Digital Ethics - Eman Al Kuwari

Eman Al Kuwari attended the Academic Bridge Program in the academic year 2009-10. Before the ABP, she completed an IB program in a high school in Doha, and decided to pursue a technical degree in college. She was so focused on her plan, she admits, that she had set her heart on only one university and, when she was not offered a place there, had nowhere to go. Travelling abroad was not an option since she preferred to stay close to her family.

Eman was directed to the ABP and decided it was the best path for her to refine her language and academic skills while giving her a chance to apply to other universities in Qatar. Additionally, the ABP seemed a particularly attractive choice given that it is an integral part of Education City operating in close collaboration with EC universities.

She says, “the reason I ended up in the ABP was because I had limited myself to a certain field, however, meeting all the inspiring teachers in the ABP and finally coming across math teachers who cared made all the difference”. The ABP experience inspired her to go beyond her initial technical degree plans. It also taught her to challenge herself and continue learning. She realized that “the only limits we have are the ones we create for ourselves”.

Eman appreciates now that in the ABP she got to boost and refine her skills in a short period of time and was able to revisit simple yet important details that slipped away during her high school years. She says: “Although I had a very strong grasp of the English language, the ABP English program helped me to solidify my knowledge by revisiting the basics”, and adds that it’s usually the foundational academic skills that may be taken for granted during school years, and revisiting them before university can surely be to one’s great advantage.

During her two semesters in the ABP, Eman also “thoroughly enjoyed the literature classes and novels we studied”. She says that reading is something she has always enjoyed, and was fortunate enough to continue studying it at the Bridge Program.”
As a result of her ABP studies, she was admitted into Carnegie Mellon University in Education City. She graduated with a BSc in Information systems and a minor in Architecture which is an interesting combination, showing her creativity as well as foresight of the things to come: “The combination of my major and minor didn’t make a lot of sense at the time, but now it’s becoming extremely handy with the establishment of smart cities around the world and now Qatar establishing its very own program to become a Smart Nation”, she says.

Eman is currently working at the Ministry of Transport and Communications, in the Digital Society sector. She is involved in one of the most interesting government projects, Tasmu Smart Qatar, and participated in a pilot project with the Ministry’s own Innovation Lab, testing an autonomous drone delivery use case.

She is clearly excited about her professional path and speaks enthusiastically about her job and emerging projects and ideas: “Also, part of my work is a project focused on raising awareness and starting a conversation in the community about digital ethics and values people carry from the real world to the virtual world. This has resulted in publishing a guideline focusing on three values for ethics in the digital world”. She is convinced that Qatari youth should be able “to create whatever they imagine and master modern day skills of programming and using fabrication machines” and that is why she is leading and will soon be launching the Ministry’s own digital Makers Space for young people in Qatar.

And yes, she does have interests outside of work! She has recently started learning a third foreign language… Truly, Eman Al Kuwari should be an inspiration to many current and future ABP students.

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