In recognition of their outstanding achievements and discoveries in science, technology and innovation, the African Union awarded six (6) top scientists the prestigious African Union Kwame Nkrumah Awards for Scientific Excellence (AUKNASE). The Award was presented on the margin of the 33rd AU Summit held in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 9-10 February 2020.

The prestigious Award programme was launched by the AU in 2009 aimed at promoting scientific development in Africa through recognition of excellence among African scientists, women, men and younger researchers, to encourage them to persevere their research or academic careers, and nurture their ambitions.
The award is also aimed at popularizing and promoting public understanding and participation in the implementation of the Agenda 2063, through Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa.

The 2019 laureates of the continental award winners

For the Basic Science, Technology and Innovation Award: Professor Al-Shabagh Ahmed Mohammed from Egypt is the winner with more than (233) Scientific Articles in the International Scientific Highly Impacted Journals. He was awarded (13) Applied Egyptian Patents, 4 of them are applying in the Egyptian Petroleum Sector. He Won the Golden Prize from WIPO for Intellectual Property for his Invention of H2S Scavenger from oil and natural gas to improve the national product on the Egyptian.

For the Life and Earth Science Award: Professor Chedly Abdelly from Tunisia is the winner. Prof Chedly Addelly is currently the Director General of the National Agency for the Scientific Research Promotion, ANPR since November 2017. He has over 400 publications in specialized journals, indexed and with impact factor, has won several awards and contributed a lot in the field of biological sciences. Prof Abdelly has 3 patents.

The 2019 laureates of the Regional award winners are:

For the Life and Earth Science Award: Professor Chinedum Peace Babalola, from Nigeria representing the Western Region. Chinedum Peace Babalola is a Pharmacist and a Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry/Pharmacokinetics at University of Ibadan (UI), Nigeria. She is presently the Vice-Chancellor of Chrisland University Abeokuta and the immediate past and first female Dean, Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Ibadan. Babalola is a recipient of over 25 fellowships, awards and grants world over. She has published in reputable journals and has about 150 publications.

For the Life and Earth Science Award: Associate Professor Aly Maha Nasr SAYED from Egypt representing northern region.
Dr. Maha Nasr is as an Associate Professor and researcher of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Egypt. She has published more than 68 international papers in the field of drug delivery and nanotechnology in high impact factor journals. Dr. Maha was awarded the Egyptian state encouragement prize in the field of advanced technological sciences serving the medical sciences in 2017, the Obada international prize for distinguished researchers under 40 years in 2018, the ACDIMA-Egypt award for the best applied research in 2018, COMSTECH award for the best research paper in biological sciences in 2017, amongst others.

For the Life and Earth Science Award: Professor Lizette Leonie Koekemoer, from South Africa representing the southern region.
Lizette is one of the Co-Director of the Wits Research Institute for Malaria and a Research Professor. She has published a total of 108 papers and has co-/supervised/hosted 74 students. In 2007, she was elected as a Fellow of the Royal Entomological Society (London) and in 2009 she received the South African Association for Advancement of Science, British Association Silver Medal for the most outstanding scientist under the age of 40 and was the 2nd runner-up in the category Distinguished Young Women in Science in 2011

For the Basic Science, Technology and Innovation Award: Professor Altaf H. Basta Sabagh from Egypt representing northern region. Prof. Altaf H. Basta is Emeritus Research Prof at National Research Centre, Cairo, Egypt. She is an enthusiast in matters related to turning the undesirable agricultural wastes and their utilization as precursors for value products sharing in preserving the environment, e.g., high performance wood adhesive benefit for production of environmentally friendly agro-composites; she has published 151 articles in international scientific Journals, 131 articles reported in the Scopus. Also, she has 19 awarded Egyptian patents.

Each of the awardees at continental level received a cheque for 100,000 USD while each of the regional received a cheque for $20,000 USD to further boost their research capacity in the respective fields aforementioned.

The African Union Kwame Nkrumah Awards programme is supported by the European commission under the human development component of the Joint AU-EU strategy.

Learn more about STISA https://au.int/en/documents/20191009/science-technology-and-innovation-s...

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