Dr. Abdallah Alhaj Sulaiman is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Translational Oncology Research Center at Qatar Biomedical Research Institute (QBRI), working in Dr. Vladimir Katanaev’s group. He earned his PhD in Biological and Biomedical Sciences from Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU), Qatar, where he studied chromatin remodeling and stress response signaling.

He holds an MSc from the American University of Beirut (AUB), Lebanon, where he was among the first to report the presence of the colistin resistance gene mcr-1 in water sources in the country. He also earned a Bachelor of Science from Mansoura University, Egypt. His research revealed a novel role for the histone H2B Arg95 residue in recruiting the transcription factor Spt16 to regulate rapamycin-induced cell cycle arrest.

Dr. Alhaj Sulaiman served as a consultant at HBKU’s College of Health and Life Sciences (CHLS), contributing to projects involving CRISPR-based bacterial detection and studying GLUT3 regulation in PRDX1-null cells and its role in arsenite sensitivity. He was awarded first place by jury in Season 15 of Stars of Science.

Ameneh Yousef Saif Al-Hosseini is an S.J.D. candidate at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Law. Her dissertation focuses on the legal framework of smart contracts in the raw materials supply chain across Arab countries, examining the legal implications of integrating advanced technologies into traditional legal systems.

She holds both an LL.B. and an LL.M. from Qatar University, where she specialized in international construction contracts and received the Excellence Award for her Master’s thesis. Beyond academia, Ameneh brings over a decade of experience as a Senior Legal Counsellor at Qatar Primary Materials Company, where she provides strategic legal guidance and serves as a Trustee on the Board of Directors.

Her academic contributions include a published book review in Arab Law Quarterly and experience as a teaching assistant at Qatar University’s College of Law. Ameneh’s research bridges the fields of law and technology, with a focus on digital innovation in international trade. Her work reflects a strong interdisciplinary approach and a deep commitment to advancing legal discourse.

Ali Safa (Member, IEEE) is an Assistant Professor at the College of Science and Engineering. He earned his M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering from Université Libre de Bruxelles, Brussels, Belgium, and his Ph.D. in AI-driven processing for extreme edge applications from KU Leuven, Belgium, in collaboration with the IMEC R&D Center, Leuven, Belgium. In Spring 2023, he was a Visiting Researcher at the University of California, San Diego (UC San Diego), USA.

He has authored and co-authored more than 40 research articles in international journals and conferences. He is also the author of a Springer book on the application of Neuromorphic Computing to Sensor Fusion and Drone Navigation tasks. His research interests include Edge AI, continual learning, and sensor fusion for robot perception.

Muhammed Yakup Inan is an Academic Affairs Specialist at the College of Islamic Science. He graduated from the Faculty of Political Science at Istanbul Medeniyet University and earned his MA in Gulf Studies from Qatar University. He also completed a four-year madrasa curriculum in Istanbul.

Before joining CIS, he worked as a Research Assistant at Qatar University and as a Social Studies Teacher and Extracurricular Program Coordinator at Qatar Foundation’s Pre-University Education (PUE) department. Inan has been actively involved in various educational projects, symposiums, and research initiatives.

Dr. Cong-Yi (CY) Wang is the Scientific Director of the Diabetes Research Center at the Qatar Biomedical Research Institute. He earned his Ph.D. in Medical Immunology from Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, China. He completed postdoctoral training in population genetics, genomics, and immunology of type 1 diabetes (T1D) at the University of Florida under Dr. Noel Maclaren, a pioneer in endocrinology and metabolism.

Dr. Wang was later recruited as a tenure-track Assistant Professor at the Center for Biotechnology and Genomic Medicine, Medical College of Georgia (now Augusta University), where he studied genetic and environmental factors influencing T1D risk. He was also appointed Scientific Director of the Georgia Exoteric and Molecular Laboratories at the Medical College of Georgia Health Science Center after his tenure as Assistant Professor.

In 2014, Dr. Wang was recruited by the Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, as a tenured professor. At Tongji Hospital, he established the Center for Biomedical Research, Tongji Biobank, and the Tongji SPF Animal Center. He served as Director of the Center for Biomedical Research, Tongji Biobank, and the National Health Commission Key Laboratory of Respiratory Diseases, as well as Associate Director of Sponsored Program Administration.

Dr. Wang’s research focuses on the genetic and epigenetic mechanisms of type 1 and type 2 diabetes. His team investigates the crosstalk between different cell types and metabolic organs, by which he aims to identify diet-derived metabolites or small molecules that could be employed to prevent or treat metabolic disorders such as obesity and insulin resistance.

Dr. Emine Filiz Kölmek is an Assistant Professor of Sustainable Urbanism at the College of Islamic Studies. Her research focuses on Islamic aesthetics, Ottoman architecture, urban transformation, and sustainability. She has contributed to scholarly discussions on the spatial organization of Topkapı Palace and methodological approaches for analyzing Islamic art and architecture. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed books and presented at international conferences, with ongoing work on sustainability in urban transformation and meaning in Islamic architecture.

Dr. Kölmek holds a PhD in Architecture from Middle East Technical University (METU), where she graduated with a perfect 4.0 GPA. She earned her MA in Interior Architecture and her BA in Urban Design and Landscape Architecture from Bilkent University with a full scholarship. She is a recipient of the HBKU-CIS Research Cluster Grant for a book project on Islamic aesthetics, a collaborative research initiative led by HBKU faculty.

With more than ten years of professional experience, Dr. Kölmek worked as an urban designer and landscape architect at Ankara Metropolitan Municipality, leading key urban transformation projects, including Hıdırlık, İsmetpaşa, and AtıfbeyI; and contributing to Türkiye’s largest initiative, the New Mamak Project. She also taught architecture and design at Yıldırım Beyazıt University.

Dr. Vahdet Görmez, MD, is a Professor of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry and Cognitive and Developmental Psychology at the College of Islamic Studies. Before this, he served as a Full Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University (2023), following progressive academic appointments as an Assistant Professor at Bezmialem University (2014) and an Associate Professor at Istanbul Medeniyet University (2018).

Dr. Vahdet Görmez graduated from Istanbul University Cerrahpaşa’s School of Medicine in 2002. He completed core psychiatry training in London and higher specialist training in child and adolescent psychiatry at Oxford. He is also an internationally accredited cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) therapist, trainer, and supervisor. Dr. Görmez has authored over sixty peer-reviewed papers, edited key academic books, and delivered presentations at prestigious international conferences, advancing global discourse on youth mental health.

His career bridges clinical innovation, research excellence, and policy advocacy, with a focus on multidisciplinary approaches and CBT standardization. Having concluded his tenure at Istanbul Medeniyet University in 2024, he now contributes to HBKU’s academic mission while continuing to mentor future mental health professionals and shape evidence-based practices worldwide.

Anissa Jrad is a Project Analyst at the Research Center for Islamic Legislation and Ethics (CILE) at the College of Islamic Studies. In this capacity, she oversees the management and development of the center’s website, including content updates, structural optimization, and data migration to enhance accessibility and functionality. She also manages CILE’s social media channels, effectively disseminating the center’s activities and research outputs to a broader audience. Anissa is responsible for organizing academic events, workshops, and conferences at CILE while also supporting research initiatives and publications. Additionally, she manages various administrative tasks to streamline the center’s operations.

Before joining HBKU, Anissa worked at Qatar University and Carnegie Mellon University in Qatar, focusing on Arabic corpus annotation and metadiscourse analysis. She also worked at the Linguistic Data Consortium (LDC) at the University of Pennsylvania, where she contributed to research projects in corpus linguistics, Arabic natural language processing (NLP), and computational linguistics. Her expertise includes text analytics, discourse analysis, and the development of annotated datasets.

She has co-authored papers on bias detection, propaganda annotation, and social media discourse analysis. Anissa’s work has contributed to widely used Arabic linguistic datasets and advancements in machine translation and Arabic dialect identification.

Dr. Mohammad Ismail Albakri is an Assistant Professor of Mechanical Engineering at Hamad Bin Khalifa University’s College of Science and Engineering. Dr. Albakri earned his PhD in Engineering Mechanics from Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Virginia Tech) in 2017. Before Joining Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Dr. Albakri held academic positions at Tennessee Technological University and Texas A&M University at Qatar.

Dr. Albakri’s research interests span the areas of smart materials and applied mechanics with a particular emphasis on additive manufacturing and nondestructive evaluation. Dr. Albakri is the founder of the Smart Materials and Structures Research laboratory where his research group combines analytical, numerical, data-driven, and experimental approaches to conduct research at the forefront of functional materials, mechanics, and manufacturing.

Dr. Albakri has authored numerous publications in leading scientific journals and has presented his work at prestigious conferences. He is also the recipient of several research and teaching awards in recognition of his achievements.

Dr. Seda Özalkan is a Research Fellow at the College for Islamic Studies (CIS), Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU). She holds a PhD in Philosophy in Civilization Studies from Ibn Haldun University, with a dissertation on Ibn Khaldun’s political and educational theory and its philosophical foundations. She is trained in the philosophy of politics and education as well as in Islamic studies and continues her research at the intersection of these fields.