Vietnamese professor honored to receive prestigious IUPAC award

Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh gives a lecture in the long-standing and world-famous scientific lecture program Friday Evening Discourses (FED) of the Royal Institution of the United Kingdom (Ri)

Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh, working at University College London - UCL (UK), was awarded the "Outstanding Woman in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering 2023" by the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC) along with 11 female scientists from the US, UK, Germany, Italy, China, Singapore, India, Brazil, Japan and Belgium.

The official award ceremony will be held solemnly at the IUPAC World Congress of Chemistry, scheduled to take place in August 2023.

The above individuals were honored by IUPAC based on outstanding achievements in basic and applied research, outstanding achievements in teaching, education and training, and excellent leadership and management in chemical sciences.

In addition, the IUPAC Awards Committee pays special attention to the candidates' leadership and community service in their careers.

“I warmly congratulate this year’s group of 12 laureates, who were selected from an impressive list of highly accomplished and innovative women chemists and chemical engineers from around the world,” said Professor Mary Garson, Chair of the IUPAC Ethics, Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. “In their personal stories, each of the 2023 nominees demonstrates a willingness to share their expertise and experience with other chemists, as well as a passion for science. Their work and outreach activities advance chemical science and chemical engineering in many ways.”

He also stressed that the Committee recognized all the nominees and honored the 12 awardees, expressing his belief that their examples of achievements and efforts will inspire female scientists around the world, encouraging everyone to promote chemistry in the future.

Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh could not hide her joy and pride when she received information about the prestigious IUPAC award at such a meaningful time. She hopes that this award will encourage and inspire female scientists and young girls to pursue their dreams of contributing to science and the community.

For Vietnam, she hopes that the award will contribute to enhancing the prestige of Vietnamese intellectuals and scientists in the world scientific community, encouraging Vietnamese scientists to confidently step out and integrate with the world's advanced science.

“Outstanding Women in Chemistry or Chemical Engineering” is a very prestigious award in the field of chemical science, established and awarded for the first time by IUPAC on the occasion of the International Chemistry Year 2011 to recognize the contributions and promote the careers of female chemists and chemical engineers around the world.

In recent years, this award has become increasingly prestigious and attracted much attention and widespread recognition in the global scientific research community.

The award was announced on the occasion of the world celebrating International Day of Women and Girls in Science, February 11, to honor the contributions of women to the scientific community and recognize the importance of gender equality in science.

2023 is also the International Year of Basic Science for Sustainable Development. Both of these global activities are being celebrated by IUPAC with a Global Networking Breakfast (www.iupac.org/gwb/), which will be held on 14 February under the theme “Breaking Barriers in Science.”

IUPAC is a non-governmental organization based in Zurich (Switzerland), founded in 1919 by prestigious chemists around the world with the aim of promoting the development of chemical science.

IUPAC members may be chemical societies, national academies of science or organizations representing the chemical profession. IUPAC is recognized worldwide as the authority for nomenclature of chemical elements and compounds, terminology, standardization of methods for measurement, atomic weights and many other important data.

In recent years, IUPAC has established many prestigious conferences and projects to promote and encourage the development of chemistry, and to support aspects of chemical education and public understanding of chemistry.

Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh is one of the world-famous Vietnamese intellectuals, the first Vietnamese professor at UCL University since 2013, and an academician of four specialized scientific institutes in the UK.

With a long history of prestigious scientific achievements, Professor Nguyen Thi Kim Thanh has won many prestigious awards in research fields from prestigious scientific organizations and academies around the world. She has made tireless efforts to realize the aspiration of bringing Vietnamese scientists into the world and into advanced science globally.

According to VNA