Spirit of Salam Awardees Announced

The family of ICTP founder and Nobel Laureate Abdus Salam has revealed the recipients of the 2023 Spirit of Abdus Salam Award. Announced annually on Abdus Salam’s birthday, the award recognizes those who, like Salam himself, have worked tirelessly to promote the development of science and technology in disadvantaged parts of the world.

This year’s Spirit of Abdus Salam Award recipients are:

• Tino Nyawelo, University of Utah, Salt Lake City (pictured in photo above, left): Nyawelo, an ICTP Postgraduate Diploma Programme graduate (1997-98), drew on his experience as a refugee in his home country of Sudan to create Refugees Exploring the Foundations of Undergraduate Education In Science (REFUGES), a programme that encourages underrepresented students to pursue science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education at the university level.
• Hugo Celso Perez Rojas, Instituto de Cybernetics Mathematics and Physics (ICIMAF), Department of Theoretical Physics, Cuba (pictured in photo above, centre): Rojas has worked intensely to persuade Cuban policy makers that basic science is by no means a luxury but a crucial need for the development of third-world economies. He has published books and articles about the status and prospect of science in the South and he has successfully imprinted in young researchers an interest in spreading scientific knowledge as an integral part of culture.
• Federico Rosei, Institut National Recherche Scientifique, Montréal, Canada (pictured in photo above, right): Rosei has shown outstanding international leadership, spanning from research, to education to building capacity and mentoring. His efforts in research, education, capacity building and knowledge dissemination have no disciplinary or geographical borders and go well beyond his own interests and pursuits, consistent with that Salam’s vision and legacy.

On announcing the 2023 Spirit of Abdus Salam Award recipients, the family of Abdus Salam released the following statement: "We are delighted to recognise the contribution of these three fine humanitarians, who have taken the spirit and example of Abdus Salam to serve humanity and promote education  to the most deserving in the developing countries. They have worked tirelessly to support those, who purely by the accident of their birth, do not have access to the same opportunities as those born in the developed countries."

The Award Ceremony will take place on 13 December 2023.

About the Spirit of Abdus Salam Award

The Spirit of Abdus Salam Award may be given to anyone within the extended ICTP family of scientists and non-scientists, and administrative staff alike who can show that they have worked tirelessly to further Abdus Salam's humanitarian  passion  and vision for the cooperation,  promotion and development of science and technology in the developing  world. For more details, and to see the list of past winners, please visit the Spirit of Abdus Salam Award page.