Abu Dhabi's ALC Unveils Winners Of Arabic Language Research Grants For 2024

The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre (ALC) has revealed the outcomes of its fourth Research Grants Programme cycle. This initiative aims to support researchers in various Arabic language-related fields and fund high-quality research projects. This year, the programme saw 270 applications from 31 countries, with Egypt leading in submissions, followed by Morocco, Syria, and Jordan.

The programme offers grants for projects across six fields: Arabic Lexicon, Academic Curricula, Literature and Criticism, Applied and Computational Linguistics, Teaching Arabic to Non-Arabic Speakers, and Manuscript Editing. Each year, a total grant pool of AED600,000 is allocated to these projects.

Dr. Ali bin Tamim, Chairman of the ALC, stated, "The Abu Dhabi Arabic Language Centre is committed to its mission to advance the Arabic language and promote it as a language of culture and creativity, but also of science, research, and knowledge on the world stage. With that in mind, the Centre strives to offer all means of support for researchers and experts working to study fields related to the Arabic language. The Research Grants Programme – now completing its fourth cycle – is an ideal platform designed specifically to meet this objective."

Dr. Bin Tamim noted the programme's growth over the years: "The Programme has grown significantly every year, and we are delighted to be receiving a larger volume of works from a fast-expanding list of countries each time." He added that this year's winners reflect high-quality research in Arabic language-related fields.

The winners include Mahdi Laaraj from Morocco for ‘Discourse on Educational Rajeez Poems and the Consolidation of the Sciences of Understanding: Research into the Pragmatic Function of Rhythm,’ Saudi researcher Abdullah Al-Baradi for ‘The Sacred in Pre-Islamic Poetry - A Thematic Study,’ Jordanian researcher Fatima Yousef Al-Qaraan for ‘The Record of Illnesses in Arabic Literature: A Cultural Approach,’ and UAE's Aisha Ali Al-Ghais for ‘The Aesthetics of Image in the Poetry of Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan.’

Recognising Excellence

In Manuscript Editing, Ahmed Muhammad Attiya Abdul Hadi from Egypt was recognised for ‘Explanation of the Al-Hamasa Collection by Abi Tammam,’ while Faraj Al-Fakharani also from Egypt was honoured for ‘Half-Blindness: A Study of Popular Literary Narratives and the Editing of an Anonymous Copy of One Thousand and One Nights.’

Two works were selected in the Arabic Lexicon category: Syrian researcher Taysir Khalaf’s ‘Dictionary of Food and Feeding’ and Jordanian researcher Omar Abdul Qadir Al-Ghoul’s ‘The Lexical Commonality between Arabic and South Levantine Languages Before Islam: From the Fourth Century BC to the Sixth Century AD.’

This year's diverse range of winning projects highlights significant contributions to advancing knowledge about the Arabic language. The increasing number of submissions motivates further efforts to attract more participants in future editions.

With inputs from WAM