User:Hisham.alwazer/Sudanese Academy of Young Scientists

Sudanese Academy of Young Scientists

The Sudanese Academy of Young Scientists (SAYS) is a non-governmental organization. It is affiliated to the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences (SNAS). On the 15th of January 2007, the inaugural meeting of the Sudanese Academy of Young Scientists (SAYS) was held in the Institute of Endemic Diseases, University of Khartoum, and the proposal prepared by three founding members for establishing the Academy was discussed and approved.

The main objectives of the Academy are to bring together young scientists from different disciplines and backgrounds, in a forum that addresses issues of basic and applied sciences, promote research and uphold the cause of science in its basic and applied forms, and to raise community awareness about the importance of science and technology in sustainable social, economic and environmental development.

'''Membership criteria ''' The Academy has 98 members. The membership of the Academy is by nomination and not by application. As the candidate should be nominated by at least 2 full members of the Academy; then, the nomination will be discusses in the Council meeting to make a decision based on the CV of the candidates. There are three types of membership; full membership, partial membership and honorary membership.

Full Membership: The member should be below 40 years and has at least a master degree in basic or applied sciences.

Partial Membership: The member should be at least a B.Sc holder in basic or applied sciences and not more than 35 years old.

Honorary Membership: The member should have a university degree in basic or applied sciences and over 40 years.

Activities

The Academy is involved in many activities regarding popularization of science in collaboration with the Sudanese Natural Heritage Society and NIDAA Development Organization. One of these activities is publishing SAYS newsletter since 2007, which is a bimonthly electronic newsletter, designed to inform the public and the scientific communities about the scope of the Academy as well as the potential of young scientists in the Country. SAYS participated as partner in the Young Researchers of the Institute of Endemic Diseases Conference which was held in January 2009. More than 45 studies were presented in the conference which covered different fields. The Conference was financially supported by The Academy of Sciences for the Developing World (TWAS), Inter-Academy Panel (IAP). The Academy intends to launch its scientific journal in parallel with the newsletter. SAYS also is in contact with young scientists from the neighboring countries to help them built their own academies, as SAYS hopes to initiate young scientists inter-Academy Panel in the region. The members of the Academy published a series of essays on human genetic diversity (in Arabic) in Al Ahdath daily newspaper. The series were published weekly; the first release was published on 10/10/2009. The authors discussed how population geneticists use genetic data in integration with linguistics and anthropology to study human evolution as it occurred across all continents. The Academy contributed to many international and local conferences and meetings, the last one was the Annual Meeting of the New Champions 2009, which was held in September 2009, Dalian – China.