King Abdulaziz University on Tuesday launched 300 research projects as part of the university's 23rd annual plan aimed at making KAU the first research center of its kind in the Kingdom and the Middle East. The research projects will cover several areas of study, including social, economic, health and national issues. Dr. Abdullah Omar Bafail, Undersecretary of the Higher Studies and Scientific Research Department at KAU, said the research projects would be carried out on varied subjects, such as, dangers of terrorism, inflation, domestic violence, causes and effects of high prices, traffic accidents, the effect of stock market fluctuations on the community, dangers of satellite channels and the Internet, as well as some health-related issues. King Abdulaziz University, he said, is considered a stronghold of scientific research, especially as it has several researchers in various fields and it provides a good research environment. The university, he said, is launching a new project under the theme “Making a researcher”. The project aims to support new researchers by extending them financial support to start their projects, added Dr. Bafail. “Some of the most important research programs that we are supporting are studies about the problems of people with special needs in the labor market, medical malpractices, retired people in the Saudi society, recycling water used in industry, and the impact of sewage on the quality of the soil and groundwater,” he said.
