The Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) celebrated its 21st Annual Day on Sunday; the day marks the visit of the late His Majesty Sultan Qaboos to the university on May 2, 2000.

A ceremony was held under the auspices of H E Dr Rahma Ibrahim al Mahrooqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation. 

During the ceremony, Dr Amer Saif al Hinai, deputy vice chancellor for Postgraduate Studies and Research, announced the names of research papers that won the 2021 Royal Grant.

The winners of the Best Research Group Prize 2021 was ‘Water Resources Assessment and Management in Arid and Desert Areas’, led by Dr Ali al Maktoumi, director of Water Research Centre.

Winning projects:

1: New Materials for Sustainable Energy – Kinetically Locked Copper (I) Complexes For Dye Sensitized Solar Cells and Functional Europium (III) Complexes For Organic Light Emitting Diodes by the principal investigator Prof Muhammad Khan from the College of Science.

2: Integrating Modern Soil and Water Smart Technologies for Salinity Management in the Sultanate of Oman by principal investigator Dr Daniel Blackburn from the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences. 

3: Revealing Properties of Twenty Omani Seaweeds for Future Utilization and Management by principal investigator Dr Ahmed Al Alawi from the College of Agricultural & Marine Sciences. 

4: Derivation and Culture Optimization of Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells for Prospective Transplantation Therapies by principal investigator Dr Halima Albalushi from the College of Medicine & Health Sciences.

5: Biodiesel Production from Waste Cooking Oil for Use as Fuel: Integrating Environmental, Economic, and Social Aspects by principal investigator Dr Sanket Joshi from Oil And Gas Research Centre.

6: Development of Locally Produced Natural Pozzolans in Oman: Potential and Perspectives for an Eco-efficient Composite Cements Industry in Oman by principal investigator Dr Mohammed Seddik from the College of Engineering. 

7: Developing a National Training Framework of STEM-based Competencies in Oman: Impact on Teachers’ Content Knowledge (CK), Pedagogical Content Knowledge (PCK), Students’ Achievement, and Motivation by principal investigator Dr Mohamed Shahat from the College of Education.