Last year, UNESCO-TWAS marked a significant achievement, using virtual technology to hold the first-ever series of webinars featuring its award winners. This year, the Academy is repeating its efforts, holding the Second TWAS Awards Webinar Series.
TWAS is hosting the ongoing series of livestreamed educational webinars over the course of several months in the build-up to TWAS Sixteenth General Conference, slated for 21 to 24 November and co-organized with Zhejiang University, one of China’s most internationally respected universities. The webinars represent a chance for awardees to deliver presentations on the work for which they received recognition, and they can discuss their work in further detail during question-and-answer sessions that follow each presentation.
The webinars have become a new and useful way to demonstrate the accomplishments of developing world scientists. They are one of several worldwide online gatherings held by TWAS, which emerged from adaptations made in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. TWAS Fifteenth General Conference, in November 2021, was held online, and it was the first time the Academy’s major biennial event for accomplished scientists across the globe was all-virtual.
The first edition of this year’s webinars was held on 26 May and included presentations on impactful research from the global South in the agricultural sciences, medical sciences, and biology. It featured Xie Daoxin of China, winner of the 2022 TWAS Award in Agricultural Sciences; Hugo Luján of Argentina, co-winner of the 2022 TWAS Award in Medical Sciences; Song Erwei of China, co-winner of the 2022 TWAS Award in Medical Sciences; and Djeneba Dabitao of Mali, winner of the 2021 TWAS-Abdool Karim Award in Biological Sciences. A recording is available for viewing on TWAS YouTube channel.
The second webinar of this year is scheduled for 14 July, at 1 p.m., Rome time, and will highlight achievements in chemistry from the developing world. It will feature Engin Umut Akkaya of Türkiye, co-winner of the 2022 TWAS Award in Chemistry; Chen Chunying of China, co-winner of the 2022 TWAS Award in Chemistry; Zubair Hasan of Bangladesh, winner of the 2021 TWAS-Atta-ur-Rahman Award in Chemistry; Nigist Asfaw of Ethiopia, winner of the 2021 TWAS-Samira Omar Innovation for Sustainability Award; and Meththika Suharshini Vithanage of Sri Lanka, winner of the 2020 TWAS-Fayzah M. Al-Kharafi Award. It can be viewed live through a stream on YouTube.
The remaining three webinars of the 2022 Series will focus on Earth, astronomy and space sciences scheduled for 18 August; on mathematics, physics and engineering sciences on 22 September; and on social and economic sciences on 20 October.
Sean Treacy