Qatar University’s Young Scientist Centre (QU-YSC) launched a virtual summer course to encourage the creativity and scientific research skills for preparatory and primary students. 
This step was taken to follow the centre’s vision towards encouraging innovation among the Qatari youth, as it is necessary for the advancement of the economy and its transformation based on knowledge, research and development. 
QU-YSC made use of the free time of the students during the summer vacation by providing a fun educational environment that inspires innovative thinking and creativity to adopt these ideas and develop them to be distinguished projects that mark Qatar as a leading centre for research and innovation.
A total 40 male and female students participated in this course from seven different schools. The female participating students were from north region schools as Al-Daayen Preparatory and Primary Girls School, Al-Shahaniya Preparatory School for Girls and Al-Jamiliya School for girls as well as the students from Al-Arqam Academy for girls and English Modern School. 
The male participating students were from Al-Kaaban Primary and Preparatory School for Boys and Al-Shahaniya Preparatory School for Boys.
The students showed great interaction during the workshop, as they excelled in applying the daily challenges and implementation of the final design projects. The students were excited with the course content and demanded an increase in the number of days of the course to enable them to acquire more skills and participate in other fun educational challenges. 
Khamis al-Mansoori, a parent of one of the participating students, said: “The workshop had a great impact on my daughter in many aspects, such as organising time and taking advantage of the vacation free time. She practised teamwork and made new friends. It also helped in obtaining a knowledge experience and promoted her desire towards scientific research”. 
Dr Noora al-Thani, head of QU-YSC, explained: “We believe that education is connected to various aspects to serve Qatar, and therefore we always strive to encourage the most important aspect of education, which is education of innovation and research. From this point, we got the idea of the summer course, to encourage students to benefit from the vacation time and use their energy and innovative ideas through an entertaining scientific atmosphere. We also see the importance of developing life skills for students during the current time and guiding them to overcome the difficulties and challenges.”