Open UAE Research and Development

Mission

The OpenUAE Research and Development Group pioneers new research opportunities in the successful adoption of Open-Source Software (OSS) in the country. The group's focus includes OSS, Security, Blockchain, the Internet of Things (IoT), Artificial Intelligence (AI), and Robotic Process Automation (RPA). Moreover, it develops solutions and provides necessary training and consultation services in these areas to support the public and private sectors. This initiative aligns with the University of Sharjah's mission and the visionary goals of the UAE's "We the UAE 2031" initiative.

Objectives

The objectives of the group are:

1. Develop, apply and evaluate OSS solutions in many sectors in the UAE. Our research group will play a vital role and take the lead in many OSS projects such as mGovernment projects, Smart Cities and Internet of Things (IoT) projects, OSS Assessment and Evaluation, Arabic Human-Computer Interaction project and translation of the English OSS user interface into Arabic to be used widely in the UAE and other Arabic countries.
2. Develop Internet of Things (IoT) based solutions for the UAE Govt. in order to tackle the country's economical, environmental, societal and global needs.
3. Perform research into advanced blockchain technology and perform performance and benchmark analysis.
4. Utilize Blockchain technology in other applications and research projects.
5. Report findings to research partners, to local, regional, and international organizations.
6. Explore the integration of artificial intelligence in solving critical issues in various fields such as civil and environmental engineering, medicine, art and social fields.
7. Investigate the integration of the research group's output into industry.
8. Formulate a comprehensive OSS strategy that will provide guidance on how to effectively take advantage of the OSS solutions that have the greatest potential for cost savings, while fulfilling the quality, reliability, security, support, and end-user requirements.
9. Establish an OSS awareness campaign through workshops, seminars, and conferences.
10. Provide training and consultancy services to UAE government entities.
11. Perform a comprehensive literature survey on latest technologies and research directions.
12. Develop, apply, and evaluate open-source software (OSS) solutions across various sectors in the UAE, leading initiatives in mGovernment projects, Smart Cities and Internet of Things (IoT) projects, OSS Assessment and Evaluation, Arabic Human-Computer Interaction, and the translation of OSS user interfaces into Arabic for widespread use in the UAE and other Arabic-speaking countries.
13. Advance research in AI for cancer detection and monitoring.
14. Explore AI applications in monitoring the health of camels.
15. Embark on new research directions in quantum computing and its applications.

Research Directions

• Machine Learning Study Jam

• Flutter Festival Sharjah

• Introduction to Google Cloud Platform

• Dr. Manar Abu Talib has been awarded with IEEE Technical Community on Services Computing AWARDS  for her amazing efforts in the field of women empowering in computing and research. She received a Women in Services Computing Award. 
• Dr. Ali Bou Nassif chaired a session at AMLA 2023 Conference. The session will be about Machine Learning for Predictive Models in Engineering Applications.
• Prof. Qassim took part as a technical program committee member in ICSPIS 2023 The 6th International Conference on Signal Processing & Information Security, in Dubai University. 
• Dr. Manar Abu Talib was a panel co-chair in the ICBC 2023 which is focused on blockchain technology and cryptocurrency. 
• Dr. Ali Bou Nassif was among the program committee board of the 8th International Conference Information, Communication & Computing Technology. 
• Prof. Qassim and Dr. Manar have given a speech on security in the international student research colloquium on advances in Engineering and IT in Manipal University in 25-26, May, 2023. 
• Prof. Qassim Nasir and Dr. Manar Abu Talib were distinguished keynote speakers at the workshop organized by the Air Accident Investigation Sector, in 12, January, 2023, focusing on the security of aviation.

• Dr. Manar Abu Talib were jury for the Dubai Science Fair, an annual competitive exhibition where high school students present their science and technology projects.

• Dr. Manar Abu Talib chaired a session in The 3rd International Conference on Distributed Sensing and Intelligent Systems (ICDSIS2022) 19- 21 October 22 which was held in University of Sharjah.
• Prof. Qassim was a receipt of CIO300 Award at CIO300 Executive Forum and Awards - MENA 2021. The award is held for IT leaders who have done an extraordinary achievement in the last 12 months despite the challenges of COVID-19.
• Dr. Manar Abu Talib chaired a session in Networks, Computers and Communications (ISNCC-2021) in the Canadian University, Dubai. Couple of research assistant joined the visit to get an exclusive of the very recent technologies and research directions.  
• RAs from OpenUAE have been selected and won to participate in the Annual NYAD Hackathon organized by New York University in Abu Dhabi. Which was held online in April 19th, 2020 with 105 students, 36 mentors across multiple countries and almost 37 universities participating.
• Dr. Manar Abu Talib was panelist in Ramadan Virtual Tent: Digital Transformation of Education in COVID 19 Era: Opportunities & Challenges, in Distruptive Technology (AI, IoT, Big Data) and Sharjah Book Fair  
• OpenUAE Research group members have secured the Best Paper Award in 2019 IEEE Conference on Applications, Information and Network Security which was held in Malaysia. 
• Dr. Manar Abu Talib was a judge in 19th IEEE Intenational Symposium on Signal Processing and Information Technlogy (Students' Poster Session)
• Dr. Manar Abu Talib was a Keynote Speaker in IEEE AICCSA Conference: Women in Research: Architects of Society.

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