In
2015, the UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science is awarded for the fourth
time. The winner of the 2015 edition is the Pakistani Professor of
Biotechnology and bioethicist, Zabta Khan Shinwari.
Chair
of the Biotechnology Department of the Quaid-i-Azam University of Islamabad.
Professor Zabta
Khan Shinwari is Secretary-General of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and
Chair of the Biotechnology Department of the Quaid-i-Azam University of
Islamabad.
Born
in 1959, native of the tribal belt of Pakistan, Zabta Khan Shinwari from
his young years has been a model for those communities where education is a
rare commodity: he showed love for knowledge and tenacity to pursue it.
After
having graduated from the University of Peshawar, he obtained a PhD degree from
the Kyoto University in 1994, followed by several post-doctoral fellowships in
agricultural biotechnology from several prestigious Japanese Institutions.
Having
been trained in molecular taxonomy and systematics, Professor Shinwari
identified more than 300 genes of plants, several of which were discovered to
be drought, cold weather, and stress-tolerant.
His
work in the area of development of modern plant biotechnology was then
associated with the Pakistan Museum of Natural History, the National
Agricultural Research Centre, the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF)-Pakistan,
and several research organizations.
Over
his three decades of academic career, Zabta Khan Shinwari has worked tirelessly
to empower local communities to use their natural resources and biodiversity in
a sustainable manner to achieve an environmentally sound economic development.
He published three books documenting the indigenous knowledge about medicinal
Plants of Pakistan (Plant wealth of Ayubia National Park, 2002; Medicinal
and other useful plants of district Swat-Pakistan, 2003; and Medicinal and
Aromatic Plants of Pakistan (A Pictorial Guide), 2006), which stimulated
similar research and the development of a database of medicinal usages of local
plants. The latter was of particular importance for the protection of the
intellectual property rights of indigenous communities.
He
is the author of more than 300 scientific publications, which include 7 books,
10 volumes of edited proceedings of international conferences and more
than 250 articles of which the majority were published in high impact factor
scientific journals.
Following
his appointment in 2004 as Vice-Chancellor of the Kohat University of Science
and Technology (KUST), Professor Shinwari succeeded in making KUST a center of
excellence in higher education with developed modern infrastructure and
research facilities.
One
of his major achievements was the extension of the quality higher
education facilities to the marginalized and hitherto neglected communities of
the remote areas of Pakistan and the improvement of access to higher education
of talented students through scholarships and tuition waivers. Despite the
existing cultural restrictions, Professor Shinwari was able to persuade local
communities not to keep women from receiving higher education. Subsequently,
the number of female students has increased to nearly 30%. He also succeeded in
establishing a University of Science and Technology in Bannu and the KUST
Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS).
Professor
Shinwari also served as the Chief Executive Officer of the private research
institution Qarshi Research International and as Vice-Chancellor and
founder of Qarshi University- Lahore.
Throughout
his scientific research and academic work, he has worked determinedly to
develop educational programmes on the ethics of scientific knowledge,
bioethics, applied ethnobotany, biosafety, and biosecurity, and introduced
them in the university curriculum throughout Pakistan at the post-graduate
and under-graduate levels.
Currently,
Zabta Khan Shinwari’s main research interest is in developing and teaching
modules on dual-use education. He has been a key partner in promoting
biosecurity education in Pakistan and has played an important role in Pakistan
in terms of biosecurity and international engagement on biosecurity issues. He
has developed linkages with various national and international agencies and has
explored opportunities to deliver the findings to a multi-institutional
audience with a view to establishing a national Pakistani biosecurity network.
Professor
Zabta Khan Shinwari was designated the laureate of the Prize by Irina Bokova,
Director-General of UNESCO, upon the recommendation of an independent
International Jury of scholars and ethicists, including Marie-Helene Parizeau
(Canada), the Jury’s Chairperson and one of the Vice-Chairpersons of
COMEST, Luka Omladič (Slovenia), Rapporteur of COMEST and the Jury, and Hebe
Vessuri (Venezuela), member of COMEST.
The Prize will be awarded at an
official ceremony at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris on 4 November 2015, at 7.30
p.m. in Room IX.
The Director-General of UNESCO will
award the Prize to Prof. Zabta Khan Shinwari in the presence of H.E. Mr
Mohammad Farhadi, Minister of Science, Research and Technology, Islamic
Republic of Iran, donor of the Prize, H. Exc. Mr Ahmad Jalali, Ambassador,
Permanent Delegate of the Islamic Republic of Iran to UNESCO, and Prof.
Marie-Hélène Parizeau, Chairperson, International Jury of the UNESCO Avicenna
Prize for Ethics in Science (2015) and the World Commission on the Ethics of
Scientific Knowledge and Technology (COMEST), and Ms Nada Al-Nashif, UNESCO
Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences.
Intended to honour the activities of
individuals and groups in the field of ethics in science, the Prize encourages
ethical reflection on questions raised by scientific and technological advances
- a goal that coincides with UNESCO’s priorities.
Established in 2002 by UNESCO’s
Executive Board on the initiative of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the Prize
has been awarded biennially since 2004, and it may be conferred upon
individuals, institutions, other entities or non-governmental organizations.
The first Avicenna Prize was awarded
to Professor Margaret Somerville, Director of the Centre for Medicine, Ethics
and Law at the McGill University in Montreal (Canada). The second Prize was
awarded in 2006 to Professor Abdallah S. Daar, Director of the Program in
Applied Ethics and Biotechnology at the University of Toronto (Canada). In
2009, the third Avicenna Prize was awarded to Professor Renzong Qiu, Emeritus
Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Philosophy (People’s Republic of
China).
The Prize consists of a gold
Avicenna medal, a certificate and the sum of USD10,000. The Prize-winner also
is invited to pay a one-week academic visit to the Islamic Republic of Iran,
during which he/she will deliver speeches in the relevant academic gatherings,
organized for this purpose by the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran,
the Donor of the Prize.
See
also:
·
Zabta Khan Shinwari: Ignoring Science is the most Unethical
Attitude
·
Pakistani scientist Zabta Khan Shinwari winner of the UNESCO
Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science
·
Professor of Biotechnology and Bioethicist Zabta Khan
Shinwari of Pakistan is awarded 2015 UNESCO Avicenna Prize
·
Photo Gallery
source: UNESCO