News & Event

Unparalleled presence, local and international experiences discussing the most prominent contemporary scientific topics and issues witnessed by the Oman Science Festival 2022 on the fourth day. Visitors to the Oman Science Festival 2022 unanimously agreed on the importance of the activities and programs that the corners of the festival replete with, that continue in the fourth day of festival, which is witnessing a vast turnout by students from public and private schools, university students, and technical and military colleges and those interested in science and innovation from the local community.

The second day of the discussion sessions accompanying the Oman Science Festival 2022 in its third edition included two discussion sessions. The first session covered the theme of Climate Change and its Effects, and was moderated by HE Dr. Abdullah bin Khamis Ambosaidi, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Education for Education. The session included presentation of four papers, the first titled “Natural Disasters and Climate Change: Enhancing Adaptation and Resilience” and was presented by Dr. Badaoui Rouhban, Adviser at the UNESCO.

The second paper came under the title “Green Transformation and Facing Climate Change” and was presented by Dr. Eng. Foued El Ayni, Expert in ESICO and Environment expert. The third paper presented was titled “How to Prepare the Younger Generation to Face the Effects of Climate Change” by Dr. Micheal Hoch, Scientist and physicist, founder of the Science and Art Program at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN). The fourth paper was titled “Climate Change in the Sultanate of Oman: Future Expectations and Adaptation Strategy” and was presented by Dr. Malik bin Mohammed Al-Wardi, Associate Professor at Sultan Qaboos University - Department of Soil, Water and Agricultural Engineering.

The second discussion session was moderated by Prof. Suleiman Al Belushi and included four papers. The first paper was titled “Space Economy Between Technologies and Future Foresight” and was presented Ammar bin Salim Al-Rawahi, Space Projects Consultant at the Ministry of Transport, Communications, and Information Technology. The second paper was titled “New Worlds and New Civilizations: The Search for Alien life in Science and Culture” and was presented by Dr. John Collick, Head of International Education Strategy at Promethean Institute. The third paper was presented by Prof. Martin Hendry, Professor of Astrophysics and Cosmology at the University of Glasgow and was titled “Exploring Einstein's Universe: The Dawn, and Exciting Future, of Gravitational-wave Astronomy.” The fourth paper was titled “The Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Legacy and Prospects” and was presented by Dr. Klute Markus, Professor at Karlsruhe Institute of Technology in Germany.

On the sideline of the festival, the inauguration ceremony of “Strengthening cyber security activities in the Schools of the Sultanate of Oman” project was held yesterday evening under the patronage of Eng. Tariq bin Ali Al Amri, CEO of Oman Holding of Environmental Services (Bee’ah), with the presence of representatives of Advanced Syber Security Academy and representatives of Academic Guidance Committee and the British Embassy.

The ceremony began with a speech by the Ministry of Education represented by the Electronic Information Security Department, delivered by Ahmed bin Suleiman Al-Ghatrifi, Assistant Director of the Electronic Information Security Department, in which he said: “In the context of rapid changes in the field of information technology and its uses, and with the emergence of many risks and information security threats of multiple levels and influences, came the need to pay attention to the field of information security in the environment of the Ministry of Education and the firm desire to prepare a conscious generation capable of dealing with these information security changes to protect and secure information systems from threats and risks, including devices, equipment, and practical procedures in addition to human factors.”

After that, Khalida Al Seyabi from the Advanced Syber Security Academy gave a speech in which she said: “The launch of this project comes as the first initiative of its kind in instilling cybersecurity concepts for school students of different age groups, and also to prepare them to keep pace with the great changes brought about by the series of industrial revolutions, especially the third and fourth, in our social and practical lives during the current decade.”

The "Stimazone" initiative, which targeted school students from 13 to 17 years old, on the topics of climate change, clean energy and waste management was concluded on the Ahmed bin Majid theater, where 14 teams were formed with a rate of 3 students from each school, to come up with clean technical solutions that contribute to reducing climate change, and the program aimed to develop the student’s technical, artistic and entrepreneurship skills by registering in a special track on the initiative’s website, in addition to presenting various (remote) workshops before the festival period. Each team worked on a company model concerned with finding clean technical solutions under the topics of the program, after which the team presented the idea, before the jury, and the first three places were announced.

On the corner of Peaceful Nuclear Technology, Yunis Al Shidhani said: “This corner delivers a number of activities in the PNT in various fields such as Medicine, Industry, Agriculture. The national team members provide in this corner many activities that simplify nuclear concepts and simulation programs; to transfer peaceful nuclear concepts to school students in creative ways using a set of computer programs and smart phone applications. The corner also presents a number of accompanying workshops among which is “How to Detect gaps in oil and gas pipelines.”

On the Syber Security corner, Ahmed Al-Ghatrifi, Assistant Director of the Information Security Department at the Ministry of Education, said: This corner included many interactive activities, including Capture the Flag competition, which simulates a real technical environment, in which participating students compete in solving multiple challenges in the field of cybersecurity. There are also interactive workshops for students and the public in the corner, which aim to spread awareness and culture of information security, including. The corner also includes a presentation

of student projects in the field of cybersecurity and presented by students from the University of Technology and Science.

The fourth day of the Oman Science Festival also included a number of training workshops at the Innovators corner. The University of Technology and Applied Sciences in Muscat organized a training workshop titled “Innovation Culture Building Stages” that aim to introduce innovation stages by using the concept of Technology Readiness Levels (TRL) and the concept of Research for Development as well as connecting innovators with the innovation index approved in Oman Vision 2040, the Global Innovation Index, with the focus on the most important skills the innovators need for the market.

The Artificial Innovation Academy presented a workshop titled “Importance of Incubation and Business Accelerators in Supporting Innovations and Startups” to introduce participants to what business accelerators are and reviews practical experiences of incubated companies. The workshop also aims to provide participants with the mechanisms and stages of incubation, starting with the idea and ending with the last investment rounds or the sale of the company itself.