The inaugural cohort of WEFRAH Principal Investigators (PIs) and Co-PIs (those invited to submit full proposals for WEFRAH internal seed funding) participated in a Re-Design Thinking workshop at College Hall on June 15. Mr. Fadi Ghandour led a team from Wamda group, who introduced the first cohort to a business modelling process for taking research ideas to execution and implementation for commercialization or other forms of impact. Each PI/co-PI team developed a project to create sustainable enterprises using a business model canvas to present their project strategically and visually.

In introductory remarks, Dean Mohtar emphasized the necessity of transcending traditional approaches to research in favor of a system of systems approach to foster a community of interconnected researchers able to respond to the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In concluding remarks, the Dean invited the cohort to redesign their project concepts and submit new working plans and budgets that reflect the workshop exercises by refining the research questions and project or cluster scope.
Connect with WEFRAH by contacting the leadership team at wefrah@aub.edu.lb.