Past Events

May 24-27, 2016
Venue: Forman Christian College University, Lahore

April 18-23, 2016 at COMSTECH, Islamabad-Pakistan
Organized by COMSTECH in collaboration with Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC), Pakistan Nuclear Regulatory Authority (PNRA), and International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)

13-15 December, 2016

Venue: COMSTECH Secretariat, Islamabad

January 10-11, 2017

Program of the Workshop

In a world where the gap between science and society continues to widen and where the science communication landscape is changing fast, there is a growing demand for people with professional skills in the effective public communication of science. Realizing the need, a workshop was jointly organized by COMSTECH and Technology Times in January 2017 at COMSTECH, Islamabad.

This two-day workshop exclusively addressed the needs of scientific writing and science communication. It endeavoured to impart required knowledge and expertise so that science could be presented in various media in an informative as well as entertaining manner and to attract and hold the attention of a common person.

The Workshop was designed to provide professional development opportunities for people working in environments where science and research outcomes need to be made accessible to the general public and to science policy audiences. The workshop comprised of the following modules;

Communicating Science to the Public

Communicating Global Challenges: Climate Change, Water, Food & Energy

Communicating Science to Policymakers and Science Diplomacy

Analysis of Media Reporting on Life Sciences

Issues & Risks Associated with Science Communication in Digital Age

Science Communication and Academia

Scientists, science communication officers and media persons benefited from the workshop. Many suggestions came from the participants, such as;

introduction of Science Communication as an exclusive beat in media houses;

curriculum reform to incorporate explicit training on Science Communication

adding strategic value of effective and innovative science communication for S&T organizations

continuing program to promote science popularization through Science Communication

support for existing science and technology media houses

April 10 – 12, 2017, Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstracts of the Talks and Profiles of the Speakers

Prof. Syed Qasim Mehdi, a scientist of exceptional talents and great achievements, breathed his last on 28th September, 2016.  To honour Prof. Mehdi’s seminal contributions to human genetics research in Pakistan, COMSTECH with support of Dr. Qasim Ayub (Prof. Mehdi’s long time research associate) organized a symposium in his memory. Many former students, colleagues, and family members of Prof. Mehdi attended the symposium paying a befitting tribute to Prof. Mehdi.

The symposium was spread over two and a half days. It started on 10th April’s afternoon with a tribute to Prof. Mehdi and insights into his life and scientific career presented by his friends and colleagues. This was followed by two days of scientific presentations. The first day was focused on human population genomics and the second on disease genetics. Talks were focused on 1) how genomic data have contributed towards the story of modern humans as they expanded from Africa to all corners of the globe, and 2) understanding the genetic basis of disease.

Young scientists were also provided opportunity to present their work in the field of human population and disease genetics. The total number of registered participants was 93, but many others participated in the sessions of their interest. The registered participants included one each from Senegal and Sudan, two from Azerbaijan, four from Iraq, and 85 from Pakistan.

Prof. Dr. Farid Abou Rageh Mohamed Harraz

Professor at the Advanced Materials and Nano-Research Centre,
Najran University, Saudi Arabia

Date and Time: 16th December 2020
03:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time; 02:00 pm Gulf Standard Time: 10:00 am Greenwich Mean Time

In this webinar speaker will give an overview of recent research being done in the area of sensors technology (chemical sensors, electrochemical sensors and biosensors) and photochemical applications, focusing on photocatalysis under visible light illumination.

Target Audience: This webinar is open to academicians, scientists (particularly from chemistry, biology, nanoscience and materials engineering background), and general public from all the member OIC states.

Poster of webinar:  Attached

Abstract of talk: Attached

Profile of Speaker: Attached

Link for registration and E- certificate:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdS65xBv4YJRWB2jK2aAnLVA4eWYdPTvLcPJPa9sUDm0Jw9uQ/viewform

Procedure to join:

Topic: Webinar on Nanomaterials for Sensors and Photochemical Applications

Time: Dec 16, 2020 03:00 PM Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/85425333990?pwd=VFFTWWpNeW5tcXNaL0NrdXZRK0JyUT09

Meeting ID: 854 2533 3990

Passcode: 203765Address: COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad 
Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
Email:Khazima@comstech.org ; comstech@comstech.org

May 22 to 26, 2017, Islamabad, Pakistan

Abstracts of the talks download

COMSTECH regularly organizes workshops, training courses and conferences to build capability of the 57 member states of the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) in emerging areas of science and technology. In this perspective a one-week intensive hands-on workshop on “Rational Design of Materials for Energy Needs: Computation & Experimentation” was organized by COMSTECH in collaboration with COMSATS Institute of Information Technology (CIIT), Islamabad from May 22 to 26, 2017.

The training workshop was aimed to introduce students, young researchers and young faculty members with modern trends in experimentation and computation with their applications in materials discovery for energy needs.

Foreign experts each delivered a series of lectures on various aspects of this theme besides guiding the hands-on computational activities. The foreign faculty comprised Prof. Talat Rahman, Prof. Laurene Tetard, Prof. Peter Dowben, Prof. Marisol A. Ortigoza and Prof. Ted Einstein from USA. Condensed matter experts from some local institutions also contributed lectures in the workshop. The practical exercises on computation and modelling of materials for energy needs were conducted, In addition to the foreign faculty, by Dr. Altaf Karim (CIIT, Islamabad), Dr. Gul Rahman (QAU, Islamabad), and Mr. Naseem Uddin & Mr. Tao Jiang (Research Assistants at the University of Central Florida).

Besides the local and foreign experts, thirty-five participants attended the workshop. Most of these participants were young faculty members and researchers. Several MPhil and PhD students also attended the workshop.

The workshop focused on the following themes;

A Crash Course on Quantum Mechanical Approach to Materials: Density Functional Theory (DFT) Methods

Crash Courses on Molecular Dynamics and Kinetic Monte Carlo Methods and their Applications to Surfaces.

Multiscale Modeling: Connecting the Scales together

Computational Catalyst Design

Tailoring Properties of 2D materials: Looking Beyond Graphene

Novel Pathways in the Rational Design of Materials: An Application to Clean Energy

Energy Storage and Conversion Materials

Photo Water Splitting

All participants were asked to fill out an assessment questionnaire anonymously to evaluate the training. Participants were asked to rate the overall programme, lectures, relevance of lectures to the course aim and objectives, significance of their learning goals and general comments related to the programme

Participants found the hands-on exercises very useful and many of them found the allocated time insufficient for these exercises. In response to a question “if any topic of participants’ interest was not covered”, few of the participants stated material chemistry and experimental techniques. Many of the participants were in favor of using both computational and experimental analysis side by side. Some of the experimental researchers mentioned that through this workshop they learnt about the problem solving style of theoretical scientists using theoretical calculations. One of the participants was of the view that “the concept of experiments and theory going in parallel should be introduced in universities on larger scale”.

AI Workshop & Exhibition Coverage

CFM Participation Coverage

International Coverage COMSTECH Awards

Dr. Sajad Jafari
Assistant professor, Amirkabir University of Technology , Iran,
Clarivate Analytics, Highly Cited Researchers in 2019 and 2020 COMSTECH Award in Mathematics (2019)

Date and Time: 03 December 2020
03:00 pm Pakistan Standard Time; 02:00 pm Gulf Standard Time:
10:00 am Greenwich Mean Time

COMSTECH has arranged a webinar to understand phenomena of Multistability. Multistability is one of the most important phenomena in dynamical systems. It occurs in many areas of science including physics, chemistry, biology, economics, and nature.

Target Audience: This webinar is open to academicians, scientists (Particularly from Mathematics and Physics background), and general public from all the member OIC states.

Poster of webinar:  Attached

Abstract of talk: Attached

Profile of Speaker: Attached

Procedure to join:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/86259884853?pwd=R1JIZVFRc1ZmQTBwaERwVjZ6NkIrZz09

Meeting ID: 862 5988 4853

Passcode: 934995

Address: COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad 
Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
Email: Khazima@comstech.org ; comstech@comstech.org

Genomic analysis of any emerging virus is important to understand its structure, pathogenicity and evolution (i.e. it’s change and adaption in new environmental conditions). Massive genome sequencing efforts are underway globally to document a comprehensive mutational spectrum of SARC-Car-2. In this context, scientists at the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences (ICCBS), Karachi University, Karachi, Pakistan, have successfully carried out the sequencing and analysis of 48 genomes of SARS-CoV-2 from Karachi. Samples were collected in a time phased approach from May to August 2020 from the areas designated as COVID hot spots by the local administrative authorities.

The ICCBS analysis identified 109 mutations including 36 recurrent mutations. (Recurrent mutations are those which are observed in more than one sample). Few frequent mutations were found that are associated with increased infectivity and fatality while several mutations were found in the spike protein which is very important for entry of virus into host cells. This data depicts the first detailed mutational spectrum from Pakistan and an in-depth analysis is underway for further insights. With the current onset of the second wave of the virus, the scientists at ICCBS are collecting samples for genome analysis related to this second wave.

Whole genome sequencing of 48 SARS-CoV-2 samples was carried out by using Illumina MiSeq NGS sequencing system with reference genome sequence of SARS-CoV-2 from Wuhan. Notably, two missense mutations P4715L in ORF1ab and D614G in Spike protein gene were found in 25 cases each. These two mutations have been reported to be associated with higher fatality in BCG-vaccinated countries, while another study has reported that D614G mutation enhances replication on human lung epithelial cells and primary human airway tissues through an improved infectivity of virions.

The ICCBS intends to complete 1000 – genome SARS-CoV project in next 6 months.  

Technical details of the analysis are provided in the footnote (https://www.cogconsortium.uk/)