Oman's minister opens meeting on humanities research

Muscat: Conference on the study of humanities in the Arab world was opened at Sultan Qaboos University (SQU) by Dr. Abdul Mon’em bin Mansour Al Hassani, Minister of Information, yesterday.
The conference, entitled ‘Humanities Research Centres in the Arab World: Challenges, Opportunities and Prospects for Cooperation”, will continue over two days and is being sponsored by the Humanities Research Centre at SQU.
In his statement, the Minister of Information said the conference is being organised at the level of Arab countries because of the importnace of humanitarian sciences in general after the period of importnace of productive sciences.
Therefore scientific studies around the world and in the Arab world are giving priority to the human and social system along with the productive applied sciences, he added.
The conference seeks to discuss the current situation in humanities research in the Arab world and highlight the work performed at the research centres having regional and international orientations.
The conference is also meant to bring humanities research centres together and recognise important developments in humanities research, to exchange knowledge and expertise.
Additionally, the conference will enable researchers, academics and other professionals to benefit from the experiences in their respected research areas.
Scientific research
Those at the conference will discuss the roles and functions of humanities research centers in the Arab world, and seek to develop policies to raise the level of Arab scientific research in humanities.
The conference will also address global and regional trends in the fields of humanities research, and discuss challenges facing the scientific research in the field of humanities and seek strategies to overcome them.
The conference will further build bridges of cooperation with the most famous research centers in humanities and social sciences in the Arab world to create a base for future research collaboration.