news bites
QF advancing children’s health
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atar Foundation (QF) is contributing to the advancement of paediatric care to improve the lives of families in Qatar. Mary Jo Haddad, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Hospital for Sick Children (SickKids) in Canada, visited QF to discuss a partnership. SickKids is a healthcare, teaching and research centre dedicated exclusively to advancing paediatric care globally. As part of this commitment, the institution’s leadership signed an agreement last June to provide advice and support to Sidra Medical and Research Centre (SMRC)’s clinical and research programmes. “This is an excellent opportunity to welcome the leadership and advice of SickKids. The hospital is a highly recognised academic and medical centre that can not advance not only paediatrics but also biomedical research at Qatar Foundation,” explained Dr Fathy Saoud, President of Qatar Foundation and Vice-Chairperson of the Board of Governors for SMRC and Chairman of the Executive Committee. “SickKids has been selected as a strategic clinical research partnership with Qatar Foundation’s flagship project, SMRC, and its valuable contribution is greatly appreciated.”
We welcome the Emir as the guest of all Africa. We are looking forward to his visit with high appreciation because Qatar is playing a very important role regionally and internationally, taking the side of the people and their rights.
Ethiopian Prime Minister and Chairman of the African Union Hailemariam Desalegn invites the Emir of QATAR, HH Sheikh hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, to his country.
1 6 Qatar Today
MARCH 2013
British Royals to visit Qatar The Prince of Wales and the Duchess of Cornwall will undertake official visits to Qatar and then Jordan and Oman from March 11 to March 19, 2013. They will see first-hand how the country is tackling its food security challenges, visit British technology, innovation and educational partnerships with Qatar and attend a major event to celebrate the “QatarUK Year of Culture 2013”.
WISE
accepting submissions
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ISE, the World Innovation Summit for Education, has opened the submission period for the 2013 WISE Awards. By recognising projects that are having a positive and tangible impact on education, the WISE Awards seek to highlight today’s most innovative initiatives in education from around the world. Applicants must demonstrate how their project has, through education, made a positive contribution within a community or society. In addition to projects taking place in schools, previous submissions have included creative initiatives from the vocational, corporate and agricultural sectors. HE Sheikh Abdulla bin Ali Al Thani, PhD, Chairman of WISE, stated: “Through the WISE Awards, we are not only seeking out and honouring projects that solve real-world challenges to education, but we are ultimately creating a toolbox of best practices in education. Thanks to WISE’s diverse, global platform, we are able to showcase these projects for communities around the world to replicate. In 2013, we are working to encourage more applications from different countries. We know that there are many exciting projects taking place and we want to recognise and share this work. There is a lot that Qatar can teach the world.”