1st German-Arab Young Scientists Forum

2011-04-06T00:00:00Z

First German-Arab Young Scientists Forum - 1^st GAYSF

Berlin (Germany), 16-19 June 2011

Press release – 05/07/2011

German-Arab Scientific Cooperation: Challenges and Perspectives

The 1^st German-Arab Young Scientists Forum (GAYSF), Berlin

The first German-Arab Young Scientists Forum (GAYSF) took place in Berlin, Germany on June 16-19, 2011. The Forum was organized by Die Junge Akademie (the Young Academy) at the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina and the Arab Academy of Young Scientists (Arab-WAYS), and gathered about sixty German and Arab participants. The working sessions of the Forum were held in the Brugsch-Pascha-Saal at the Egyptian Museum and Papyrus Collection of Berlin.

Both Young Academies have been strongly engaged in strengthening the institutional capacity of youth and promoting dialogue between their members, governmental institutions and other representatives of different cultural and scientific areas. Nowadays, while the Arab World is experiencing a critical post-revolution period with youth being at the forefront of the “Arab Spring”, it was especially important that a selected group of young Arab and German scientists came together in Berlin to support a safe transition in Science and Technology and to promote scientific cooperation between Germany and Arabic countries.

The first Forum aimed at reinforcing the German-Arab cooperation in Science and Research and creating a platform for networking between the young researchers in both parts of the world and in various disciplines. The Arab delegation included participants from several Arabic countries such as Bahrain, Egypt, Lebanon, Morocco, Syria, Palestine, Tunisia and Yemen, as well as young Arab scientists currently conducting their research activities in Europe including the Arab Fellows of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation. On the German side members of Die Junge Akademie and selected members of several Berlin universities and research institutions were present.

The participants were all young scientists and researchers working on different topics such as: Water, Biology, Environmental Sciences, Medicine, Political Sciences, Chemistry, Architecture, Arabic and German Literature, Islamic Art, Human Rights, Conflict and Pease Studies, etc. Thus, the Forum had an interdisciplinary character bringing together scholars from all major academic areas: Natural Sciences, Social Sciences, Arts and Humanities.

During the meeting, the German side represented by Prof. Dr. Klaus Lucas, the Vice-President of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities, Dr. Verena Lepper, Dr. Kirill Dmitriev and Dr. Marc Helbling, members of Die Junge Akademie, and the Arab partners represented by Dr. Alaa El-Sadek, President of Arab-WAYS, Dr. Jauad El Kharraz, the General Secretary, and Dr. Olfa Mahjoub, member of Arab-WAYS Steering Committee, presented their visions of cooperation between German and Arab young researchers and highlighted the multi-disciplinary character of this forum.

Three topics were raised and discussed within the working groups of the Forum: (i) the Arab Spring and its impact on young Arab researchers, (ii) instruments and forms of cooperation between German and Arab institutions, and (iii) strengths and weaknesses of the research systems in Germany and Arab countries that have to be developed and/or reinforced.

Roundtables, group sessions and discussions took place in the presence of representatives of German institutions, outstanding and eminent experts, lecturers, who shared their experiences and views, and conveyed their expectations in the context of the German-Arab cooperation.

The Forum gave the young Arab researchers also the opportunity to visit some of the academic research institutions in the Berlin area, such as the Leibniz-Institute of Freshwater Ecology and Inland Fisheries (IGB), the Social Science Research Center Berlin (WZB) and the Berlin Museum of Natural History. During these visits further opportunities for cooperation were explored.

Moreover, representatives from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, the Center for international Cooperation at the Freie Universität Berlin, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) and the Volkswagen Foundation presented their institutions, the cooperation programs as well as the potential areas in which they provide support for the activities of German and Arab young scholars. They expressed their will to contribute to improving the scientific cooperation between Germany and the Arab world, in particular with regard to the sponsorship of existing and new networking activities.

As a next step, a proposal emanated from the Arab side and welcomed by German participants, was an invitation to host the second German-Arab Young Scientists Forum in one of the Arab countries in 2012. In addition, drawing upon the relevance and importance of the German-Arab young researchers exchange, the Forum agreed to further elaborate on a joint proposal to be submitted soon to international donors. This initiative should aim at institutionalizing the cooperation between Die Junge Akademie and the Arab-WAYS by means of creating a joint network of excellence. Pursuing new knowledge as a motor for innovation, such an international network could play a significant role in developing the scientific and cultural environment in both regions.

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The Junge Akademie was founded in the year 2000 as joint project of the Berlin-Brandenburg Academy of Sciences and Humanities (Berlin-Brandenburgische Akademie der Wissenschaften, BBAW) and the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina (Nationale Akademie der Wissenschaften Leopoldina). Following its institutionalization in 2010, Die Junge Akademie continues to promote interdisciplinary discourse and co-operation between outstanding young scientists and scholars, and to support initiatives at the interface between science and society.

Arab-WAYS: is an initiative of the World Academy of Young Scientists (WAYS) that launched its Arab branch at the first Arab regional meeting held in 2005 in Alexandria, Egypt. The objective of this association is to contribute towards strengthening the capacity of young Arab researchers to conduct relevant and high quality research that covers science and technology, environment, and their inter-linkages, and to advance science and enhance the situation of young scientists throughout the Arab world.

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Contact:

Die Junge Akademie:

Dr. Verena Lepper, Dr. Kirill Dmitriev, Dr. Marc Helbling

v.lepper@smb.spk-berlin.de, dmitriev@gmx.net, helbling@wzb.eu

Arab-WAYS:

Dr. Alaa El-Sadek, Dr. Jauad El Kharraz, Dr. Olfa Mahjoub

alaasa@agu.edu.bh, jauad.el-kharraz@semide.org, olfama@gmail.com

Forum’s webpage: http://www.emwis.net/topics/ways/1st-german-arab-young-scientists-forum

1st German-Arab Young Scientists Forum

The “German-Arab Young Scientists Forum” is organized as an international information and cooperation initiative of the Junge Akademie and the Arab Association of Young Scientists. We invite to this meeting young scientists from different Arabic countries and Arab scholars of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation.

The selection of the participants includes different academic areas, like natural and social science as well as the humanities, which should give the event an interdisciplinary character.

On the German side members of the Junge Akademie and selected members of other Berlin research institutions will participate.

The Forum shall be an academic platform for exchange, where next to general information and discussion about relevant questions and problems of academia in Germany and the Arabic world perspectives for joint research projects shall be discussed. In addition it is planed to visit with our Arabic partners some of the academic research institutions in the Berlin area. Thus the aim of the forum is to internationalise the academic research in a lasting way.

Thematic Focus:
The thematic focus of the forum will form questions about the situation and role of the natural andsocial science as well as the humanities in Germany and the Arabic World.

Audience:
German and Arabic Young Scientists from natural and social science as well as the humanities.

PS: The participants are called to book ASAP their flights (should not be more than 500 euros), once they are in Berlin and during the meeting they will get reimbursed (the flight + 3 nights of the hotel "16-17-18": RAMADA Hotel Berlin-Mitte). Please keep the bills (flights) till giving it to the organizers.

Place of Venue:
Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung, Brugsch Pascha Saal
10117 Berlin, Geschwister-Scholl-Straße 2-8, 5th Floor

Hotel:
RAMADA Hotel Berlin-Mitte
Chausseestraße 118
10115 Berlin
Telefone: +49 (0)30 / 278755 – 0
Email: berlin.mitte@ramada.de
Web: www.ramada.de

The Water Forum for the EMA Region: "Environmental Protection and Water Management: Sustainable Cooperation and Know-How-Transfer in the EMA Region"

2011-04-06T00:00:00Z

The 1st ARU-WAYS General Conference

2011-06-13T10:41:59Z

Arab Regional Unit – ARU
Alaa El-Sadek (Egypt) - aru@waysnet.org

WAYS members can join the e-mail conference of the Unit:
arab_ways-subscribe@yahoogroups.com

1st ARU-WAYS General Conference n

The 1st ARU-WAYS General Conference will be held 3 to 6 December 2005 in Alexandria, Egypt. The event is jointly organized by the Library of Alexandria, the World Academy of Young Scientists (WAYS) and UNESCO, in collaboration with the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) and the Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, Egypt.

The Arab WAYS regional unit in the making n

A follow-up meeting of the 1st WAYS General Conference was held in Rabat, capital city of Morocco on 11 April 2005 under the supervision of H.E. Dr. Habib El Malki, Minister of National Education, Higher Education, Staff Training and Scientific Research. The meeting aimed mainly at assessing the progress achieved in terms of carrying out the recommendations of the 1st WAYS General Assembly, which was held in Marrakech on 11-13 December 2004.

In his keynote address, Dr. Habib El Malki expressed the Moroccan government.s readiness to host the headquarters of the Arab regional unit of WAYS and to provide the necessary logistics for Moroccan young scientists in order to create a network which will link them with their Arab counterparts and help them join the worldwide WAYS network.

It is to be noted that the Moroccan participants at the 1st WAYS General Assembly decided to establish a new organization called .Académie Marocaine des Jeunes Scientifiques., with the aim to more effectively contribute to the activities of the WAYS network.

Beside the above mentioned participants, the meeting was attended by Dr. Omar Fassi Fihri, Minister Delegate to the Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, being in charge of scientific research activities, and the Secretary General of Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, the presidents of 13 Moroccan universities along with other stakeholders in the higher education sector.

On the issues and the problems of scientific research in the arab world

2011-06-15T00:00:00Z

Bibliotheca Alexandrina
14-15/11/2006- Alexandria (Egypt)

The Junge Akademie

2011-07-04T00:00:00Z

Final List of German & Arab Participants, Berlin 16-19/06/2011

2011-10-11T10:39:40Z

(30/06/2011 version)

From Berlin airports to the hotel

2011-10-11T10:39:38Z

Agenda, Berlin 16-19/06/2011

2011-10-11T10:39:36Z

(09/06/2011) Version

Press release, 05/07/2011

2011-10-11T10:39:42Z

Brochure of the "FIRST GERMAN-ARABIC YOUNG SCIENTISTS FORUM"

2011-10-11T10:39:37Z

Technical agenda of the meeting - (15/06/2011 version)

2011-10-11T10:39:39Z

The 1st Arab-American Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine symposium, Kuwait - 17-19/10/2011

2011-11-03T00:00:00Z

Humboldt Colloquium in Amman, 2009

2011-11-16T00:00:00Z

New Prospects and Challenges for Science and Education in the MENA region, Marrakech (Morocco), 09-11/03/2012