Announcement for inviting nominations for participation in the 7th BRICS Young Scientist Forum

Announcement for inviting nominations for participation in the 7th BRICS Young Scientist Forum
Date: August 29th – September 1st, 2022
Theme: Inspire Youth Potential, Shape BRICS’s Future
Venue: Virtually
Hosted by: Department of International Cooperation, MOST, China Xiamen
Science and Technology Bureau
Organized by: China Science and Technology Exchange Center Xiamen
University

Overview
The idea of the BRICS Young Scientist Forum was adopted at the 2nd BRICS Science,
Technology and Innovation(STI) Ministerial Meeting upon the proposal of India. The
first forum was held in September 2016. During the 4th BRICS STI Ministerial Meeting in October 2016, members agreed to hold the forum on a rotation basis in the hosting
country. China, as the BRICS Chair Country for 2022, will host the 7th BRICS Young
Scientists Forum from 29th August to 1st September in Xiamen. During the forum, an online platform will be published to show the scientific research achievements of
young scientists and young innovators, promoting more people to understand the
scientific and technological innovation of BRICS countries, and deepen scientific and
technological innovation cooperation among BRICS countries. The forum will provide a high-level academic and policy exchange platform for outstanding young
scientists and scientific and technological talents from BRICS countries, promote
exchanges and cooperation in the field of research and development, and create a
BRICS intercultural talent pool for STI cooperation.

Theme
Inspire Youth Potential, Shape BRICS’s Future

Thematic fields
➢ Low-carbon technology
To address global climate change and achieve peak carbon neutrality requires a
comprehensive green transformation of economic and social development,
involving energy structure, industrial transportation and ecological improvement.
Scientific and technological innovation urgently needs to play a leading and
supporting role in this process. BRICS countries should strengthen scientific and
technological cooperation, advance scientific and technological cooperation on
global climate governance, and jointly promote sustainable prosperity of the world.
➢ Biomedicine
As COVID-19 continues to drag on around the world, BRICS countries need to work
together to tackle the pandemic, focus on vaccine cooperation, strengthen
scientific cooperation on infectious diseases that pose a threat to public health, and
enhance the prevention and control capacity of our five countries, so as to
contribute BRICS strength to the global fight against the epidemic and make new
contributions to international public health cooperation.
➢ Artificial Intelligence
AI is becoming an important driving force of the new round of scientific and
technological revolution and industrial transformation. Industrial artificial intelligence is the ultimate goal of the future industry, which will effectively solve the problems of manufacturing cost, efficiency, management, safety and so on. Big data is the energy source of AI. Only with good application of big data can the efficiency of
artificial intelligence be better played. AI and related interdisciplinary scientific
research and innovation breakthroughs are the joint efforts of academia and
industry, and interdisciplinary research and application are advancing.
➢ New material
Material is the basis for human survival and development, and is the basis for the next generation of technological revolution. Graphene has been one of the hottest
research areas in the last decade, and bringing graphene and related materials out
of the laboratory into society will create more technological innovations and breakthroughs. Bio-based materials are also one of the hot spots of new materials
today. The world is implementing more and more strict “plastic ban”. Bio-based
materials known as “green, environmental protection, renewable and easy to
degradation” will welcome a golden period of development.

Format
Considering the impact of COVID-19, the forum will be held online and offline
simultaneously, participants from outside China will attend online.

Eligibility
This call is open to early career researchers who are based in South Africa. Applicants
should meet the following criteria to participate:
• South African citizenship or permanent resident status Be under the age of
forty (40)
• Be a doctoral, post-doctoral candidate or a young scientist in possession of a
PhD (or Engineers/Entrepreneurs with equivalent qualifications)
• Have research interests in the thematic areas listed Commit to be present for
the duration of the conference Submit an abstract that will be the basis for a
presentation at the conference
• The intellectual property rights concerned are owned by participant or his/her
team.


Note: The applicants who have already participated in the previous editions of BRICS
Young Scientist Conclaves are NOT eligible to apply. Candidates working in private
companies are also NOT eligible to apply.


In addition to the abstract, submit a short motivation (1 page at most) as to why you
should be chosen and what you will do with the skills, networks and experience
gained at this event. The chosen young scientists’ presenters should not simply focus
on their research or thesis but should engage with the topic and answer its
requirements. Presentations that provide possible recommendations are preferable.
These should address challenges that are common to BRICS countries that need
attention from the perspective of the young scientists. The meeting format is a Forum
which is a discussion group, where ideas related to a subject ‘under discussion’ can
be raised and evaluated on a (more-or-less) equal and informal basis. A newsletter
reflection writeup for ASSAf will be required from each of the attending young
scientists.


Forum Participation and Application
As a nominating partner, the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in collaboration with the Department of Science and Innovation (DSI) invites the
submission of nominations for participation under the outlined sub-themes.

The nomination form, together with candidate’s CV, short motivation as indicated above, and any material including forms, pictures, videos related to the participants’ scientific research achievements should be completed and uploaded on this link – Online Form and Uploads by Wednesday, 22 June 2022.

There is no registration fee to attend the forum.

Further information about the forum and related logistics will be circulated to the successful applicants.

Please note that emailed
applications will NOT be considered.

BRICS YSNomination form South Africa 2022
For any further information on the forum please contact:
Mr Kholani Mbhiza Tel: +27 (0)12 349 6638 Email: Kholani@assaf.org.za