UNIVERSITY OF BAHRAIN WINS BRITISH GRANT FOR RESEARCH WITH LOUGHBOROUGH UNIVERSITY

UK and Gulf scientists will be working together on eight cutting edge research projects across the six Gulf countries thanks to 3.4 million pounds in UK government funding allocated to research projects in areas ranging from nanotechnology to cyber-security. The funding will strengthen scientific ties between the UK and the Gulf region in order to find solutions to shared global challenges.

British Council Bahrain Director, Mr. Alan Rutt noted “Back in July 2016, British Council offices in the Gulf sent out a call for applications for researchers to apply for the Institutional Links programme with partnering higher education institutions in the UK. We received more than 170 applications in total. This indicates that there’s a huge desire in the Gulf for more scientific research which we aim to support via the various science programmes that we offer in partnership with the UK government. We congratulate University of Bahrain and Dr. Hanan Al Buflasa on winning the grant in Bahrain, one of 8 grants regionally and we wish them the best of luck taking this forward”.

The project winning the grant from Bahrain is a research collaboration between University of Bahrain and Loughboruogh University in the field of renewable energy. The collaboration will establish a permanent Research Centre for Sustainable Energy and Water at the University of Bahrain, strongly linked to the Centre for Renewable Energy Systems Technology (CREST) at Loughborough University and to the Bahrain Sustainable Energy Unit (SEU). The new Centre will have a strong, positive impact on these priority areas. It will work alongside the Bahrain Electricity and Water Authority, providing research and technical support in the development and implementation of the Bahrain National Renewable Energy Action Plan (NREAP).

Ultimately it will develop a quantified and technically viable pathway towards a sustainable energy and water system for Bahrain in 2030. The collaboration will have a strong focus on capacity building at the new Centre.

In light of the occasion, University of Bahrain President Prof. Reyad Hamzah said “The University of Bahrain is delighted and proud to be working with some of the world’s best universities on long term research projects that benefit Bahrain and the GCC. The significance of these projects demonstrate our commitment to tackling regional challenges and also how globally recognized UOB is in the areas of water security and renewable energy. Partnership working is vital to solving important regional issues and we are delighted that we are working with such great partners in Oxford, Aston and Loughborough University, in addition to EWA. Prof. Hamzah expressed his special thanks to the British council for their ongoing support”

The Institutional Links project is led by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy in partnership with the British Council, who together launched an open call for joint research applications in six GCC countries in July 2016. The call received a very high response rate, with 172 applications being put forward from HE institutions and research bodies in the region. The themes of the call closely tie into Gulf countries’ priorities such as food and nutrition, water, energy, food-water-energy nexus and cyber security.

The applications underwent peer-review by leading international academics. These cover each Gulf country, with 2 applications awarded in Saudi, 2 in the UAE and one for each of the other Gulf states. Each recipient will be granted up to 400,000 pounds for the 2 year projects. The UK and Gulf based scientists and researchers will work together to ensure these collaborations achieve maximum impact for the UK and the GCC countries and establish long-term partnerships in key research areas.

The GSIKE programme has already seen over 226 scientists across the Gulf participate in research symposia and capacity building workshops in the last twelve months. It will continue to pave the way for long term research collaboration over the next 3 years, through workshops, symposia and talks which will bring together UK and Gulf researchers, research institutions, funding agencies, industry, Higher Education councils, and education ministries.