Makkah Grand Mosque, Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah assigned female undersecretaries to the presidency for the first time

Sheikh Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sudais. (SPA)
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Updated 31 July 2022
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Makkah Grand Mosque, Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah assigned female undersecretaries to the presidency for the first time

  • Last year, the presidency announced that it had trained around 600 female employees of its agencies

JEDDAH: For the first time since its establishment, the General Presidency for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque has recently assigned women to the roles of female undersecretaries and assistant undersecretaries.

Sheikh Dr. Abdulrahman Al-Sudais, head of the authority, issued a decision assigning several female undersecretaries and assistant undersecretaries to the presidency.

The decision is part of a series of administrative initiatives aimed at upgrading the work system, empowering women and qualified national cadres, humanizing services and developing the work environment and governance of the presidency.

The undersecretaries of the General President for Women’s Affairs include Undersecretary-General for Women’s Affairs at the Grand Mosque Dr. Noura Al-Thuwaibi; Undersecretary-General for Libraries and Cultural Affairs Dr. Kamelia Al-Daadi; and Undersecretary-General for the Empowerment of Women, Initiatives and Vision Achievements Dr. Maram bint Abdulkarim Al-Maatani.

Last year, the presidency announced that it had trained around 600 female employees of its agencies.

The Women’s Development Affairs Agency, led by Deputy President Al-Anoud Al-Aboud, employs 310 of those women.

Around 200 women work for the Agency for Women’s Scientific, Intellectual and Guidance Affairs, previously led by Al-Thuwaibi.

The rest of the trained women work at the Agency for Women’s Administrative and Service Affairs, under the leadership of Al-Daadi.


Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

The canal in the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology campus. (Shutterstock)
Updated 56 min 32 sec ago
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Saudi Arabia’s KAUST named FIFA’s first research institute in MENA

  • KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Kingdom’s growing presence in international football

RIYADH: FIFA has designated the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology as its first research institute in the Middle East and Asia to support the development of innovative football research, the Saudi Press Agency reported on Tuesday.

The recognition highlights KAUST’s commitment to integrating sports, academic research and industry through advanced, high-level initiatives grounded in rigorous scientific methodologies, contributing to the advancement of football studies.

KAUST President Prof. Sir Edward Byrne said that the university’s selection as the fifth FIFA Research Institute in the world — and the first in the region — marks a significant achievement, reflecting Saudi Arabia’s growing presence in international football.

The accreditation aligns with national efforts to invest in research and development and promote the knowledge economy, supporting Saudi Vision 2030’s goals of building an advanced sports system based on innovation and sustainability.

The collaboration’s first project focuses on developing advanced AI algorithms to analyze historical FIFA World Cup broadcast footage, transforming decades of match videos into structured, searchable data, according to the KAUST website.

This work opens new opportunities to apply state-of-the-art computer vision techniques and deepen understanding of how football has evolved over time.

The second project uses player and ball tracking data from the FIFA World Cup 2022 in Qatar and the FIFA Women’s World Cup 2023 in Australia and New Zealand to compile comprehensive datasets capturing in-game dynamics.

These datasets provide deeper insights into human movement, playing techniques and performance dynamics through AI-driven analysis.