COMSTECH Contribution to STI Capacity Building, Networking & Policy Initiatives for OIC Member States
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COMSTECH Contribution to STI Capacity Building, Networking & Policy Initiatives for OIC Member States Compiled by: M. Qasim Jan Ikram Abbasi Ahmad Waseem Ashraf March 2020 OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad, Pakistan Detailed information on the activities of COMSTECH can be obtained by visiting www.comstech.org Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................................... 1 Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 3 Research Grants Programs 1. COMSTECH-EMRO/WHO Research Grants Program ....................................................... 3 2. COMSTECH-IFS Joint Research Grants Program ........................................................... 15 3. COMSTECH-IFS-INWRDAM Joint Research Grants Program ......................................... 66 4. COMSTECH-ISESCO Joint Research Grants Program ................................................... 73 5. COMSTECH Cooperation Program with TWAS ............................................................... 77 Travel Support Programs 6. Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings ................................................................................... 122 7. Visiting Scientists Programme........................................................................................ 124 8. COMSTECH Travel Grant Programme .......................................................................... 128 Training Program 9. COMSTECH Thematic Workshops Program .................................................................. 133 Brief Summary of other COMSTECH initiatives A. COMSTECH Cooperation Program with IROST ............................................................ 140 B. COMSTECH Inter-Islamic Networks Program ................................................................ 140 C. Islamic World Academy of Sciences .............................................................................. 141 D. COMSTECH Directory of Active Scientists in OIC Member States and their Recent Scientific Publications .................................................................................................... 141 E. Establishment of Biotechnology Information Centers (BICs) in OIC Member States ...... 142 F. COMSTECH Financial Assistance Towards Seminars/ Conferences/ Workshops/Symposia .................................................................................................... 142 G. COMSTECH Scientific Literature Search Service .......................................................... 157 H. COMSTECH Spare Parts Program ................................................................................ 157 I. COMSTECH Program of Preparation of Profiles on the Muslim World ........................... 157 J. COMSTECH-COMSATS Joint Programs ....................................................................... 157 K. IT Centers in OIC Member States .................................................................................. 158 L. COMSTECH Cooperation with Senegal in IT ................................................................. 158 M. COMSTECH-IDB Collaborative Projects ........................................................................ 158 N. COMSTECH-PTCL Frontier Technologies Research Collaboration ............................... 159 O. COMSTECH Research and Training Initiative ................................................................ 160 P. COMSTECH Program for Ph. D. Scholarships in Frontier Technologies ........................ 160 Q. COMSTECH Awards ..................................................................................................... 162 R. Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) Policy Research & Training Centre ................. 164 S. COMSTECH-ISESCO joint workshops 2011 .................................................................. 169 T. E-MAIL Directory of Scientists, Academicians, Engineers, Research Institutions, and Universities of the OIC Region ....................................................................................... 170 U. COMSTECH Inter-Library Resource Network Service.................................................... 170 V. COMSTECH Publications ............................................................................................... 170 W. Conclusions ................................................................................................................... 172 Executive Summary The OIC Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) was established by the Third Islamic Summit held at Makkah, Saudi Arabia, in January 1981. Behind its set-up were the objectives to undertake follow up actions and implementation of the OIC resolutions, and to contribute towards strengthening the science and technology (S&T) capacity of the OIC member states through mutual cooperation, collaboration and networking of resources. Since its inception, COMSTECH has taken many initiatives for the promotion of S&T in the OIC member states. Some of these programmes include research grants, training courses, travel support, institution building, establishment of Inter-Islamic Networks, Literature Search Service, etc. It also initiated a number of other activities summarized in Section 4 of this document. One of these is the establishment of COMSTECH Science, Technology & Innovation (STI) Policy Research Training Centre in 2006. A major focus of COMSTECH has been on human resource development. Through joint research grants programmes with International Foundation for Science (IFS), Islamic Scientific, Educational and Cultural Organization (ISESCO), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), The Eastern Mediterranean Regional Office of the World Health Organization (WHO/EMRO), and Inter-Islamic Network on Water Resources Development and Management (INWRDAM), COMSTECH has awarded US$ 7.1925 million to 719 projects during 1998-2019. Figure 1 gives details of the grants to various OIC member states, and Figure 2 depicts year-wise distribution of these grants. Country-wise Grants in US Dollars 10000 1000 100 Thousands 10 1 Iraq (2) UAE (1) Syria (2) Iran (49) Niger(9) Mali (11) Oman (1) Togo (15) Gabon (2) Turkey (6) Egypt (37) Benin (27) Algeria (4) Sudan (13) Albania (1) Bahrain (1) Gambia (3) Somalia (1) Djibouti (1) Jordan (14) Tunisia (26) Nigeria (34) Lebanon (9) Uganda (20) Senegal (14) Palestine (6) Suriname (1) Malaysia (98) Morocco (28) Pakistan (129) Indonesia (24) Uzbekistan (2) Mauritania (1) Kazakhstan (1) Cameroon (29) Afghanistan (1) Sierra Leone (4) Bangladesh (37) Mozambique (5) Cote d'Ivoire (24) Burkina Faso (26) Fig.1. Joint reaserach grants of COMSTECH with EMRO-WHO, IFS, ISESCO, TWAS and INWRDAM awarded during 1998-2019 to various OIC member states. In parentheses are numbers of the projects supported. 1 COMSTECH initiated a program Research Grants of offering training courses/ thematic workshops in 2006. 1000 Under this, 78 courses were 800 organized in cutting edge fields of 600 S&T and trained 2,635 400 participants from 32 OIC member 200 states. Some 716 experts, 0 including 247 from abroad, 2000-01 2002-03 2004-05 2005-06 2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2012-13 2014-15 2016-17 2018-19 1998-99 volunteered to act as resource US$ thousandsUS$ in persons. In parallel with this series of thematic workshops, the STI Centre of COMSTECH also Fig. 2. COMSTECH-EMRO, -IFS, -ISESCO, -TWAS, - INWRDAM joint research grants awarded organized regular training courses during 1998-2019. and workshops spanning 3 days to 4 weeks. Since 2006, 23 of these trained 680 participants including 278 from OIC member states. The 145 resource persons who conducted these training courses included 67 experts from abroad. Along with these workshops and training courses, COMSTECH also organized three international conferences. These were addressed by 22 foreign and 80 Pakistani speakers. Under visiting scientists and travel grants programs, COMSTECH has disbursed US$ 50,330/- to scientists and researchers from different OIC member states. Details of this activity are shown in Figure 3. COMSTECH has published Visiting Scientists and Travel Mineral, Health & Medical, Food & Grants Programs Agriculture, and Industrial profiles of OIC member states. It has 25000 produced monographs on Climate 20000 Change, Energy Strategies for US$ OIC, World Trade Organization & 15000 OIC, Bioinformatics, and compiled 10000 Model Biosafety Guidelines and Islamic Biomedical Ethics. Books 5000 on Status of Scientific Research in 0 OIC, Strategy for the 1998-01 2002-05 2006-10 Development of S&T in Islamic countries, Science and Fig. 3. Grants given to visiting scientists/travels during Technology Policy for 1998-2010. Industrialization, Leading Scientists and Engineers of OIC, and World Islamic Calendar have been published. COMSTECH has also compiled a 16 volume Directory of Active Scientists of the OIC member states. 2 Introduction The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Ministerial Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) was established in 1981 under the chairmanship of the President of Pakistan. The Committee was mandated to undertake follow-up-actions and implementation of the resolutions of OIC, to study all possible means of strengthening cooperation among member states, and to draw up