Mohammed Al Kuwari

Dr and engineer Mohammed Saif Ali Al Saif Al Kuwari is a researcher, expert and environmental consultant at the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change. His appointments and memberships have included the first Central Municipal Council in 1999, the Council of Elders of the Asia Forum, the Global Carbon Council, the Global Accreditation Council, the Arab Researchers Network and advisory bodies concerned with the Middle East Green Initiative and Qatar’s Third National Development Strategy 2023–2030. He also served as an international ambassador for social responsibility and as a United Nations commissioner promoting the Sustainable Development Goals in 2016 and 2018. He and his wife have six children, three sons and three daughters.

He grew up in Umm Ghuwailina with one brother and one sister, a smaller household than most Qatari families of the time. Both siblings valued learning. He attended Arabian Gulf School, opposite Abu Bakr Al-Siddiq Mosque; the school was later demolished as part of the area’s urban redevelopment. He formed a strong attachment to the school and close relationships with teachers he regarded as role models, learning from them not only academic subjects but also good conduct, respect for others and sound upbringing. An energetic pupil, he joined every school group he could, including singing, science, drawing and sport. Umm Ghuwailina’s lively setting near Al-Khalifiyat, Al-Hitmi, Al-Salata and Al-Badr also brought families into frequent contact and exchange. Together, school and neighbourhood life fostered his optimism, curiosity and strong character. He expressed his views, discussed ideas with teachers and readily tried new scientific experiments, while also pursuing literature, art and sport. These interests prepared him to face later challenges.

His parents were proud of his decision to specialise in engineering. In the late 1970s, many parents hoped that their children would become doctors or engineers, and his family provided the support he needed to earn the grades required for engineering study. He fulfilled their expectations, graduated from secondary school with high marks and entered Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering in 1978. The family supported his choices and encouraged both science and the arts, but regarded art as a talent and science as a professional path. They therefore urged him to balance his responsibilities with his interests, particularly the theatre rehearsals that took much of his time.

He entered Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering in the late 1970s and graduated in the early 1980s. The experience was enriched by an exceptional group of enthusiastic and high-achieving science students, all of whom later held important positions in Qatar. Their shared passion for science and knowledge made their discussions intellectually rewarding and their company enjoyable. Serious, methodical and scientifically minded, they were united by a sense of purpose, a strong love of country and a determination to serve it. They formed study groups to help one another through the demanding engineering curriculum. At the time, Cairo University was regarded as one of the world’s leading universities, with high academic standards and a rigorous programme of study from the beginning to the end of the year, in both morning and evening sessions.

Studying abroad was less common at the time, and the communication technologies available today did not yet exist. Cairo was his first experience of travel, and being away from his family and country initially left him homesick and distressed. It nevertheless became an important lesson in self-reliance after a sheltered upbringing in which his mother had attended to every detail of his life. He gradually adapted, helped by the close-knit student cohort, whose gatherings and scientific and literary discussions recreated something of a family atmosphere.

His ambition did not stop at the engineering degree, as he believed in his abilities and talents; he continued his education and earned a master’s degree in 1992 and a doctorate in 1996.

Between 1996 and 2005, he travelled regularly to Britain for advanced study and scientific research. He joined scientific institutes, continued to develop his abilities and built relationships with scientists who encouraged him after recognising his talent, innovative ideas and promising projects. He sought advice, applied what he learned and pursued his goals with determination. Drawing on earlier experience, he continued to innovate and develop his work. Each new stage brought satisfaction because it allowed him to serve Qatar and its people; it also expanded his ambitions and led him to set further goals, supported by continuous learning and strong resolve.

His master’s degree and doctorate focused on engineering for buildings, roads and facilities, a specialisation that reflected his passion for science. He later entered the environmental field and brought the two disciplines together to develop pioneering ideas. His work included a project to establish construction methods that would not harm the environment, pollute water, deplete natural resources or compromise air quality. In collaboration with a large group of scientists, he sought the scientific and engineering evidence needed to implement construction projects while also protecting the environment. His career developed gradually from civil engineering to environmental work and then to the integration of both within sustainable development. Addressing this complex relationship required teams of scientists and researchers at national and international level to examine the problems affecting the environment and climate change.

Al-Kuwari is especially proud of innovations that have served Qatar and its people. One is the Corniche concrete mixture, developed to resist seawater after he had spent ten years studying how salinity damages cement and concrete. Working with a team of scientists, he produced ten formulations. Eight failed, while two succeeded; the stronger of the two was selected. Protected by an insulating material, it has withstood Gulf salinity and daily wave action since 1998.

The project saved the country considerable expense and protected the Corniche, a prominent national landmark that he believed should always be presented at its best.

A second achievement was the asphalt mixture developed in 2000. In response to complaints about potholes, unstable formulations and ageing grey road surfaces, the Ministry of Municipality formed a technical team in 1998 to address the problems. Its first challenge was to create a mixture that could withstand local climatic conditions and remain serviceable for twenty years. High temperatures caused the asphalt binder to rise to the surface. After extensive discussion, the team modelled its solution on a sponge, expanding the voids within the mixture so that they could retain the binder and prevent it from rising. The resulting formulation improved the country’s roads and reduced potholes. It was praised by scientific journals and specialised bodies.

A third achievement was a guide to using recycled aggregate made from waste. The work resulted from research funded and supervised in 2007 by Qatar Foundation’s Qatar National Research Fund, in cooperation with British research institutions. Recycled aggregate subsequently moved into commercial production and investment, and Qatar began using it in buildings, roads and engineering materials in support of Qatar National Vision 2030 and the National Development Strategy 2018–2022, which calls for the optimal use of natural resources. The Fund recognised the project as successful applied research.

Other continuing projects, undertaken with scientists and researchers, include capturing carbon from the atmosphere and converting it into materials useful to industry and agriculture. He regards this as promising work in view of global warming and the wider challenges of climate change, whose effects threaten both people and the planet. The project is intended to remove a harmful gas from the atmosphere.

Work on the project began five years before the source edition was published and was planned to continue for another five, developing a new system to improve air quality in Qatar. Other planned work included a food, water and energy project whose outputs would include an application forecasting Qatar’s needs to 2050 and helping decision-makers develop appropriate financial and administrative strategies. Further research with his scientific team explored green cement made from sewage waste; construction materials that absorb atmospheric carbon; biofuel generated from industrial wastewater using solar energy and no external voltage source; and sustainable aviation fuel produced from captured carbon dioxide and green hydrogen. He also studied how climate-driven sea-level rise could affect Qatar’s low-lying areas, producing scientific and technical recommendations to protect the country’s beaches and coasts.

He became attached to theatre during secondary school and formed a youth troupe called Arab Theatre. He also began experimenting with writing. His physics, chemistry and mathematics teachers, however, recognised his scientific ability and urged him to pursue medicine or engineering, fields in which they believed he could make an important contribution. Because he regarded them as role models, he followed their advice. His decision to enter Cairo University’s Faculty of Engineering and specialise in civil engineering, buildings and construction represented such a radical change that it surprised his friends. He later earned a master’s degree and a doctorate in the same field. Literature and theatre nevertheless remained important interests; he continued to follow both.

His interest in scientific research began early in his career. Soon after graduation, he noticed the deteriorating walls along the Corniche. Because the Corniche occupies a prominent place in central Doha and attracts many visitors, the damage troubled him and prompted him to search for a solution.

Scientific research was difficult during the 1980s and 1990s. Funding was limited, few specialists shared his commitment to research, advanced equipment was scarce and information was difficult to obtain. He therefore carried much of the work himself, practising engineering in the morning and working in laboratories in the afternoon and sometimes late into the night.

He overcame those difficulties through persistence and a determination to solve problems that had become a personal concern. He spent ten years researching a suitable mixture for the Corniche, and the practical solutions he developed also contributed to his doctoral work.

He also prepared asphalt mixtures and tested them on the ground. Some trials failed, while others succeeded. It was hard and strenuous work, but love for the country, honesty in intentions, and insistence on serving it prevented him from giving up. He put the country’s interest above all else, and when he obtained results that served the country, he forgot all the difficulties and fatigue, and rejoiced in what he had accomplished.

Those achievements remain visible today, bearing witness to sincere work for a country he believes deserves the best and to his desire to repay part of what it has given him.

He passed his love of science to his children. Although he had hoped that one might pursue literature, they specialised in digital technology and artificial intelligence and excelled in their fields. His sister is an author, graduate trainer in animal science and Assistant Dean at Qatar University; his brother also shares the family’s interest in science.

His contribution was not limited to science and research. Drawing on his reading and experience, he also wrote for a broader audience. His two literary books, “The Road to Success” and “The Tenth Partner”, attracted notable interest and favourable critical responses.

He has written six books on human rights. Among the most important are “Human Rights and Sustainable Development” and “Protecting the Right to a Sound Environment in Qatar: A Legal and Practical Study from a Human Rights Perspective”, which examines the relationship between the environment, sustainable development and human-rights instruments at national, regional and international levels. He has also written ten technical books on environmental engineering in Arabic and English. Principal titles include “Deterioration and Repair of Concrete and Asphalt in the Gulf Region”, “Fires of Buildings and Structures in the Gulf Region: Causes and Treatment”, “Implementing Recycled Aggregates in Construction” and “Environment and Climate Challenges: Reality and Aspirations”.

Dr Al-Kuwari held several official positions during his administrative career. In the early 1980s, he worked as a site engineer in the Public Housing Administration and later became a unit head. In 1996, he was appointed Head of the Central Laboratory at the Ministry of Municipality and Agricultural Affairs. He became Director-General of the Qatar General Authority for Standardization and Metrology in 2002 and subsequently served as Assistant Undersecretary for Standards and Metrology. In 2016, he was appointed Director of the Centre for Environmental and Municipal Studies at the Ministry of Municipality and Environment. He later served as an engineering consultant, expert and environmental adviser in the office of His Excellency the Minister of Environment and Climate Change.

He is a member of a global team of international researchers in environment and climate change.

Across this long and active career, he wrote approximately twenty-three books in scientific, environmental and artistic fields, published nearly forty scientific papers on engineering materials, building, construction and related subjects in specialised international journals and periodicals, and delivered sixty-four lectures and presentations on artistic and general topics.

He also represented Qatar in more than ninety Gulf, Arab and international meetings and conferences concerning housing, standardization and international trade.

He has served on twenty-two local, Arab, regional and international committees. He chaired the Qatari Building Code Committee from 1998 to 2017, the Supreme Committee for the Gulf Building Code from 2010 to 2016 and the Advisory Committee responsible for following up the Arab Strategy for Standardization from 2012 to 2017.

From 1993 to 2002, Dr Mohammed served as an expert for the courts. The source edition also records his work as an expert at the Qatar International Center for Conciliation and Arbitration at Qatar Chamber.

He also took part in more than 190 training courses and seminars concerning engineering materials, specifications and standards, quality, international trade and investment.

Dr Al-Kuwari received numerous awards, medals and honours from local, Gulf, Arab and regional bodies for his scientific, artistic, environmental and other contributions.

In 1998, the Ministry of Municipal Affairs and Agriculture awarded him its Ideal Employee Certificate in recognition of his work to develop technical and field-testing systems and an integrated quality-certification system for construction materials used in Ministry projects.

In 2002, Qatar University presented him with its Silver Jubilee Award for 2001. In 2003, Her Highness Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, then President of the Supreme Council for Family Affairs, awarded him a certificate of appreciation for helping establish and implement the Qatar Green Initiative. The source edition also records a Queen’s Award from the Great British House in the United Kingdom, commemorating 1952–2012 and recognising his promotion of scientific research between Qatar and Britain. In April 2010, the American Society for Testing and Materials in Washington, DC, presented him with a certificate of appreciation for advancing scientific cooperation between Qatar and the United States.

In 2014, Dr Mohammed received the Arab Green Innovation Award after his research, “Green Building for the Middle East and North Africa: A Case Study of Qatar”, won first place in Beirut. He also received an international green-building award from the For the Sake of Environment and Heritage organisation. In 2015, he was nominated as an environmental ambassador and received the First-Class Presidential Medal of Merit in Social Responsibility at the second Regional Forum for International Ambassadors for Social Responsibility, held in Khartoum, Sudan, from 27 to 29 December. In 2023, the Times of Research and the World Research Council jointly presented him with the Distinguished Researcher Award in Asia at the Asia International Research Awards.

In 2017, the Regional Network for Social Responsibility awarded him the Scientific Efficiency Award in Sustainable Development in recognition of his appreciated scientific efforts in sustainable development. The Spanish International University of Barshim also awarded him an honorary doctorate in honour of his efforts in promoting scientific research in the environmental field.

In 2010, he was selected as a member of Qatar’s National Human Rights Committee. He joined the Council of Elders of the Asia-Pacific Forum in 2018 and became Vice-Chairman of the National Human Rights Committee in 2019. He was also chosen as one of thirty human-rights defenders by the United Nations Human Rights Office and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights’ Regional Office for the Middle East and North Africa, in connection with the seventieth anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the recognition of human-rights defenders. In this field, he wrote books on workers’ rights and the rights to education and health; the most recent addressed human rights and sustainable development.