XI’AN: With the approaching of the 7th Space Day of China, International Forum on Aerospace Education & Belt and Road Aerospace Innovation Alliance (BRAIA) 5th Anniversary Conference successfully concluded online recently. Prof. ZHANG Weihong, member of the Chinese Academy of Science and Vice President of Northwestern Polytechnical University(NPU), Ms. FENG Chunping, Vice Chairman of Governing Board of Chinese Society of Astronautics (CSA), Mr. LIU Baoping, Deputy Director of Education Department of Shaanxi Provincial Government, Ms. JIANG Hui, Counsellor of China National Space Administration to Russia, Ms. YU Qi, Secretary-General of Asia-Pacific Space Cooperation Organization (APSCO) attended the meeting and delivered speeches. Over 100 representatives of BRAIA members and international organizations, including the UN Office for Outer Space Affairs attended the meeting. The conference was presided by Prof. Zhang Fuli, Director of Office of International Cooperation and Dean of International College, NPU.
Experts and scholars from Pakistani universities, which are important partners of NPU in South Asia, attended the conference and made reports. Dr. Adnan Maqsood from National University of Sciences and Technology (NUST) made a work report, indicating that NUST has achieved fruitful results through close cooperation with BRAIA and a group of Chinese universities including NPU in the past five years. For example, since October 2020, scholars from Pakistani universities have been actively engaged in joint research seed fund projects initiated by BRAIA in aerodynamics, composite and microsatellite. Moreover, during the difficult time of fighting against COVID-19, the Permanent Secretariat of BRAIA has been keeping close touch with NUST. The Permanent Secretariat office in NPU managed to offer a batch of masks to NUST, hoping that BRAIA members will overcome the difficult time hand in hand.
Besides, Dr. Adnan Maqsood also promoted an upcoming internship program for international students this summer. “Essentially, the notion of this internship for international students is to acclimatize them with hi-tech research labs. Moreover, the opportunity will also enable foreign students to learn from the industry experts besides gaining hands-on experience.” The program is open to university students from all BRAIA members, and plays a huge role in promoting talent exchange in aerospace and other fields among different countries. -PR
