The Office of the Dean of Research (DOR) held a webinar titled, “The state of scientific research in Palestine and its implications for Bethlehem University”, the first in the Bethlehem University Research Group series for the 2022-2023 academic year, on Thursday, October 27th, 2022, in Furno Hall.

Prof Jamil Khader, Dean of Research, provided an overview of the most important data and results that were presented at a workshop titled, “Consolidating and developing the scientific research system in Palestine,” which was organized by the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

The presentation covered various aspects of the challenges facing Palestinian researchers and the new opportunities they have for developing a vibrant research infrastructure in Palestine. The output of Palestinian researchers was compared regionally and internationally and the need for increasing the number of quality publications in internationally indexed journals in Scopus and Clarivate was emphasized.

Faculty members from the faculties of Science, Health Science, Business, and Arts attended the meeting. The implications of the data on the state of research at Bethlehem University were discussed. Faculty members expressed concerns about publications in un-indexed journals and the lack of funding for research at the university to help develop a culture of excellence in research.