Qatar’s Digital Future: UDST and MCIT Gear Up for Second AI and Software Engineering Winter School
It aims to empower students, researchers, and professionals with the latest competencies required to build a robust, tech-driven ecosystem.
The University of Doha for Science and Technology (UDST), in partnership with the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (MCIT), has announced that it will host the Second Winter School in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Software Engineering (SE) in January 2026. This year’s program is set to offer a more enriched and applied learning experience, building upon the substantial success of its inaugural edition, and is expected to attract participants from both Qatar and the wider region.
The first Winter School demonstrated significant impact, gathering a distinguished assembly of scholars, researchers, and students for over 15 expert-led sessions. Feedback from the inaugural event was overwhelmingly positive, with 94% of attendees rating the program as highly relevant to their professional and academic advancement, and 90% expressing interest in attending future editions.
The upcoming Winter School will serve as a dynamic forum for the exchange of knowledge, featuring a combination of lectures, hands-on workshops, and panel discussions. The curriculum will delve into cutting-edge subjects, including AI-driven industrial automation, the principles of responsible AI-driven software engineering, multimodal models, Large Language Models (LLMs) agents, and the crucial topics of AI privacy risks and mitigation strategies.
This initiative underscores UDST’s commitment to advancing digital skills and fostering innovation, supporting both Qatar’s digital transformation and the goals of Qatar National Vision 2030. It aims to empower students, researchers, and professionals with the latest competencies required to build a robust, tech-driven ecosystem. The collaboration with MCIT emphasizes the national priority to equip local talent with advanced skills, effectively bridging academic outcomes with the evolving demands of the digital industry and advancing the objectives of the Digital Agenda 2030. The Winter School solidifies UDST’s standing as a leading regional hub for applied research and advanced training in digital technologies.

