Hamdan-ALECSO Award for Distinguished Educational Research Honors Winners at Prestigious Ceremony in Abu Dhabi

The Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation for Medical and Educational Sciences and the Arab League Educational, Cultural, and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) have honored the winners of the Hamdan-ALECSO Award for Distinguished Educational Research at a ceremony held during the 19th Conference of Arab Ministers Responsible for Higher Education and Scientific Research in Abu Dhabi. The event recognized outstanding contributions to educational research across the Arab world.

The awards were presented by Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Supreme President of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, and Dr. Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO. The ceremony was attended by high-ranking officials, including Dr. Abdulrahman Abdulmannan Al Awar, Acting Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in the UAE, and Humaid Al Qatami, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation.

In a speech delivered on behalf of Sheikh Rashid Bin Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Humaid Al Qatami emphasized the remarkable progress of education in the UAE under the leadership of H.H. Sheikh Mohamed Bin Zayed Al Nahyan, President of the UAE, and H.H. Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE. Al Qatami highlighted the partnership between ALECSO and the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation, which was established by the late Sheikh Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum to enhance Arab education systems and address the challenges of the digital age.

“As we honor the winners today, we also celebrate the vision that drives this initiative—shaping education systems capable of leveraging digital technologies to offer greater opportunities for excellence and sustainability,” said Al Qatami.

The ceremony also marked the launch of the Hamdan-ALECSO Award for Digital Innovations in Education Across the Arab World, an initiative designed to promote digital innovation in the region’s education sector. The award aims to highlight groundbreaking solutions that utilize modern technologies like artificial intelligence to improve teaching and learning experiences.

Professor Mohamed Ould Amar, Director-General of ALECSO, expressed gratitude to the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and acknowledged the critical role of educational research in adapting to technological and scientific developments. He also congratulated the winners and participants, stating that their work helps improve educational practices and policies across the Arab world.

This year’s Hamdan-ALECSO Award attracted a wide range of submissions, with 154 research papers from 11 countries. Saudi Arabia led the submissions with 103 research papers, followed by the UAE (16) and Egypt (17). Notable winners included:

• Dr. Zainab Hassan Hamid Al-Salami from Ain Shams University, Egypt, for her research on "Developing a Model for Employing Generative AI in Project-Based Learning in Teacher Preparation Programs and Its Impact on Innovative Outputs and Passion."

• Dr. Rahma Bint Suleiman Bin Hadi Thakir and Mr. Hassan Bin Dhafer Bin Hassan Al-Zahrani from Saudi Arabia, for their research on "The Impact of Employing AI-Enhanced Knowledge Quests on Academic Achievement and Improving Attitudes Toward Mathematics Among High School Students."

• Professor Abdulaziz Bin Fahd Bin Ibrahim Al-Asil from King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia, for his work on "An Educational Program Based on Metaverse Technology and Its Effectiveness in Enhancing Digital Future Skills and Positive Attitudes Among University Students."

• A research team from King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia, for their work on "The Use of AI Applications in Graduate Research: Prevalence and Its Relationship to Perceived Impostor Syndrome."

The ceremony also included the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding between the Hamdan Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation and ALECSO for the implementation of the Hamdan-ALECSO Award for Digital Innovations in Education Across the Arab World, a new initiative aimed at fostering collaboration in digital education innovations across the region.