RIYADH: Prince Faisal bin Salman, chairman of Saudi Research and Marketing Group (SRMG), who is also the chairman of the executive committee of the Saudi Society for the Care of Orphans (Insan), signed an agreement with Abdullah Al-Othman, rector of King Saud University, to set up a research chair.
The Insan Chair aims at conducting wide-ranging studies about orphans in the Kingdom, including statistics on their economic and living conditions.
The university would meet half of the SR10-million fund for the chair, the Saudi Press Agency reported yesterday.
The chair is one of the 12 chairs the King Saud University is currently launching as part of its efforts to achieve greater involvement in tackling social issues and building a healthy society with the participation of the private sector.
The new chairs include the King Abdullah Chair for Housing Development aimed at research studies in the area of charity housing.
The Prince Sultan Chair of Contemporary Islamic Studies will undertake research on religious moderation and tolerance with special attention to contemporary issues, such as extremist ideologies and destructive tendencies, and on the ways to deal with the issues in a positive manner.
Prince Naif Chair for Ideological Security plans to conduct studies on the ways to build a positive Muslim society free from deviant and nihilistic ideologies. The chair will also study the channels that feed destructive ideologies to young minds.
The Al-Jazirah Newspaper Research Chair will focus on the origin and development of media in the Kingdom. The chair will conduct extensive studies about the Saudi media and prepare a database on it. It would serve as reference source for researchers in journalism.
Al-Riyadh newspaper will contribute to the launch of another chair on media studies. Besides research studies, the chair will undertake training programs and workshops for journalists. It will also offer consultancy services.
The National Commercial Bank will support opening of a chair to conduct research studies on the ways to develop a sense of social responsibility and social involvement with a SR5 million fund. It would also support programs of rehabilitation and training of Saudis in the field of social responsibility.
Other chairs to be launched at the university include a chair to study ways to protect the youth from drug addiction and another chair to discover budding talents and develop them.
The Princess Saitah bint Abdul Aziz Chair will focus on family issues and their solutions. Another chair titled “Saudi Women’s Role in Social Development” will study women’s role in the social development. The chair called “Charity Work Development” will study the ways to improve the techniques of charity activities to make them more effective.
