Project Details:

Postgraduate course in polymer science

Project No.:2007-049-1-400
Start date:2008-01-01
End date:2008-12-31
Division:Polymer Division
Objective:
To enable young university graduates and PhDs from countries with limited research facilities to acquire knowledge on recent advances in polymer science and professional skills needed for promotion of polymer science in their home countries.

> link to info on previous courses
Description:
The twelfth and thirteenth runs of the Course will be held in the academic years 2007-2008 and 2008-2009 at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, in Prague. The Courses are sponsored by UNESCO with minor financial assistance of the Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic. The Institute with more than 100 scientists and with experience of more than 40 years in postgraduate education offers up-to-date facilities for postgraduate training in polymer science. The number of participants in each of the eleven runs so far completed was usually between 5 and 13, depending on the funds available. The Course lasts 10 months and comprises about 50 hours of lectures in modern polymer science, including introduction into the nomenclature and terminology recommended by IUPAC, experimental work on research projects under the supervision of senior scientists of the Institute, and participation in all educational activities within the Institute. The results of the research are published in international technical journals and presented at meetings. The cumulative results of the runs of the Course held hitherto are: 85 participants, 119 papers published in international journals and 167 communications at international meetings.

For list of communications see www.imc.cas.cz/unesco/papersUI.html

The papers co-authored by the Course graduates have been cited more than 1000 times. At the end of each run, a public seminar is organized, where all participants report on their results. A certificate of graduation, with UNESCO and IUPAC logos, is issued to the graduates. Students from the following countries graduated from the Course: Bangladesh, Bulgaria, India, Kazakhstan, Macedonia, Mexico, Poland, Romania, Russia, South Africa, Ukraine, Uruguay, and Uzbekistan. Follow-up shows that graduation from the Course has been very helpful to professional promotion of the graduates in their home countries. Co-operation with a number of them continues through joint projects with their home laboratories.

For detailed information on the Course see www.imc.cas.cz/en/imc/unesco.html
Progress:

> project announcement published in Chem. Int. 30(2) 2008

> Dec 2008 update - The 13th run of the Course held at the Institute of Macromolecular Chemistry, Academy of Sciences of the Czech Republic, Prague, Czech Republic, has been in progress since October 2008 and will be concluded by the final seminar in July 2009. IUPAC support has enabled the organizers to increase the number of students to eight. The lecture course of 50 hours in advanced polymer science is still in progress. Most of the time, the students work on research projects under the supervision of senior scientists of the Institute. The names of the students, their home countries, project titles and names of supervisors are listed on the course website at www.imc.cas.cz/en/imc/unesco.html.

Cumulative results of the 13 runs of the Course held so far are: 104 graduates and present students; 16 nationalities; 132 publications in international journals; 187 communications at international meetings; 1,169 citations excluding self-citations (all as of December 2008).

> project report published in Chem. Int. May-June 2009

last update 20090522

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