Past Events

i:  Introduction to the Competition:

Objective: To promote the awareness of AI as a leading technology of the contemporary era and its potential in varied areas of economy and society. To further identify outstanding talent in OIC countries that has both deeper understanding as well as innovative ideas on how AI can be used to address the multitude of problems being confronted by OIC countries as well as the potential pitfalls, challenges and the rules, regulations and guidelines, both legal and moral, that need to be considered to make the use of AI compatible with concerns of human privacy and dignity.

ii:  Rules and procedures:

1. Essay Competition shall be open to participants from OIC countries.
2. It will consist of competition for students and young professionals in two categories:
   1. Undergraduates (18 to 25 years);
   2. Advanced students and Professionals (25 to 35 years)
3. Undergraduates would be defined as those students currently enrolled in an Undergraduate (BS) program in a higher education institution or those having completed their BS but not yet enrolled in an MS or PhD program.
4. Advanced students and Professionals would be defined as those who are either enrolled in a Graduate Program (MS, PhD) in AI or employed in the field of AI
5. The essays may not be of less than 1300 words nor more than 1600 words (Font size 12) and each applicant may not submit more than one essay.
6. The essays must be submitted electronically in any of the 3 official OIC languages viz. Arabic, English or French.
7. The essays may not have been published either electronically or in print form prior to the competition.
8. The essays would be assessed for originality and practicality of the ideas proposed besides the clarity of expression and language.
9. The essays will be checked for plagiarism using standard software and those found to have high similarity index with published material would be automatically disqualified.
10. There would be a scrutiny to determine the eligibility of the submitting authors as per their respective categories as well as the anti-plagiarism test on each submission. The qualifying essays would be evaluated by an international Jury of 4 persons.
11. The 3 best essays selected in each category would be awarded suitable prizes. The ten best essays would be included in an ICYF-COMSTECH publication arranged specifically for this purpose.

iii:   Shortlisting of Applications

All applicants will be required to submit a brief introductory Write-up (abstract) for initial scrutiny (150 to 300 words).

iv:   Criteria for Evaluation

The following main evaluation criteria will be followed by the international jury:

• Structure and organization of Essay
• Technical mastery of the selected topic
• Novelty of the idea being proposed
• Application potential of the proposed theme

v:   Outline/Structure of Essay

The submitted essay should have the following indicators addressed

• Introduction and Background of Selected Topic (up to 250 words)
• Current State of Technology (up to 300 words)
• Proposed Idea and its Novelty Idea (up to 550 words)
• Implementation of Idea (up to 300 words) (stakeholders, target audience etc)
• Expected Impact on Society (up to 200 words)

vi:   Essay Topics

• AI in Health/Education

Medical imaging and diagnostics, Telehealth, Drug Creation, Therapeutics, Medical Treatment, Rehabilitation, Health Monitoring, e-learning, Learning Management, Personalized learning experience, Evaluations and assessments etc.

• AI for Technology Frontiers

ICT, Robotics, Mining, Smart Cities, IoT, Business, Marketing, Media, Chat-bots, Manufacturing, Customer Services, e-commerce etc.

• AI in E – Governance

Finance, Security, Justice, Crime fighting and prevention, Public policy, Informed decision making, Emergency response, Defence and National Security, Immigration etc.

• Ethical & Regulatory Issues in Applications of AI

Data privacy, digital crime fighting, AI – human co-existence, Robot rights, Biases in data, Liabilities for autonomous systems, AI weaponization etc.

• AI for Social Development

Equality and Inclusion, Hunger management, Economic empowerment, Gender equality, Environment, Infrastructure planning and development etc.

For Online Registration & Submission

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLScQHPYqNqcAZbY3QvchdJ-L0QT1BSpb40WUe_rTs-5KwrBHlQ/viewform

For Queries

Muhammad Haris Akram
Programme Manager
COMSTECH Secretariat, Islamabad, Pakistan
Tel: +92-51-9220681-3
Fax: +92-51-9205264, +92-51-9220265
Email: events@comstech.org

• Interested Participants should apply online Click Here by December 07, 2020.
• For Online participation, please contact:
  Mr. Muhammad Jamil
  mjamil@comstech.org
• For queries, please contact:
  Prof. Dr. Syed Khurshid Hasanain,
  Adviser COMSTECH, (Mobile No. +92 300 5382170)

This is for the information to all that the online hands-on training workshop entitled “Deceptions in Psychology” will be conducted by Dr. Ansar Haroun (Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, USA).

The workshop will be organized by Department of Psychology, University of Karachi in collaboration with Sindh Innovation, Research, and Education Network (SIREN) as per following schedule:

Dates: September 19 – October 10, 2020

Days:Every Saturday

Time: 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM

Registration fee: Free

Available Seats: 100

Registration last date: September 17, 2020

Kindly register online for the workshop using below link:

http://bit.ly/wdinp

All registered participants can attend this online workshop through ZOOM video conferencing software (connection details will be shared through email to the shortlisted participants after the last date of registration).

Note: Successful participants will receive a digital certificate upon completion of the workshop.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: 

Individuals with Master in any field of Psychology are invited to attend this informative workshop.

Flyer

ABSTRACT: 

Contextual probability is a method for nonparametric probability estimation without using any model assumption. If we can estimate probability for any data instance, we can classify the instance in a Bayes optimal way. Contextual probability is also a method for reasoning with uncertainty, so it can be used for decision making and potentially general problem solving.

Neighbourhood counting is a methodology for measuring data similarity. which applies to any type of data as long as neighbourhood can be defined. For a given set of data instances, the neighbourhood counting similarity is the number of all neighbourhoods that cover all data instances in the given set. Neighbourhood counting has been applied to multivariate data, sequence, tree and graph, resulting in elegant similarity measures. 

This lecture will cover the concept of contextual probability, its relationship with the frequentist probability, how to calculate contextual probability for different types of data through neighbourhood counting. An outlook for future work will also be given.

BIOGRAPHY:

Professor Hui Wang obtained his BSc in Computer Science and MSc in Artificial Intelligence from Jilin University (China), and his PhD in Artificial Intelligence from the University of Ulster. He is currently Professor of Computer Science. His research interests are knowledge representation, reasoning, learning and enumerative combinatorics, and applications in multimodal video search and spectral data analytics for food authentication and virus detection. He has over 270 publications in these areas. 

He played a principal role in the development of an algebraic framework for machine learning, Lattice Machine. He proposed the original concept of contextual probability, which can be used for reasoning with uncertainty, probability estimation and machine learning. He also proposed a generic similarity measure, neighbourhood counting, and its specialisations on multivariate data, sequences, tree and graph structures. The contextual probability and neighbourhood counting similarity bear strong similarity to kernel methods.

 He is an associate editor of IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, and an associate editor of The Computer Journal. He is the Chair of IEEE SMCS Ireland Chapter since 2009, and a member of IEEE SMCS Board of Governors (2010-2013). He is principal investigator of a number of regional, national and international projects in the areas of virus detection (EPSRC funded VIPIRS 2020-2022), image/video analytics (EPSRC funded MVSE 2021-2023, EU Horizon 2020 funded ASGARD 2016-20, Horizon 2020 funded DESIREE 2016-19, EU FP7 funded SAVASA 2011-14, Royal Society funded VIAD 2014-16), text analytics (Invest Northern Ireland funded DEEPFLOW 2010-14, Royal Society funded BEACON 2009-11), and intelligent content management (EU FP5 funded ICONS 2002-05); and is co-investigator of several other funded projects.

Venue:

LEJ Computer labs (for physical participants)

Registration deadline: 20th October 2020

Registration Link: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdeYpsZXV1G7LKYXdtWuLdT2IcBC0szwfCj8DIooPgjZ4aWxQ/viewform

Zoom Details:

Oct 26, 2020

Topic: Contextual probability: concepts, implementations and applications
Time: Oct 26, 2020, 02:00 PM Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/89297334635?pwd=eG5iWDlYUUhJdTl0cmtWbXpiRHJXZz09

Meeting ID: 892 9733 4635
Passcode: 370623

Oct 27, 2020 

Topic: Contextual probability: concepts, implementations and applications
Time: Oct 27, 2020, 02:00 PM Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84239405514?pwd=cmV5TEZBdzNFY09xTm50YkU3UUhzZz09

Meeting ID: 842 3940 5514
Passcode: 620276

Coordinated By

Prof Dr M Sadiq Ali Khan ,
Chair IEEE Educational Activities Karachi Section
msakhan@uok.edu.pk
03002334578

Dr. Hina Siddiqui
Assistant Professor
ICCBS, Karachi, Pakistan
hinahej@gmail.com

Ms Khazima Muazim
Program Manager
khazima@comstech.org
0092519220681-3

Click here to watch the recording.

COMSTECH has arranged webinar to discuss challenges posed by climate change and growing economic development on Water Resources. Speaker will also delve into case study of Water resource management in Bangladesh.

Target Audience: This webinar is open to science policy makers, academicians, scientists and general public from all the member OIC states.

Speaker’s Profile: Attached

Poster of webinar:  Attached:

Abstract of talk: Attached

Link for registration and E- certificate:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSc8ESonCY864Diz3tLUSv4nrzIjgC8BSgD_zcLdVuUcb8EtLA/viewform

Procedure to join:

Topic: Sustainable Water Management in Developing Countries
Time: Oct 5, 2020, 03:00 PM Islamabad, Karachi, Tashkent
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87037385480?pwd=RjU5blJzSjllQ2FrcVA2VzBSVFo3dz09
Meeting ID: 870 3738 5480
Passcode: 472082

 Contact Information: 

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

Click here for Flyer
Click here for Curriculum

L.E.J. NATIONAL SCIENCE INFORMATION CENTER

UNIVERSITY OF KARACHI

This is for the information to all that the online hands-on training workshop entitled “Deceptions in Psychology” will be conducted by Dr. Ansar Haroun (Professor of Forensic Psychiatry, USA).

The workshop will be organized by Department of Psychology, University of Karachi in collaboration with Sindh Innovation, Research, and Education Network (SIREN) as per following schedule:

Dates: September 19 – October 10, 2020

Days:Every Saturday

Time: 06:00 PM – 07:00 PM

Registration fee: Free

Available Seats: 100

Registration last date: September 17, 2020

Kindly register online for the workshop using below link:

http://bit.ly/wdinp

All registered participants can attend this online workshop through ZOOM video conferencing software (connection details will be shared through email to the shortlisted participants after the last date of registration).

Note: Successful participants will receive a digital certificate upon completion of the workshop.

WHO SHOULD ATTEND: 

Individuals with Master in any field of Psychology are invited to attend this informative workshop.

Click here  to watch the recording.

COMSTECH has arranged a virtual seminar on Saline Agriculture -Solution to Global Food Security on 29^th September 2020.  This 2-hour seminar brings together a panel of distinguished scholars in the field of Soil salinity, soil health, water & irrigation, innovative crops, livestock and aquaculture, policy across the globe.Salinity posing increasing threat to global good security affecting soil and water contamination making it not suitable for drinking and agriculture. Farmers are unable to use their lands, which causes famine, poverty and social disruption. The world population is growing tremendously, and so is the demand for food. But the reality is that the amount of land suitable for agriculture continues to reduce. Large areas of agricultural lands are lost every day due to salinity, land that is much needed for food production to feed the growing world population and address the climate change threats. This event is open to science policy makers, academicians, students, scientists working in field of Agriculture from all the member OIC states

This event is part of continuous efforts of COMSTECH to promote sustainable agriculture and nutritious food security in the OIC region. COMSTECH has 2 active projects at the moment related to Agriculture.

• Development of Regional Gene Banks for plant Genetic Resources
• New Breeding Technologies for Food and Nutritional Security
  
• Download poster from here.
• Download Scientific program from here.

Below are names of our panelists.

Welcome Chair

Chair: Dr Khalid Mahmood, UPSIGN/Rothamsted Research, UK

Khalid is an innovation lead at Impact Lab- Rothamsted Research in the UK and UPSIGN Agrifood lead.  Rothamsted is the oldest agri research institute in the world. For over 177 years, we have been leading cutting-edge science and high-impact innovation.  He is leading Agritech sector in Environment Futures Impact Lab with a consortium led by University of Exeter, Met Office, University of Plymouth. He is involved in developing new solutions to food security, sustainability, use of digital agriculture including IoT and data visualization. He is very keen in adopting interdisciplinary approaches to address sustainable food system challenges. He is advocating sustainable solutions to water, soil health, plants, and biodiversity. Khalid is trained as an Agriculture Economist with PhD from University of Gottingen Germany and MBA from a leading business school. He has previously worked with Royal Agricultural University and various other industry organizations in the UK and Germany.

Prof. Dr. Iqrar Ahmed Khan (Pakistan Academy of Sciences).

Prof Khan is former Vice Chancellor of University of Agriculture Faisalabad. He is a distinguished National Professor (2017). He is Ela Bhatt Professor-Germany (2019). He was awarded Ordre des Palmes Académiques (Civil Award, French Government-with the grade of Officer) (2015). He also got the Pakistan’s highest civil award, Sitara-E-Imtiaz (Civil Award, Government of Pakistan) (2012). He is Fellow-Pakistan Academy of Sciences (2007);Senior Research Fellow-Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (2020).

Dr. S. Khurshid Hasanain, Adviser COMSTECH

Dr. S. Khurshid Hasanain is an Adviser at COMSTECH Secretariat, Islamabad and has previously served as a Professor of Physics and Dean of Science Faculty at Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad. He has been deeply involved in developing the STI Agenda 2026 of the OIC and is engaged with implementation of COMSTECH programs in various areas of food security in OIC countries.

Dr. Ismahane Elouafi, Director General International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, the United Arab Emirates.

Dr. Elouafi is a global thought leader in science for sustainable development, food security and nutrition. She has been consistently ranked among the most influential women in science in the Arab world. Her contributions to science and policy have been recognized with a number of awards, including the National Reward Medal by His Majesty Mohamed VI, the King of Morocco (2014), and the Excellence in Science Award from the Global Thinkers Forum (2014).Throughout her career spanning more than two decades, Dr. Elouafi has initiated and led major science and partnership programs, developed strategies, and advised governments and international research and development institutions. She has extensive on-the-ground experience in agricultural research and development, stakeholder engagement, resource mobilization and partnership-building in Asia, Africa, and the Middle East.

Prof. Dr. Ragab Ragab, UK Centre for Ecology & Hydrology, Hydrologist and Water Resources Management Specialist, Vice President, International Commission on Irrigation and Drainage (ICID).

Prof Ragab is the UKCEH Fellow, hydrologist and water resources management specialist. Long experience of being employed by both universities and research centres. Expert in catchment hydrology, irrigation, drainage, soil hydrology, soil physics, soil-water-plant –atmosphere relations, impact of land use and climate, change on water resources, water& food security and drought management. Vice President (2010-2013) of the International Commission on Irrigation & Drainage, ICID (www.icid.org), the Chairman of the Permanent Committee on Strategy and Organization, PCSO of ICID (2010-2014), Chairman of the Working Group on Water & Crops, ICID and was the Chairman of the British National Committee on Irrigation and Drainage, ICID-UK (2007-2011), founder of the WG on the use of poor quality water for food production, ICID. International Adviser to the Brazilian National Institute of Salinity studies and to King Saud University, Saudi Arabia, and UNDP. Lecturer and external examiner to various Universities in and outside the UK.

Dr. Kate Negacz , Vrije Universiteit (VU) Amsterdam, Netherlands Dr Kate Negacz is a Postdoctoral Researcher in the Department of Environmental Policy Analysis at the Institute of Environmental Studies (IVM), Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. She is involved in the Interreg North Sea SALFAR project as an editor of ‘Climate Change and Sustainable Agriculture in a Saline Environment’ book. Kate holds a PhD in the field of environmental economics. Her research focuses on mapping the socio-economic potential of saline agriculture and conducting a quantitative and qualitative analysis of related data. Dr Negacz also works on the international biodiversity governance in the BioSTAR project in cooperation with the PBL Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency. Before joining IVM, she was involved in several sustainability projects in Poland, Switzerland, Taiwan, Spain, Germany and the Netherlands.

Dr Abdelaziz Hirich, Biosaline Agriculture, Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Ben Guerir, Morocco.

Dr Abdelaziz Hirich  is Assistant professor of Biosaline agriculture in Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, African Sustainable Agriculture Research Institute in Laayoune, Morocco since January 2020. Prior to his current position he was scientist at the International Center for Biosaline Agriculture, Dubai from 2017 to 2020 and Postdoctoral fellow from 2014-2016. He has PhD in agricultural sciences (IAV HASSAN II, Morocco), MSc in land and water resources management (CIHEAM-IAMB, Italy) and Engineer diploma in Horticulture (IAV HASSAN II, Morocco). His expertise is focusing on Biosaline agriculture, salinity management, horticulture, irrigation management, alternative crops, fertigation.

Prof. Redouane Choukr-Allah, Environmental-Horticulture , IAV Hassan II University

Dr. Choukr-Allah is a senior fellow at ICBA. He is a horticultural, hydroponic and water expert with extensive experience in coordinating and managing field-based projects and technical teams involved in protected agriculture production. His most recent research focus is on water and energy use efficiency of greenhouse and net-house systems. He has extensive experience in use of saline water and of pre-treated sewage in agriculture, and soil and groundwater pollution prevention. He designed and implemented numerous experiments on crop water requirements and water scheduling and global water requirements to save water and maintain crop yields. As a project manager, he worked extensively on evaluating the use of treated sewage water in agriculture. He holds a Ph.D. degree in environmental horticulture from the University of Minnesota, USA. He is a professor for over 39 year at IAV Hassan II Morocco.

Prof. Steve McGrath Rothamsted Research, UK

Prof McGarth’s research interests are in increasing understanding of the factors affecting the bioavailability, ecotoxicology and mobility of nutrients and toxins in soil-crop systems. He is skilled in using stable and radioisotopes to trace the movement and sources of nutrients and contaminants in soils and plants; and in LC-ICP-MS, synchrotron and NanoSIMs to identify the speciation and localisation of trace elements. His latest research focuses on developing rapid techniques for the analysis of soils and plants to predict the transfer of nutrients, including micronutrients, into the food chain, to improve crop yields, human and animal health and nutrition.

Prof Dr Arifa Tahir,

Lahore College for Women University

Dr Tahir is a leading scientist and scholar in the field of Industrial Biotechnology, Applied Microbiology, especially renowned for her research in the various areas relating to Environmental Microbiology, food microbiology, Nanotechnology, and Climate Change. Currently she is working as a chairperson of Environmental Science department, LCWU. She has extensive teaching and applied research. She is keen to promote hydroponic solutions for food production.

Dr. Fatou Bojang, National Agriculture Research Institute (NARI), Head Cereals Program, The Gambia

Dr. Fatou Bojang is a Gambian by birth.  She recently completed her PhD on crop modelling from the University of Bamako in Mali, under West African Science Service Centre on Climate change and adapted land use (WASCAL). This is a regional program comprising of ten countries with one participant from each country. She was employed at the national agricultural research institute of the Gambia in 2007. During this period she hold various positions at the institute, as a research assistant, research officer, senior research officer and currently principal by research officer and Head cereals program, upon completion of her degree.

Dr Munawar Kazmi, Country Manager for ACIAR in Pakistan

Dr Munawar Kazmi is Islamabad based Country Manager for ACIAR in Pakistan. His background in plant diseases and he is a trained facilitator, worked extensively on the Farmer Field School approach, collaborating with national organizations and international agencies in Vietnam, Bangladesh, China, Thailand and Kyrgyzstan.

Link for registration and E- certificate:

https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSf1W-OqncRdqUAL30DBm8_UID_qxM_VMJTkc_6o0mPxZqetgg/viewform

Procedure to join:

Join Zoom Meeting

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87426686840?pwd=YzZiQ0N3TWluWUhHNnhXVlRNMWFuZz09

Meeting ID: 874 2668 6840

Password: 159753

Contact Information: 

Address: COMSTECH Secretariat, 33-Constitution Avenue, G-5/2, Islamabad 
Phone No. : 92 51 9220681-3
Fax : 92 51 9211115, 9220265, 9205264
Email: Khazima@comstech.org ; comstech@comstech.org ;

Click here  to watch the recording.

Target Audience:

The workshop is targeted to benefit scientists and research scholars from different fields of biological sciences including Molecular Biology, Biochemistry, Genetics, Immunology, and Biotechnology.

Workshop Agenda (Pakistan Standard Time):

12:00-12:10   Opening Session

12:10-12:40   Lecture 1: Serological testing: Methodology and principals of various serological tests

12:40-13:10   Practical: videos demonstrating the principals

13:10-13:20   Question & Answers

13:20-13:30   Break

13:30-14:00   Lecture 2: samples selection and collection for serological testing: Dos and Don’ts

14:00-14:30   Practical: videos how to collect various samples

14:30-14:40   Question & Answers

14:40-15:10   Lecture 3: serological tests available for SARSCoV2 a comprehensive comparison

15:10-15:40   Practical: videos demonstrating the procedures

15:40-15:50   Question & Answers

15:50-16:00   Closing Session

VENUE

Zoom Meeting

REGISTRATION PROCESS

Please submit the online registration form before September 20, 2020. Registered participants will receive e-certificates..

CONTACT PERSON

Khazima Muazim, Programme Manager, COMSTECH Secretariat, Islamabad

Tel: +92-51-9220681-3 / Fax: +92-51-9205264, +92-51-9220265 

Email: Khazima@comstech.org

His Excellency the Secretary General of OIC, Dr. Yousef bin Ahmad Al-Othaimeen visited COMSTECH Secretariat Islamabad on August 9, 2017. His delegation was received by COMSTECH team led by Dr Shaukat Hameed Khan, Coordinator General COMSTECH.

Secretary General was briefed on COMSTECH’s activities and programs. Federal Minister for Science and Technology Mr. Rana Tanveer Hussain and Secretary for Ministry of Science and Technology Mr. Fazal Abbas Maken, also attended the event.

Later the Secretary General along with Minister and other dignitaries attended dinner hosted by Coordinator General Dr. Shaukat Hameed Khan.