Miscellaneous announcements
Professor Mostapha Bousmina, chancellor of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology and president of the Euromed University of Fez, was elected this November 24, 2021, in Nairobi, Kenya with an overwhelming majority, president of the African Council for Science and Technology. of Research and Innovation (ASRIC) which comes under the African Union (AU).
It is a high position within the scientific bodies of the AU which requires high skills like those possessed by Professor Bousmina, a fine expert in higher education, scientific research and innovation. He has a long academic experience both in Canada, where he held a senior research chair in nanotechnology, and in Morocco.
He was president, for two terms, of NASAC - the African network of science academies - which brings together academies from around thirty African countries, member of the executive board of the IAP (InterAcademy-Partnership), which is an international organization bringing together more than 140 science academies from five continents, member of the World Academy of Sciences and Arts, member of the African Academy of Sciences, co-founder and first general director of Mascir, editor-in-chief and co-editor of three international scientific journals, in addition to other international distinctions.
In 2020, he was ranked by Stanford University among the top 2% of science researchers in the world and the most impactful Moroccan in scientific research globally.
It remains to be seen whether the AU will provide it with adequate budgets to carry out its mission and establish partnerships with other similar institutions on a global scale 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 at the head of ASRIC is recognition of the important role played by the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology and Morocco's leading role on the African scale under the enlightened leadership of His Majesty The King Mohammed VI.
ASRIC is a body whose mission is to help the commissioner in charge of human resources, science and technology to develop the AU policy on education, research and innovation and promote scientific research and innovation in Africa by financing research programs, innovation and the mobility of researchers and students across the continent.