Kicking off social change
IT sounds like the perfect job for football fans – a study of the 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
However, the new research has less to do about on-field play and more to do with how the tournament can be used to inspire social change in the country.
The project, which starts in December, will involve Edinburgh Napier University experts Dr Eleni Theodoraki, Dr Jane Ali-Knight and Dr Maktoba Omar working with Stenden University in Qatar to help organisers understand how the World Cup can help tackle high levels of obesity and reduce its carbon footprint.
Dr Theodoraki, from the university’s Edinburgh Institute: Festivals, Events, Tourism, said: “Mega sporting events have the power to inspire social change.
“By engaging with experts in the UK and Qatar, which suffers from high levels of diabetes and obesity as well as a high per-capita carbon footprint, we aim to find out what opportunities exist in the nine-year run-up to the event, as well as during it, to promote habits of recycling, low carbon use and physical activity.”
THE emir of Qatar, Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa al Thani, 61, informed members of the ruling family yesterday of his decision to hand power to Crown Prince Sheikh Tamim after a meeting in the capital Doha, the Qatari-owned television channel Al Jazeera said.
The US-allied Gulf Arab state is geographically small, with two million people, but is the world’s largest exporter of liquefied natural gas, a global investment powerhouse, a growing force in international media and a financial backer of Arab Spring revolts. The royal court said in a statement that today would be a national holiday.
Qatari political analyst Mohammed al Misfer told Al Jazeera he did not expect major changes in the event of a handover, adding that Sheikh Tamim was already involved in running the country under his father’s direction.
Diplomats said earlier this month that the emir was considering an orderly transfer of power that would probably begin with the departure of the powerful prime minister and foreign minister, Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim al Thani, 53.
Arab and Western diplomats said they understood the motive was the emir’s desire to have a smooth transition to a younger genera- tion. Such a transition would be unusual for Gulf Arab states, where leaders usually die in office.
Sheikh Tamim is 33, which is young compared to other Gulf rulers.
Qatar’s one-family absolute monarchy has ruled over the Gulf peninsula for more than 130 years.
Sheikh Hamad bin Jassim has been prime minister since 2007 and has played a central role in positioning Qatar as a regional power broker. He is also vice-chairman of the board of the Qatar Investment Authority, a position he is expected to retain.