Deep into the Academy’s history, TWAS has distributed a quarterly Newsletter to its members and partners to update them on its activities, as well as to shed light on major issues facing developing countries. Today, it is my pleasure to introduce you to a new milestone for the Academy: the first completely digital edition of the TWAS Newsletter.
Indeed, this update to our flagship publication could be seen as a landmark on the path to a new digital era, the power of which was demonstrated and fully leveraged by TWAS in response to the recent COVID-19 pandemic.
In this edition, you will find ample information on our accomplishments as we approached the end of 2022. This most prominently includes, of course, the TWAS 16th General Conference, hosted by our partners at Zhejiang University in Hangzhou, China, with indispensable collaborative energy contributed by our longtime friends at the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Association for Science and Technology.
To show the power of our digital shift, here is just a sampling of numbers from the conference: In addition to the 60 on-site participants in-person in Hangzhou, 453 participants logged into the meeting online, representing 75 different countries. Furthermore, we logged 2,200 YouTube viewers during our sessions dedicated to China. Of those attending, 197 were TWAS Fellows, 38 were TWAS Young Affiliates, and 41 were TWAS Young Affiliate Alumni. Of the 453 participants, 164 were women.
This event, the second TWAS General Conference to take advantage of virtual meetings, was an important opportunity to fulfil the Academy’s core task of showcasing and bringing together sciences from across the developing world.
But it was also an invaluable opportunity to take part in the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development, proclaimed by the United Nations General Assembly with celebrations running from July 2022 to July 2023. Basic science, driven by a fundamental spirit of curiosity and love for knowledge, is a common enterprise that belongs to all people everywhere. Ensuring its pursuit in developing countries has always been a top-tier priority for TWAS.
With this message in your inbox, I am also passing on the torch, in a way. You see, 2022 was my final year as TWAS President. The Academy is deeply important to me, as I’ve been part of its work since its inception 40 years ago, in 1983. I will continue to participate as Immediate Past President.
But now the presidency will be in the skilled and capable hands of Quarraisha Abdool Karim, a leading scientific mind in epidemiology and medicine and a long-time supporter of women in STEM and key voice on social and economic issues in our time. In fact, she is the first woman to serve as TWAS President, and will lead the first ever TWAS Council with gender parity, an equal number of men and women.
With these exciting developments now in hand, I hope you’ll join me in looking forward to TWAS’s further evolution, as it serves its mission to support global South science amid a rapidly changing world.
Mohamed H.A. Hassan,
Immediate Past President, TWAS