Events and activities 2010/ 2011
Events
In April 2011, the PI hosted an international symposium on Engineering Ethics, the first of its kind in the region. It was conceived and organized by Dr. Mashhad Al Allaf, with the full support of the Provost and the Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences. The event took place on both men’s and women’s campuses, its main aim being to raise students’ awareness of the moral responsibilities of engineers. Six distinguished speakers gave lectures over two days, and the event concluded with a panel discussion. It formed part of an Ethics Awareness week, during which students created posters, short movies and brochures.
The symposium explored Engineering Ethics in three distinct areas: society; academia; and industrial practice. Amongst the topics discussed were responsible engineering, engineering ethics and conflicts of interest, and an anthropological perspective on engineering ethics. The event was well attended, the lectures well received and the level of student interest and participation was high. Students took part in workshops and in question and answer sessions. As Dr. Al Allaf remarked, “Students gained critical thinking skills and were allowed the opportunity to voice their own perspectives regarding ethical cases.” It is hoped that PI will host this event annually.
In March 2011, Dr. Abdullah Al Shami gave a public lecture entitled “Ascertain the truth: authenticating evidence in Islamic jurisprudence”. The lecture was given on the main campus and the ARZANAH campus.
Dr. Al Shami also gave two workshops for judges in Abu Dhabi, on Indemnity and Laws of Inheritance.
Last but not least, the German Club, coordinated by Mrs. Gabriele Harb, had a lot of activities. In February 2011, an exhibition of photo posters was organized jointly by the German Club and the German Embassy, with the support of PI management. The title of the exhibition was “Contemporary Architecture in Arabia” and the opening ceremony was initiated by the Provost, who welcomed distinguished guests: the German Ambassador to the UAE, Mr. Klaus Peter Brandes, the State Secretary of the German Ministry of Transport, Building and Urban Planning, Mr. Rainer Bomba and the CEO of ADCO, Mr. Abdul Munim Saif Al Kindi.
Other events organized by the German Club included a visit to the camel milk chocolate factory “Al Nassma” in May 2011, run by a German CEO; a visit to the PI by 12 students and three professors from the Technical University of Freiburg in September 2010 and a “German-Arabic Cultural Evening” in November 2010, featuring the German jazz band “Tätära”, whose music inspired PI students and guests to dance.
The latest event of the German Club members was a trip to Germany from 16.-28. July 2011.
The group of 15 students and graduates of the PI was invited by the biggest oil and gas company WINTERSHALL Holding GmbH. The trip was supported by the PI management and the WINTERSHALL Company which completely organized the program of the visit, in coordination with the German Club. The trip included site visits to BASF in Ludwigshafen, to an offshore control centre in Den Helder (Netherlands), to a cavern construction site in Jemgum and a two days visit and workshop at the headquarter of WINTERSHALL in Kassel; furthermore city tours in Heidelberg, Frankfurt, Amsterdam, Bremen and Kassel and cultural highlights like museum and castle visits.
Conferences and lectures
Dr. Mashhad Al Allaf presented the following lectures at conferences overseas and at the PI:
- “Moral Criteria for Science and Engineering”, presented at the Integrity Week Event, The Petroleum Institute, September 2011, Abu Dhabi, UAE.
- “Forgiveness”, Islamic Perspectives, presented at Oxford University Conference on Forgiveness, June 2011, Oxford, UK.
- “Hope”, a lecture presented to the Muslim Community at Cambridge Islamic Center, August 2011, Cambridge, UK.
- “Do we have Moral Obligations towards Future Generations?” Islamic Perspectives on Technology & the Human Condition. This paper was presented at: The Euro-American Conference for Academic Disciplines, June 2011, Aix-en-Provence, France.
Publications
Dr. Mark Hayman:
- “Inducement and coercion on the Trucial Coast: the first oil agreements”
In: The Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History in June 2010
Dr. Abdullah Al Shami:
- “Ta
wil and the Meaning of the Text in the Arabic Language: An Introduction to Understanding the Qur'an”
In: Journal of Qur’anic Studies, Vol.12, (2010), 314-337.
- “The investment of Islamic endowment”
In: Australian Journal of Islamic Studies, Vol. 2, No. 5, (2010), pp. 1-23.
Dr. Amani Omer:
Omer, A., Pascual, U. and Russell, N. (2010)
- “A theoretical model of agro - biodiversity as a supporting service for sustainable agricultural intensification”.
In: Ecological Economics. Vol. 69 (10), 1926–1933. Elsevier B.V., US.
Omer, A., Pascual, U. and Russell, N. (2010)
- “The contribution of biodiversity to modern intensive farming systems”.
In: Lockie, S. and D. Carpenter (Eds) “Agriculture, Biodiversity and Markets: Livelihoods and Agro-ecology in Comparative Perspective”, Earthscan.
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Upcoming events and activities 2011/ 2012
