On behalf of TWAS President, Prof. Mohamed H. A. Hassan,
and of TWAS Council, we are pleased to invite you to the third
webinar of the 2020 TWAS Awards Webinar Series.
The series consists of five webinars taking place online
between 10 June and 29 October, leading to TWAS Fifteenth
General Conference, which will be also held virtually from 1
to 4 November. The webinars are focused on the winners of TWAS
awards and of awards in honour of TWAS Fellows. The series
will resume next year to comprise presentations by those TWAS
Awards winners that were not able to convene in 2021.
This is the third event of the 2021 Awards Webinar Series
that gives an opportunity to TWAS Award winners to deliver
brief presentations on their accomplishments. A
question-and-answer session takes place after each
presentation, allowing participants to ask presenters their
questions.
The third webinar will take place on 19 August, at 1 p.m.,
Rome time, and will focus on chemistry and physics.
Presentations will be made by Raoelina Andriambololona of
Madagascar, winner of the 2020 TWAS C.N.R. Rao Award for
Scientific Research; Tang Zhiyong of China, winner of the 2020
TWAS Award in Chemistry; Basant Giri of Nepal, winner of the
2020 TWAS-Atta-ur-Rahman Award in Chemistry; and Achyut
Adhikari of Nepal, winner of the 2019 TWAS-Atta-ur-Rahman
Award in Chemistry. For more information, bio sketches of each
scientist can be found at the end of this message.
To register in advance, please, use: https://unesco-org.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_Tom72tFjR-KYGfCpqwRD7g
After registering, you will receive a confirmation email
containing information about joining the webinar.
To join the live event, please, use: https://youtu.be/xC5a8w_8XoM
Participants to the webinar provide their consent to be
recorded. Participants receive a notification when a recording
starts or when they join a session that is already being
recorded. Participants also authorize TWAS to use the
recording, in part or entirely, when disseminating material
related to TWAS activities.
We very much look forward to seeing you online!
Yours sincerely,
Prof. Romain Murenzi
TWAS Executive Director
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UNESCO-TWAS
The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of
science in developing countries
Trieste, Italy
Raoelina ANDRIAMBOLOLONA
Professor Raoelina Andriambololona is the founder and Director-General of the National Institute of Nuclear Sciences and Technology in Madagascar, where he pioneered the peaceful uses of nuclear technology and micro-nanotechnology. From 1962 to 1968, he worked as researcher at the Centre of Theoretical Physics in Marseille, a mixed research unit of the National Centre for Scientific Research (CNRS). In 1967, he earned his PhD in theoretical physics from Aix-Marseille University. In October 1968, he returned to Madagascar to propel science in a country that was lacking scientific institutions. In 1980, Andriambololona received the support of TWAS, UNESCO and the International Atomic Energy Agency in Vienna to set up the Laboratory of Nuclear Physics and Applied Physics from scratch in Madagascar. He was President of the African Regional Cooperative Agreement for Research, Development and Training related to Nuclear Science and Technology (AFRA)-Field Management Committee (2002–2003); Deputy Director-General of the International Biographical Centre, in Cambridge, UK; and expert of the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa, in Addis Ababa.
He was awarded "For his development of peaceful uses of nuclear sciences and technologies both in Madagascar and Africa and his pioneering actions in nanotechnologies in Madagascar.”
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TANG Zhiyong is a Professor at the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology,
Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Key Laboratory of Nanosystem and Hierarchical Fabrication, Beijing, China. He received his PhD from the Changchun Institute of Applied Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, China, in 2000. Then, he moved to Switzerland, where he worked as a research associate at the Institute for Chemical and Bioengineering of the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Zurich. From 2001 to 2003 and from 2003 to 2006, he was a research fellow in the departments of chemistry and of chemical engineering at Oklahoma State University. In 2006, he joined the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology (NCNST), in Beijing, as a full professor. His greatest accomplishment is his study of the self-limiting mechanism for self-assembly from multiple types of nanoparticles, which laid the foundations for making large-scale and ordered hierarchical structures. Such results further pushed the methodology of nanoparticle self-assembly and the practical application of nanomaterials.
He was awarded "For his contribution to the development of methods and theory for controllable synthesis, self-assembly and property manipulation of nanoparticles."
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Basant GIRI is the Director of International Relations, at the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences, in Kathmandu, Nepal. Basant Giri received his first Master of Science (MSc) in chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal, and his second MSc in chemistry from the Oregon State University, United States. He completed his PhD degree in analytical chemistry at the University of Wyoming, United States. Subsequently, he co-founded the Kathmandu Institute of Applied Sciences, in Nepal, where he currently works as a Director of International Relations and Senior Scientist. His research includes the development of new technologies and analytical methods—for which he uses paper-analytical devices and smartphones—for a wide range of applications such as drug, food and water quality testing, environmental pollution monitoring, and clinical diagnosis. The ultimate goal of his research is to provide common people with such technologies so that they can test everyday items before consuming them. Basant Giri is also working on science policy and science outreach projects.
He was awarded "For his outstanding work on the development of low-cost analytical tools for biological, chemical, environmental and clinical applications."
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Achyut ADHIKARI is an Associate Professor at the Central Department of Chemistry, Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu, Nepal. He is also a member of the Advisory Board of the Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, Nepal. He is a member of the Interim Board of Study in Medicinal Biochemistry and Biotechnology of the Institute of Biochemistry, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology, at the University of Colombo, Sri Lanka, and a visiting professor at the Sarsen Amanzholov East Kazakhstan University, Kazakhstan. He completed his PhD in natural products chemistry in 2010, at the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), University of Karachi, Pakistan, and his postdoctoral research at the Department of Pharmacy, University of São Paulo, in Ribero Preto, Brazil. His current research interest includes the discovery of new bioactive natural products, standardization of aromatic and medicinal plants, and green synthesis of nanoparticles and their application, for which he has received several grants and published more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers, one book, and three US patents.
He was awarded "For his work using natural products chemistry in Nepal and other countries, isolating compounds from regional plants that can be put to use in medicine or commercial products."