Bangladesh Academy of Sciences is pleased to learn that the National Young Academy of Bangladesh (NYAB) has passed three years successfully since its formation and is set to hold its third Annual General Meeting (AGM).
The Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS) has, since its inception in 1973, been working to promote excellence in science education and research in Bangladesh. For young scientists it has organized Young Scientist congresses, given awards to scientists in the junior category, nominated young scientists to global events such as the World Economic Forum, STS Forum, Lindau Nobel Laureates meeting, HOPE meeting, etc. We also had our own Young Affiliate Program, which has now been superseded by an Associate Fellowship Program.
However, in line with the global trend, in 2019 NYAB formation was endorsed by BAS and we are proud to have played a role in the formation of NYAB. Heartiest congratulations to the newly selected cohort of NYAB members. I hope they will involve themselves in the dynamic activities of NYAB and will be the torch bearer of the nation in the long run.
The last three years of activities of NYAB is praiseworthy. Despite being affected by the pandemic, NYAB created its own path to work for the nation and the society in a timely manner.
I wish the AGM and all future activities of NYAB a great success.
Prof. Dr. Abul Kalam Azad Chowdhury
President
Bangladesh Academy of Sciences
Any idea of national development of any country is just a myth without the active and meaningful participation of youths and utilization of their talents, dynamism, imagination, ideas and energies.
The National Young Academy of Bangladesh (NYAB) was established on 16 June 2019 to provide a forum for young researchers in Bangladesh to achieve professional excellence via learning and cooperation, and to inspire, promote, and champion scholarly research for social progress. On that day, the first annual general meeting of NYAB was held, and an executive committee was formed for the next two years. We devised a strategy for the functioning of NYAB in order to foster the development of young scholars in Bangladesh and to facilitate communication and collaboration between policymakers, industry leaders, employers, and other stakeholders.
Unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hampered our plans, but we did not lose hope. In this new normal, we were the first organization in Bangladesh who started academic webinars in May 2020. We organized the International Poster Presentation Competition (IPPC 2020) by coordinating with young researchers from Bangladesh and neighboring countries in association with Indian National Young Academy of Sciences (INYAS), Thai Young Scientists Academy, and Sri Lankan Young Academy of Sciences. The outcome of this competition inspired us to launch the Outstanding PhD Dissertation Awards. We received a prestigious grant from InterAcademy Partnership (IAP) to create awareness against predatory academic practices. This IAP-funded project demonstrated promising results for which the donor rewarded us equal amount of bonus money. This additional funding enabled us to successfully organize the International Colloquium on Authentic Scientific Publications in July 2022 and Summer School on Skills Development for Scientific Writing in September 2022. Other activities of NYAB, such as science diplomacy program and good laboratory practice were also praiseworthy.
As the president of NYAB, I sincerely acknowledge the earnest support of my colleagues of NYAB, particularly the wholehearted effort of Professor Abdullah Shams Bin Tariq, Dr. Sabrina M Elias, Professor M Manjurul Karim, Professor ABM Md. Khademul Islam, Professor Md. Tarik Arafat, and Dr. Mainul Hossain, Dr. Md. Monarul Islam and Professor Dibyendu Biswas. Sincere appreciation to the council members and fellows of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS), especially Professor Abul Kalam Azad Chowdhury and Professor Haseena Khan, for their unwavering support and encouragement. We are extremely thankful to our colleagues from neighboring young academies, especially Professor Mahesh Kumar, Professor Chandra S. Sharma, Dr. Rajendra S. Dhaka, and Dr. Sriparna Chatterjee from INYAS for their outstanding collaboration. Our sincere gratitude to Professor Zahid Hasan, Princeton University, USA for his ardent support. We are also thankful to Dr. Haseeb Md. Irfanullah, ULAB and Professor Rabibrata Mukherjee, IIT Kharagpur for their constant support. During our tenure, we endeavored to make NYAB an iconic organization, however, we sincerely acknowledge our limitations. We hope that the newly formed core-committee will surely uphold the standards of NYAB and will gradually elevate the organization’s reputation through academic and policy-making endeavors.
Mohammed Abdul Basith
President, NYAB (2019-2022) & Professor, Department of Physics,
Founder and Principal Investigator of Nanotechnology Research Laboratory
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET)
Established in 2019, National Young Academy of Bangladesh (NYAB) is working extensively to advance the Science and Technology of our country by empowering the young scientist and academicians. NYAB provides an excellent platform to reach professional excellence through learning and collaboration. After almost 2 (two) years, NYAB is going to organize an in-person AGM. Thus, we are very excited to meet and greet with all the existing and new members at the beautiful campus of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET). In the last few years, the current executive committee worked very hard, even during the pandemic period to ensure a reasonable number of events. The organized events were very engaging. Looking forward, at this year’s AGM we aim to increase the momentum of the NYAB even further. We will aim to raise the level of engagement and integrity to our young scientist and academicians to prepare Bangladesh to achieve the SDGs and be ready for 4IR.
I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the team members of 3rd AGM Organizing committee, and to the current NYAB President for his continuous support to organize the event.
Eagerly looking forward to an engaging and fruitful AGM!
Dr. Muhammad Tarik Arafat,
Program Organizing Secretary,
AGM 2022, NYAB and Professor, Department of Biomedical Engineering, BUET