On May 23, Ameer Majeed, an artificial intelligence researcher and student at the University of Kurdistan Hewler (UKH), won first place in the category of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Abu Dhabi University’s 11th Undergraduate Research and Innovation Competition with his research project entitled “Optical Character Recognition for Handwritten Syriac Text.”

Abu Dhabi University’s website states that the annual competition serves as a platform for university students to showcase their research projects across 28 tracks in the fields of engineering, business, education, art, social sciences, natural and health sciences, and innovation.

I would like to announce that my research project "Optical Character Recognition for Handwritten Syriac Text" has won FIRST PLACE at the Abu Dhabi University's 11th Undergraduate Research and Innovation Competition (URIC), Category of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning. pic.twitter.com/NlQhJHQHuB

— Ameer H. Majeed (@ameerhameeddd) May 27, 2024

“This achievement is a gift from me, a Kurd computer scientist, to the Assyrians, Chaldeans, and Syriacs. The amount of love I have for your culture and heritage is indescribable to the point I felt responsible for its preservation. And I hope to inspire your youth to do so too,” Majeed wrote in a post on LinkedIn.

He also thanked his supervisor, Assistant Professor of Computer Science Hossein Hassani, and Head of the Syriac Department at Salahaddin University-Erbil Kawther Najeeb Askar.

“The UKH kindly funded all travel expenses of five students and one of our lecturers so as to represent the university and the Kurdistan Region in such a prestigious academic competition,” he told Kurdistan Chronicle.

Majeed said his sole purpose for working with the Syriac language was the fact that it is an endangered language. “Its resources, especially when it comes to artificial intelligence tasks, are scarce and, as they say in computer science lingo, computationally unavailable,” he explained.

“I personally have an immense fascination with Syriac both phonetically and also historically,” Majeed added. “It is significant because it was one of the main languages used for the transmission of science and philosophy in the Near East. Many of the works of the ancient Greeks were translated into Syriac, which resulted in their translation into Arabic and paved the way for the Islamic Golden Age,” he added.

He also added that he hopes his project contributes to the coexistence between Kurds and Christians in the Kurdistan Region. “I truly hope to have contributed, even if slightly, to the compassion and coexistence between both Kurds and Christians, for I believe science and research transcends all natural and man-made differences, be it ideology, race, ethnicity, social class, or gender.”

“I imagine a world where everyone is equal and valued for who they really are. Cultural and ethnic diversity, to me, is what makes the world more exciting. I wish to further explore the fascinating differences between cultures and apply my technical knowledge in artificial intelligence to develop a better understanding of their history and how to preserve them digitally,” he concluded.