The UNESCO Chair and Center of Excellence in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University
The original agreement signed between UNESCO and Birzeit University establishing the UNESCO Chair in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University on December 1st, 2006 has recently been renewed for 4 more years (till December 1, 2012). The purpose of the Chair is to promote an integrated system of research, training, information and documentation and to facilitate collaboration between international and Palestinian scientists in the fields of Mathematics and Theoretical Physics.
The UNESCO Chair is expected to play a major role in the establishment of a Center of Excellence in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University. This Center is being proposed in response to the need to build university capacity that will lead to reconstruction and development of Palestinian society. The Center will serve as a focal point for research, program development, training and knowledge sharing at a high, internationally competitive scientific level that will attract leading scientists from all over the world. In particular, it is hoped that the Center will attract Palestinian scientists living abroad to return to Palestine and to reverse the current brain drain. In addition the Center will enhance the quality of teaching of Physics and Mathematics at the Palestinian universities, and develop teaching materials and methodologies for secondary education.
The Center will focus on establishing a first rate training program for graduate students in both Mathematics and Theoretical Physics. It will offer graduate programs leading to the Ph.D. degree in both subjects. In particular, the Center will promote those fields of study, in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics that are relevant for the development of Palestinian and Arab society. The second important goal for the Center is to promote research in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics in Palestine and the Arab World. The Center will establish a series of international and regional conferences that will be held on a regular basis. Moreover, it will initiate workshops to be organised by leading mathematicians and physicists from around the world.
Further details about the the conception and development of the idea of the Center of Excellence can be found below and at
http://www.physik.uni-augsburg.de/ifk/ecce/Professor Henry Jaqaman took up his position as professor of Physics and holder of the UNESCO chair in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University on September 1, 2007.
The first major activity of the Chair will be a three-day scientific conference scheduled for July 28-30, 2008 to be held at Birzeit University. This conference will have talks by international as well as local physicists and mathematicians. It will also include a discussion of the scientific direction of the proposed Center and its areas of research.
Establishing a Centre of Excellence in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University, Palestine► Idea A Centre of Excellence in Mathematics and Theoretical Physics at Birzeit University in Palestine shall be established in response to the need to build university capacity that will contribute to reconstruction and development of the Palestinian society. The Centre will serve as a focal point for research, programme development, training and knowledge sharing. It will facilitate cross-border cooperation through linkages with universities and research centres in different parts of the world and hence will open avenues for state-of-the-art technology to enter Palestine. A high, internationally competitive scientific level will attract leading scientists from all-over the world. There will also be opportunities for Palestinian academics to undertake short-term study or attachments abroad and to cooperate in setting up well equipped laboratories. In addition the Centre will enhance the quality of teaching at the Palestinian universities, and develop teaching materials and methodologies for secondary education.
The Centre will concentrate on Mathematics and Theoretical Physics, two disciplines which have fertilised each other for several centuries. In the present context, it must be emphasised that a thorough education in these disciplines is mandatory for every modern, technologically oriented society, especially in a region which cannot rely on natural resources – and that such an education will have a long-lasting positive effect, since students will be trained in areas most useful for today’s and future job markets. Finally, mathematics and physics are fields based on ‘hard’ facts, only to be judged by logic and experiment, and not by political opinion: hence in these disciplines difficulties of communication across frontiers will be alleviated.
► First steps The basic idea was developed late in 2003 in discussions between two mathematicians and a physicists at Augsburg University, Germany. In the following months, contacts to potential supporting scientists were established, with remarkable success, as well as to the authorities of Birzeit University and to PEACE. The project was publicly announced, and discussed in detail, at the PEACE conference in Bethlehem(25-27 February 2005). BZU’s administration developed a detailed budget plan a few months later.
► UNITWIN / UNESCO Chair & Network The core partners of the project: Birzeit University (N. Kassis), University of Augsburg (U. Eckern), Trinity University (S. Elaydi), University Paris-Sud 11 (A. Suzor-Weiner), and PEACE (R. Hamdallah) submitted the application to establish an UNESCO Chair & Network in April 2006. The official agreement for the establishment of the Chair at the Faculty of Sciences, Birzeit University, was signed on 1 December 2006. The main functions of the Chair include:
Professor Henry Jaqaman, formerly at Bethlehem University, was appointed UNESCO Chair Holder on 1 September 2007. The Chair is supported by UNESCO’s Higher Education Division and International Basic Sciences Programme.
► Financial aspects A major financial effort is required in order to establish a centre of highest scientific reputation and international visibility. We envision that there will be 20 faculty members, about half in mathematics and half in theoretical physics. Furthermore, 20 postdoctoral associates and 35 supporting staff are needed. On this basis, estimates have been made for the costs involved. The land area will be donated by Birzeit University, corresponding to 2.8 million euros at current value. Capital investments are approximately 7.5 million euros, and annual maintenance and running costs amount to about 4.2 million euros.
► Timetable The establishment of the UNESCO Chair at BZU was an important step in the preparations for the Centre. A workshop is envisaged for 2008, to discuss structural aspects and scientific objectives. Optimistically speaking, site planning could start in 2008, construction in 2009, and the Centre might start its operation in 2010.
► Supporters and partners In addition to about 25 individual scientists, the following institutions pursuing closely related goals have confirmed their support of the project:
► Final remarks Even though ECCE Birzeit is a large-scale project, with several foreseeable and unforeseeable difficulties to overcome, the encouragement we have received during the past few years from numerous scientists from all-over the world as well as from the Palestinian universities has confirmed our intentions. We hope and expect that, by furthering the education of the people at all levels, and thus enhancing scientific and consequently also non-scientific communication, a contribution can be made towards a lasting peaceful development in Palestine.
(Prepared by U. Eckern / Augsburg, 22 January 2008 )