Research and InnovationNewsletter December 2018

CREATE & INNOVATE

النشرة الدورية للبحوثوالابتكار ديسمبر ٢٠١٨

ا�بتكار والتجديد

In this issue

Research and Knowledge Transfer FrameworkINTAJ SuharGrow Dome Project Student Research AchievementsFunding Opportunities at Sohar UniversityBlock Funding ProgramExternal Grant Proposal3rd Sohar University Research ConferenceResearch Development activitiesBusiness Development activities

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Research and Knowledge Transfer Framework

Prof. Ghassan Al-KindiPro. Vice Chancellor Research and InnovationDr. Dawood Al-HamdaniDean Post-Graduate CenterDr. Mohsin QureshiHead of Research DevelopmentMr. Khalid Al-QatitiManager Business Development and Training

Research and Innovation Area Units under Pro.VC R & I Management Area Support to R& I Area

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INTAJ Suhar

Design and Manufacture, Dies and MouldsManufacturing tools such as ‘Dies & and Moulds” are considered the essential tools needed in most manufacturing industries. Oman is currently importing all dies and moulds required for its industries. Building capacity to make these manufacturing tools in Oman will help to create new products and their production lines and hence will help to realise the slogan of “Designed and Made in Oman”.

The JourneyThe project premises and utilities of the project have been completed. Many equipments have been ordered. Some of these equipments have been delivered and are currently these are under installation & commissioning. Tendering for more equipment are is in process. It is expected that all equipment will be delivered, installed, and commissioned before the end of 2019. The first batch of technical staff for the project have started their work. the setup of the design centre has been completed.

Advanced Manufacturing Research CentreInnovation, including product & process development, is one of the main factors that help to compete in the current challenging world market. Innovation will not only aim to increase Oman’s self-reliance, but to contribute to the country’s exportable viabilities, especially to the GCC and the MENA regions.

The oOn-job training program for Omani graduates has been prepared and will start in the coming few weeks. The current progress of the project is 45%.

Industrial innovation requires and exploring their feasibility.

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INTAJ Suhar

This project aims at establishing a state of the art facilities for advanced manufacturing research, which will adopt and transfer innovative ideas into tangible prototypes and asses their performance. The facilities will serve to provide the needed infrastructure to:

Develop provision of technological skills and capability in advanced manufacturing.

Build infrastructure capacity in product design and prototyping.

Support the Omani private sector to diversify business.

The project draws upon the experience of the Advanced Manufacturing Park (UK), where the anchor tenant is the AMRC- Sheffield. The Sohar University AMRC will be a physical site, transit connected, clustering university research with industrial design and production. it will include a technical training centre and a world-class machine tool demonstration centre.

The project will support strategic sector development, through downstream production from existing major indus tries including:

Aluminum

Steel and steel alloys

Polymers

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Grow Dome Project

Conditions for growing various crop species on synthetic soils in a protected environment, such as a greenhouse. In collaboration with the University of Sheffield, Sohar University in collaboration with the University of Sheffield has been awarded 0.5 million US$ funded by the British government to conduct a research project in food security. The grant is part of the UK-GCC institutional links programme which is run by the British Council. This grant was supported by an in-house funding of 50,000 OMR from Sohar University, as part of their commitment to Research with impact. The project was developed and is being technically supported to enable sustainable increases in agricultural productivity and incomes, resilience of agricultural and food systems to adapt to climate change and opportunities with reduced carbon foot print to meet the national food security and development goals. The project results will demonstrate :The the feasibility of a sustainable, integrated system for plant growth.

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Student Research Achievements

Studying the possibility of establishing Women Cooperatives in Oman to foster Small Business Growth through cottage industries.Asentence-aligned Arabic-English parallel corpus of Royal Decrees.Affordable Smart Greenhouse Automation based on IoT.Indoor Smart Guidance for Vision disability Students inside University Campus.Agricultural Irrigation and Monitoring System Using Internet of Things.Model Development for a Flood Early Warning System.Hydrological Study to design flash flood protection structures using remote sensing in Sohar area.

CONGRATULATIONS TO 13 FURAP PROJECTS AWARDEES

FURAP Award 2018

waste to value - Recovery of metals from electronic waste in Oman.Develop control strategy for renewable Energy Storage System.Structural Performance of Light Weight Concrete Beam with Recycled Aggregate.Experimental Investigation of Cooling Performance of Psychometric Passive Cooling in hot arid regions.Research studies on the manufacture of novel Omani clay- carbon Nano tubes composite for mining industry application. الحماية الجزائية للطفل وفقا لتشريع العماني

TOTAL FUNDS SECURED: OMR: 23,100.000

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Funding Opportunities at Sohar University

Sohar University Research Grant for Early Career Researchers (SURGE)Click for GuidelinesClick for Application Form

Sohar RoomClick for Guidelines

Sustainable FuturesClick for Guidelines

Journal Publication IncentiveClick for Guidelines

Conference Support FundClick for Guidelines & Application Form

Contact:Ms. Fatma Al-JabriExt: 108Email: FJabri@su.edu.om

Sohar University is has been allocated with OMR:68,396.000 for research grant (RG) and research admin support.

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Block Funding Program

External Grant Proposal

Under the Smart City Plateform, six proposals have been submitted.A consultancy proposal is alsohas equally been submitted to EJAAD.

Best of Luck to the Applicants

3rd Sohar University Research Conference

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Several workshops have been conducted to develop the research culture at Sohar University. The workshops were attended not only attended by the academics staff but also by the post graduate students. The workshops topics of workshops included;

The research development office will offer more workshops based on feed back of thegathered from attendees. The future workshops will focus on the following topics.

Writing grant proposalsTheme related workshopsIncentive schemes at Sohar UniversityExternal funding opportunities

Role of Plagiarism Detection Tools in Research.Teaching- Research Nexus.An Introduction to Data Analysis using Stata.Grow Dome A sustainable approach to enhance food productivity.Shoreline Erosion Assessment Model ling for Sohar Region: Measurements, Analysis, and Scenario.

Research Incentive Schemes at Sohar University.Research with Impact.Writing High Quality Journal papers.

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Research Development Activities

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Business Development Activities

Queen's University Belfast visit to Sohar University

Sichuan College of Architectural Technology-China visit to Sohar University

Metropolitan food clusters experts from Holland visiting Sohar University Growdom facility

The new extended structure for the Business Development & Training office has started to function in September 2018. The main aim of establishing this office is to enhance the positive impact of the university

research and knowledge transfer activitie by promoting business opportunities and engagement. Ongoing initiatives and new captured opportunities aremanaged by this unit to ensure their best outcome.

Sohar University visit to Queen's University Belfast/UK

Business Development Activities

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Ministry of Manpower Visit to Sohar University

Sichuan College of Architectural Technology-China visit to Sohar University

Combined effort between students from TU-Delft University of Technology and SU on providing an environmentally friendly cooling solution for industry located at Sohar

Sohar University & UQ visit to ORPIC-Sohar