GNOBB and YoungBB can make it happen‏

GNOBB and YoungBB can make it happen‏
From: monir uddin ahmed (muahmed1977@hotmail.com)
Sent: Sun 10/05/08 9:56 PM
To: aislam24@yahoo.com
Cc: abidur@iwate-u.ac.jp; rabidur@yahoo.com; clingb@gmail.com



Dear Sir,

I think you will not disagree with me that unless and until science and technology is a national issue, issue in national election, there is little or no chance for the development of scientific research in Bangladesh.

And I think GNOBB and YoungBB can make science and technology an important issue in the upcoming national election.



For this, four things need to be done. Firstly, GNOOB gives a statement signed by all 328 or majority members and if possible including others. Statement from a large number of scientists like 328 will be a rare event in the history of Bangladesh and will draw attention of all. This statement needs to be published in all national dailies. The statement should have two messages. One for the voters and another for the political parties. The voter will be asked to take into consideration what the party or alliance has said in their manifesto about science and technology while voting. Message for the political parties should be such that scientists will campaign for the party or alliance which will give the most importance and doable reform proposal in their electional manifesto.

If such a statement is published in all national dailies before the political parties publish their manifesto, then they must think to give science and technology due importance in the manifesto.

However, such statement will not be enough. Three more things need to be done to make the statement most effective.

One online petition towards voters, to vote for science friendly parties or alliance. poster which will also ask to vote for science friendly parties or alliance. YoungBB can do such postering in the universities. I think YoungBB has member in all universities and they will do such non partisan postering enthusiastically. If you decide to so, I will be happy to provide financial support with five thousand taka.

Another thing that YoungBB can do is to arrange a question answer session of all the science secretary of the political parties. The question answer session can be like that of BBC sanglab. The science editor of the national dailies must be invited in the session along with eminent scientists. If electronic media can be convinced to air such program, then it will be great.


I think if these things can be done, it will bring noticeable change, if not , then a begining of change , in the sector of science in Bangladesh. And it seems to me that GNOBB and YoungBB jointly can make all these happen under your leadership. Hence I am sharing my thought with you.

May Allah help us to bring such changes in the science and technology research in Bangladesh.



With best regards and wishes

Monir Uddin Ahmed

MS Student ( Biotechnology ),

Student Representative (International) ,

Academic Board ,Swinburne University of Technology

Melbourne, Australia.

Scientific Officer

Institute of Food and Radiation Biology

Bangladesh Atomic Energy Commission


Mobile: +61 431091781, phone:+61-3-94846135

http://scitechinbd.blogspot.com/

My Understanding of Science:
Science is the endless pursuit of firstly exploration of the processes, procedures and mechanisms of Allah's creation and then to copy or replicate them as much as possible for the betterment of the Mankind.

Push Science and technology in the mind of the influential people, policy makers of our country

On Saturday, 11 October, 2008 Mr. Motiur Rahman, Editor of the Prothoma-alo has written a commentary.

At the end of the commentary, he has expected that this time the manifestos of our political parties will not be as usual. " আমরা আশা করব, রাজৈনিতক দলগুলোর এবারের নির্বাচনী ইশেতহার গতানুগতিক হবে না৷ রাজৈনিতক ও অর্থনৈতিক, শিক্ষা, স্বাস্হ্য, কর্মসংস্থানসহ জরুরী জাতীয় সমস্যা সমাধানের আশু ও সুদূর প্রসারী লক্ষ্যের পরিকল্পনা থাকতে হবে ।"
http://www.prothom-alo.com/index.news.details.php?nid=MTkyODM=

The next day, the same daily made the leading news of Khaleda zia’s briefing to the Krisok dal leaders about election preparation of BNP. In her briefing She said: " আমরা নির্বাচন মূখী দল ।আমরা নির্বাচনে অংশগ্রহণ করতে চাই ।এজন্য নির্বাচন নিয়ে বিএনপির ভবিষ্যৎ পরিকল্পনা প্রণয়নের দায়িত্ব ভাগ করে দেয়া হয়েছে । যে কাজ গুলো করা দরকার, সে গুলো করার জন্য ইতিমধ্যেই আমরা বিভিন্ন ব্যক্তিকে দায়িত্ব দিয়েছি।ইতিমধ্যে আমরা টাস্কফোর্সের মত কতগুলো কমিটি গঠন করে দিয়েছি।তারা শিক্ষা,কৃষি,শিল্পসহ বিভিন্ন খাতের উন্নয়নে সুপারিশ প্রণয়ন করবে । " http://www.prothom-alo.com/archive/news_details_home.php?dt=2008-10-12&issue_id=1069&nid=MTkzMDU=

None of the above influential persons of our country has mentioned about scientific research and technology development. But who does not know that for progress of any country at a satisfactory pace, scientific research and technology development is of crucial importance .

Should not we, scientists, push Science and technology in the mind of the influential people, policy makers of our country?

Can not we send an email, make a phone call to these people or directly talk to them if they are within our reach for the sake of science and technology, for the sake of the country?

Decreasing Enrollment In Science Group at SSC And HSC Level: Should We Worry?

Would you disbelieve me if I don’t give any reference and statistics but say that in our colleges there are not enough seats to accommodate all the SSC students who pass from science group? Would you disbelieve me if………….. there are not enough seats in our universities to accommodate all the HSC students who pass from science group? Would you………………there are not enough jobs in our research organizations and industries to give jobs to a large share of science graduates who finish their studies in universities , let alone to all? . Would you …………….these jobs are not attractive enough to attract meritorious science graduates?

I am confident, none will disbelieve me. As my statements are generally accepted, does not need any statistics or reference, then should we really worry seeing the deceasing enrollment in science group at SSC and HSC level?
No. because if the enrollment in science decease at the present rate there will be no shortage of science graduates in the next 20 years to fill in the positions in our research organizations and industries.

But should we be relaxed? If not, than what should we worry about? If we are really worried or really want to worry, then we should worry about poor performance of our research organizations, there poor attraction to our meritorious science graduates. We should worry why science and technology is not a national issue? We should worry that Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS) is not a well known organization to our science graduates. We should worry about why Dr. Shamsher Ali is well known to the nation but not the president of BAS to the science graduates. We should …………..why the website of BAS (www.basbd.org ) is not updated. We should worry why Dr. Zafar Iqbal frequently write political column, but hardly or never write science column or criticize the governments’, irrespective of party in power, policy and neglect to science and technology . We should worry why our scientific professional organizations are not critical of governments neglect to science and technology. We should worry why our newspapers have “extension of literature page” in the name of science page and not a single newspaper has prominent scientist as editor of the science page.
Yes, we should really worry as there is no talk of reform, let alone reform, in the science and technology even during the reformist caretaker government?

If we are really worried for what we should be worried, and Want to be relaxed we should make our research organization improve their performance so that jobs in these organizations become attractive and prestigious.Then it will pull students in science group at SSC and HSC level.We should not push students in science group at SSC and HSC level.

KAUST deserves attention of Bangladeshi Researchers and Research Institutes

Bangladesh belongs to the list of scientifically lagging countries. One of the major obstacles in scientific research in Bangladesh is lack of fund. Establishing collaborative relation with King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) can be source of fund for some Bangladeshi researcher and research institutes. Because it is funding researchers and research institutes through its global research partnership program.

King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) is being built in Saudi Arabia as an international, graduate-level research university dedicated to inspiring a new age of scientific achievement in the Kingdom that will also benefit the region and the world. . The University is set to open in September 2009
KAUST will be:
• supported by a multi-billion dollar endowment
• governed by an independent, self-perpetuating Board of Trustees
• merit-based and open to men and women from around the world

As a graduate-research University, KAUST's fundamental organizing unit will be, not schools or departments, but interdisciplinary Research Institutes.
1. Resources, Energy and Environment;
2. Biosciences and Bioengineering;
3. Materials Science and Engineering;
4. Applied Mathematics and Computational Science.
Within each Research Institute there will be multi-investigator, problem-oriented, often industry-collaborative Research Centers.

KAUST Will be a fully a research University. Unlike many primarily undergraduate universities, KAUST will not have a two-tier faculty. All faculty will be of the highest caliber and able to formulate value-added research projects; or will have unique background experience – as teachers or in private industry – that supports KAUST's mission as a 21st century University.

The driving factor of KAUST's research agenda is to accelerate scientific discovery and technological innovation. The corresponding strategy in terms of organizational development involves flexible funding and outreach to potential partner institutions, and targeted investments in physical and intellectual infrastructure to stimulate collaboration with other research universities and the private sector.

Global Research Partnership will provide three major streams of funding:
• Centers and Centers-in-Development — KAUST will provide five-year grant support to university-based, multi-investigator centers, with industry participation possible. In addition, three-year awards for KAUST Centers-in-Development will be available for smaller groups seeking to assemble the resources for a KAUST Center.
• KAUST Investigators — In March 2008, KAUST awarded the first round of GRP Investigator grants to twelve highly accomplished scientists and engineers. KAUST is providing five-year individual grants to this group to investigate a wide range of research topics, including water desalination, renewable and sustainable next-generation energy sources, genomics of salt-tolerant plants, durable and environmentally friendly construction materials, hydrocarbon utility, low-cost solar cell efficiency, and disease immunization.
• KAUST Research Fellows — KAUST will provide three-year support to exceptional post-doctoral researchers.

The financial support will be as follows:
• Centers and Centers-in-Development – Multi-investigator; may involve more than one university; often with private-sector participation. Center awards will provide up to $5 million per year for five years; and the Center-in-Development program will provide up to $1.5 million per year for three years.
• Investigators – Individual scientists or engineers leading a laboratory. Investigator awards will provide up to $2 million per year for five years.
• Research Fellows – Post-doctoral researchers. Research Fellow awards will provide $100,000 in salary, benefits and research support per year for three years.

According to the website, The Global Research Partnership will grow in size and scope as the University opens its doors, allowing KAUST to leverage the relationships in its externally funded network and to grow its own high-quality research activity on the campus. So there is scope for Bangladeshi Research researcher and Institutes to establish partnership with it.

Under the Partnership Scientists' will work at their home institutions .Grant will be given based on Quality of the proposed research project, it’s relevance to KAUST's research objectives and Contribution of the research activity to the development of KAUST and the global research and education enterprise.

Initial Research Focus Areas include
• Carbon capture and hydrogen-rich fuels
• Advanced concepts in desalination and water supply
• Biotechnology for food, nutrition, public health, biodiversity and industrial processes
• Catalysis and polymer chemistry
• Applied mathematics and computational science
• Scientific and engineering computing (e.g. computational chemistry)

So Bangladeshi research institute such as Centre fro Excellence, Energy centre of Dhaka University, BUET and National Institute of Biotechnology should focus on establishing collaborative relation with KAUST.

It deserves mentioning here that KAUST will support male and female researchers equally. Interested person can get more Information at www.kaust.edu.sa .

When will Bangladesh consider microbial biodiversity as a potential resource?

Broadly there are three groups of living beings; plant, animal and microorganisms.To general people, microorganisms mean pathogen, harmful creature. In reality, around 97% microorganisms are beneficial for mankind, directly or indirectly. Like plant and animal diversity of a country, microbial biodiversity is also a resource for a country. Like any other resources, we should make maximum use of this resource.

General people may be aware of utilization of gas, coal, oil etc, but not supposed to be aware of the potential of this tiny community. These are the microbiologists in person and organisation who are to make people aware of the resource, convince policy maker to take policy for maximize utilization of microbial source of the country.

The African country Kenya has taken initiative in this regard. From the report published in www.scidev.net on July 5, 2007, Kenya Wildlife Service (KWS) has entered a five-year biotechnology research partnership with a Danish company to use enzymes with potential industrial applications, especially in biofuels and medicine

KWS signed a memorandum of understanding with Novozymes on June 28, giving the firm rights to exploit, for commercial use, the rich microbial biodiversity within KWS controlled areas.

Under the agreement, KWS will receive royalties from the sales of any products developed from its microorganisms. KWS will also collaborate with Novozymes in enzyme research and development and patenting.

Novozymes will also assist Kenya through technology transfer, institutional capacity building and training of Kenyan students in bioprospecting — the process of developing genetic resources from plants, animals and microorganisms into marketable goods. The company has also agreed to build a special laboratory at the KWS headquarters in Nairobi, and provide materials for enzyme screening as well as cover researchers' travel costs.

Steen Riisgaard, Novozymes' chief executive, said that the company was targeting Kenya because of its wealth of biodiversity, and that it was happy to be giving something to Kenya in return.

KWS director Julius Kipng'etich told SciDev.Net that Kenya's microbial diversity is largely unexploited, and could greatly benefit the country.

Like Kenya, Bangladesh is also wealthy in biodiversity and the microbial biodiversity of Bangladesh, the largest delta in the world, is also unutilized.
The hard reality is that we are not even aware to the level of Kenya that microbial population of our country is a potential source and it should be exploited like any other resources.

It may be a matter of debate, discussion and decision whether we will allow foreign company to explore our microbial biodiversity or not. But there should be no doubt that we should consider our microbial population a potential resource and we should take proper measures for its maximum utilization.

Who will bell the cat? Who will make the nation understand and realize that microbial community is also a resource of our country? Who will convince our government and industrialists that we should invest for exploitation of microbial community for our food, fuel, medicine and safe environment?

No doubt, responsibilities go to the shoulder of every microbiologist. However as the oldest and recognized organization of microbiologists, Bangladesh Society of Microbiologists (BSM) is most responsible to take initiative in this regard. Share of Graduate Microbiologists Association is not less in this respect.
Later is better than never. The sooner we start to carry out our overdue responsibilities, the better it is for us and for Bangladesh.

Kenya has already started gaining from the initiative. Novozymes has already developed an enzyme called 'Pulpzyme' from bacteria in two lakes in Kenya's Rift Valley province, for which KWS has received about US$9,000 in royalties and will continue to receive annual payments. Pulpzyme reduces the amount of chlorine ― an environmental pollutant ― needed to bleach wood pulp, thus improving the environmental sustainability of pulp and paper manufacturing.

So to meet the fuel demand of the country, safe environment and affordable medicine and health facilities, we need to count microbial biodiversity as a potential resource and make policy for its best utilization.

Science and Technology - parentless in Bangladesh

The caretaker government has declared the budget for 2007-2008 fiscal year. There is criticism and discussion about allotment on different sectors. There was reports in newspapers about increase of allotment for ICT. But there is no report on how much importance is given to science and technology as a whole. It seems that science and technology means only ICT.

Seeing no reaction on how much importance or negligence was shown in the budget by the Reformist CTG, it seems that there is no organisation of scientific professionals in Bangladesh or Science and technology is orphan in Bangladesh.


The government should give science and technology due importance and not consider ICT to be the epitome of science and technology.

Organisations of Scientific professionals should make their voice heard to the government by statements, newspaper articles and talk show in electronic media.
Science and technology should be made an issue in Bangladeshi politics.

,