Prof. Ilan Chet presents high level research projects at the 5th Parmenides International Conference

Paris.- The 5^th Parmenides International Conference, organized by the Inter-Academic Group for Development (GID), took place at the Institute of France in Paris last 20^th-21^st March. The meeting, under the theme “Towards an integrative vision of Mediterranean Scientific Development”, was devoted the first day to discuss and summarize the conclusions and recommendations of the four previous conferences of the cycle Parmenides held in Paris, Rome, Alexandria and Rabat. During the second day, the participants in the meeting synthetized the achievements of the GID’s programmes and lined out the future of S&T initiatives in the Mediterranean area.

Deputy Secretary General for Higher Education & Research, Prof. Ilan Chet, delivered a speech on the role of the Union for the Mediterranean (UfM) in supporting Higher Education and Research by emphasizing on high level research projects in which the UfM is working on, such as the Open-U-SESAME Programme, which focuses on the operational preparation of the Synchrotron for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East (SESAME); a third generation light source currently under construction in Jordan.

He also focused on The Mediterranean Integrated Studies at Regional and Local Scales (MISTRALS), which is a decennial interdisciplinary meta-program of systematic observation, research, and education, dedicated to the analysis of the environment of the Mediterranean Basin and the prediction of the evolution of its habitable conditions.

Furthermore, Prof. Ilan Chet chaired two round tables entitled “Dissemination of Knowledge: Scientific and Technical Literature, Digital Challenges and Teaching Strategies” and “Scientific Challenges and Technologies”.

The meeting was attended by representatives of 19 academies of sciences from several countries on the shores of the Mediterranean Sea.