Bangladeshi scientist Firdausi Qadri has been nominated to a UN panel to assess the scope and functions of the proposed UN technology bank dedicated to helping the least developed countries emerge out of poverty. The UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on Thursday announced the members of a panel to advise on the organisational and operational aspects of the proposed technology bank, says a UN release. Firdausi Qadri is director, Centre for Vaccine Sciences, International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh. A prominent immunologist, she received a major science prize at The World Academy of Sciences’ annual meeting in October 2013. Romain Murenzi, executive director of The World Academy of Sciences in Trieste, Italy, and former minister of education, science, technology and scientific research of Rwanda has been made the chair of the panel. Other members on the panel are Mohamed Hassan of Sudan, Bruce Lehman of United States, Tebello Nyokong of South Africa, Dorte Olesen of Denmark, Posh Raj Pandey of Nepal, Michèle Duvivier Pierre-Louis of Haiti, Fang Xin of China and Hakan Karatas of Turkey. UN under secretary general Gyan Chandra Acharya would be as ex-officio member on the panel.
