We conduct research that matters: Our community-engaged research is performed in collaboration with our local partners to ensure mutually beneficial outcomes.
The University of Sharjah (UOS) fulfills its core mission by serving the local community and the UAE through its diverse community-engaged research programs and activities. The Office of the Vice Chancellor for Research and Graduate Studies (VCRGS) works to accomplish this goal by leveraging the university's research potentials and strategies to cultivate mutually beneficial partnerships that address significant issues in the local community and lead to dynamic community-university initiatives. The VCRGS's office uses a civic-engagement approach in which real partnerships between researchers and community organizations produce knowledge that responds positively to the needs and concerns of the local community.
The main principles guiding community-engaged research at the UOS include collaborative partnerships in priority research areas, implementation of research findings for the mutual benefit of both the university and its local partners, emphasis on responsible research conduct in relation to the community and the environment, mutual use of and access to research findings, promotion of collaborative relationships between academics and community members, as well as focus on collaborative areas where the UOS has research competencies that can respond to specific community needs.
“We look forward to more collaborative projects” says the VCRGS, Prof. Maamar Bettayeb, “between the university and the community or governmental institutions in different sectors. Strategic cooperation results in better community service as well as humanitarian, social, and economic improvements done through putting findings from scientific research into practice”. In consequence, the OVCRGS, the three research institutes, and the active research groups at the UOD are fully committed to supporting and enhancing impactful research and scholarly activities that address the needs of the local community, while strengthening the connection between faculty, staff, and students with local partners from the public and private sectors.
Many research groups working under the three institutes (the Research Institute of Medical and Health Sciences, the Research Institute of Sciences and Engineering, and the Research Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences) are currently conducting research projects in collaboration with local partners to solve complex issues related to public health, prevalent diseases or health conditions such as diabetes, cancer, and disabilities, energy, cybersecurity, environmental matters, family and child challenges addressed through the Center for Family and Child Studies (CFCS) which is the first such entity in the UAE, etc.
Among these group, we mention the Diabetes and Metabolic Syndrome Research Group, which focuses on diabetes and cardiovascular disease and their risk factors; the Environment and Cancer Research Group, which seeks to investigate the role of different environmental factors and to identify novel therapeutic modalities; the Nutrition and Food Research Group, which has an interdisciplinary oriented research approach to address pertinent food and nutrition concerns in order to improve the health of the UAE community; the Health Promotion in the UAE Research Group, which aims to improve public health through patient-oriented and population-based re-search; the Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Research Group, which serves as a platform for collaborative research efforts fostering the interaction between UOS researchers and local partners in the energy field; the Information and Network Security Research Group, which carries out research in information security to help governmental organizations and local institutions to protect their information infrastructure from cyber-attacks; the Sustainable Construction Materials and Structural Systems Research Group, which serves as a platform for collaborative research efforts fostering the interaction between industry and academia in the field of sustainable construction materials and structural systems; the Social, Educational, and Health Problems Research Group, which addresses the social and educational challenges faced by the local community and the UAE; the Mass Media Research Group, which focuses on how communication sciences can impact and improve the performance of media and communication institutions in the UAE; the History, Museums and Tourism Research Group, which seeks to conduct specialized studies in collaboration with the local community in the fields of history, museums, tourism, and heritage; etc.
Find out more about Community-Engaged Research, click on the Research tab (Research Institutes)
https://www.sharjah.ac.ae/en/Pages/default.aspx
