Muscat – The Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation will host the 9^th cycle of the Annual Research Forum on December 14, at the Oman Convention and Exhibition Centre wherein the winners of the National Research Award and Upgrade programme will be announced.

The forum will be under the patronage of Eng Said Hamood al Maawali, Minister of Transport, Communications and Information Technology, while those attending include H E Prof Rahma bint Ibrahim al Mahrooqi, Minister of Higher Education, Research and Innovation, besides a number of officials, innovators, academics, and research winners.

For the National Research Awards (NRA), the winners are divided into two categories – best published research led by a PhD holder or equivalent (senior specialist or higher in the medical field) and best published research led by a young researcher (a non-PhD holder).

As for the research fields, it consists of six fields – Education and Human Resources, Information and Communication Technologies, Health and Social Services, Cultural, Social, and Basic Sciences, Energy and Industry, and Environmental and Biological Resources.

The NRA aims to encourage researchers to conduct high quality and relevant research in areas of national interest, encourage researchers to continue their activities and initiatives in conducting high-quality research, and increase the level of awareness about MoHERI and its various initiatives and programmes to support research and innovation.

The Annual Research Forum will also include the announcement of nine winning teams of the 6^th edition of Upgrade programme, a programme that transforms the best graduation projects into startups. The winners will include 6 teams in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) track and 9 teams in the industrial track.

The winning teams will be provided with a seed fund to start their business alongside the incubation services, business and marketing consultation, networking and mentoring opportunities, as well as educational awareness programmes that include a group of workshops and lectures in the incubation centre.