The year 2005 has been declared the Year of Physics by the General Assembly of the United Nations Organisation, to celebrate the 100th anniversary of the most famous five papers published by Albert Einstein.
COMSATS, in order to emphasise the indispensable role of physics in our lives, has organised this two day seminar. Representatives from COMSATS member-countries, leading physicists, heads of national and international organisations, students and scholars from academic and research institutions and representatives from the government bodies will participate. Some of the key foreign speakers that shall speak during the course of this event include: Dr Jean Pierre Revol from Cern Geneva, Dr Mohammed Khaled Chahine from SCC-ITC Syria, Professor EI Tayeb Idris Eisa from Ministry of Science and Technology Sudan, and Dr Emad A Al-Ashkar from National Research Centre Egypt.
Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan Dr Ishfaq Ahmad will grace the inaugural session on 23rd February, who will be the chief guest at the ceremony. Besides the chief guest, some leading scientists in the field of physics will deliver keynote addresses in the opening session. These include the COMSATS Executive Director Dr Hameed Ahmed Khan, the PAEC Member (Physical Science) DR Masud Ahmad.
Professor Dr Robert Aymar is also expected to speak on the occasion via Video-Conferencing which shall take place between CERN (Geneva) and COMSATS (Islamabad).
COMSATS first TAC in March: According to another announcement, the Commission on Science and Technology for Sustainable Development in the South (COMSATS) is holding its first Technical Advisory Committee (TAC) Meeting at Cairo Egypt on March 16, 2005. The TAC consists of world renowned experts and scientists from a variety of fields such as Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs), Renewable Energy Technologies and Biotechnology.
Professor Peterson from the University of Colorado, Professor Sang Soo from Korean Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KIAST), Dr Zakri Ahmed of United Nations University, Dr Ishfaq Ahmad Special Advisor to the Prime Minister of Pakistan are among the members of the TAC. These experts shall assess and evaluate the projects and programmes of COMSATS International S&T Centres of Excellence that exist in 14 countries of Asia, Africa and Latin America.
The recommendations of the committee and advice shall help the Centres of Excellence to improve their capacity in terms of research and development, scientific project planning and implementation, application of technologies for the purpose of socio-economic development, and updating technology.
The entire exercise shall be an important step towards achieving COMSATS' mission of bringing about socio-economic development, in the South through South-South and North-South Collaborations. This shall also go a long way towards promoting the goal of self-reliance in the third-world through indigenous capacity-building and mutual sharing of expertise.