Prof. Mostapha Bousmina elected to the position of President of the African Science, Research and Innovation Council-ASRIC- under the African Union (AU)

Professor Mostapha Bousmina, Chancellor of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology and President of the Université Euromed de Fès, was elected on November 24, 2021, in Nairobi, Kenya, by an overwhelming majority, as President of the African Scientific, Research and Innovation Council (ASRIC), which operates under the African Union (AU).

This is a high-ranking position within the AU's scientific bodies, requiring high-level expertise such as that possessed by Professor Bousmina, a connoisseur of higher education, scientific research, and innovation. He indeed has extensive academic experience both in Canada, where he held a senior research chair in nanotechnology, and in Morocco.

He served two terms as President of NASAC - the Network of African Science Academies - which brings together academies from about thirty African countries, was a member of the executive bureau of the IAP (InterAcademy Partnership), an international organization comprising over 140 science academies from five continents, a member of the World Academy of Sciences and Arts, a member of the African Academy of Sciences, co-founder and first Director General of Mascir, editor-in-chief and co-editor of three international scientific journals, in addition to other international distinctions.

In 2020, Stanford University ranked him among the top 2% of scientists worldwide and the most impactful Moroccan researcher on a global scale.

The question remains whether the AU will provide him with adequate budgets to carry out his mission and establish partnerships with other similar institutions worldwide, such as the NSF (National Science Foundation) of the United States or the European Research Council, which has just launched the Horizon Europe program with a colossal budget of 95.5 billion euros for the period 2021-2027.

The appointment of Professor Bousmina to head ASRIC is a recognition of the important role played by the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology and of Morocco's leadership role on the African scale under the enlightened guidance of His Majesty King Mohammed VI.

ASRIC is a body whose mission is to assist the Commissioner for Human Resources, Science and Technology in developing the AU's policy on education, research and innovation and to promote scientific research and innovation in Africa by funding research programs, innovation, and the mobility of researchers and students across the continent.

Source: le 360