In September 2015, the 2030 Agenda with 17 Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly (UN) to end poverty, protect the planet and ensure prosperity for all by 2030. These goals are defined by 169 specific targets.
Vietnam is one of the countries that actively contributes to the development and implementation of the 2030 Agenda. This is evidenced by the Government's issuance of many promotion mechanisms: the National Action Plan in 2017; Decision No. 681/QD-TTg on the implementation roadmap to 2030 on June 4, 2019; and Resolution No. 136/NQ-CP on sustainable development issued on September 25, 2020. According to the 2020 Report, Vietnam is likely to achieve 5 out of 17 SDG targets by 2030, including 1, 2, 4, 13 and 17.
17 UN Sustainable Development Goals
One of the key factors to implement the SDGs in Vietnam is that the government, agencies, organizations, influential individuals... need to convey and disseminate the UN and UNESCO goals on sustainable development to the whole society. For the academic community, including natural sciences and social research..., contributions in the fields of exploration, development of science and technology (S&T), cultural enrichment, and improvement of the quality and effectiveness of education play an important role for society in economic development and improving living standards.
According to Associate Professor Phan Thi Ha Duong, Head of the Organizing Committee of the series of events responding to the spirit of sustainable development of UNESCO: "The UNESCO International Center for Training and Research in Mathematics (ICRTM), the Institute of Mathematics - VAST and the Vingroup Innovation Foundation (VINIF) have been, are and will coordinate in organizing events with a widespread impact to respond to the spirit of UNESCO. Starting from 2022, the parties have had many activities in inviting prestigious managers, scientists, cultural, historical and artistic researchers in society to contribute to many seminars, talks, and public lectures, contributing to raising public awareness of the 17 SDG goals. Each event will focus on a topic, emphasizing the contents of knowledge dissemination, clean and accessible energy, gender equality, climate change response, health improvement through scientific and technological advances, educational innovation and improving living standards."
Speakers at the event "Public Lectures on Sustainable Development"
Interesting series of events
Specifically, on March 14, 2022, ICRTM, the Institute of Mathematics - VAST and VINIF Foundation co-organized the International Mathematics Day 2022 with the theme: "Mathematics connects us", including a public lecture "Mathematics in regional climate and climate change research". The lecture, chaired by Associate Professor Ngo Duc Thanh, Hanoi University of Science and Technology, mentioned some basic applications of mathematics in regional climate and climate change research, in an effort to answer essential questions of meteorology: How much will the global average temperature increase by the end of the 21st century? Will sea levels continue to rise for hundreds of years? How are future climate projections obtained and are they reliable? The event provides the public with clearer and deeper knowledge about the application of scientific and technological achievements to address SDG goals 4 and 13.
The seminar "Science and Technology for Environmental Protection" on the occasion of Vietnam Science and Technology Day took place on May 14, 2022, co-organized by the Institute of Mathematics and the Institute of Physics - VAST, which is also an event to raise awareness about sustainable development. The event also responded to the "International Year of Basic Sciences for Sustainable Development" announced by the United Nations, emphasizing that the applications of basic science play an extremely important role in the advancement of medicine, industry, agriculture, water resources, energy planning, environment, communication and culture. Breakthrough technologies from basic science meet the needs of humanity by providing access to information and enhancing social welfare, promoting peace through improved cooperation towards sustainable development goals.
At the seminar, awareness of environmental protection and the importance of science and technology in this issue was developed more deeply and widely, through the dissemination of knowledge from science to practice. The event had the contribution of theoretical scientists as well as leading experts in measuring environmental indicators, new materials, biospheres, and Vietnam's clean air network.
Another important event is the discussion "Urban Development and New Risks" taking place at the Institute of Mathematics on the morning of June 10, 2022, as part of the event series "Sustainable Cities" co-organized by the French Institute in Vietnam, ICRTM, VINIF and the Institute for Research for Development (France) in Asia (IRD in Asia).
Seminar "Urban development and new risks"
At the seminar, speakers who are leading researchers introduced 3 specific projects on modeling and simulating urban risks; these modeling methods are based on building and simulating artificial worlds, where the behavior of agents and the surrounding environment are shown in detail, and are gradually becoming an essential tool for discussing social-environmental issues as well as for researching and building scenarios to respond to the limitations, sometimes contradictory, of stakeholders.
The workshop "Open Science from Different Perspectives" on the occasion of Vietnam Science and Technology Day, May 18, 2023, with public lectures on science and open data, and discussions with many experts, managers, and businesses, has made positive contributions to spreading goals 4, 9, and 17.
Recently, on August 24, 2023, following the events on the topic of sustainable development, ICRTM, the Institute of Mathematics - VAST and VINIF, co-organized the event "Public Lectures on Sustainable Development". The event attracted many scientists, students, postgraduates, young people interested in sustainable development, along with many leaders of Ministries, Academies, Research Institutes, and Universities to attend. Two lectures in the event addressed the fields of advanced materials and socio-culture - important issues for the sustainable development of modern society.
Event "Public Lectures on Sustainable Development"
Professor Phan Manh Huong, Department of Physics, University of South Florida, USA, is a world-leading expert (Top 2%) in developing thermomagnetic and coercive materials for smart sensing and thermomagnetic cooling technologies. Recently, his research group discovered the room-temperature ferromagnetic effect in atomically thin-layer Van der Waals materials, which has the potential to create breakthrough changes in fields such as spintronics, opto-spin-caloritronics, valleytronics, and quantum computation.
In his lecture “Opportunities for Biomagnetic Nanomaterials – From Hyperthermia Therapy to Drug Delivery and Health Monitoring”, the professor highlighted the importance of materials science for sustainable development: Nanomaterials with superparamagnetic properties are very promising for biomedical applications, from hyperthermia therapy to targeted drug delivery, magnetic resonance imaging, biosensors. The speaker shared his perspective on emerging opportunities and current challenges in the interdisciplinary research field, and proposed new strategies to overcome those challenges.
In addition, his research team is and will continue to focus on the latest developments in non-contact, non-invasive magnetic sensing platforms for the diagnosis, monitoring, and treatment of COVID-19 and other respiratory diseases through the exploitation of magnetic fields and machine learning. This technology can be applied in point-of-care and remote healthcare facilities and systems, with the potential to upgrade the overall healthcare system and promote more effective public health measurement efforts to respond to future epidemics.
According to Associate Professor Doan Dinh Phuong, Director of the Institute of Materials Science and Technology, the speaker's lecture opened up new knowledge about the research of magnetic materials and biomedical nanomaterials. Professor Dang Diem Hong, Institute of Biotechnology, said that the most promising application of magnetic sensor materials is to detect early and quickly the number of cancer cells in patients with small tumors, in special locations so that doctors can intervene promptly. Professor Dinh Nho Hao, Institute for Advanced Study in Mathematics, also discussed with the speaker about the mathematical models used in this research direction, which can open up other practical applications when interdisciplinary scientists cooperate in research.
Seminar "Open science from different perspectives"
Need space, open academic environment
Speaker Nguyen Canh Binh, Chairman of the Board of Directors of Alpha Books, Director of the ABG Leadership Institute, Vice President of the Asia-Pacific Economic Center (VAPEC), also contributed a remarkable lecture on history and culture, with the topic "The space for knowledge development of Vietnamese people: Some initial thoughts on the formation, obstacles, and future prospects".
In the lecture, with profound arguments through experience and research, the speaker presented an overview of the space for knowledge development of the Vietnamese people from ancient to modern times. There were many shortcomings and limitations in creating an open environment for debate on ideology and knowledge, and the narrowness in feudal "Eastern" traditions hindered the process of approaching new knowledge in the world of the Vietnamese people. In the modern period, Vietnam expanded academic exchanges with Western countries and many famous patriotic intellectuals with profound knowledge appeared, absorbing the progress in the world such as Phan Boi Chau, Phan Chu Trinh, Hoang Xuan Han...
Nowadays, in an increasingly flatter world, the exchange between Vietnamese academia and the world is inevitable and certainly brings great values to the economic, cultural, educational development of the country. It is necessary to create an open academic space and environment and spread knowledge to the masses through the development and improvement of the library and translation system. The speaker also shared his own views, according to which the two main causes affecting the development of the knowledge space of any nation are the emergence of writing and the economic context of the times.
Answering the question: "Is it true that the old-fashioned mindset of studying to take exams, to become an official, to study to have a position in today's society, rather than studying just for fun, for passion, for commitment, has been and is hindering the formation of a free academic environment?", the speaker agreed with the point of view and added: "That is partly true; another part is that we lack an era, a historical space, where scholars are free to develop their ideas, debate, even argue... and from there, many breakthrough innovations for society arise."
Regarding the opinion: "Many civilizations have developed writing and science and technology very early, such as ancient Egyptian and Chinese civilizations; however, to this day, Western civilization is still achieving great achievements in all aspects, even though it has only emerged for a few hundred years. So, does writing play a decisive role in the process of knowledge development of a nation?", the speaker shared: "The civilization process of a nation, a country can develop long-term, sustainably or short-term, intermittently depending on the efforts of the above entities at its "transitions". Written language can be considered the first transition; after that, there are many other transitions in economy, culture, war, climate... If a civilization cannot overcome those transitions, it will stagnate, or even be destroyed."
The two public lectures delved into different topics of science, technology and culture and society, attracting the attention of a wide range of delegates and guests. With an extended time frame for exchange and discussion, the event received many exchanges, contributions and sharing of views, helping listeners gain a new perspective on sustainable development in both science, technology and culture and society.
The efforts of ICRTM, the Institute of Mathematics and VINIF over the years have contributed to strongly spreading the spirit of sustainable development initiated by the UN and UNESCO. Through seminars, talks and public lectures, hundreds of thousands of people have been informed, approached and better understood the SDG goals, while promoting exchanges and cooperation with a large number of young researchers in the fields of science, technology, culture and history; thereby joining hands with society in raising community awareness to move closer to sustainable development goals.
Sustainable development is a strategic goal of the United Nations (UN) in its 2015-2030 action plan. In preparation, since 2013, countries have initiated the process of developing the 2030 Agenda and developing a set of sustainable development goals (SDGs) to submit to the UN for approval.
The programme has a broad, comprehensive, ambitious and universal policy coverage, in line with the spirit and engagement of UNESCO. The Sustainable Development Goals include: (1) Eradication of poverty; (2) Eradication of hunger; (3) Good health and well-being; (4) Quality education; (5) Gender equality; (6) Clean water and sanitation; (7) Accessible and clean energy; (8) Decent work and economic growth; (9) Industry, innovation and infrastructure; (10) Reduced inequality; (11) Sustainable cities and communities; (12) Responsible consumption and production; (13) Climate action; (14) Marine resources and environment; (15) Land resources and environment; (16) Peace, justice and strong institutions; (17) Partnerships for the goals.
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