Professor Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh during a lecture at the Royal Institute of Great Britain. — VNA/VNS Photo

HÀ NỘI — Professor Nguyễn Thị Kim Thanh, a lecturer at University College London (UCL) in the UK, has been honoured with the Distinguished Women in Chemistry/Chemical Engineering Awards of the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC), along with other 11 female scientists from various countries.

The awards ceremony will be held during the IUPAC World Chemistry Congress in August this year.

Established in 2011, the awards aim to acknowledge and promote the work of female chemists and chemical engineers worldwide.

Awardees are selected based on excellence in basic or applied research, distinguished accomplishments in teaching or education, or demonstrated leadership or managerial excellence in the chemical sciences. The Awards Committee is particularly interested in nominees with a history of leadership and/or community service during their careers.

Professor Mary Garson, President of the IUPAC Committee on Ethics, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion, said that the 12 awardees are chosen from an impressive list of female chemists and chemical engineers with outstanding achievements and creativity worldwide.

In their personal stories, each of the 2023 nominees has demonstrated a willingness to share expertise and experience with other chemists and a passion for science. Their outreach work and activities advance chemical science and chemical engineering in various ways, she said, expressing her belief that the awardees will inspire female scientists worldwide.

Speaking to Vietnam News Agency correspondents in the UK, Professor Thanh said that she hopes the rewards will inspire female scientists and young girls to pursue their dreams of contributing to science development and the community.

For Việt Nam, she hopes that the award will improve the prestige of Vietnamese intellectuals and scientists in the world scientific community, encouraging Vietnamese scientists to confidently step out and integrate with the world's advanced science.

Based in Zurich, Switzerland, the IUPAC was formed in 1919 by chemists from industry and academia who recognised the need for international standardisation in chemistry.

Professor Thanh is a world-renowned Vietnamese intellectual. She is the first Vietnamese professor at UCL since 2013 and an academician of four specialised scientific institutes in the UK. With a long history of prestigious scientific achievements, Professor Thanh has won many noble awards in research from prestigious scientific organisations and academies. — VNS