Support from Stockholm University
Support to National University of Laos
The Stockholm University (SU) support to the Faculty of Natural Sciences at the National University of Laos (NUOL) has been directed to chemistry, mathematics and physics. The support is organised within the ISP core program, otherwise funded by Sida.
In the 2008 agreement with Sida, ISP was requested to discontinue support in Laos because it is not among the focus countries at that time listed by the Swedish government in the new development support policy announced in 2007. A phase out period of three years was decided, allowing for continued support until 2011. The agreement with Stockholm University 2011-2015 made it possible to continue the support to the present without interruption. This has been of strategic importance because ISP support to chemistry and physics in Laos had started as late as 2005, the development until 2011 had been quite modest, and a premature phase-out following the Sida request would have jeopardized investments in staff competence development and instrumental facilities.
In the period 2012 to 2023, the research activities in these chemistry and physics departments at NUOL have increased tangibly. The progress continues and Master’s programs are becoming established in both disciplines.
Mathematics
Support to mathematics at NUOL, which started at a low level in 2012 using SU funding, has been converted from “research group support” to “scientific network support” with the start of the South East Asian Mathematics Network (SEAMaN) in 2015.
Chemistry
The chemistry program supports a research group at NUOL: Pesticide residue in food and environment in Lao PDR.
The group conduct performs analysis of heavy metal and pesticide residues, and has conducted further testing of such contaminants in the environment and in foods and grains in the country. The group develops the methodology of residue analysis and has enhanced the analytical techniques and skills of the chemistry department staff and students. Until 2017, research results had scarcely been published and only at local publication venues, but in 2019 a paper appeared in SN Applied Sciences, which is a quality publication venue according to the Norwegian Register for Scientific Journals, Series and Publishers. In recent years the group has also become more active with regard to conference contributions, many of which has been not only at local venues but also at regional meetings – and in 2019 at two international meetings, one in Thailand and one OPCW (Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical weapons) meeting in the Netherlands.
The SU funding is used for developing local research activities, staff training, participation in scientific conferences, and for covering the costs of the visits made by technicians, to provide and maintain chemistry analytical instruments and train staff members.
Physics
The physics program support a research group at NUOL in Geophysics. The purpose of the group is to develop research activities in Geophysics, especially on groundwater quality. The aim of the research work on groundwater is to study the water quality by using geophysical methods to determine groundwater table, the thickness and continuity of shallow aquifers, to delineate fresh and saline water, and then to map good quality groundwater.
The group has developed short- and long-term training in geophysics for staff and students at different level of study. A BSc program in geophysics was launched in 2012.
Research result has been scarcely published up to 2017, but from 2018 the group has published more frequently, and in 2020 the first scientific paper in a “quality journal” (listed with the Thomson & Reuter impact factor 1.186 at Web of Science) appeared. The group also has become more active with regard to conference contributions, which in 2018 and 2019 all were at international conferences.
During the period 2012-2014 the group leader Sounthone Singsoupho was on PhD sandwich training at Prince of Songkla University, Thailand, supported by the ISP funds available through the agreement with SU. He graduated in 2014 and he is now at NOUL taking care of the coordination of the group activities, while Mr. Xayavong is now in Vietnam for his PhD education with a graduation planed in 2023, also supported by ISP.
Biochemical ecotoxicology in Zimbabwe
In 2016, Sida decided on a 5 million SEK reduction of their contribution to ISP, because the Swedish government was reducing the budget to development cooperation in favor of the needs created by the refugee crisis 2015. This required revision of ISP’s budget, and in order not to discontinue support, one research group, IPICS ZIM:02, in the field of biochemical ecotoxicology at National University of Science and Technology (NUST) in Zimbabwe, was temporarily funded using the SU contribution.
Start-up of physics support in Myanmar
In 2016, the ISP physics program has initiated support to the Department of Physics, University of Mandalay in Myanmar, and the pilot phase 2016-2017 was financed using the SU contribution.
The Mandalay research group is working on three projects: one on theoretical nuclear physics, one on applied nuclear physics for environmental monitoring, and one on materials sciences for sustainable energy applications.
ANFEC
In 2011, Stockholm University funding was provided to an emerging scientific network, Asian Network of Research on Food and Environment Contaminants (ANFEC), embracing ISP supported environmental chemistry research groups in Bangladesh, Cambodia, and Laos, and coordinated from the Department of Chemistry at National University of Laos (NUOL).
The SU contribution has been used to facilitate ANFEC meetings and workshops.
ANFEC organizes a yearly training workshop facilitated by Stockholm University staff: Mr Michael Strandell and Ms Ulla Eriksson from Stockholm University have conducted courses in consultation with ANFEC members, but ANFEC is now ready to continue the yearly course on its own. The courses are planned in 2021 in Dhaka, Bangladesh, in 2022 in Vientiane, Laos, and in 2023 back in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
In 2017, a report about the activity was published by the International Higher Education Teaching & Learning Association.
Evaluation of ISP supported networks
In 2017, a share of the SU contribution was used to partly cover the costs for the ISP-initiated evaluation of the East African Universities Mathematics Programme (EAUMP), and in 2018 an evaluation of Materials Science and Solar Energy Network for Eastern and Southern Africa (MSEESSA) was performed.
American Institute of Physics book project
In 2016, 2018 and 2018, a share of the SU contribution was used to pay the shipping charges of books, following an informal agreement since 1999 with American Institute of Physics (AIP) about books from various publisher reviewed in the AIP journal “Physics Today”. AIP collects these novel books and sends them in batches to different departments of physics as indicated by ISP.6 A typical batch contains about 300 books. Since 1999, 75 such batches have been sent to 35 different institutes.
Meetings
In 2018, a share of the SU contribution was used to cover the costs for the ISP-arranged meeting of the European Mathematical Society (EMS) Committee for Developing Countries, in Sigtuna, Sweden.
In 2018, a share of the SU contribution was used to cover the costs for ISP’s participation in the International Congress of Mathematics (ICM), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The joint initiative for PACM between SU and University of Dar es Salaam was presented at a poster exhibition.
Gender equality promotion
In 2019, a share of the SU contribution was used to partly cover the costs for ISP’s work to promote gender equality among supported mathematics and physics partners.
The investment has allowed for the realization of many different activities, locally created and organized to address some of the different reasons of the gender unbalance at the supported institutions. These activities have targeted the recruitment of female students at undergraduate programs in physics and mathematics at Makerere University in Uganda, and has increased the success rate of female students at the admission exam at University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania. In many other institutions, outreach activities with local high school have increased the motivation and inspired female students to study science at the university level. In Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania, also mentoring programs for female university students have been organized for an improvement of the retention of girls in higher education at master and PhD levels. In many institutions, the available funds have promoted a spontaneous collaboration between physicists and mathematicians.
An important result has been the establishment in 2018 of the Eastern Africa Network of Women in Basics Science (EANWoBAS), partly supported by SU funding, the first ISP supported network with the aim to promote gender balance, coordinated from Uganda but joining mathematicians, physicists and gender researchers also from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, and Zambia.
In Asia, the most relevant result is the establishment in 2017 of a PhD position at Dhaka University, for a female candidate, allowing a more flexible working schedule to harmonize working and family tasks. In 2019, SU funding contributed to financing the present holder of the position.