Ceremony marks 30 years of Kovalevskaia Prize in Vietnam

A ceremony was organised in Hanoi on March 6 to celebrate 30 years of the Kovalevskaia Prize in Vietnam, which honours outstanding Vietnamese women in the field of sciences.

The prestigious prize is named after the great Russian female mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaia, and is awarded by the fund of the same name. The fund is operating in eight countries in Latin America, Africa and Asia.

The Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Awards Committee was established in 1985. Since then, the title has been presented to 17 collectives and 44 individuals.

Speaking at the event, Politburo member Truong Thi Mai, who is Secretary of the Party Central Committee and head of its Commission for Mass Mobilisation, affirmed that the research achievements as well as scientific applications in reality of the prize winners have contributed importantly to the nation’s 30-year renewal cause.

On this occasion, the 2015 Kovalevskaia awards were presented to Dang Thi Cam Ha, former chief of the environmental bio-technology department under the Institute of Biotechnology, and Pham Thi Ngoc Thao, Deputy Director of Ho Chi Minh City’s Cho Ray Hospital.

Ha was honoured for her research works on environmental protection, especially bio technologies to clean up contaminating oil in different eco-environments and treat soil contaminated by dioxin-contained herbicides.

Meanwhile, Thao has numerous research projects in the field of hematology.

On the occasion, former Vice President Nguyen Thi Binh transferred the Chair of the Vietnamese Kovalevskaia Awards Committee to Vice President Nguyen Thi Doan.