KAUST’s annual iftar connects science hub with the rest of Saudi Arabia

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) held its annual iftar on Thursday.
The iftar presented an opportunity to connect the science and technology hub with the rest of the Kingdom and the international community.
The director of global marketing communications at KAUST, Mark Mulqueen, said that the story of KAUST was a special one.
“My job is to bring KAUST’s story to audiences in Saudi Arabia and globally — that’s how I see it. We have a great story to tell, we just need to tell it with much more energy, creativity and in a more compelling way than maybe to date. We’re constantly asked what’s happening in KAUST,” he told Arab News
“There’s a huge amount of work happening in KAUST but in today’s media age, you really have to be proactive when telling your story, you’ve got to do your work and show people that you’re doing your work.
“There are two jobs to be done. The scientists, entrepreneurs, myself and my team have to make sure that the people of Saudi Arabia, the wider region, and globally engages in what we are doing here because it’s a transformative story.”
Mulqueen said he had been at KAUST seven months and described it as an “intense place” that was very multicultural. “We have 104 or 107 different nationalities It’s not something you’d find at home in terms of that, that richness and variety.”
KAUST’s new president, Dr. Tony Chan, was keen on creating new energy at the institution’s scientific and academic core while engaging with the Kingdom, he added.
“With our new president Dr. Tony Chan, there’s a real urgency in the sense of new energy about the institution in terms of both doing the core scientific and academic work, but also the engagement with Saudi Arabia because it’s transforming and it’s gone into high speed and we have to keep our pace up at that level. One of my main focuses is to tell our story in a much more digital manner. It’s a global tech university. KUAST should be cutting edge in how we tell our story because the story itself is cutting edge.
“KAUST is about to have a whole new strategic plan for the university, its existing pillars today will feature there. Its four pillars from its first decade and as it enters its second decade this September, this new strategic plan helps the university realign with the new Saudi Arabia that is so focused on 2030. That is what our president is doing. Our mission and our original mission and the vision from King Abdullah was to be a global beacon for discovery, science, for transforming global problems and global challenges. He’s doing that.”