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This chapter describes the research ecosystem’s development in Qatar from 2006 until the present day, a brief history of this development, and future development plans. The information provided is a snapshot of the entire research administration enterprise in the country and estimates the current number of employed research management and administration (RMAs). It also presents the challenges and the pivotal role of the RMAs can play in achieving the country’s strategic objective, which could increase the number and the professionalisation of RMAs in Qatar. Some recommendations highlighted here include specialising RMAs in the field of the human subject and animal research protection, research compliance, intellectual property, and commercialisation.

The purpose of this paper is to analyze the characteristics and dynamics of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar.

The methodology of this research is based on a literature review and information collected through semistructured interviews with the different stakeholders involved in the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar.

The results show that two opposite forces shape the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar. On one hand, the strong determination and intervention of the Qatari government to diversify the economy by creating a vibrant ecosystem in the ICT sector. On the other hand, entrepreneurs in this sector are still facing some barriers and difficulties, and those issues are tightly related to Qatar's economic characteristics as a rentier state whose economy is driven by hydrocarbon resources.

These findings contribute to the clarification and critical analysis of the current dynamics of the entrepreneurship ecosystem in the ICT sector in Qatar, which would have several policy implications.

This paper aims to examine the compliance of disclosure with the financial accounting standards of the Accounting and Auditing Organisation for Islamic Financial Institutions’ (AAOIFI) related to Islamic financing products by Islamic banks in Bahrain and Qatar.

The study measures compliance using disclosure indexes. The disclosure indexes include the three financial accounting standards of Murabaha, Mudaraba and Musharaka. The data are collected from the annual reports of 24 Islamic banks in Bahrain and Qatar over a period of 2012-2015.

The paper found that Islamic banks in Bahrain and Qatar comply with AAOIFI financial accounting standards related to Murabaha, Mudaraba and Musharaka. However, there was a level of non-compliance in both countries. In addition, it found that the extent of compliance had increased over the 2012-2015 period. Also, the Murabaha standard had the highest mean of compliance. Moreover, the results showed that the Islamic banks in Qatar tend to have more compliance of overall Murabaha and Mudaraba disclosures compared to the Islamic banks in Bahrain.

The findings are preliminary and highlight that the issue is of high interest to Islamic banks and AAOIFI. Hence, it requires a detailed follow-up to form a complete picture that would assist AAOIFI and regulators gear their policies toward better quality disclosure by Islamic financial institutions. Even though the findings are encouraging, future research is recommended to enforce compliance with the AAOIFI financial accounting standards.

This is a pioneer empirical study that focuses on the level and trend of compliance with AAOIFI financial accounting standards related to the Islamic financing products of Murabaha, Mudaraba and Musharaka standards, especially in Qatar. Additionally, it is the first study comparing between the only two Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries, i.e. Bahrain and Qatar, that mandatory apply the AAOIFI standards.

This paper describes a small research project undertaken in a technical college in Qatar on the use of iPads in the classroom. iPads were trialed for a semester each in mathematics and physics classes; students completed pre- and post-surveys. Classroom observations were carried out and interviews were conducted with both faculty (N=3) and students (N=19). Over 80% of students reported positively on the iPad as being “helpful” to “very helpful” for learning new things and course materials, for increasing their interaction with online course materials and getting course information and for exploring additional material related to course topics. Faculty perceptions of iPad use in class were also positive.

The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationship between the intellectual capital (IC) information reported in the annual reports and market value of the companies listed on the Qatar Stock Exchange.

The study is based on a panel data collected from the annual reports and Bloomberg database for six years, specifically the periods 2010-2012 and 2016-2018. The total sample consists of 252 observations. The theoretical framework was developed in reference to the resource-based theory. The regression model is based on Ohlson’s model, which has been modified by including IC information.

The study found that there is a significant relationship between IC information and firm market value. This finding indicates that companies report their IC to help the stakeholders (e.g. shareholders, investors) to understand the real value of the company (which includes IC values).

The shift to a knowledge-based economy (KBE) has made knowledge a driver for economic growth, and it has become more important than capital, land and labour. This shift makes IC and resources vital for companies to create wealth, value and gain competitive advantage. The State of Qatar plans to transform its economy to a KBE in its “Qatar Vision 2030”. The findings of the study show that the companies have started to depend more on IC to contribute to transforming Qatar’s economy to a KBE.

This study could be considered a pioneer study to examine the association of IC disclosure and firm value in Qatar. Furthermore, prior literature has mixed findings, which justifies further investigation of IC’s effect on market value, particularly in the emerging economy of Qatar.

This paper aims to empirically assess the performance of Islamic banks (IBs) and conventional banks (CBs) in Qatar before and after the imposition of the economic blockade on Qatar and the significance of the blockade’s subsequent impact.

This study focuses only on the domestic commercial banks comprising four IBs and five CBs operating in Qatar. The banks’ financial reports are used as a secondary source to generate data. A study period from 2015 to 2019, separated into pre-blockade and post-blockade periods and comprising data on a semi-annual basis, was examined. Financial ratios and t-tests are used to compare bank performance and test the significance level of the blockade, respectively.

Generally, the findings show that IBs slightly outperformed CBs. Solvency ratios show strong capitalization (measured by capital adequacy ratio, CAR) and external fund (measured by equity multiplier ratio, EMR) reliance of the banks, despite minor fluctuations. Yet, only the CAR of CBs has been significantly affected by the blockade. Profitability (measured by return on assets, ROA and return on equity, ROE) of both bank groups grew unsteadily over the period, but IBs remained more efficient (measured by operating efficiency, OEOI) than CBs. Liquidity ratios indicate almost similar depositor fund utilization (measured by loans to deposit ratio, LDR) and credit offering (measured by loans to assets ratio, LAR) by the banks. All three metrics were weakly impacted. In terms of asset quality, bad loans (measured by non-performing loans ratio, NPL) and provisions (measured by loan loss provisions, LLP) surged moderately post-blockade. The blockade affected both groups’ asset quality.

To the author’s knowledge, this is the first study to comparatively examine the performance of Qatari IBs and CBs during the latest economic embargo and their exposure to the crisis.

This study examines English faculty perceptions of the Writing Center at American Design University in Qatar (ADU-Q) through a social capital analysis. This was part of a larger study that took a sociocultural approach to English faculty perceptions of writing center work at ADU-Q. One of the emergent themes in that study was the lack of students’ language skill transfer from English courses to their disciplines. This finding has critical implications for the development of writing center and writing-across-the-disciplines work by uniting the fields of Composition, TESOL, and writing center research.

The Arab world is made up of 22 countries in the Middle East and North Africa. These countries are subjected to many social, economic, political and geographical vulnerabilities contributing to increased risks or ineffective emergency and disaster management. This paper examines these vulnerabilities, how they may impact the country's ability to face disasters, and how they can improve disasters' overall management.

The author selected Qatar, Oman to represent the Arab oil-rich countries, while Jordan, Egypt and Morocco to represent non-oil rich countries. The research was conducted in a qualitative, inductive systematic literature review based on a well-established systematic literature review methodology. Selected literature was based on its recency and the countries in question.

The review reveals population gaps that could threaten the social system in the event of a disaster in countries like Qatar and Oman. The majority of the countries lack community engagement and pre-planning for emergency preparedness due to social and cultural barriers. Other nations like Jordan, Egypt and Morocco are prone to long-lasting economic challenges due to lack of resources, mismanagement or corruption. The paper also highlights the need to raise the educational attainment among citizens to understand disaster risk reduction.

This study utilized the research method developed by Williams et al. (2017) to present a comprehensive systematic and comparative review of disaster management in the Arab world. Considering that disaster and emergency management has remained disproportionately unexplored in the Arab world, this paper reviewed several vulnerabilities and how those vulnerabilities may affect disaster and emergency management efforts in the Arab countries.

Food waste occurs in every stage of the supply chain, but the value-added lost to waste is the highest when consumers waste food. The purpose of this paper is to understand the food waste behaviour of consumers to support policies for minimising food waste.

Using the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) as a theoretical lens, the authors design a questionnaire that incorporates contextual factors to explain food waste behaviour. The authors test two models: base (four constructs of TPB) and extended (four constructs of TPB plus six contextual factors). The authors build partial least squares structural equation models to test the hypotheses.

The data confirm significant relationships between food waste and contextual factors such as motives, financial attitudes, planning routines, food surplus, social relationships and Ramadan.

The data comes from an agriculturally resource-constrained country: Qatar.

Food waste originating from various causes means more food should flow through the supply chains to reach consumers’ homes. Contextual factors identified in this work increase the explanatory power of the base model by 75 per cent.

Changing eating habits during certain periods of the year and food surplus have a strong impact on food waste behaviour.

A country is considered to be food secure if it can provide its citizens with stable access to sufficient, safe and nutritious food. The findings and conclusions inform and impact upon the development of food waste and food security policies.

Emotional and interpretive responses to three short stories were noted in two study populations of similar age: Qatari students in a post-highschool foundation program preparing to attend branch campuses of western universities located in Qatar, and American students, many of Mexican-American heritage, from a small college in a rural setting in South Texas. It has long been thought that reading literature from a foreign culture confers educational value on the reader; in this investigation the nature of that ‘value’ was placed under study. Written responses to quiz questions or assignments were used as data; responses critical of or affirming of character, setting, plot, and literary tropes were particularly noted. Our data show that readings from an author whose culture was similar to the reader’s created interest and urged both intellectual and affective types of understanding, such as remembering, grieving, healing, forgiving, and feeling pride. Readings from ‘classic’ literature presented in historical context strongly enabled critical discussion among students in a multicultural setting, since the author’s absence from the scene ‘allows’ free conversation about his or her work without fear of insulting the author’s culture. Readings by contemporary writers from outside the reader’s culture, or ‘multicultural literature’, may cause some readers to shy away from the challenge of understanding another culture or to voice stereotypes instead of seeking ideas. Readings from outsider cultures, however, and the affective distancing of ‘othering’, enable the well-prepared educator and student to discuss how culture patterns our lives.