Hassan Rashid Al-Derham named Qatar University president

Qatar University’s Board of Regents named Hassan Rashid Al-Derham to take over as the university’s sixth president on Tuesday, replacing Sheikha Abdulla Al-Misnad, who has held the post since 2003.

Qatar University is one of the Gulf region’s top-tier educational institutions, and Al-Misnad has presided over a transformational era of expansion and growth for the university’s academic programs and facilities. University regents expect Al-Derham to build on Al-Misnad's accomplishments at the head of the institute.

Al-Derham holds a doctorate degree in construction project management, which he received from the University of South Wales in the U.K. He received a master's degree from Georgia Tech and did his undergraduate studies in North Carolina.

Since 2007, Al-Derham has held various governance roles at Qatar University. His success in those positions has shown him to be an effective university leader. He is known as a respected researcher and was vice president for research for eight years. He has also been head of civil engineering in the College of Engineering.

Al-Derham’s initiatives have impacted not just the university, but Qatar as a whole. He has been instrumental in setting research agendas for both the institution and the country with an ambitious research roadmap of strategic national priorities.

During his tenure in charge of research, Al-Derham initiated a number of research centers including the Gas Processing Center, Qatar Mobility Innovations Center, Qatar Road Safety Studies Center, KINDI Lab for Computing Research and the Biomedical Research Center.