COMSTECH Thematic Workshops in Frontier Technologies
The Coordinator General of COMSTECH in 2006 conceived the idea to offer thematic symposia, training courses and training courses in frontier technologies. The ultimate aim behind it was to build capacity of young scientists in the Islamic world, and to develop strategies to find solutions through the applications of advanced technologies. These strategies are hoped to provide guidance and prescribed agenda of research for various university laboratories and Research and Development organizations. Initially, the main thrust of the proposed programme was on emerging sciences and technologies under the broad umbrella of biotechnology, with the main outcome directed towards research programmes geared to impact national economies.
The first phase of this programme started in August 2006, and was completed in June 2009. The total cost in this phase amounted to US$ 0.566 million. The programme was jointly sponsored by COMSTECH and the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan.
Originally, it was planned to organize 10 thematic training courses to benefit 200 researchers over a period of two years. The project was later revised and extended till June 2009 and, instead, 19 international training courses were offered within the same budget. Resource persons from Australia, Bangladesh, China, Cuba, Germany, Iran, Italy, Netherlands, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Turkey, U.A.E.,
U.K., and U.S.A., made themselves available to train 447 scientists from 23 OIC member states. In addition a number of resource persons from Pakistani universities and institutes who were actively involved in research were also invited to conduct training sessions.
The list of workshops and training programmes held during 2011 – 2019
| No. | Workshop Title | Date | Participants | Resource Persons | |||
| Total | Foreign | Local | Foreign | Local | |||
| | Synthetic Biology and its Dual Use | Feb. 3-5, 2011 | 24 | 4 | 20 | 10 | 7 |
| | Biotechnology for Economic Development | Feb. 16-18, 2011 | 17 | 6 | 11 | 3 | 10 |
| | Frontiers in Molecular Biology and Biotechnology | March 28-30, 2011 | 25 | 4 | 21 | 7 | 10 |
| | Essential Need of Nano-Education in OIC Countries | April 7-9, 2011 | 24 | 5 | 19 | 5 | 8 |
| | Mathematical Sciences and their Applications | May 23-25, 2011 | 28 | 3 | 25 | 5 | 14 |
| | Modern Techniques in Combinatorial Chemistry | June 14-16, 2011 | 27 | 9 | 18 | 2 | 5 |
| | Green Technology | June 28-30, 2011 | 29 | 4 | 25 | 3 | 15 |
| | Integrated Pest Management | July 4-6, 2011 | 25 | 9 | 16 | 2 | 10 |
| | Biosafety Practices: Need & Necessity (Workshop for Laboratory Professionals) | Sept. 26-28, 2011 | 23 | 2 | 21 | 5 | 9 |
| | Modern Techniques in Structural Biology (Venue: ICCBS, Karachi) | Oct. 1-4, 2011 | 45 | 10 | 35 | 2 | 3 |
| | Biosafety, Biosecurity and Bioethics (for Managers) | Oct. 17-19, 2011 | 29 | 1 | 28 | 3 | 9 |
| | Healthcare in the 21st Century: Importance of Interoperability | Nov. 21-23, 2011 | 36 | 1 | 35 | 2 | 10 |
| | Advancement in Genetic Engineering of Plants | Dec. 20-22, 2011 | 34 | 2 | 32 | 1 | 8 |
| | Latest Advancements of Mathematical Research | Dec. 27-29, 2011 | 27 | 0 | 27 | 2 | 20 |
| | Nanotechnology and its Industrial Applications | Jan. 10-12, 2012 | 36 | 9 | 27 | 2 | 12 |
| | High Performance Computing Using Multicore Processors | Feb. 6-8, 2012 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 0 | 2 |
| | Applications of Modern Biotechnology in Muslim Countries- Specific Issues and Challenges | Feb. 27-29, 2012 | 26 | 1 | 25 | 8 | 5 |
| | Vacuum Technology | Mar. 6-8, 2012 | 36 | 1 | 35 | 2 | 22 |
| | Bioinformatics: Database Mining and High Throughput Genomic Analyses | Mar. 19-21, 2012 | 35 | 4 | 31 | 2 | 0 |
| | Pakistan’s Energy Options: Availability and Affordability, and the role of regional grids | Mar. 29-30, 2012 | 40 | 5 | 35 | 5 | 10 |
| | Recent Trends in Analytical Chemistry | April 3-5, 2012 | 31 | 0 | 31 | 0 | 5 |
| | Ensuring Food Security through Prevention of Biodiversity Loss | April 18-20, 2012 | 14 | 4 | 10 | 10 | 3 |
| | An update on Pathogenesis of Mycobacterial Diseases | April 25-27, 2012 | 18 | 3 | 15 | 1 | 3 |
| | Computational Methods in Mathematics | May 7-9, 2012 | 30 | 2 | 28 | 4 | 10 |
| | Green Economy | May 16-18, 2012 | 18 | 0 | 18 | 3 | 1 |
| | Marine Biology – Ecology and Applications, Advancements & Issues of the 21st Century | June 26-28, 2012 | 25 | 2 | 23 | 3 | 2 |
| | Industrial Biotehcnology | July 10-12, 2012 | 26 | 7 | 19 | 3 | 5 |
| | High Altitude Ecosystem and Climate Change | Sept. 3-5, 2012 | 22 | 3 | 19 | 1 | 3 |
| | Laser-Matter Interaction | Sept. 11-13, 2012 | 24 | 0 | 24 | 2 | 5 |
| | Adaptation to Natural Hazards under the Changing Global Climate Scenario | Sept. 25-27, 2012 | 27 | 5 | 22 | 5 | 8 |
| | Nonlinear Problems in Mathematics | Oct. 9-11, 2012 | 20 | 1 | 19 | 4 | 10 |
| | Water Quantity and Quality Assessment | Oct. 16-18, 2012 | 31 | 3 | 28 | 4 | 6 |
| | Food Production and Processing Technologies | Nov. 6 – 8, 2012 | 26 | 1 | 25 | 3 | 10 |
| | Plasma Science | Nov. 19-21, 2012 | 36 | 0 | 36 | 2 | 9 |
| | Radiotracers: Production Technology and Applications | Oct. 21-23, 2013 | 27 | 2 | 25 | 2 | 5 |
| | Sustainable Water Management | Oct. 28-30, 2013 | 22 | 1 | 21 | 4 | 3 |
| | Disaster Management and Risk Reduction | Nov. 19-21, 2013 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 5 |
| | Advances in Food Analytical Methods: Oil/Fat and Phenolics | Dec. 4-6, 2013 | 23 | 0 | 23 | 2 | 2 |
| | Market Analysis for Technology Innovations | Jan. 27-29, 2014 | 14 | 0 | 14 | 1 | 2 |
| | Solutions of Differential Equations from Transform Techniques | Jan. 30- Feb.1, 2014 | 17 | 4 | 13 | 7 | 2 |
| | Innovation in Drug Discovery, Delivery and Pharmacy Practice | May 13-15, 2014 | 39 | 6 | 33 | 2 | 8 |
| | Saponins, a Group of Useful Natural Products | June 24-26, 2014 | 31 | 5 | 26 | 2 | 2 |
| | Bioinformatics: Ensembl Database Mining and Whole Genome Sequencing Analysis | Dec. | 33 | 5 | 28 | 4 | 0 |
| | Current Developments and Applications of Mathematical Sciences | 5 – 7 Jan, 2015 | 30 | 0 | 30 | 4 | 18 |
| | Integrating Clinical Pharmacy Education, Practice & Research: Bridging the Gap | 22 – 24 Feb, 2016 | 39 | 13 | 26 | 5 | 2 |
| | Application of Nuclear Radiation in Agriculture, Medicine, Non-Destructive Testing and Nuclear Regulatory Practices | 18 – 23 Apr, 2016 | 35 | 16 | 19 | 5 | 37 |
| | Genomics & Genome Editing | 24 – 27 May, 2016 | 27 | 14 | 13 | 3 | 9 |
| | Nano-sciences: Education and Industrial Applications | Dec. 13-15, 2016 | 16 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 8 |
| | Science Communication: Enhancing Public Understanding | Jan. 10-11, 2017 | 19 | 3 | 16 | 4 | 16 |
| | Dr. S. Qasim Mehdi Symposium – Human Population and Disease Genomics | Apr. 10-12, 2017 | 20 | 8 | 12 | 5 | 12 |
| | Rational Design of Materials for Energy Needs: Computation & Experimentation | May 22-26, 2017 | 12 | 2 | 10 | 7 | 10 |
| | A Public Lecture by Prof. Mark Tester on “Food Security in Perspective of Advances in Increasing the Salinity Tolerance of Crops” | March 15, 2018 | 100 | 0 | 100 | 1 | 0 |
| | Singularity University Islamabad Chapter’s First Event on Technology for the Greater Good | March 16, 2018 | 90 | 0 | 90 | 5 | 1 |
| | International Workshop on Plant Genetic Resources and Genebank Operations Management System | May 8-11, 2018 | 29 | 19 | 10 | 4 | 10 |
| | Options for an Energy Mix: Issues of Cost and Sustainability | June 26-28, 2018 | 66 | 4 | 62 | 5 | 20 |
| | RSC Pakistan 1st Int’l Conference on Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery | Oct. 18-19, 2018 | 217 | 3 | 214 | 21 | 12 |
| | Use of Genome Editing and Other New Breeding Technologies for Global Food Security | Apr. 8-10, 2019 | 97 | 18 | 79 | 12 | 10 |
| | 2nd Annual Biodiversity and Health Big Data (BHBD) Alliance Meeting & International Symposium on Global Biodiversity and Health Big Data | July 18, 2019 | 202 | 2 | 200 | 8 | 4 |
| | International Workshop on Renewable Energy: Affordable & Clean Energy for All | 29-31 Jul 2019 | 41 | 41 | 0 | 10 | 2 |
|
| 2188 | 289 | 1899 | 247 | 469 | ||