A number of prominent scientists of the Islamic world from different countries will be the guests of honor at the 6th round of Science and Technology Exchange Program (STEP) in Islamic countries, which will be held from November 9 to 11 at different universities in Tehran, the executive secretary of the event Mohammad Mahdi Jafari said during the STEP’s first strategic committee meeting on Monday.
The event will be held simultaneous with 2019 Mustafa (pbuh) Prize Award Ceremony. The theme of 6th round of STEP will be water-energy nexus and health. The event also highlights scientific collaboration, science communication, financing for science and technology and also women in science and technology.
About 85 scientists from 31 countries including Malaysia, Turkey, Pakistan, Bangladesh, UK, India and Canada and Egypt will attend the event, the official went on to say.
Jafari announced that the participants will hold over 20 workshops in five categories of energy, health, water, science, communication and ICT during this round of STEP.
The executive secretary of the event said that STEP aims to produce and share scientific capacities of Islamic world, gather scientists of Islamic world and establish connection between young scientists in different countries.
In addition to scientists, universities, academic centers, science and technology media are also among the addressees of the event.
STEP aims to find ways to establish networks for interaction between Islamic elites and scientists and to inform them about networks, which are already exist.
The official also pointed to the STEP Youth, a section focuses on empowering the next generation of scientists of Islamic world, as an important part of the event.
Nine working groups were established during the past five rounds of STEP, he said.
Professor Adel K. El-Naggar from University of Texas (US), professor Naweed Syed from Alberta Children’s Hospital Research Institute (Canada), professor Naim Akhtar Khan from Burgundy University (France), Mohammad Khaja Nazeeruddin from Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (Switzerland), Kamaruzzaman Bin Sopian from University of Kebangsaan Malaysia, Adel O.Sharif from University of Surrey (UK) will attend as the guests in the event.
Other guests are Mohammad Haris Akram and Manzoor Hussain Soomro from Pakistan, Abdulkabir Balikci from Turkey, Mahmoud Abdel-Aty from Egypt, Mustafa Marafi from Kuwait, Amin Shokrolllahi from Switzerland, Ashraf Alam from India and Halit Oguztuzun from Turkey.
STEP; event with international criteria
The STEP is considered as an international event and the participants are selected with high criteria, the secretary of the event Saied Sohrabpour said.
He emphasized on the importance of the establishment of network between scholars and scientists of Islamic world who live in different parts of world.
The official also explained about STEPMATE , a program according to which, volunteers from university students help for organizing this round of STEP.
What is STEP?
In order to create an atmosphere of cooperation and interaction among experts and scientists from Islamic world, the Mustafa (pbuh) Science & Technology Foundation (MSTF) conducts various activities that one of which is STEP.
The STEP Symposium which is held annually in one of the Islamic Countries offers a wide range of joint cooperative research opportunities and creates a platform for in-depth discussions and exchanges of strategic experience to the countries of Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) in the field of Science and Technology.
The first and third STEPs were held in Tehran, simultaneous with Mustafa (pbuh) Prize Award Ceremony in 2015 and 2017, in cooperation with Islamic World Academy of Sciences, and various universities and scientific centers.
The second STEP was held in Putrajaya, 2016, in collaboration with Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM), Young Scientists Network, and Academy of Sciences Malaysia. The fourth STEP was held in Muscat, 2-5 December, 2018, hosted by Sultan Qaboos University (SQU).
The 5th STEP on health with an emphasis on female scientists’ contribution was held at the University of Karachi from February 27th to March 2nd, 2019, in collaboration with International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS).
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