OWSD Executive Board meeting and International Symposium in Beijing
November 08, 2019
The annual meeting of the OWSD Executive Board took place on 17 October 2019 in Beijing, alongside an International Symposium on Women Scientists in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
From 17-20 October, the OWSD Executive Board gathered in Beijing, China, for the 2019 annual meeting of the Board and for an International Symposium on Women Scientists in Innovation and Entrepreneurship.
The Executive Board meeting as well as the symposium were organized and hosted by the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) at the China People’s Palace Hotel. They were co-sponsored by the CAS Institutes of Science and Development.
The OWSD Executive Board meeting on Thurday, October 17, was an important opportunity to discuss the next OWSD General Assembly, which was agreed to be held in Trieste, Italy in November 2020, as well as several other issues related to OWSD programmes, in particular OWSD membership and National Chapters, which have grown rapidly in recent years.
The International Symposium on Women Scientists in Innovation and Entrepreneurship began on Friday, 18 October with welcome remarks by OWSD President Jennifer Thomson and Fang Xin, immediate past President and now Chairperson for the OWSD China National Chapter, as well as Wang Zhizhen, Li Yin, and Mu Rongping all from CAS, and Smriti Aryal, Head of Office at UN Women China. They were followed by presentations from several invited speakers, including a presentation by Zhang Linxiu, Director of United Nations Environment Programme – International Ecosystem Management (UNEP-IEMP), on Women and Sustainable Rural Development, and a presentation by Cao Jinghua, Executive Director of the Alliance of International Science Organizations (ANSO) on ANSO's participation in the Belt & Road Initiative. The afternoon included three panel sessions: on the Digital Economy; Biotechnology, Agriculture and Health; and Women in Entrepreneurship.
The symposium continued on Saturday, 19 October, with morning scientific visits to selected laboratories and to the Museum of the Institute of Zoology at CAS before concluding with a farewell luncheon.
The full programme for the International Symposium is available for download below.
