QUY NHON — An international conference with the theme “Science for Development” is taking place in Quy Nhon City, central province of Binh Dinh on May 9-10. 

The event, which is hosted by the International Centre for Interdisciplinary Science and Education (ICISE), will discuss the implementation of the United Nations 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development as well as its future perspectives seen from the world of science, technology and innovation. 

Speaking at the opening ceremony Prof. Tran Thanh Van, founder of Rencontres du Vietnam (Meeting in Vietnam), a for-science initiative which aims at connecting Vietnamese and Pacific-Asian with their colleagues in the West, urged participants to discuss the role of science in sustainable development.

Chief economist and Executive Director of the Research and Knowledge Directorate Gael Giraud from the French Agency for Development (AFD) said the conference would provide a rare opportunity for economists and scientists to sit down together to find solutions to issues such as climate change, which requires an interdisciplinary approach. 

Elisabeth Barbier, deputy director general of the French National Research Institution for Development (IRD) urged Vietnamese policy-makers to include and encourage female scientists to take part in tackling the country’s issues such as pollution and waste treatment. 

The conference is a follow-up of another international conference themed "Fundamental Science and Society”, which was held in July at the centre and part of a series of gathering by scientists, diplomats and policy makers in Viet Nam. 

Two hundreds distinguished scientists from all over the world and Viet Nam including Nobel prize winners economist Gerard’t Hooft and physicist Finn Kydland, are attending the conference and its various round table discussions, which are scheduled to take place on Thursday. 

Topics for round-table discussions include the social and economic impact of science and its relations with policy making and industrial revolution 4.0, mechanisms that link science to development and how investment in science and solve various development issues faced by countries around the globe.

This year’s conference will mark the 25th anniversary of the foundation of Recontres du Vietnam. French ambassador to Viet Nam Bertrand Lortholary, deputy minister of science and technology Chu Ngoc Anh were among the participants at the event. 

The ICISE was founded by Prof. Tran Thanh Van and his wife Prof. Le Kim Ngoc in 2013. The centre has been the chosen venue of a dozen international conferences and a gathering place for thousands of scientists, most notably 12 Nobel laureates, two Fields winners and two Kavli Award (the highest distinction in the field of astrophysics)  winners. — VNS