General Secretary of Belmont Forum Dr. Erica Key visits VAST

07/10/2019

On July 17th, 2019, Dr. Erica Key, General Secretary of Belmont Forum, paid a working visit to Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology (VAST). She was accompanied by Prof. Hsu Hui Huang, Counselor, Director of Science and Technology Division of Taipei Economic and Cultural Office in Vietnam; and Prof. Yue-Gau Chen, Academia Sinica, Taiwan (China).

The delegation was received by Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Anh Tuan, vice president of VAST; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Trinh Van Tuyen, director Institute of Environmental Technology and PhD. Dang Quang Hung, deputy head of the Department of International Cooperation.

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The overview of the working session

At the working session, Erica Key introduced the Belmont Forum – an international forum to support multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research activities. It was founded in 2009. The Belmont Forum is an association of donors, international scientific councils and regional organizations, committing to the advancement of interdisciplinary and multidisciplinary science. The forum aims to encourage international interdisciplinary research, providing multidimensional knowledge, and minimize and adapt to global environmental change.

Since its establishment, the forum has successfully conducted 17 collaborative research projectes, supported 99 projects and more than 1,000 scientists and stakeholders, representing more than 40 countries from six continents. Topics on collaborative research were freshwater security, coastal vulnerability, food security and land-use change, climate change prediction and inter-regional links , ecosystem and biodiversity services. It opened a wide range to fund and support its members in collaborative research.

With the aim of promoting Belmont Forum and recognizing that VAST is a leading agency of Vietnam in research and development of multi-scientific and technological fields, Dr. Erica Key wished that VAST would send delegates to the annual meeting in Taipei in the near future and gradually become an active member in Belmont Forum.


Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Tuan Anh, vice president of VAST	Dr. Erica Key, General Secretary of Belmont Forum

On behalf of VAST, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Tuan Anh thanked the Belmont Forum for it’s care for VAST. He said that the academy currently has more than 40 affiliated units, most of which are specialized research institutes. He expressed his hope that scientists from VAST would participate in Belmont Forum in the near future, and would receive more cooperation from the forum members in researching global scientific issues, serving sustainable development.

Taking photos at the reception.