Ongoing war leaves scientific research crippled

Though never a top producer of scientific research in the Arab region, Yemen had achieved a steady output of scholarly studies in recent decades. However, the continuing civil war over the past four years now threatens to stop the conduct of scientific research there almost entirely, writes Aseell Sarih for Al-Fanar Media.

“Scientific research has never had a reasonable budget in our country – something that has seriously hampered our work as researchers and weakened our research quality,” said Khalid Qasim, a political sociologist at Sana’a University, “However, the ongoing war is now paralysing the research process almost entirely due to the complete cessation of funding and the emigration or death of many researchers.”

There is still no official assessment of the material losses Yemeni research centres have suffered as a result of the fighting. But more than 43 government scientific centres affiliated with Yemeni universities have stopped operations because of damage to their facilities, according to Yemen’s ministry of higher education. Some 15 independent research centres have also been out of work due to the suspension of support from international donor organisations, and some of them have been stormed by armed groups, according to local human rights organisations.
Full report on the Al-Fanar Media site