ICTP in Vietnam



Soon after its main 60th anniversary celebration on 15 November in Trieste, ICTP extended the festivities to its network of physicists and mathematicians in Vietnam. There, at the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology's Institute of Mathematics in Hanoi, a two-day event titled ' ICTP and Vietnamese Science: Celebrating 60 Years of Collaborations and Building the Future' showcased the profound impact that ICTP has had on the development of physics and mathematics in Vietnam.
 
The numbers say it all: more than 1,500 scientists from Vietnam have participated in conferences, workshops, training and educational programmes organised by ICTP, a UNESCO category 1 institute. The Centre maintains close ties with Vietnam's two UNESCO Category 2 science institutes, the International Centre of Research and Postgraduate Training in Mathematics and the International Centre of Physics, both under the auspices of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. 
 
ICTP has also recognized the excellence of Vietnamese research by awarding some of the country's top scientists with its important awards. Most recently, distinguished physicist Dam Thanh Son was awarded the 2018 Dirac Medal, one of the most prestigious honours in theoretical physics, and mathematician Hoang Hiep Pham received the 2019 Ramanujan Prize.
 
To acknowledge this strong partnership, ICTP organised the Hanoi event for its many Vietnamese alumni as well as policymakers, branding it as part of its 60th anniversary celebrations. Keynote speakers included Dirac Medallist Dam Thanh Son and Fields Medallist Ngo Bao Chau, who is a member of ICTP's Scientific Council. 
 
ICTP and Vietnam have a history of scientific cooperation to be proud of. In the 1980s and 1990s, ICTP was one of the very few "windows to the world" for Vietnamese scientists, helping them integrate with the rest of the world. In particular, research areas at the Vietnam Han Lam Institute of Science and Technology have received significant support from ICTP, including in physics, mathematics, mechanics and Earth sciences. 
 
According to Vietnamese scientists, over the past 60 years ICTP has supported the powerful development of mathematics and physics - the two strongest areas of Basic Science in Vietnam. The Hanoi event affirmed the role and mission of ICTP in developing fundamental and applied research topics to meet the needs of physicists and mathematicians in disadvantaged countries, defining future research directions.

Photos from the event can be viewed on ICTP's Flickr account.