8 institutions win Adek research grant
abu dhabi — A programme that helps students to better manage stress, foster resilience and improve psychological wellbeing is among the dozens of research projects that has been funded by education regulators in Abu Dhabi to promote scientific and technological development across the emirate.
In December last year, the Abu Dhabi Department of Education and Knowledge (Adek) had announced the 2017 winning research proposals selected for the Adek Award for Research Excellence (AARE), a competitive grants programme, which is designed to identify and fund the most outstanding research proposals in targeted sectors in Abu Dhabi.
The award recognises the highest quality and most strategic researches being conducted across Abu Dhabi’s higher education institutions. Following a rigorous competition of 270 proposals submitted from 12 institutions, the AARE review committee selected 41 proposals from eight institutions to receive awards across all sectors. And the latest report on the awards, which was issued exclusively to Khaleej Times, showed that over 625 researchers have participated across all proposals.
“This can be considered a very successful outcome. The very high number of submissions demonstrates the level of demand for such a funding research programme, and the success rate at about 15–17 per cent from the total research proposals submitted shows it is an extremely competitive programme,” said the report.
Adek said in the report that the progress from the 41 proposals funded in the second round (AARE-2017) will be presented in 2019. The third round of the AARE programme is planned to be offered in September 2018, according to the report.
The awards offer Dh100,000– Dh300,000 per project depending on the subject area and are available for Abu Dhabi educational institutions.
Launched in 2015 by the Adek’s Higher Education Sector’s research division, the research awards are targeted to sectors of strategic im-
portance to Abu Dhabi, including 33 for the science, technology and engineering areas (water, energy, the environment; manufacturing, infrastructure, aerospace; ICT, electronics, robotics; and health, food and agriculture), and eight
were awarded for education and the social sciences.
Teachers hail fund for students
Dr Justin Thomas, associate professor, College of Natural and Health Sciences at Zayed University,
sais the AARE funding and ongoing support have helped their research team develop and explore the efficacy of a culturally adapted mindfulness programme.
“This intervention is now helping students in the UAE to better manage stress, foster resilience and improve psychological wellbeing,” he said. “The AARE funding and ongoing support has allowed us to develop an innovative metacognitive wellbeing intervention. We have been able to share our results at con- ferences and within peer review journals. More importantly, our work is having real-world impact, improving student wellbeing and academic performance.”
A project by Dr Dimitrios Kyritsis, professor and head of mechanical engineering at the Khalifa University, said: “The project will support an Emirati student through her masters thesis and will involve undergraduate students through independent studies and senior design projects that will expose students to the exciting world of contemporary energy engineering.”
Prof Osama Ahmed Mohamed, associate dean of college of engineering at the Abu Dhabi University, has done a research project on sustainable construction materials. “The award made a tremendous difference on my research progress on sustainable construction materials. I was able engage several students even at the undergraduate level so they are contribute from experimental investigation stage to knowledge production,” he said.
“Better understanding of engineering properties sustainable materials is instrumental to the future development in Abu Dhabi, UAE, and the globe, to reduce the negative environmental impact of humans. The Award contributed to cost of engaging students, engineers, materials, equipment, and dissemination of this critical knowledge.”
Dr Dongming Gan, assistant professor of robotics at the Khalifa University, said: “The award helped us initiate an official project based on the concept in our mind and gave a prestigious platform to encourage us to explore our research. We really appreciate the support and will continue to engage in setting up the research and innovation environment in Abu Dhabi and UAE.”
For Dr AkthamIssa Almaghaireh, professor at the department of economics and finance, college of business and economics, UAE University, his research project would not have been possible without funding from the AARE. “The AARE programme team was very effective, helpful and supportive. To all, many anonymously, I want to say thank you.”
The project will support an Emirati student through her masters thesis and will involve undergraduate students through independent studies.”
Dr Dimitrios Kyritsis, head of mechanical engineering, Khalifa University
The AARE Award contributed to cost of engaging students, engineers, materials, equipment, and dissemination of this critical knowledge.” Prof Osama Ahmed
Mohamed, associate dean of college of engineering at the Abu Dhabi University