, QNRF is busy preparing for the launch of the 12th cycle of the Program. The frequency of the cycles (twice a year) reflects the popularity of the programme and is one of many reasons behind its resounding success,” Dr Al Taie said. UREP aims at spreading research culture amongst undergraduate students by engaging them in ‘hands on’ research projects under the guidance of their academic supervisors. UREP also encourages partnerships between academic and non-academic institutions to promote collaboration between academia and other institutions in Qatar. The Peninsula

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