Almost a year since I organised the Fatigue symposium at QU.

See below article for what the speakers and our students said

Fatigue in Sport and Exercise Research Symposium at Qatar University

‘To be regionally recognized for distinctive excellence in education and research, an institution of choice for students and scholars and a catalyst for sustainable socio-economic development of Qatar’

(Qatar University mission)

The Sport Science Program (SSP) in the College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at Qatar University (QU) hosted (October 30^th 2016) a ‘Fatigue in Sport and Exercise’ symposium. International experts Dr Jason Siegler (Western Sydney University, Australia) and Dr Lex Mauger (Kent University, UK) in addition to local experts from the SSP stakeholders Aspetar Orthopaedic and Sports Medicine Hospital, Athlete Heath and Performance research group, Dr Julien Periard and Dr Nathan Townsend, presented talks on neuromuscular fatigue, pain and fatigue, fatigue in thermally challenging environments, and fatigue in hypoxia, respectively. Faculty and students from the SSP, in addition to Faculty from QU, and key researchers and staff from Aspetar attended the symposium in the research complex at QU.

Dr Hassan (Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, CAS), and Dr Ruben Goebel (Director of the SSP) welcomed guests and attendees to the symposium, which aligns to the vision and mission of the SSP to ‘be a premier professional program that provides contemporary education in synch with Qatar’s National vision 2030’ by ‘engaging students in sport, exercise and physical activities research topics’. This symposium was a key step in developing the research environment within the SSP, CAS and QU by immersing students in the research process, and strengthening networking and collaboration both within Qatar and across the world.

Dr Bryna Chrismas (Assistant Professor, SSP) who organised the symposium said ‘The symposium was an excellent opportunity to bring together students and faculty within SSP and across QU to showcase the SSP to local stakeholders at Aspetar in order to further develop the research strategy within Qatar’ Further positive feedback was provided from the speakers: ‘It was an honour to contribute to the symposium, and I am grateful to the SSP staff and QU for providing me with an opportunity to share my research with such a unique international audience’ (Dr Jason Siegler).  ‘The level of interaction from the audience was excellent – it was great to be asked such interesting and important questions about the presented research, and a pleasure to contribute to QU’s research programme’ (Dr Lex Mauger).

Moreover, the students commented that ‘The topics of the presentations were clear, easy to understand and relevant to what we are studying in our courses, which I could use the information I got from the symposium in understanding many classes I take now’ (Alaa Hassan) and ‘I liked how one of the speakers shared some personal experience on exercise induced pain and exercise performance. It was an intriguing symposium with lots of excellent speakers and content’ (Aysha Hussein)

Given the great success of this symposium, it is hoped that similar events will be planned in the near future particularly with the Qatar National Vision 2030, and International Sporting events (e.g. Qatar 2022 FIFA World Cup) fast approaching.