BUiD postgraduate researchers honoured for exceptional achievements

The British University in Dubai is the sole research-driven postgraduate university in the region. This unique arrangement reflects the university's high academic standards and rewards students for developing original investigations into a wide range of practical problems facing the professions and wider society.

Recent events vindicate BUiD's novel strategy. Speaking opportunities and offers of publication have opened up to these high achievers, based on their well-researched papers.

"We are extremely proud of the way our students can compete with academics the world over," said BUiD Vice-Chancellor Dr. Abdullah M. Alshamsi.

"In less than four years BUiD has established facilities for world-class achievers. It is natural that the institution is attracting high calibre students," he added.

Internationally recognised work by BUiD students includes:

•Suad Al Shamsi - "Teaching Children with Down Syndrome Pronunciations Using Speech Recognition," co-authored with Habib Talhami and Khaled Shaalan, Institute of Infomatics, and published in the Proceedings of the Ninth IASTED International Conference, Computers and Advanced Technology in Education, Lima, Peru. Dr. Shaalan was part of Ms. Al Shamsi's supervision team.
•Abdul Ghaffar Chaudhry - "Leadership Style and its Influence on Job Satisfaction and Organisational Commitment: A Study Encompassing the Construction Industry of Dubai, United Arab Emirates," supervised by Dr Kasim Randeree, Institute of Engineering. Abdul's paper, entitled "The Management of Resources and Productivity in a Culturally Diverse Environment", has been accepted for publication later this year by The International Journal of Technology, Knowledge and Society.
•Margaret Ugboaku Nkeiru Agbalizu - "How foreign language anxiety effects foreign language performance in the classroom," supervised by Dr. Mick Randall, Institute of Education.
•P.V. Sakeer - "Towards Presenting and Querying Arguments on the Semantic Web," supervised by Dr. Iyad Rahwan, Institute of Infomatics.
•Imran Malik - "The Legacy of Muhammed Al-Ghazzalli (1058-1111): Foundation for an Equitable Economy in Contemporary Middle Eastern Society?", co-authored with Dr Randeree and presented at the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies (BRISMES) Conference at the University of Birmingham Centre for the Study of Islam and Christian-Muslim Relations, in the United Kingdom. Mr. Malik's successful studies mean that he has been invited to accept further graduate scholarships.
•Fouad Zablith - co-author of "Laying the Foundations for a World Wide Argument Web", forthcoming in Artificial Intelligence Journal (AIJ), with Dr. Rahwan. AIJ is published by Elsevier and is recognised as the premium and most competitive journal in the area of artificial intelligence. Mr. Zablith (not in group photo) is the first graduate from the Institute of Informatics MSc in IT (Knowledge & Data Management) and was awarded the grade "Distinction" by Exam Board decision for his dissertation "ArgDF: Arguments on the Semantic Web". Another paper on the same topic was accepted for presentation at the 22nd Conference on Artificial Intelligence in Vancouver.

Typical among the committed BUiD students is Suad Al Shamsi, a UAE national and past scholarship winner. "I always had a passion for helping children who face physical disabilities. I am now developing software to help them cope with the challenges they face," she said.

BUiD is open to outstanding students who can push forward the university's innovative agenda. Representatives from the University will be appearing at the Gulf Education and Training Exhibition (GETEX) this week at Stand 901, Dubai International Convention and Exhibition Centre, Sheikh Zayed Road. Information on BUiD's programmes, entry requirements, registration procedures, scholarships and much more will be available.