Joint regional initiative to support women in science

The Lebanese Committee for UNESCO announced that nominations for L’Oreal-UNESCO for Women in Science Awards 2017 are now open for women scientists from Africa and the Arab States. The annual event, to recall, is launched by L’Oreal in partnership with UNESCO and the National Council for Scientific Research in Lebanon. The aim is to promote and encourage outstanding Arab women who present a unique career path and deep commitment in the fields of physical sciences and biology. This year’s program will honor 7 distinguished Arab laureates, who will receive 3 post doctorate scholarships worth of Euro 10 thousand each, in addition to 4 doctorate fellowships (Euro 6 thousand each) for Arab women researchers at laboratories or research centers in Egypt, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria and Palestine. For more information on applications, please visit the website:  www.fwis.fr. On the subject, Al Hayat newspaper in its edition of today interviewed three researchers from Egypt who had previously received grants from the above program.  These  are Dr. Nortan Abdel Wahab, (professor at the Microbiology and Immunology Department, Faculty of Pharmacy, Cairo University), Dr Hiba Salameh, (professor at the Faculty of Agriculture, University of Alexandria) and Dr. Shahenda Najjar (director of Basic Research Department and molecular biology scientist, 57357 Children’s Cancer Hospital). Abdel Wahhab, winner of 2015 fellowship for research on infectious diseases and heredoimmunity, told the newspaper that she is currently working on the development of a genetic test that ensures a more specialized treatment and therefore determines the right treatment to the right patient. Dr. Salameh, winner of 2016 award for her doctoral dissertation on improving the production of animal fodder crops for better milk and meat quality, said the main problem in Egypt is not in the handiness of human resources apt for research and innovation, but in their resilience and capacity to hang on in the field. Finally, Najjar, winner of the L'Oreale-UNESCO 2011 program for children’s cancer research, stressed that only scientific research can help improve patients treatments and increase the prospects of cure. (Al Hayat, NNA, March 2, 2017)