ABU DHABI, 30th April, 2019 (WAM) -- The Abu Dhabi University, ADU, recognised the winners of the regional Undergraduate Research Competition, now in its seventh year, at a ceremony held under the patronage of Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, Minister of Education.
The awards ceremony, which took place at the university’s main campus in Abu Dhabi, acknowledged over 261 shortlisted submissions from local and regional academic institutions.
The competition also saw the participation of prestigious universities from Saudi Arabia and Oman, with three universities from Saudi Arabia presenting 34 research works and eight universities from Oman presenting 12 research projects.
The university awarded more than 34 winning teams from 17 universities in the UAE, Saudi and Oman. The winners comprised six each from the University of Sharjah, and Abu Dhabi University, and three from Khalifa University. There were two winners each from American University of Sharjah, Arab Emirates University, King Saud University, Al Ain University of Science and Technology, and the University of Wollongong in Dubai.
There was one winner each from New York University Abu Dhabi (NYUAD), Sultan Qaboos University, Dhofar University, Gulf Medical University, Birla Institute of Technology and Science, Rochester Institute of Technology, Dubai, Zayed University, Canadian University, Dubai, and Middlesex University Dubai.
"ADU is proud to be leading the region’s largest and most prestigious research-based competition as it continues to encourage greater innovation amongst students year after year," ADU’s Chairman, Ali bin Harmal Al Dhaheri, said while commenting on the competition.
Apart from the diverse range of subjects that included engineering, business administration, arts and social sciences, education and law, and natural and health sciences, two new categories were introduced this year – Tolerance and Innovation. The former is in line with the UAE’s theme of 2019 as the Year of Tolerance and its values of acceptance and co-existence, and the latter seeks to encourage and inspire creative thinking, Artificial Intelligence, and digitalisation.
Professor Ashraf Khalil, ADU Director of Research and organiser of the annual competition, said, "This competition opens up research opportunities in all areas of studies and we have further expanded the research categories for this year’s edition with 15 different disciplines to engage more undergraduate students."
Undergraduate students from across the GCC presented their research findings to a panel of expert judges, with 34 winning teams receiving prizes worth over AED120,000. ADU demonstrated the extent of its research efforts earlier this year when 1,000 scientific papers were listed on the Scopus Index, a world-renowned database of high-quality research.
Dr. Bin Harmal extended his appreciation to the strategic partners ADNOC, which contributed to making the event another huge success.