Doha, Qatar: The Ministry of Endowments (Awqaf) and Islamic Affairs in cooperation with the Ministry of Sports and Youth has launched the Outstanding Young Researcher Award.

It is within the framework of the cooperation between the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and the Ministry of Sports and Youth for implementing the Qatar National Youth Policy Action Program, which was prepared in cooperation between all policy partners to achieve the policy objectives in all the fields.

The award comes within the framework of encouraging young people to conduct scientific research in all fields. The first-place winner will receive QR100,000, the second-place winner QR75,000 and QR50,000 for the third-place winner.

The award will be organised every two years for outstanding young researchers and scholars and is focused on researching the most pressing social problems in society. In its first year, the topic is “Delayed marriage age and its impact on young people in Qatari society.”

The announcement of the award came during a press conference attended by representatives of the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs and the Ministry of Sports and Youth.

Sheikh Dr. Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Ghanem Al Thani, Director of the Department of Islamic Research and Studies, stated that the competition is organized in cooperation between the two ministries.

He explained that several main axes have been identified for the research topic, which address: the importance of marriage for the individual and society; the legal evidence in urging early marriage for young people and the legal objectives in urging early marriage; statistics on the average age of marriage; the reasons for delaying the age of marriage; the role of social, economic and cultural changes in delaying the age of marriage; delaying the age of marriage; impact of delaying the age of marriage on young people, family, society and raising children; role of early marriage in the stability and cohesion of the family; role of preachers, intellectuals, writers, thinkers, civil society, government and private agencies and the media in restoring the concept of early marriage among young people among others.

He added that the award was framed by a set of conditions that the researcher is supposed to take into consideration so that his research rises to the level of arbitration, some of which are related to the researcher, and others are related to the research.

The conditions related to the researcher include: the researcher be a resident of the State of Qatar, whether Qatari or resident, and that his age is between 20 and 35 years; that he adheres to all the announced axes, and that he attaches a copy of his CV and a copy of his ID card with the research. 

The conditions allow for two or more researchers to participate in writing, preparing and submitting the award research, but they draw attention to the fact that the winning researcher is not allowed to participate again until four years have passed.

It also indicates the possibility of withholding the award if the research does not meet the required standard, and withdrawing its value if it is discovered that the research violates some of the conditions. The award emphasizes the importance of the winning researcher’s commitment to implementing all the referees’ corrections and comments. 

Maha Al Rumaihi, Director of the Planning, Quality and Innovation Department at the Ministry of Sports and Youth, expressed her happiness at launching this award as one of the fruits of Qatar’s National Youth Policy. She pointed out that programs and projects will be announced in succession, in which the Ministry will cooperate with all policy partners to achieve the policy’s objectives in its various axes. 

She added that cooperation with the Ministry of Endowments and Islamic Affairs in this research award, which is concerned with the most pressing social problems in society and providing the necessary solutions for them, comes within this framework.