TEHRAN – Female Iranian and Chinese scholars held talks at Alzafra University in Tehran on Wednesday to discuss ways to expand international and scientific cooperation among women.
Zahra Nazem-Bokaee, president of the University of Alzafra, highlighted the possibilities of two countries to develop joint scientific cooperation and scientific research capabilities of both countries.
On her part, Li Ying, vice-president of China Women’s University, expressed optimism that geniuses Iran and Chinese women will play a stronger role in promoting peace and expanding society.
During the meeting, Khadijeh Joda, advisor to the Vice President of Science and Technology, proposed strengthening cooperation through three important initiatives:
1. Development of technology and innovation centres for women in Iran and China in the fields of clean technology, digital energy and digital health.
2. We will launch a joint programme to share knowledge and implement scientific research cooperation between female engineers from both countries. It includes launching collaborative research projects, holding visits and specialized training courses.
3. Establish a joint development and empowerment fund between female engineers in both countries to support joint projects, including start-ups and innovative projects.
Iranian women are making advances in technology
Having made great strides in the manufacture of high-tech products and grown a knowledge-based economy, Iranian women are conveying the world the message that they could shine in the tech sector, just like they do in other sectors.
They shine spectacularly at various global events featuring Iranian women’s abilities towards the world.
The proportion of female CEOs and chairs on boards of knowledge-based companies has increased significantly over the past three years.
The number of female managers has almost doubled, increasing from 1,092 in 1400 (2021-2022) to 2,250 by the end of the first nine months of the current Iranian year, which began on March 20, 2024.
However, despite the growing presence of key women in the domestic technology and innovation sector over the past few decades, they remain a significant minority compared to men in the research and science sector, private sector and technology businesses.
According to Ahmad Fazelzadeh, head of the Islamic World Science Citations (ISC) Institute, women scholars account for 665 of the country’s 4,818 most cited researchers, more than 13% of the total.
In past Iranian calendar years (March 2023 – March 2024), women accounted for 12.75% of the most cited researchers.
With a share of 29.57%, the Ministry of Health has the most cited female researchers, with the IRNA citing Fazelzadeh as saying.
Additionally, 375 highly cited Iranian researchers are one of the top 2% (one year performance) in 13 subject areas: clinical medicine, biomedical, chemistry, engineering, agriculture, fisheries and forests, and strategic technology (artificial intelligence, nanotechnology, etc.). The textual study earned the necessary points.
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