On Wednesday 29th March a virtual ceremony was organised by the Islamic Development Bank (ISDB) and Queen Mary to celebrate the recent renewal of their Memorandum of Understanding (MoU).
The Islamic Development Bank is a multilateral development bank (MDB), working to promote social and economic development in its 57 member countries and Muslim communities worldwide. Find more about the bank.
The meeting, led by ISDB Executive Director Dr. Riad Ragueb and QMUL Vice Principal International Prof Colin Grant QMUL, was an opportunity to discuss the successes of the PhD co funding agreement so far and meet with current ISDB scholars to learn about their PhD experience.
It was attended by Dr. Riad Ragueb (Director at Islamic Development Bank), Mr. Abdelhakim Yessouf (Special Assistance Division Manager), Mr. Lakdhar Kadkadi (Lead scholarship Specialist), Mrs. Bayan Filimban (MSP programs Specialist), Ms. Hessah Almohanna (Special Assistance Coordinator), and Mr Nazar El-Hilali (SR Scholarship Program Specialist) from ISDB.
Queen Mary University of London attendees included Professor Colin Grant (Vice Principal International), Flora Mckay (Sponsor Relations Manager), Dr Akram Alomainy (Deputy Dean for PGR, Faculty of Science and Engineering), Anjana Nair (Senior Communications Officer for Research) and research scholars El-Majid Yusif (School of Physical and Chemical Sciences) and Ashraf Abumousa (School of Business and Management).
Professor Colin Grant said that QMUL was delighted to be working in partnership with ISDB. He also said that he was confident about scholars looking to contribute towards positive and interdisciplinary research environment at QMUL.
"The high-level support offered by our schools, institutes and the Doctoral College, and the multinational nature of these scholarships will have a wide-ranging and positive impact on our work internationally", he said.
Dr. Riad Ragueb, Executive Director shared his enthusiasm by saying that the agreement offers researchers across different member countries a strategic opportunity to build research links. It allows to gain new knowledge and significantly enhance ISDB’s efforts to contribute to the wider form of human resource development issues both within the country and across borders.
"We are eagerly looking forward to working with QMUL to produce a pool of high-caliber scholars", he stated.
Research students El-Majid Yusif and Ashraf Abumousa also spoke of their research experience at QMUL. Both students were excited on the prospect of guiding human development policies in their home countries upon their graduation.
QMUL has been collaborating with ISDB since 2016 to provide high-quality research training to scholars who are nationals of any of the 57 IsDB Member Countries. 14 scholars have joined QMUL so far via the agreement enrolling on a range of PhD programmes across our Faculty of Science and Engineering (S&E). 9 of these 14 students have enrolled on our PhD Biological Sciences programme.
Our previous agreement was with S&E only; however, the new agreement will now include Humanities and Social Sciences (HSS). Under the terms of the agreement, we will offer up to 10 places per year across both the faculties.
For more information on Islamic Development Bank PhD Scholarships, check here.
See here for the list of eligible schools for ISDB Scholarships.