Lagos – The Nigerian Academy of Science (NAS) on Saturday disclosed that it has instituted an award for deserving Nigerian scientists who contribute significantly to promotion and improvement of human condition.
Dr Oladoyin Odubanjo, the Executive Secretary of NAS, said this in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Lagos.
The NAS Executive Secretary was quoted as saying that the award, called the “Nigerian Academy of Science Gold Medal (NAS Gold Medal)’’ aims to recognise scientific efforts of indigenous scientists.
He said the academy believed that such recognition would go a long way in boosting scientific research in the country.
“The NAS Gold Medal prize will be an annual award in recognition of personal scientific excellence with the first award to be bestowed in January 2017.
“It shall be awarded to the scientist whose work made the most impact in furthering the frontiers of knowledge and contributes significantly to mankind.
“It is considered a high honour that the academy (the peak independent scientific institution in Nigeria) would bestow such an award on a Nigerian Scientist in recognition of his/her scientific work.
“The prize consists of a medal, a certificate and a purse; there shall be a public presentation of the prize by the President of NAS,’’ Odubanjo was quoted as saying.
Odubanjo also announced that the prize, which would be administered by the NAS Science Prize Committee and a Jury, would be in two categories: Physical Sciences and Life Sciences.
For 2016, the call for nominations would be in the life sciences with the award ceremony in January 2017.
According to him, the award is open to all scientists with Nigerian nationality except Fellows of the Academy who are not eligible for nomination but can nominate scientists for consideration for the award.
“To qualify for the award, candidates must have demonstrated scientific excellence through published works, patents and innovations or intellectual property of outstanding merit.
“The candidate must be nominated by two persons, of which one must be a specialist in the candidate’s field.’’
Odubanjo said that the NAS Gold Medal may be awarded to a single individual or as a joint prize for collaborations in the same or different fields of science.
He said candidates for the award must have made outstanding contributions to science that were widely accepted, ground breaking, original and had led to the promotion and improvement of human condition.
The executive secretary also listed the key criteria for the prize to include: “impact of the result of scientific research and significance of the research result’s broad outreach to knowledge generation in the community.’’
Others are the advancement of solutions to specific problems and challenges relevant to the community and mankind and documentation of the research as published in recognised peer-reviewed journals.
Another condition is recognition from people involved in active research in the broad field of consideration, (physical sciences or life sciences) with documented contributions including patents. (NAN)
