Sri Lankan delegation to participate in Israel 2012 Asian Science Camp

Jerusalem will host the sixth Asian Science Camp (ASC) next week, the most important scientific encounter in the world for young scientists from all over Asia and the Pacific.

The Science Camp, or ‘The Summit of Genius’ hosted each year in a different Asian country, is the initiative of a number of Asian Nobel Prize Laureates in sciences, who set the goal of creating a platform for promoting the future generation of scientists in Asia and to create links between them that transcend borders and nationalities.

The Science Camp, organised by the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs in cooperation with the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the ORT network, will be held in Jerusalem during the last week of August.

Most of its activities will be held on the Hebrew University’s campus and will offer the participants a unique opportunity to learn and discuss physics, chemistry, life sciences and mathematics from the best scientific minds in Israel and around the world.

Furthermore, a unique and diverse Israeli experience is promised to all participants. 300 brilliant young male and female scientists, aged 17-21 from over 20 delegations, will arrive in Israel from all over Asia and the Pacific, accompanied by senior scientists from their countries who will head the delegations.

The participants will interact with five Nobel Prize Laureates in sciences from Israel and around the world. Among them are Prof. Aharon Chechanover (medical chemistry) and Prof.

Israel Uman (game theory) from Israel, Prof. Roger Kornberg (biology) from the US, Prof. Lee Yuan-Ti (chemistry) from Taiwan and Prof. Makoto Kobayashi (physics) from Japan.

The participants will also hear lectures from 30 top Israeli scientists who are among the leaders in their fields in the world.

The opening event will be held with the participation of the President of the State of Israel and Nobel Laureate, Shimon Peres. The organisers promise an unforgettable event integrating innovative technological elements that will express the Israeli spirit of innovation and creative thinking.

Israel, the host country, will lead with the largest delegation of 35 brilliant young males and females who were strictly chosen according to criteria of excellence in science.

Sri Lanka will send a delegation of five brilliant young scientists from around the country. China, India, Korea and Japan will send the largest delegations to the event.

“The 2012 ASC in Israel will be the largest one held thus far in terms of the number of participants,” said Rafael Barak, the Director General of Israel’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Director General Barak added, “Israel, although a small country, is labeled as a powerhouse for scientific-technological innovation and progress, and constitutes an object for study, and esteem for its achievements.”

Prof. Menahem Ben-Sasson, President of the Hebrew University in Jerusalem that is hosting the Science Camp, noted that the Hebrew University, a world renowned academic institution, is proud to take a central part in a national project of such great importance.

 “Hosting the Asian Science Camp constitutes a wonderful opportunity to enhance Israel’s leading role in the fields of academia and science, as well as creating ties between young people who are destined to lead scientific research in their countries and to link them with Israeli academia.”

“I am very sure,” Prof. Ben-Sasson stated, “that the Israeli spirit of transcending borders, creativity, curiosity, questioning and doubting, will have a positive effect on the participants from all over Asia.”