Huda al-Naimi

In 2000 al-Naimi moved back to Qatar and took up a post as Director of Safety for the Hamad Medical Corporation (HMC).[1] As part of her role at HMC, al-Naimi leads on their MENA-regional training on radiation safety.[2] She has represented Qatar at a number of international meetings and conferences concerning radiation safety, including those led by the International Atomic Energy Agency and the United Nations Environment Programme.[3] In 2013 she was President of the Qatar Medical Physics Society.[4]

In addition to al-Naimi's studies, during her time studying in Cairo, she began to write creatively and published three books of short stories whilst living there.[1] One of her stories, Layla & Me, is a Qatari telling of the Red Riding Hood story - in it the protagonist is as dark as the wolf.[5][6] Her collection Abatil is seen as a key text in modern Qatari writing.[7]

After moving back to Qatar, al-Naimi has been active in the cultural sector as a member for the National Council for Culture in Qatar and part of the organisational team for Doha: Arabic Capital of Culture 2010.[1] She is active in literary circles and in 2011 was guest of honour at the Sudanese Book Fair in Khartoum.[1] In 2012 she was one of the judges for the International Prize for Arabic Fiction, alongside translator Gonzalo Fernández Parilla, originally from Spain, and from Lebanon the critic Maudie Bitar.[8] During this year of the prize, al-Naimi praised the number of women on the judging panel, but was concerned that less than 15% of the entrants were women.[9]