Campus issue 26 high by Oryx Group of Magazines

YOUSUF JASSEM AL DARWISH

SINDHU NAIR ABIGAIL MATHIAS AYSWARYA MURTHY MARGARET KADIFA

VENKAT REDDY M HANAN ABU SAIAM

SANDEEP SEHGAL ALPANA ROY RAVI RAMAN

FREDRICK ALPHONSO SAKALA A. DEBRASS

MATHEWS CHERIAN HASSAN REKKAB

ADITYA KARKERA

PRATAP CHANDRAN BIKRAM SHRESTHA ARJUN TIMILSINA BHIMAL RAI, BASANTHA

AYUSH INDRAJITH MAHESHWAR REDDY B

JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2015 2015 IS UNDERWAY AND THOUGH WE’VE ALL GOTTEN OLDER, NEW YEARS’ RESOLUTIONS ARE ANYTHING BUT PASSÉ. WE GOT A FEW STUDENTS TO SHARE THEIR HOPES AND ASPIRATIONS FOR THE YEAR AHEAD. AS QATAR GETS READY TO HOST THE MEN’S HANDBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP, WE FEATURE SOME OF THE SPORTING ACTION THAT BROUGHT THE CURTAINS DOWN ON 2014 AND SET A PRECEDENT FOR 2015, THE RUN THE WORLD FESTIVAL, AND OTHER EVENTS WITHIN THE EDUCATION COMMUNITY THAT KEPT THE SPIRIT OF HOLIDAYS ALIVE. IT IS ALL HAPPENING RIGHT HERE IN YOUR CITY. AND THERE’S A LOT TO LOOK FORWARD TO THIS YEAR TOO. HAPPY PLANNING AND HAPPY READING.

Address all correspondence to CAMPUS, Oryx Advertising Co. WLL, P.O. Box 3272 Doha-Qatar. Tel: (+974) 44672139, 44550983, 44671173, 44667584. Fax: (+974) 44550982; Email: campus@omsqatar.com. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced without the written permission of the publisher. The publisher does not accept responsibility for advertising contents. Licensing/Republishing CAMPUS content: To obtain permission for text syndication in books, newsletters, magazines, newspapers and web or to use images/pictures carried in CAMPUS, please contact our syndication and licensing department on the numbers given above. Permission is also required to photocopy a CAMPUS article for classroom use, course packs, business or general use. Custom reprints: Any previously published article/s to be used as stand-alone pieces can be reprinted by us on special request. The reprint cost is based on the length of the article and the quantity ordered. Contact our custom publishing division on the numbers given above for more information.Previous issues (January 2004 onwards) of CAMPUS are available for sale, contact our library department. To subscribe to CAMPUS call our subscription department on the numbers given above.

Published by Oryx Advertising Co. , P.O. Box 3272 Doha-Qatar. Tel: (+974) 44672139, 44550983, 44671173, 44667584. Fax: (+974) 44550982. Email: campus@omsqatar.com website: www.omsqatar.com

A NEW YEAR, A NEW DREAM

Education City students share their New Year resolutions, their hopes and aspirations for the year ahead.

17 CAMERAS IN CAMPUS

ISSUE 26 JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2015

Last year at Ajyal Film Festival, several young students submitted stunning entries for the Made in Qatar competition. Campus caught up with some of the brilliant young filmmakers who spoke about their dreams, inspiration and plans.

34 SUN, SAND, AND SMILES

Aditya Karkera gives us a rundown - the good and the bad - of the recently concluded Run the World Festival, a youthful extravaganza on the shores of Katara.

ARABIC FOR “D’OH!”

IN HARMONY There is something special about live vocal music. When sung in harmony by young voices, the melody is even more uplifting. At least that’s the feeling the audience was left with at the recently concluded performance of the Doha Youth Choir.

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AT A JOB INTERVIEW You know what they say: you never get a second chance to make a first impression. That’s always the case when meeting someone for the first time, but especially so when it comes to a job interview.

Dr Rashid Yahiaoui talks about the constraints behind dubbing The Simpsons in Arabic.

HERE, THERE Margaret Kadifa gives us the lowdown on an internship experience that brought her from the sprawling Northwestern University campus in Evanston, United States to the compact and “luxurious” Education City.

LEARNING THROUGH STORIES We speak to the man behind the local version of Alice about the nuances of this cool piece of software.

ADVERTORIAL

FROM CAMPUS TO CUBICLE COLLEGE OF THE NORTH ATLANTIC QATAR PARTNERS WITH LOCAL INDUSTRY TO ENHANCE TECHNICAL EDUCATION IN THE STATE OF QATAR. College of the North Atlantic - Qatar has long partnered with local industry to ensure relevancy in the programs and technology offered across its four schools: Business Studies, Engineering Technology, Health Sciences and Information Technology. In 2014, one such partnership, with Qatar Petrochemical Company (QAPCO), has the potential to change the technical and vocational education landscape in Qatar. The announcement of the QAPCO Professional Chair in Vocational Studies marks the first time in the Middle East, and only the second time globally, that a full-time Chair position has been created to study vocational education and its relevance in, and impact on, the workforce. The importance of technical and vocational education and training (TVET) to Qatar and its industries has been recognized and a strategy has been put forth in the Qatar National Vision 2030 to increase the effectiveness of TVET within the country. The creation of the Professional Chair in Vocational Studies at CNA-Q is an important element in future State TVET planning. Described by Dr Mohammed Yousef Al Mulla, CEO and Vice-Chair of QAPCO as one of the “most important educational research initiatives to be implemented in Qatar,” the Chair will review, design and implement strategies that will improve the overall quality of future graduates, equipping them with the specific competencies required in industry.

In addition to ensuring graduates are ready for the workforce, the Chair will also conduct extensive research in local and regional labour market policies, on-the-jobtraining, transitioning from the classroom to the workforce and the vocational training needs of Qatar’s Oil and Gas Industry. The importance of technical education to the State and all its industries was emphasized in 2014 with the introduction of new Joint Oversight Board members. HE Dr Mohammed bin Saleh Al Sada, Minister of Energy and Industry was appointed Chair of the Board, with Dr Al Mulla appointed as Vice-Chair. Dr Khalid Mohammed Al Horr, Director of the Higher Education Institute, Supreme Education Council and Dr Abdullatif Al Khal, Director of Medication Education for Hamad Medical Corporation also joined the Board which includes four members from Newfoundland and Labrador, Canada. Since 2002, CNA-Q has been leading the region in providing advanced technical education. Hands-on, experiential learning in purpose-built classrooms and laboratories ensures students are job-ready upon graduation. Enriching this experience is the annual Skills Competition, with students from all disciplines participating in real-life scenarios, from designing a website to working on an inter-disciplinary health care team. In 2014, the event welcomed Health Sciences competitors from local schools including Qatar University, Weill-Cornell University and the University of Calgary. With more than 3000 graduates working or continuing their education both locally and internationally, CNA-Q continues to meet its mandate to provide the best technical education to students from across the country.

CAMPUS NEWS

SOME INSPIRATION THIS NATIONAL DAY Hamad bin Khalifa University hosted a

A ROYAL VISIT

HH THE EMIR SHEIKH TAMIM BIN HAMAD AL THANI PAID A VISIT TO EDUCATION CITY TO GET ACQUAINTED WITH CURRENT AND FUTURE PROJECTS OF QATAR FOUNDATION.

H the Emir was briefed on QF’s plans for the realization of the Qatar National Vision 2030 and was also given an explanation about the curricula and educational services being provided, including projects such as students’ accommodation, the Metro and the Qatar National Library. He then visited the Faculty of Islamic Studies at the Hamad bin Khalifa University, the Academic Bridge Program, and Texas A&M University before dropping in on the Student Center, where he met with a group of students from various universities and exchanged views with them on their academics and future career aspirations, according to Qatar News Agency.

SOLVING A SIMULATED CRISIS Georgetown University in Qatar (GU-Q) recently held their flagship diplomacy training event, the International Negotiation & Crisis Simulation Exercise, where 30 students developed, practiced, and tested their negotiation and strategic decision-making skills in a simulation exercise about a fictional maritime claim conflict, in the South China Sea. Held in conjunction with Georgetown’s Institute for the Study of Diplomacy (ISD) in Washington D.C., the annual crisis simulation deals with a hypothetical situation that reflects real-world trends or events. During this year’s simulation, groups of 4-5 students were assigned to one of seven diplomatic negotiating teams representing China, Vietnam, the Philippines, Japan, Indonesia, the United States and India, and were tasked with engaging in intensive, bilateral and multilateral negotiations to address the mock situation, in a reconstruction of a real-world diplomatic process.

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number of activities in celebration of Qatar National Day, just before the end of the semester. As students and staff prepared to break for the winter, they came together to celebrate the day with traditional Qatari food, music, dance, and art. A unique event was hosted at the Student Center in front of a live audience. “Conversations and Karak: Qatari youth on shaping the future of Qatar” involved a dynamic discussion among a panel of inspirational young Qataris – Aisha Al Naama, Maha Al Ansari, Mohammed D Fakhro, Ahmed Al Qahtani and Khalifa Al Haroon, who shared their interests and aspirations, as well as details of how they hope they, and their young fellow Qataris, can make an impact in their community. The panelists each focused on a subject that was close to their hearts as they discussed the arts, sports, medicine, community development and entrepreneurship, before taking audience questions.

BRIDGING LANGUAGE BARRIERS

55 participants successfully completed CMU-Q’s eight-week Language Bridges program where staff and students volunteer to teach basic English to Qatar Foundation service staff. A formal ceremony recognizing the achievements of the participants was held on campus and attended by faculty,

staff, student volunteers and guests. The program, held in collaboration with Reach Out To Asia (ROTA), aims to equip workers with basic English skills that enable them to communicate more effectively in their day-to-day lives. Over 700 participants have graduated from the student-led program since 2010.

WINNERS OF ENTERPRISE CHALLENGE ANNOUNCED In the final contest for high school students, Ahmed Bin Hanbal Boys School won first prize in the final round of the business simulation competition and took home the Bedaya Shell ‘Enterprise Challenge Qatar’ 2014 trophy. The second place was awarded to Al Zubarah Boys

School and Al Khor Girls School came in third place. Eighteen successful finalist teams from nine universities competed at the Grand University Final Competition that was held at Hamad Bin Khalifa University in November. “The Jockeys” team from Carnegie Mellon

School, while Al Shamal Boys School came in third place. Al Guwairiya Girls School won the first prize of the business simulation competition in the girls' category, the second place was awarded to Al Rayyan Girls

University claimed the first prize, while second place was awarded to “The Analysts” team, also from Carnegie Mellon University, and “Ibn Adam” team from Georgetown University was awarded third place.

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ADVERTORIAL

TICKETS FOR QATAR’S BIGGEST SPORTING SPECTACLE IN 2015 GOES LIVE! Qatar 2015 Organising Committee announces that availability of tickets for the 24th men’s handball world championship that is scheduled to be hosted in Doha between January 15 and February 1. Tickets for the upcoming 24th Men’s Handball World Championship are now on sale with an expected high demand for the major international contest. With the ticketing website now live, sports fans all around the world can order tickets for the matches and also learn more about the remarkable championship. With the participation of 24 countries from all over the world, the biennial Men’s Handball World Championship is the biggest and one of the most important international events in Olympic sport. The championship begins on January 15, with a grand opening ceremony followed by the first match between the host country Qatar and Brazil at the new Lusail Multi-Purpose Hall. This will count among one of the great experiences for all fans in Qatar and in the region, as they get to see their world’s best teams play the ‘Game of fast’. The tournament

matches will take place across three venues; Lusail Multi-Purpose Hall in Lusail, Ali Bin Hamad Al Attiya Arena in Al Sadd and the Duhail Handball Sport Hall in Duhail starting on January 16. The website allows people to choose their tickets according to their preference; whether it’s by their favorite team, by date or even by venue. People are advised to book early, as pre-registered tickets will receive their allotment first. Varieties of ticket prices are available according to everyone’s seating preferences. All ticket sale proceeds will go to “Educate A Child”, a global programme from Education Above All (EAA), founded by Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, that aims to increase the number of children worldwide who can access education. Dr Thani Abdulrahman Al Kuwari, Director General, Qatar 2015 said: “Today is an important milestone in our progress towards hosting this prestigious event. Given Qatar 2015’s global nature, we’ve ensured that people can book their tickets wherever they are in the world through our website. The ticketing

website covers everything taking in the championship with full details on match schedules, venues and ticket prices.” Qatar 2015 has opened outlets all around Qatar, so that people can buy tickets over the counter if they prefer too. Each of the competition venues will also have Ticket Box Offices, so that people can buy tickets directly and on the day of the event, depending on availability. The launch of online tickets sales will further boost interest in the event regionally as Doha counts down to the 24th Men’s Handball World Championship.

DR THANI ABDULRAHMAN AL KUWARI DIRECTOR GENERAL, QATAR 2015

A NEW YEAR, A NEW DREAM 12

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Our editorial intern from Northwestern University, Margaret Kadifa, got unsuspecting students milling about Education City to confess their New Year resolutions and their hopes and aspirations for the year ahead. New experiences, new lessons and new responsibilities are all in store for this crop of students. And we wish them loads of luck (and fun) with whatever lies ahead. “I’m going to summit Kilimanjaro at the end of February. We’re going with a group from Qatar Foundation. It’s like 7 to 8 days of walking ... This is something I want to do, personally.” OWAIS KHAN JUNIOR, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

“I’m looking forward to some of the new classes: British colonialism in Southeast Asia, Finance and Middle East History.” JYOSTNA SUBRAMANIAM SOPHOMORE GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

“I’m excited about getting a job for the first time in Admissions. I should start this week. I’ve always wanted to work in Admissions.” YARA ALKAHALA FRESHMAN, GEORGETOWN UNIVERSITY

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“On January 21, I’m going to Iran. I’m going to see snow for the first time in my life. I’m kind of shaky about the cold weather. Minus five, minus eight, it’s a new experience for me.” SYED MEESUM KAZMI SENIOR, QATAR UNIVERSITY

“I’m excited about the Color Run. It’s this run where people throw colors at you and your friends. It’s a 5K. That’s the first thing I’m looking forward to. There’s so much more. There’s Purple Pride Week. It’s part of the student union so I’ll be taking up a lot of responsibilities. I’m really excited for that.”

“For the past few years, I made the resolution that I would exercise. That doesn’t happen ... I’m really excited to get into Engage Chicago. It seems really great because it’s a chance to give back to the community. I come from a poor country in Southeast Asia so I like to have this opportunity to give back.” SYEDA AZKA ALI JUNIOR, NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

BASMAH AZMI FRESHMAN NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY

“This semester we’re going to be working on a children’s fashion collection, like two or three collections that are going to be actually sewn. I’m going to make them look very cute or make them look old, like imitating older people.” SAMYA ABOU-RAHMA VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

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“I’m trying to be healthy and keep a positive mindset: If I believe that I can do it then I can do it.” FAISAL EL-AGLA SOPHOMORE VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

“I’m excited to find out what opportunities await after we graduate, where I’m going to work and how we’re going to apply the lessons that we’re taking.” DANA BARGHTI SOPHOMORE VIRGINIA COMMONWEALTH UNIVERSITY

“I am excited about the courses that we’re taking. We’re taking a course with Dr Ian Miller about superheroes and villains. We’re starting with Freud and Young. It has to do with psychoanalysis. I just finished my new leadership camp for 2015. It’s so inspiring; the small things that we can do that can actually result in a big change. I’m also excited about the clubs. There’s the women’s health interest group and the gynecology club which we started this year.” TOQA AFIFI FIRST YEAR PRE-MED, WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE

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“I might go to Pittsburg, where our main campus is. During any of your eight semesters in Qatar you can take one in Pittsburg. It’s the first time I’ll go abroad – living alone, doing my own laundry.” HASAN AL-JAWAHERI JUNIOR, CARNEGIE MELLON UNIVERSITY

“I’m hopefully going to be working on a clinical neurology project based in an Alzheimer’s Research clinic. It’s this new idea of taking a group of people who don’t have symptoms and providing them with intervention, like diet or exercise modifications, to see if that can delay symptoms of memory loss, dementia or the inability to perform tasks.” MU JI HUANG WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL COLLEGE

“I’m looking forward to this semester. We take this class called Human Structure and Function. In this course we dive deep into the human anatomy and actually see human bodies. Actually touch and work on the things you see in your anatomy textbook.” KHALID AHMED FIRST YEAR MEDICAL STUDENT WEILL CORNELL MEDICAL SCHOOL

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LEARNING THROUGH STORIES BY AYSWARYA MURTHY

Last year, two Arabic schools under the Supreme Education Council piloted an exciting new program that was meant to teach middle school students the concepts of computing through animation. CAMPUS speaks to the man behind the local version of Alice about the nuances of this cool piece of software.

DR SAQUIB

Razak Assistant Teaching Professor at Carnegie Mellon University Qatar (CMUQ) is mildly taken aback when we tell him Alice sounds like the name of an evil computer program from a sci-fi movie (like the Red Queen in Resident Evil). “No no...Alice is named after Alice in Wonderland,” he says quickly. The project started in the late 90s at Carnegie Mellon in Pittsburgh. In 2012, CMUQ received funding from the Qatar National Research Fund to develop a local version to be used by students in Qatar. This was the first time the project had come to the Middle East although efforts had been made to translate it into Spanish and Portuguese for use in Latin America.

because there is zero intelligence in the computer itself,” he says, before asking what we think is the most frustrating part of programming. For most, it would be the silly syntax errors that happen when you try to run a program. So while we spend large chunks of time trying to get the programming syntax right, the actual purpose of programming is solving problems, according to Dr Razak. “Through Alice we try to circumvent the need to get the programming language right and just focus on understanding the concepts in computations, how to break the problem into simple pieces and put them together. That’s the essence of the Alice program. Language is reduced to simple drag and drop blocks and problems are addressed in the context of telling a story through animation.

What are loops? How do you put together sequential execution and concurrent execution to solve a problem? How to think clearly about problems, in terms of computation?” he explains. Then Dr Razak gave us a demo of the software on his computer. We can, at this point, just cut to the chase and tell you it blew our minds away. Because it is quite difficult to explain how the software works without seeing it. In fact, we had read press releases, sat in on a talk and listen to pitches over the phone without really being impressed because we were unable to grasp it. But sitting there, in the quiet office in CMU-Q, and watching Dr Razak turn simple animations into computational problems and vice versa, the true potential of the software was revealed. Therefore, futile

So what exactly is Alice and why are CMUQ, schools and the SEC so excited about it? “The the best way to understand a problem is to teach it to someone, but a better way is to teach it to a computer;

“So we are not trying to create computer scientists. That’s not the purpose of Alice. Alice helps you learn the concept without having to worrying about the language and syntax. What is a conditional execution?

though the attempt maybe, we will try to explain what we saw. In Alice, everything starts with an empty world. A barren desert, an endless concrete floor. Students can then drag and drop

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The CMUQ team introduces the software to teachers from participating schools.

various elements into the world. These 3D models can be anything from buildings and cars to footballs and people. Even Garfield. “We worked on making the software more Middle Eastern by adding models that are more relevant and familiar to the people here. So this Qatarization of Alice meant that 39 new models were introduced, from traditional tents and camels to Sheikhs and Fort Zubarah,” Dr Razak explains. You can manipulate your point of view (for instance, making the camera rotate clockwise, making a full revolution in five seconds) and also make the objects perform certain pre-written tasks (like make the Sheikh lift his right arm or bend his knee or go forward seven steps). With hundreds of objects that have dozens of components, all you need is an active imagination to create a story and the conceptual understanding to bring that story alive on screen. “We can teach a lot of programming concepts through this. For example, if you wanted to get the student to understand an if-then clause, we can create a man, a ball and goal post. The man kicks the ball and it moves a random number of meters. If the ball is within the goal, the man celebrates. If not, he tries again. That’s a conditional execution. Now, take a bunch of students standing in a queue. You want all of them to move three steps forward so you create a loop instead of moving them individually,” he says. He talks about a function that students can build to make a character pray. Provided they know all the right positions and how to manipulate the attributes of a

“We worked on making the software more Middle Eastern by adding models that are more relevant and familiar to the people here. So this Qatarization of Alice meant that 39 new models were introduced, from traditional tents and camels to Sheikhs and Fort Zubarah.” suitable curriculum for the schools and train teachers on how to teach these concepts, keeping in mind the expertise of both students and teachers here, Dr Razak says. The one year module (which is not free of assessments, mind you) was initially introduced in one private English school – Al Arqam Academy -– a few months ago and in two independent schools – Ali bin Abi-Talib Independent School and Khalid bin Waleed Independent School – last year. Dr Razak and his team are monitoring how students in these schools are using and learning from

I observed that students didn’t know the subtle differences; like roll and turn. It was extra work for them to figure out something like 'left front leg'. It’s a cognitive overload; they are not only trying to solve the problem itself but also struggling with English which is not their primarily language. They shouldn’t’ have to do this extra work. So in the coming semester I hope to hire 10 students to help translate the models,” he says. So far Dr Razak is happy to note that students love working with Alice. “But in my opinion, it’s not only important to teach Alice and also help students realise what they can do with it. Do you like cartoons? You can recreate your favorite Tom & Jerry short through Alice. Do you like cars? You can create a track and host a race. Kids need to be made aware of the possibilities,” he says. The software (both the US and Qatari versions) and the accompanying learning guides are free for anyone to download at alice.qatar.cmu.edu. The team in CMUQ is waiting for SEC evaluation on how the program is working out in these two schools this year, before rolling it out in all other schools in the coming academic year. The work is just starting for Dr Razak. Before he winds up he shows us an animation created through Alice by a group of fifth grade girls. It’s about Qatari hospitality. A group of men are welcomed into a Qatari household and offered Karak and dates. There is a lot of conversation in Arabic (apparently recorded by one of the girls’ teachers). Then the visitors are taken around Fort Zubarah.

character to get them in that position. It’s actually a very engaging way to get children to think critically about the sequence of action that will give them result they want. Another aspect of the job is to create a

the software. “The software is currently in English. Initially we had imagined that students in Arabic schools wouldn’t need to know much English beyond 'move,' 'left,' 'up,' etc. But during my visits to the schools,

Dr Razak says this was aired on one of the local channels on Qatar National Day. We decided to download the software ourselves because that video looked like it was simply too much fun to make.

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cameras on campus BY AYSWARYA MURTHY

last year at Ajyal Film Festival, several young students submitted some stunning entries for the Made in Qatar competition. We caught up with a few of the brilliant young filmmakers who spoke about their dreams, inspirations and plans. 2015

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10% Yousef Al Madadi

Community College in Qatar About 10% : “A young man is obsessed with his mobile phone. Worried because his battery is running low, he gets into all kinds of trouble because of his beloved gadget - losing his job, crashing his car and even falling into a sewage pit! Is this the end of the love affair between man and machine? Told in hilarious flashbacks, 10% is a witty take on everyone’s dependence on mobiles that rings timely and true.”

Why we loved it: Starts out like a dark thriller before making an amusing u-turn. The lead actor is goofy and endearing and brings out the humour in everyday situations. The supporting cast is also quite amazing.

The jury at Made in Qatar chose 10% for the $5,000 prize money at the end of the two days' film showcase. The crowd went berserk when the winner was announced; it was a clear favourite. “This being our first competition, we just wanted to participate, show our films and learn from other filmmakers. We didn’t think we had any chance of winning until we saw how much the audience was laughing and enjoying the film,” he says. It was the best kind of feedback: smiles. “The film was light, mirroring our

shoot inside a real sewer, we had to use various techniques and props to make it look like our main character was trapped in a real hole.” A crop of professional actors (main lead Mohammed Al Sayari’s work was especially well received), a brilliant crew and the backing of the production company Hazawi pictures were critical to the film’s success, he says. “We were all working very hard to get into the festival.” And not only did they get in, but they blew everyone away. Yousef is working as a film editor at the Doha Film Institute while simultaneously trying to complete his education, a bachelor’s degree from CCQ and film studies in the UK. He says his time is spread thin between studying, working and filmmaking, but he loves the challenge primarily because he wants to

addictions to our phones and many of us could relate to the situations unfolding on the screen.” Shot over three days and edited over two weeks, Yousef says it was challenging to work out how to switch between current events and flashbacks without confusing the viewers. “And because we couldn’t

“represent Qatar in the filmmaking industry and create films that reflect our culture and our way of life”. In fact, he is currently starting work on a feature film about life in Qatar. He won’t tell us too much about it other than promising it’s going to be an “international comedy”.

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amreeka laa hind al ansari Northwestern University alumni/ Harvard University, US

About Amreeka Laa : “Yousif desperately wants to go to university in New York City, so when the school he has applied to accepts him, he starts getting ready for the big move to the USA. His father, however, is opposed to the idea of his son going to a land where he will not be respected. Will Yousif’s dream succeed where his father’s could not? A fascinating examination of the hopes and dreams of two generations.” Why we loved it: The story is of two generations trying to bridge the gaps between them and support each other while still trying to fulfill their individual aspirations. This could have easily been reminiscent of a soap opera but the sarcastic tone of the film helps get the message across even better. Hind wanted to do a semester abroad because she was desperately trying to avoid the filmmaking requirement here in Doha. Ironically, her experiences following that inspired her to make the movie, Amreeka Laa. After she applied and was accepted to study in the United States, she had only one month in which to convince her reluctant mother. “Not only was I the eldest, I was also a girl and this

was making it very hard for me to leave for the US. I don’t know what’s the impression about the US among our parents (who don’t have the same kind of negative judgments about the UK) but both girls and guys struggle with this in equal measure,” she says. But not only did she end up going, she also shot some scenes for the movie there. Hind didn’t intend for the movie to be a comedy, but is happy that it turned out that way. “I tend to be very sarcastic so when I write it I don’t usually think of it as funny. I was surprised (but pleased) at the laughs we got.” Originally a class project during her senior year, Amreeka Laa was shot on a student budget, with the school’s equipment and with help from Innovation Films,

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where Hind used to spend most of her time. “I had put it aside after my time at NU. I certainly didn’t think I would be taking it to festivals. But after Ajyal, DFI asked me if they could submit it for a festival in France. It is going to be screened there in January,” she smiles. She would go, but it conflicts with her classes back in Boston. She started to realize her latent love for filmmaking after she started shooting documentaries. “I realized I liked to deliver stories this way. And after taking more classes on the Middle East, I knew it was time to talk about issues that go on in the country

to smart about your narrative, nevertheless. “I was asked to remove a few lines from film because they might be considered offensive (even though they were quite realistic). There is always a sense of censorship, but I want to keep pushing the limits,” she says. But there is one aspect of directing films that she is yet to get used to: actually directing people. “I am very individualistic and dependent on myself so it was hard for me to command people to do things. As a director I had to tell every single person on the crew what to do. Eventually I had to adapt,” she says, shrugging. As she prepares to fly back to the States, she is already planning

and region through film and create space for discourse.” Qatar doesn’t have a much of a reading culture, she says, but films could take their place, making people think, allowing them to go beyond the surface. This is why she feels Qatar should take filmmaking more seriously. “We youth have this opportunity to deliver a message through a medium that relatively outside government control and we should utilize it.” But Hind has learnt that you have

her next projects. “I would definitely be shooting over the summer. Most probably it would be a documentary that focuses on Arab communities there, especially the Yemenis who make up a sizeable number. I would like to deliver their voices, the challenges they face, the backgrounds they come from and so on through the documentary. Plan B is a dark comedy thriller,” she says mysteriously.

hind's dream suzannah mirghani

Center for International and Regional Studies, Georgetown University About Hind’s Dream : “Hind, a young bedouin woman, spends weeks alone while her husband is away hunting. Their tent is her entire world, yet her dreams and thoughts carry her miles away, over the desert, under the sea, to the fast-changing urban landscape of Doha. Past and future, tradition and innovation, reality and dreams smoothly blend in the evocative monologue of a woman who might be living in a confined space, but whose sense and sensibility are larger than life.”

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Why we loved it: It is beautifully shot using every landscape available in Qatar: turquoise waters and endless desert to towering skyscrapers and even the Richard Serra sculptures up North. This combined with some goosebumps-inducing poetry immerses viewers in the surreal. Suzannah writes: “The making of this film was totally unconventional and followed no rules whatsoever. When I started, I did not have a set script and the whole process was thoroughly experimental from beginning to end. All I knew was that I wanted to explore some metaphysical ideas related to life in the Gulf and to the desert and desert-dwellers. With newly formed Gulf cities as my background, I thought it would be interesting to explore the fluid concepts of time and the unconscious, and how such shifts can have a lasting – and perhaps jarring – effect on our ways of thinking. Since the skylines of many Gulf cities sprang up within the span of just a few years, I began imagining what it would be like – and this is very possible still – for a Bedouin girl or boy, who has never seen a city, to one day stumble out of the edge of the desert and look upon the rising steel structures of a metropolis. What kind of a shock would this bring? Would they think it was just another mirage? “Qatar offers so many visually-stunning film locations for free and it was really only necessary to take a camera out and shoot all that was on offer. The natural beauty of the desert is free to film as are the man-made skyscrapers, both finished and unfinished, and the public artworks scattered all around the country, including the surreal Richard Serra East-West/West-East structures, Maman by Louise Bourgeois, Damien Hirst’s The Miraculous Journey, etc. “I gradually collected snippets of stories that I have heard about the desert, about fire-loving jinn, about mirages, and about the

Bedouin, and began writing a free flowing poetic narrative. The most challenging part of making the film was also the most interesting. I made this film with the help of several students from Georgetown University in Qatar who contributed freely to the making of the film with no strict instructions. The two principal actors Asli Altinisik and Athanasios Sardellis acted according to 'mood' rather than following any set script. Haya Al Romaihi translated the original English poem I wrote into her own Arabic poem, and was free to create the Arabic poem in any way she wished. In the end, the Arabic poem was narrated in Arabic in the voiceover and the English poem appears in the English subtitles. Razan Al Humaidi recorded the Arabic voiceover privately and then sent me the files to include in the editing process. In the end this worked beautifully; before recording her voiceover, she was able to watch the silent footage of the film in her own time without any overbearing instructions from me. She gauged the melancholic mood of the film and then delivered her narrative tone accordingly. “Hind’s Dream premiered at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and received some very thoughtful reviews. It won an award for artistic vision and poetic screenwriting at Ajyal and we are absolutely thrilled about this award! It really shows that the film industry in Qatar is open to and is encouraging filmmakers to think differently and beyond the usual. When I made Hind’s Dream, I really did not expect such a surreal piece to resonate with so many people, but I have been so pleased and galvanized by the response. “I am currently working on pre-production of several other short films; just a few minutes of small ideas here and there. One thing I learned from making Hind’s Dream is that it is not necessary to get bogged down by rules and processes, but to work freely and at ease on the things you love to do. “

At Ajyal Film Festival. Hind's Dream team from right to left: Athanasios Sardellis, Arwa Elsanosi, Badr Rahima, Suzannah Mirghani

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lumière aisha abduljawad Northwestern University

About Lumière : “Shot in evocative black and white and underscored by classical music, Lumière is an abstract symphony of images that plays on the stark contrast between light and shadow, open and closed space, and urban and natural landscapes.” Why we loved it: Lumière meanders along to an unknown destination, taking you along with it. It doesn’t tell you where it’s going and you don’t care because the ride is a visual treat. Another class project that found its way into Ajyal, Lumière might look like the evolution of a photography project. But it isn’t, Aisha assures us. “It’s an experimental film at its core, and true to one of the fundamental aspects of experimental filmmaking, it does whatever it takes to deliver a very personal message.” Which is why she feels the lack of narrative could come across as conspicuous to some. “In the end though, I would encourage viewers to watch Lumière with an open mind, as the message is very much open to interpretation. There are no right or wrong

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understandings of my film.” Shot across Qatar and France during the course of a month, Lumière was a challenge to edit. “Difficult still was finding/ composing the soundtrack to exactly fit the story I wanted to tell in the film,” she says. While the cinematographic aspect was an inspirational process, Aisha found herself fussing over the smallest details during post-production. But it paid off. “The best feedback I’ve heard about the film was from a woman who pulled me aside and told me that it pushed her imagination and made her think hard about what she was seeing. That’s something always lovely to hear, because it’s exactly what I aimed to do – not just to give people something beautiful to watch, but something to be actively engaging their minds in,” she says.

qarar ali al ansari bangor university, uk

About Qarar : “Like a George Romero movie or an instalment of The Walking Dead set in post-apocalyptic Qatar, Qarar tells the suspenseful tale of a young married couple trying to survive an epidemic that has turned the population into zombies. While he battles the monsters, she hides a secret... Sparse use of CGI and a keen eye for atmosphere make this a great addition to the zombie myth.”

Why we loved it: Zombies in Doha. What’s there not to love? You might think you have seen it all when it comes to zombies but this crisp tale of horror will surprise you. Ali achieved fame with I, an adaptation of Edgar Allen Poe’s The Tell Tale Heart. With Qarar he delves deeper into the horror/thriller genre, only this time with zombies. “Qarar took us six months to adapt and construct for it be ready to shoot. This of course included script preparation and developments for characters, set design and wardrobe. Principal photography started shortly after and took five days to film and complete. Post Production, color and sound took a total of three months. The CG element was intense and most of our time was dedicated to the CG work,” Ali says. And it was

benefits of tackling this specific genre,” he says. When asked if he thought the audience was too jaded now with the zombie genre going mainstream, Ali says Qarar wasn’t about setting a benchmark in zombie fiction. “Qatar is in the process of moving forward on all fronts in many sectors. This genre was a challenge for us in all aspects and our primary goal was to challenge ourselves as young filmmakers through CG, special effects, visual effects, etc. We wanted to prove that we are able to deliver what is popular and mainstream at a certain quality to prove that Qatar harbors the potential.” And the response has been overwhelming. “The best feedback of course was not only the supporting words of family and loved ones but also the recognition accorded to me and the team from the State

worth every minute they spent on it. Viewers won’t forget in a hurry the shot of the hero looking on the familiar Doha skyline, only this one has been decimated after the onset of a zombie epidemic. “Besides the CG work, it was a challenge to get our actors and team on board something so out of the box and convince them of the

through DFI and other bodies of media who lauded the step we took with this film.” In the coming months, Ali will be focusing on completing his film degree. But he is also currently writing two short films that target two different genres that he hasn’t done before. “God willing these will come to fruition soon for all to see.”

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Alena Pynes of DYC,

IN HARMONY BY L ABIGAI S MATHIA

There is something special about live vocal music. When sung in harmony by young voices, the melody is even more uplifting. At least thatâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s the feeling the audience was left with at the recently concluded performance of the Doha Youth Choir.

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Images by Nigel Downes

Doha Youth Choir

o ring in the festive season, three groups – the Doha Youth Choir, Doha Singers, and Doha Community Orchestra came together for a heartwarming performance. Held at the American School of Doha, the sold out event was a first for many young singers. Two shows were performed on the same day as the troupes took to the stage to create the feeling of winter in Qatar. Led by Alena Pyne, the Doha Youth Choir swayed and sung in bright red capes and Santa hats. They chose songs familiar to the audience, offering music sheets for everyone to sing along. The leader of the choral group shares the experience. “This is just our second year,” smiles Alena, acknowledging that it is not an easy

recently senior singers from the Youth Choir were invited to form the children’s chorus in the Qatar Philharmonic Orchestra’s production of the classical piece, Carmina Burana, which was performed at the QNCC. As the leader Alena seems at ease managing different age groups and temperaments. We witness how she encourages the young ones who made their debut at the show, by offering certificates to those who’ve excelled. “The children just need a passion for music. If you have that, the discipline follows.” The group is made up of children from the ages of 8 to 16 where members receive specialized training in sight-singing, notation and theory, vocal technique, music interpretation and are exposed to a great variety of an extensive classical choral repertoire.

to rope in committed members as children in the city are consumed with school work and other activities. To keep them motivated, the group tries to organize fun events of their own, “We have a lot of social activities in the choir itself,” says Alena whose daughter is in the choir. The children narrate their own experiences. Eleven- year-old Misha is a Soprano choir leader who takes her role seriously. She says, “Being a choir leader is a huge honor and a lot of pressure and responsibility as it involves knowing all the music you should know, being a role model at performances, keeping morale up and checking up on your group with a couple of exercises.” Monica is from Europe and was previously a member of Brompton Oratory Junior Choir in London. It is not just the young singers but their

task to make a choral performance a success. “Our choir is made up of children who are first and foremost happy to sing.” The group sings a mixed repertoire of both secular and non-secular music. Most

Comprising voices from different communities in Qatar, the choir tries to deliver unique performances, every time, and (in their own words) "have good fun along the way". Of course it isn’t always easy

parents whose commitment to the group is paramount. Acknowledging this Alena says, “It has been hard for parents, especially juggling with traffic to get the children to rehearsals on time. In fact we took the tough

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Rushing to rehearsal

Image by Ajay Aloni

Image by Catherine Headley

Practice in progress

Image by Catherine Headley

All together now

Image by Catherine Headley

decision to add a second rehearsal this year. My aspirations for this choir are that they become a proper concert choir and we will never achieve that without practice,” she says. The group leaders were posed with a difficult decision, increasing the quality of singing called for more rigorous practices. As a result of hectic schedules, the numbers dropped. Many families also moved away during the course of the year, which is a common occurrence in this region and deeply impacts the group. “When we recommenced our practices for this show, seven families had left Qatar, leaving us with just 14 singers. Despite this we auditioned again and expanded to have 27 children,” explains Alena. Kalika, 15, is from India and hopes to become an artist one day. “I joined the Doha Youth Choir in 2013 and have loved it since,” she says. “The choir has given me a

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“MY ASPIRATIONS FOR THIS CHOIR ARE THAT THEY BECOME A PROPER CONCERT CHOIR AND WE WILL NEVER ACHIEVE THAT WITHOUT PRACTICE.” chance to improve through all the practice.

thrilling experiences with me forever.” A mix of fun and responsibility seems instilled in each of these budding artists. “Being a leader of the second sopranos is great. I help my peers to find their way through the music and notes. It helps me as a singer to develop my understanding of music through helping them. It provides all of us with a chance of improving as we are all learning together,” adds Kalika. The group intends to collaborate with other international choirs in the near future. Plans are being made to host the awardwinning Hamburg Girls Choir in Qatar soon. Auditions are also underway for new

We recently had a mini-Halloween hang-out with delicious food and games. It has created a lot of fun memories for everyone and is one of the best parts of being a part of this choir. I have met some of my absolute closest friends here and will carry the

strong voices for the next performance. Despite all the pressures of keeping the group active, its leaders are committed to seeing the group thrive. “The hardest thing is to get them to stand still,” laughs Alena, summing it all up on a high note.

Original art by artfinale.deviantart.com

Arabic for “D’oh!” BY RYA AYSWA HY MURT The constant flurry of activity in Education City has included some exciting talks in the past but none arrested our attention like the one scheduled for January 19 at the Translation and Interpreting Institute (TII) – Dr Rashid Yahiaoui’s insight into the constraints behind dubbing The Simpsons in Arabic. CAMPUS caught up with him for a little pre-presentation teaser.

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Dr Rashid Yahiaoui

O 30

ne of the newest member universities of HBKU, T II has had quite a debut. The latest program to be introduced here is the Masters in Audiovisual Translation which happens to be Dr Rashid Yahiaoui’s specialty. He and his two colleagues handle various aspects of the course that covers subtitling (including for deaf and hard of hearing), dubbing and audio description for the blind. The 11 students who are part of the first batch are currently busy in projects involving dubbing films, documentaries and more from English to Arabic. “Arab countries consume a lot of audiovisual entertainment,” he says, “as evidenced by the 1300+ satellite channels in the region and the rapid growth in social media.” And to satiate the appetite of the millions of viewers tuning in every day, channels often turn towards content from foreign lands (made palatable to Arab audiences, of course). “A lot of sitcoms are being subtitled or dubbed (which is ten times more expensive) depending on the age group the program is aimed at,” he says. From Turkish soap operas and Korean sitcoms to Argentinean telenovelas and Bollywood movies, Arab T V is a funnel for the best of global entertainment. The Simpsons has for a while now been a staple of the Middle East’s T V diet, usually subtitled. But ten years ago a most daring experiment was undertaken – the dubbing (or essentially, the arabization) of the venerable animated sitcom. Homer became

“My interest sprang from the fact that The Simpsons is such an icon of American pop culture and a satirical critique of every aspect of American society. It is one of the longest running animated series yet it didn’t work in Arabic for a variety of reasons,” he says.

Omar, Bart was rechristened as Badr and the Shamshoons lived in a non-descript American town with an unusually big Arab community. Superficially the changes didn’t seem that drastic, but delve deeper, and the Arabic version turned out to be a strange, alien copy of the original that confused and angered old fans and failed to make any

adaptation, that was intended to be more digestible to Arabs, was a show that was no longer the Simpsons.” If Homer doesn’t eat pork ribs or drink beer, he isn’t Homer; if Bart doesn’t do devilish things, Ned Flanders isn’t annoyingly religious or Smithers doesn’t harbor secret feelings for Mr Burns, what is it exactly that we are watching?

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new ones. The program was scrapped after barely four seasons; some episodes that had already been dubbed never saw the light of day. And this ended the attempt to introduce this dysfunctional American family to a new audience. Several years later, avid fan Dr Yahiaoui decided to analyse this short-lived series to get a better idea of the ideological and cultural constraints in audiovisual translation. “My interest sprang from the fact that The Simpsons is such an icon of American pop culture and a satirical critique of every aspect of American society. It is one of the longest running animated series yet it didn’t work in Arabic for a variety of reasons,” he says. “One version is that Gracie Films pulled the plug on it because the

And these were just the obvious ones. “The Simpsons is the Aladdin’s Cave for translation bumps. There are many cultural references, puns and idiomatic expressions that don’t have an equivalent in the Arab world.” It also tackled a lot of controversies and much of the cursing, nudity, criticism of religion, etc. was considered not suitable for the region. “It was intriguing for me to see how the translator managed to get around the difficulties of portraying these to the Arab audience. I thoroughly enjoyed analyzing the episodes; alternatively laughing my head off at the ingenuity of script writers and marveling at the deftness in which the translator dealt with many of the problems.” All we could think was, what an insanely cool and fun way to earn a PhD. Dr Yahiaoui, in his talk, will be addressing the various manipulations that had to be done to the original for it to be able to air in the Middle East. “The constraints that led to these changes might have been intrinsic to the translator (conscious or otherwise) or imposed on him externally by the broadcaster or producer,” he explains. “There was a lot of self censoring – often because the content was deemed blasphemous. Sometimes changes were made to reflect positively on Egypt (the translators and voice actors were mostly Egyptian). One example is the episode in which Selma and Patty visit Egypt and return with plenty of complaints about the flies as big as a camel's head and the smelly Nile. The translator replaced 'Egypt' with 'Africa' and suddenly Selma was bellyaching about the whole continent and not just the country, which probably doesn’t hurt as badly. “While working on my thesis I also had extensive interviews with the translator who I realized had an anti-American slant. In many ways, he wanted to expose the American myth of the perfect society; the land of freedom and opportunity. But at the same time, he also wanted to challenge some taboos in the Arab world. “Like the episode where Homer finds Bart smoking; "As punishment, he makes him smoke a whole pack,” Dr Yahiaoui remembers. Not exactly parenting 101 but the translator left that unchanged, considering how wide-spread smoking was in the region. “References to gambling were also left alone because he felt this was happening in the Arab world and it had to be addressed.” These, together with external interferences, changed the very DNA of the series. Homer would have had a breakdown if he knew he was being denied beer in this version. Instead he had to sustain himself on juice! “The translator had suggested a compromise; to use She’er, a non-alcoholic malt drink, which also worked well for the dubbing but this was shot down.” Understandably, sexual references and nudity were totally removed. Religious references, irrespective of which religion, were handled with kid gloves, and often completely omitted. This was especially hard since religion was one of the Simpsons writers’ favourite punching bags. But the translator seemed to have at least won some other battles. “Very often the series truly excelled in capturing the essence of the sarcastic comments. The main reason for this is the fact that it was

Homer the Heretic, the episode where Homer rejects the Church and starts his own religion, was never dubbed in Arabic. Incidentally this is considered one of the best Simpsons episodes of all time.

much of it was indeed lost in translation. It was a tricky proposition from the start because the channel wanted the show to cater to both kids and adults. “So the producers had to make it as acceptable for the kids in addition to ensuring it didn’t conflict with Islamic values. So in that sense, it got the job done. Censorship is not always negative especially when it is done in accordance with your ethics and culture to protect impressionable kids. But for those who had seen the original Simpsons, it was a disaster.” However, Dr Yahiaoui still considers this worth the attempt. “There is no perfect translation; it is not possible. But that doesn’t mean we don’t even try to cross the divide between countries and bridge cultures. We still need to see what’s out there and communicate our ideas,” he says. “Yes, it was unfair to both the audience and the creatives behind the original (this was in fact one of the contentious issues), but that's the essence of translation in these cases; if you are being entirely faithful , you are risking it not even being broadcast.” At least those who had never watched the Simpsons now loved or hated it in a (reasonably) informed manner. Dr Yahiaoui will be talking more about this during his talk, with clips from the episodes to illustrate his point. Drop in at T II on January 19 between 2-3 pm for this fascinating presentation. Dr Yahiaoui assures us there’ll be donuts. Now repeat this to yourself in Homer’s voice: “Mmmm... Donuts...”

dubbed into Egyptian vernacular which is more flexible, has more puns and street expressions that the more rigid Modern Standard Arabic. The writer was against MSA from the very beginning because he was so sure that the humor will be lost and it took him three months to negotiate that, according to him.” Despite this,

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CAREER TRIVIA

FIRST IMPRESSION AT A JOB INTERVIEW YOU KNOW WHAT THEY SAY: YOU NEVER GET A SECOND CHANCE TO MAKE A FIRST IMPRESSION. THAT’S ALWAYS THE CASE WHEN MEETING SOMEONE FOR THE FIRST TIME, BUT ESPECIALLY SO WHEN IT COMES TO A JOB INTERVIEW. To make sure you don’t end your job interview before it has even begun, here are some do’s and dont’s from the career experts at Bayt.com to help you make a good first impression at a job interview.

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THE DO’S

THE DONT’S

DO ARRIVE ON TIME, alone, with a professional smile and firm handshake. This will indicate that you are happy to be there. Generally, the image you want to reflect is one that is professional and positive.

DO WATCH YOUR BODY LANGUAGE.

DON’T WEAR STRONG PERFUME.

During the job interview, sit upright in your chair, maintaining comfortable eye contact, smiling, and nodding politely.

You don’t want to cause any discomfort or respiratory allergies to the interviewer.

DO SHOW ENTHUSIASM.

DO DRESS CONSERVATIVELY AND SENSIBLY. Do not wear clothes that are too tight or revealing (we recommend a business suit for the first interview). Too many accessories or jewelry, attire that is too casual or unclean, sloppy and careless attire, and excessive or inappropriate makeup will all send out the wrong message. The Bayt.com ‘Influence of Personal Appearance on Hiring Decisions in the MENA’ poll, March 2013, reveals that 76.4% of professionals in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region believe that an employer’s decision to hire is highly influenced by a candidate’s physical appearance. The same poll also found that good grooming shows good character and the candidate’s interest in the position.

BE COURTEOUS. Listen to the interviewer attentively, smile politely and do not interrupt. Tailor your answers to the precise questions to show that you are in fact listening and understanding all that is being said.

Your attitude can make or break the interview. Employers are looking for energetic professionals. Looking bored or tired or displaying a lack of interest during the interview will work against you. The Bayt.com ‘Hiring Practices in the MENA Region’ poll, February 2012, shows that recruiters in MENA look for hunger, drive and ambition as the most important things when making a hiring decision.

BE HONEST. They may seem like they are not, but exaggerations and outright lies at the interview stage are glaringly obvious. Dishonesty and clear exaggerations are among the most common mistakes jobseekers in the MENA make during an interview, as stated by employers in the Bayt.com ‘Hiring Practices in the MENA Region’ poll.

DON’T CHEW GUM, smoke, eat or drink at the interview. This might suggest plain and simple disrespect.

DON’T ACT DISTRACTED. Look the interviewer straight in the eye and give them your full and undivided attention.

DON’T BRING UP YOUR PERSONAL LIFE. This also includes comments on politics, religion or any other controversial topics that may be off track.

DON’T STRAY FROM THE INTERVIEW QUESTIONS. Keep your answers factual, honest and professional.

LEAVE HAPPY. Make sure your goodbye handshake is just as confident as it was when you were going in.

Finally, making the right first impression during a job interview isn’t hard if you keep in mind three basic rules: First, personal appearance does count. Second, your body language says a lot about you, so make sure you don’t send the wrong cues. And three, dress as you want to be seen: a person who takes their career seriously.

Bayt.com is the #1 job site in the Middle East with more than 40,000 employers and over 18,250,000 registered job seekers from across the Middle East, North Africa and the globe, representing all industries, nationalities and career levels. Post a job or find jobs on www.bayt.com today and access the leading resource for job seekers and employers in the region.

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CELEB TALK

A CATALYST FOR

CHANGE “One child, one teacher, one book, one pen can change the world.” MALALA YOUSAFZAI

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ew people in the world today are unaware of who Malala Yousafzai is. Her name and life story has been discussed across social media platforms as well as the mainstream press for a while now. This teenage girl happens to be the youngest recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize, and also the first from her country, Pakistan. But who really is this young girl and why is she now a household name? An official music video released last year with the title, I am Malala, has inspired young girls from across the world and received close to 300,000 hits and counting. That’s the power of Malala, a girl who has come to symbolize a child’s right to education. Young Malala went to school in Swat, Pakistan, but her life was never the same after October 9, 2012. While returning from school, she was shot in the head by the Taliban. She was only 15 at the time and was picked out precisely because she was vocal about education. She later marked her 16th birthday with a live address from UN headquarters, and has been lauded by a former British prime minister as “an icon of courage and hope”. On October 15, 2012, Malala arrived at the Queen Elizabeth hospital in Birmingham, where she would remain for the next three months. She had been kept in a medically induced coma, but a day later the doctors decided to bring her out of it. In what may be considered her second life she has now made world leaders sit up and notice that the voice of the young cannot be ignored.

“I am those 66 million girls who are out of school.” – Malala addressing the audience while accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.

And yet Malala almost never made it. She was shot in the head and neck at point blank range. Her story of survival, dramatic enough for a feature film, which will no doubt be made if it isn’t already in the works, inspires hope. The Malala Fund with its many, many followers, is focused on helping girls go to school and raise their voices for the right to education. It’s a movement that is begging for change and as much as we’d like to negate its worth, it is a force with which to reckon. Malala’s cause is poignant. She humbly accepted the Peace Prize saying that the award wasn’t really for her. “It is for those forgotten children who want education,” she continued. “It is for those frightened children who want peace. It is for those voiceless children who want change.” Barely a few days after Malala shared the prestigious platform to accept the Nobel Peace Prize her home country was gripped

in mourning. After the horrific attack on children in a Peshawar school many turned to Malala who’s story was eerily similar, with one difference, she survived. “I am heartbroken by this senseless and cold blooded act of terror in Peshawar. Innocent children in their school have no place in horror such as this. I, along with millions of others around the world, mourn these children, my brothers and sisters – but we will never be defeated,” she said. Her bestselling book, I am Malala is written by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb, a foreign correspondent who has reported on Pakistan and Afghanistan since 1987. It recounts the details of life in Pakistan and how much is left to done for education. Malala now studies at Edgbaston High School for Girls in Birmingham, England. She said she would spend her share of the prize money on building schools in Pakistan. Skeptics have offered theories that her story was manufactured. Some even went to the extent of saying that she is a spy of the Western world. It takes a lot of courage to speak with the conviction that she does. Speaking at a news conference on the eve of winning the Nobel peace prize ceremony, she said, “We are not here just to accept our award, get this medal and go back home. We are here to tell children, especially, that you need to stand up. You need to speak up for your rights. It is you who can change the world.” While a few sit in judgment one thing is for certain, her story is one that will make anyone believe in the power of one person’s voice to inspire change in the world.

AN EXTRAORDINARY JOURNEY 1997

Born in Swat Valley, Pakistan.

2012

Shot in an assassination attempt by Taliban.

2009

Wrote anonymous BBC blog about life under the Taliban.

2013

2009-10

Identity revealed in TV interviews and a documentary.

Nobel Peace Prize nominee, named one of TIME magazine’s most influential people. Malala addresses the UN and calls for education for all children.

2011

International Children’s Peace Prize nominee.

2014

Shares the Nobel Peace Prize with India’s Kailash Satyarthi who also promotes the rights of children. Malala is the youngest person ever to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

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Sun, Sand, and Smiles

ADITYA KARKERA gives us a rundown – the good and the bad – of the recently concluded Run the World Festival, a youthful extravaganza on the shores of Katara.

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Images courtesy: The Youth Company

pirits were high and euphoria spiked as attendees flocked into the annual Run the World Festival (RT WF), hosted by The Youth Company annually and claimed to be the largest event of its kind in the region. But more than euphoria, the lingering sense of nostalgia was the chief of all the feelings that attendees bore in their hearts – for RT WF meant one and only one thing if previous years were any yardstick – sun, sand, and smiles. And as the day began, that was exactly what was delivered. From the exhilarating skateboard ramps that featured daredevils making exciting moves, to the football games on the waterfront that never ceased to be full of activity, RT WF 2014 looked to be all set to deliver another smashing success. The volleyball matches on the beach and the game stalls satiated the needs of the energetic crowd of attendees. Music buzzed across the air, and highly danceable tunes coursed through everyone’s bodies. The general atmosphere was one of excitement and youthfulness. As always, most of the attendees chose to attend the third day of the three day festival, because this day was the grand conclusion of RT WF’s flagship program, Youth Got Talent (YGT), as well as the grand finale of the festival, which is a crowd favourite. The momentum of the festival builds up to a stellar end, marked by what is usually a very competitive final round of YGT and a spectacular closing ceremony. But most of the attendees I spoke to were not exactly impressed with either. Youth’s Got Talent had a disappointing drop in performers, and veteran RT WF attendees recounted prior editions of the competition and noted that YGT 2014 ended very prematurely – nearly two or three hours earlier than in 2013. The variety on stage had dropped too, apparently, with many complaining that the only dish on the menu, so to speak, was beatboxing and hip hop. To those who love beatboxing and hip hop, this was good news. To those who enjoyed greater variety in the music they listen to, not so much. Apart from the drop in the pulse of the event – many attendees that I questioned were quite averse to the increasing amounts of stalls that were set up. One quipped that parts of the venue looked more like an advertisement than a cultural festival. While other attendees didn’t seem to mind the number of stalls, most were annoyed with the content of the stalls. “Literally anyone was in those stalls,” a friend of mine later told me, “I saw one with some medical business in it, and some with literally no relevance to the event.” While I would not wholly agree with the

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The point I’m trying to make is that if one were to take away all the corporate brands, all the pomp, all the over the top décor, and all the elaborate plans – thousands would still attend RTWF. general sentiment that the stalls were disrupting the experience of the event, considering there were such excellent stalls as the Abu Issa Racing stall and some amazing food stalls, I must agree that the number of commercial and sponsored stalls, and their distribution in the venue, did rise. Granted, these stalls are a source of revenue which allows The Youth Company to plan bigger and better events. But this time they were invasive. Nobody seemed to have a slight complaint about them last year, and certainly didn’t seem to find them as being an obstacle to their enjoyment. This year’s pre-event hype was considerably lower than last year's when almost everyone I knew had to have an RT WF profile picture on Facebook. Last year’s build up the event was setting trends and getting everyone excited. This year’s build up really didn’t attract much attention. I had to double check the date of the event. One staff member at The Youth Company said that, although social media promotion was at a high, the reason he believed volunteer turnout was lower this time was because most came for the certificates, and not in the true spirit of youth volunteerism. This, he said, was the reason why by his estimate 90% of volunteers did not volunteer the next year. When they weren’t complaining, however, the very same attendees I questioned did seem to be enjoying themselves and often said that the number one reason that brought them to RT WF and ensured their enjoyment weren’t the stalls, or the games, or the food, or even the sports, but friends. If they didn’t enjoy Youth Got Talent, they’d simply move with their friends to another part of the festival, talking, eating, and laughing all the way. The turnout was visibly lower this time, but that didn’t seem to influence why so many still turned up and stayed till the end. The point I’m trying to make is that if one were to take away all the corporate brands, all the pomp, all the over-the-top décor, and all the elaborate plans, thousands would still attend RT WF because it has become more than just a sports festival. It has become a platform for young voices, and a place where young people can come to find peace and have fun with their friends. Did The Youth Company fail to deliver enough? Were many of the attendees expecting too much? Or has RT WF peaked in its prime? These are not questions with definite answers because different attendees had very different experiences, opinions, and expectations. Ultimately, however, RT WF was, is, and continues to be a unique event because it allows young people to enjoy a day or two in the company of their closest friends and have fun while remembering the year and its ups and downs, something no other event in Qatar can claim to deliver as well as RT WF.

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Northwestern University in Evanston, USA.

HERE, THERE MARGARET KADIFA GIVES US THE LOWDOWN ON AN INTERNSHIP EXPERIENCE THAT BROUGHT HER FROM THE SPRAWLING NORTHWESTERN UNIVERSITY CAMPUS IN EVANSTON, UNITED STATES TO THE COMPACT AND “LUXURIOUS” EDUCATION CITY.

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arrived in Doha from the United States earlier this month to complete a mandatory part of my journalism major at Northwestern University: an internship at a magazine. My fascination of the Arab World and my desire to travel prompted me to select Doha as where I would complete this internship. Avoiding the freezing January temperatures, winter wind and the nearly eight centimeters of snow in Evanston, Illinois, which is where Northwestern is located and is just north of Chicago, is an added perk. I work at Qatar Today in the Oryx Advertising offices on the second floor of a canary-colored villa. Though I am not enrolled in classes, I live in the female accommodations in Education City. They are like a hotel compared to my freshman year dorm. It had not been remodeled since the 1980s. But having my own room and bathroom is lonelier than I expected. It’s too much privacy for an American college student who is used to the forced friend-

The graduating class of 2013 at NU-Q

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ships that roommates and communal bathrooms demand. After ending my first week in Doha wandering around Katara, the Corniche and the Souq Waqif, then sipping mint tea at sunset on the rooftop of a Moroccan restaurant, here’s what I’ve learned about living and studying in Doha. Students at Northwestern’s main and Qatar campuses have both told me that the academics are similar regardless of the country. What is different is the scale. Northwestern’s main campus encompasses dozens of buildings, located in Evanston and scattered throughout Chicago. There are over 8,500 undergraduate students in majors as diverse as engineering, psychology and creative writing. NU-Q, which only offers majors related to media, communications and journalism, is only a slice of the academics of the bigger main campus. As a journalism major, I feel at home on the Northwestern Qatar campus. One of my

The main library at Northwestern University in Evanston

roommates in Evanston who is premed would probably feel more at home on the Cornell University in Qatar campus. The other big difference is getting around Education City and Doha in general. I was assured that the campus was too big for me to walk from building to building. After waiting for a shuttle outside of Georgetown for 20 minutes during my first sandstorm, I realized that in fact it’s only about 15 minutes by foot from Georgetown back to the female accommodations, which is what I walk every day at home. People just do not walk here as much as they do in the United States where it is one of the primary ways of getting around campus. Always having to take a shuttle or taxi prompted one of my peers in Evanston who studied abroad at NU-Q during the fall to write a 20-page paper for one of his classes arguing why Doha needed to become more walkable. I am, however, adapting. I have a driver in one of the car services that I consistently use to get to work, back home and to the beach. He laughs at me when I tell him that I walk the kilometer and a half from my office to the grocery store. My first day here, the student and residential life manager at Northwestern took another American student and me around Education City. We gawked with jealousy at the studio that Northwestern broadcast students use. Its technology is more modern than that of many professional news outlets. I understood why it has become a hangout for students, a quasi-student center (of course, Education City’s actual student center is possibly the most luxurious that I’ve seen). We saw Northwestern’s future building and its current location on the third floor of Carnegie Mellon University. It was disorienting to see all of the purple Northwestern paraphernalia and then

distance and lawns covered in either fall leaves, snow or lounging students. In an effort to get involved in campus life, I joined the NU-Q student activities group on Facebook. It was through this group that I found out how popular beach volleyball is among students here. I plan to humiliate myself playing it as soon as possible. Beach

currently studying abroad at the main campus. They were standing on a snowcovered lawn.Seeing those students reminded me of the bigger purpose for why I’m here and why it is important that we have a Northwestern campus in Doha: cultural exchange. Hopefully over the next 10 weeks, I will glean at least a small understanding of

look outside the window to the construction cranes, modern buildings and desert of Education City. So much of what I equate with Northwestern is Lake Michigan, Chicago’s skyline in the

volleyball in January is a thrilling concept for someone who has spent the last three winters in intermittent snowstorms. This morning when I checked the group, I saw a post from five NU-Q students who are

what it means to be a college student in a place drastically different from where I live full-time. I hope that the students studying abroad at Northwestern gain this understanding as well.

Carnegie Mellon University building in Doha which currently houses Northwestern University.

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FOR THE LOVE OF THE GAME The last couple of months have brought out the active side of Doha. From international swimming championships and fun marathons to adrenaline-fueled tennis matches and world-class football, any kind of sporting action you could hope for happened right here in the city. We bring you some memorable images from these events

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FINA WORLD SWIMMING CHAMPIONSHIPS

02 QATAR EXXONMOBIL OPEN 2015

03 QATAR 2015 MEN’S HANDBALL WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP

OOREDOO MARATHON 2015

04 ITALIAN SUPER CUP: JUVENTUS VS NAPOLI

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TECH TALK

UNDERWATER SHOPPING BORED OF BROWSING YOUR LOCAL ELECTRONICS STORE AT THE MALL? SONY BRINGS A COMPLETELY IMMERSIVE EXPERIENCE TO DUBAI.

Sony, which previously stunned us by unboxing the Xperia Z3 underwater, has taken it a step further. The electronics giant unveiled a first-of-its-kind underwater store - Aquatech - set off the coast of Dubai. The futuristic store was located at The World Islands and open to VIPs, select customers and media for three days only in December. Visitors to the store had to don a full-body wet suit, strap on oxygen tanks and fins, and dive down four meters to the ocean floor to reach Aquatech. Once inside the air bubble in the store, they could browse a range of waterproof Xperia smartphones, tablets and accessories.

THE EYES WANT WHAT THE TUMMY WANTS

AN INNOVATIVE, DIGITAL MENU BY PIZZA HUT CAN MAKE RECOMMENDATIONS BASED ON A CUSTOMER’S SUBCONSCIOUS CRAVING. The pizza chain has partnered with eye-tracking firm Tobii Technology to develop a menu that is completely controlled by your retina. Once the sensor can recognize your eye movements, you’ll be shown a grid of 20 potential toppings on the screen and the menu will know, in exactly 2.5 seconds, which of the ingredients you lingered over the longest. “The menu then uses a powerful mathematical algorithm to identify, from 4896 possible ingredient combinations, the customer’s perfect pizza,” the company said in a statement, adding that 98% of the customers this was tested on, were satisfied with the recommendations made. The new digital menu is being rolled out to every refurbished Pizza Hut restaurant in the UK.

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RESOLUTIONS 2015

OOREDOO LAUNCHES 4G+ NETWORK

Us muggles aren’t the only people wondering what our new year’s resolutions are going to be. Mark Zuckerberg was trying to figure out the very same thing. But he capitalized on the power of Facebook to zero in on his personal goal for 2015. And it’s important to note, this is a man who takes his resolutions seriously. He reportedly learnt Mandarin in a year. After millions of users on the social network came together to help him in his quest, he settled on reading an entire book every other week; that is 26 books in 2015. He plans to place particular emphasis on books that help him learn about “different cultures, beliefs, histories, and technologies.” Users can follow up on his progress and discuss the books he is reading through the Facebook page “A Year of Books”. The first title on his list, The End of Power by Moisés Naím, was temporarily sold out on Amazon.

CUSTOMERS COULD INITIALLY ACCESS THIS FIRST OF ITS KIND NETWORK AT THE CORNICHE, WEST BAY, KATARA, SOUQ WAQIF, AL RAYYAN, SHAHANIYA AND SEALINE; THE ENTIRE QATAR WAS COVERED BY END OF DECEMBER 2014. Ooredoo Chief Operating Officer Waleed Al Sayed, who launched the service, said that internet speed will increase by two times and this service would be more useful for businesses in the country. However, only customers who have handheld devices such as Samsung Alpha, Huawei Ascend Mate 7 and Huawei E5786 Mi-fi, which have latest CAT6 technology, can access the network at present. Meanwhile, the operator, along with Nokia Networks and China Mobile, demonstrated a connection with 4.1 Gbps speed with TDD-FDD carrier aggregation that combined 10 carriers at the recently concluded ITU Telecom World Conference. With this kind of capability, users can, for example, download a full-length 5 GB HD movie in just 11 seconds and simultaneously upload a 30 MB video in less than a second. At the same event, Ooredoo also announced plans to launch Mobile Academy, a subscription-based mobile learning service, that offers more than 50 courses on diverse subjects like language learning and business skills.

“BAKE ME A PIE”

The annual Consumer Electronics Show always guarantees a glimpse of awe-inspiring gadgets just out of reach. This year we present a voice-controlled Android oven. Manufacturer Dacor is ready to roll out ovens that are powered by built-in Android tablets, which in addition to being remotely controlled through Android phones, can now also be given voice commands. Using the built-in app, users can issue commands like, “Start bake on the left oven at 200 degrees” or “Cancel the right oven” You can also do things like toggle lights, set timers, pause timers, and exit voice control, all by simply saying so. In addition to voice control, the built-in tablet is also a fully functional Android tablet, so you can use it to watch cooking shows while you’re actually cooking.

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WHAT’S COOL

LONELY HEART BUBBLE BAR Let your heart beat a little faster with this sexy, citrusy bubble bar in a flirtatious shade of red. Red is the colour of passion and is said to make your heart beat a little faster! This lovely bubble bar will turn your bath water a shimmering red, with lemongrass oils, bergamot, jasmine and ylang ylang to lift your spirits. There’s also a glimmer of golden lustre and plenty of cornflour to keep your skin soft.

CUPID’S LOVE SOAP Get struck by cupid’s arrow with this deliciously fruity soap filled with fresh figs and passion fruit. This heart-shaped love soap has an uplifting, fruity fragrance complete with bergamot and rosewood. They work together to create a rich scent, whilst fresh figs, passion fruit juice and soya yoghurt nourish and soften the skin.

Lather on the love With Valentine’s Day just around the corner, we’ve got you well prepared for that special occasion. Make the most of it... PRINCE CHARMING SHOWER GEL

LIP LOCKED This lip gloss from Lush is a snazzy, dainty set that fits into your every hand bag and keeps you puckered up.

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A shower gel made for princesses and for anyone who needs a prince charming in her life. Marshmallow root and Fair Trade vanilla pod decoction forms the base, giving a very soothing experience, boosted by nourishing almond oil and cleansing, cooling and astringent fresh pomegranate juice. Prince Charming has a new fragrance of organic sandalwood, geranium and grapefruit essential oils to sweep you off your feet and leave your skin silky soft and smelling lovely.

SMASH HIT The house of Smashbox has come up with some amazing surprises. First up a breakthrough lip liner that self-sharpens every time you twist the cap off. A tiny built-in sharpener in the tip of the cap, self-sharpens every time you twist off the cap. Its new powder foundation infused with light filter technology-just like the filters that make your skin look particularly amazing on Instagram. These transparent filters refract light in various directions, blurring imperfections while still keeping the subject in focus. This creates totally uniform, yet vibrant, skin â&#x20AC;&#x201C; itâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s a photo filter in a compact for close-up perfection. The long wear lip lacquer is another favorite. With a new boundary-pushing formula it delivers maximum high-lacquered color with major comfort all day long.

SMOOTH PERFECT ION Now flawless skin can be yours. The new spongy, pink ball of goodness, aka the master blender can be used for so many different things. Want to try something other than your regular foundation brush? Use the sponge to evenly apply your foundation on in a dabbing motion (dabbing on your foundation instead of brushing it on leaves for much better coverage that lasts much longer!) Use the Master Blender to apply your concealer, and get into those hard to reach corners. (you can also use the tip of the blender with your concealer around the mouth when fixing your lipstick, to give the perfect lip line!) Going for an intense eye look? Trying to create detail and drama into your eyes? Use the tip of the Master Blender to create a sharp line on the outer corner of your eye with a dark eye shadow, to create depth to your look. (you can also use the tip of the blender with a light eye shadow and apply it on the bottom lash line, to add even more drama to your eyes). Pass by any Wojooh store to pick up your Wow by Wojooh Master Blender.

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CHARGE ON THE GO

It’s the start of another year and you need more juice than ever to keep your electronics humming along till the end of the day. More photos to click, more songs to Bluetooth and more videos to share. While portable chargers are not news, these funky ones will make you wish your batteries died more often; just for the sheer fun of brandishing them about.

ROBOT TO THE RESCUE Modeled on the adorable cardboard character Danbo, this petite, pocked-sized Robot Head Portable Charger is reportedly the number one selling portable charger in Japan, the country that knows a thing or two about robots. Its 6000mAh batteries will charge your phones, tablets, cameras, etc from 0% to 2.5 times. It can charge two devices at once and the little lights will light up to indicate how much power you’ve got left. QR200

FUEL UP This tiny and rugged charger is perfect to tide you over that last hour of the day when your phone desperately needs some TLC. Supposedly the world’s smallest phone charger, Fuel is one of those great things that come in small packages. The rechargeable 220mAh battery will give you those 20-30 minutes of extra talk time when it really matters. Easily attached to keys or slipped into a pocket, the charger is die-cast from aluminium and looks like a miniature jerry can; just pop the cap, insert the micro-USB nozzle into you mobile and glug some potent liquid energy into your phone’s empty tank. QR140

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MILK IS THE RIGHT CHOICE We all know milk is good for us (this too has come under debate recently, but that’s for another day) but is it good for our phones too? These adorable long life milk carton chargers will get your classmates doing a double take whenever you whip it out to recharge your dying devices. Available in three delicious “flavors” to suit all palates, each of these pocket-sized cartons contain a mighty 2600 mAh battery and will glow red when fully charged. Caution, it doesn’t actually contain any calcium. QR85

THE PEN IS BACK We now reach out to our phones like we used to reach out to our pens 30 years ago. Now here’s another reason to give this humble writing instrument its place of prominence back. The Power Pen is a ballpoint pen, brushed aluminium stylus and phone charger all rolled into one. Give the tip a quick swivel and a ballpoint pen starts to emerge. Twist off the other end to access the built-in battery with tips for both lightning and microUSB. Pop the cap to reveal the familiar USB connector and you’re ready to start re-charging. Just don’t let your friends borrow it. You’ll

PUT YOUR MONEY WHERE YOUR CHARGE IS Two things you can’t leave home without. Your wallet and your phone (fully charged). Now you can combine the two functions in one with the Might Power Wallet/ Mighty Purse, for both him and her. Made from highly durable and exquisitely-scented Italian Saffiano leather, the wallet conceals a built-in 3000mAh battery which can charge your smartphone up to one and a half times. It’s super slim so you’ll barely know it’s there and it’s easily re-charged via the included microUSB cable. The stylish leather purse comes in various colors – Gold Shimmer, Icy Purple and Poppy Pink – and houses a 4000mAh battery with LED lights that indicate how much charge you have left. Perfect for night outs that will end who knows when. QR420 and QR500, respectively.

never get it back. QR140

All items available on Firebox.com

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AROUND TOWN

LITERARY BREAKFAST TREAT FEAST

MCDONALD’S QATAR IS HAS JUST RE-INTRODUCED THE LOCAL MARKET THE BREAKFAST OFFERING – THE HALLOUM MUFFIN.

The 25th Doha International Book Fair is currently underway from January 7 to 17, at the Qatar National Convention Center. On the sidelines, the Doha Cultural Festival will also run simultaneously. Poetry evenings, talks, guest speakers, exhibitions, workshops and more will be available to those who choose to attend the book fair and cultural festival this month. The 2015 edition will mark the silver jubilee of the Doha International Book Fair and will be unprecedented in many respects. It will be accompanied by several events that will not be confined to books, and will include an exhibition of works of art, a play, an exhibition on book development and other cultural and artistic events. There will also be activities designed exclusively for children.

A combination of grilled halloumi cheese, black olive paste, shredded lettuce and a slice of tomato on an English muffin, the Halloum Muffin is a combination of iconic favorites and familiar local flavors. Kamal Saleh Al Mana, Managing Director of Al Mana Restaurants and Food Co., commented, “We recognize the value and importance of a convenient, nourishing morning meal, and are proud to share our new Halloum Muffin with our customers in Qatar. This is an exciting addition to McDonald’s breakfast menu, and is one that offers a modern take on a traditional Arabic favorite. We are confident it will be well-received by our customers.”

“As is the case with all McDonald’s products, our breakfasts are built using farm fresh ingredients sourced from our network of trusted suppliers,” explained Al Mana. Customers can also try McDonald’s Big Breakfast that includes scrambled eggs, tasty chicken sausage, crispy golden hash browns and a toasted English muffin with a cup of McDonald’s Premium Roast Coffee. Customers looking for a sweet start to the day can indulge in McDonald’s melt-in-your-mouth, golden brown hotcakes, served with delicious maple syrup. 28 McDonald’s outlets across the country serve breakfast from 5 am until 11 am daily.

CROSSING BOUNDARIES Virginia Commonwealth University, Qatar is hosting a lecture series, titled 'Random International' on January 21 at 6pm. Founded by Stuart Wood, Flo Ortkrass and Hannes Koch in 2005, Random International is a collaborative studio for experimental practice within contemporary art. Taking science as a means to develop a new material vocabulary, their work invites consideration of the man/machine relationship through explorations of behavior and natural phenomena, with the viewer an active participant. The lecture will be held at the VCUQ atrium and is free to attend.

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