KAUST and KACST supporting female PhD students

IASP members KAUST and King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology (KACST) has recently collaborated with Massachusetts Institute of Technology on the Ibn Khaldun Fellowship, empowering Saudi women pursuing their PhDs.

The IBK Fellowship brings Saudi Arabian women scientists and engineers to MIT to collaborate on research with an MIT faculty member. This prestigious program, sponsored by KACST at MIT, has so far supported 55 Saudi alumnae. The fellowship fosters stronger ties between the institutions, creating greater opportunities for women in STEAM. This competitive fellowship program is open to Saudi Arabian women scientists and engineers who hold a doctoral degree.

All fellows have access to MIT’s world class shared research facilities and equipment and receive training in the cutting-edge lab techniques to use in their future career and share with students and colleagues at home universities. The current and former fellows publish in major journals and present at prestigious conferences in their field.

The numbers for this programme are already speaking for themselves with 79 journal articles, 55 conference proceedings, 8 patents issued and Ibn Khaldun Fellows go on to leadership positions in academia, government and industry. 

Universities who have sent their faculty so far include: Al-Imam Muhammad Ibn Saud Islamic University, Effat University (KFUPM Fellow), Imam University, King Abdulaziz University, King Saud University, Prince Sultan University, Princess Noura University, Taibah University, University of Dammam, The University of Hafr Al-Batin, and Umm Al-Qura University (KFUPM Fellow).