RECORDER REPORT

HYDERABAD: 2nd Two-Day Young Researchers’ National Conference on Water and Environment (NCWE-18) has kicked off at US-Pakistan Center for Advanced Studies in Water (USPCAS-W) at Mehran University of Engineering & Technology (MUET) Jamshoro on Thursday.

On the first day, Vice Chancellor MUET Dr Mohammad Aslam Uqaili speaking in the inaugural session said that learning is continuous process leads not only to know the problems of the communities but offer the sustainable solution based on the applied research and knowledge transformation. He said the community is the ultimate beneficiary from the academic research and particularly from the academic research in water, energy and agriculture sector.

Dr Uqaili said that triple helix model had been replaced by the quadruple helix model in which the role of communities included in academia-industry-government relations.

He said that three years back the MUET was selected to establish national water research center with the financial support of American people through the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to contribute solutions to Pakistan’s water-related challenges by educating and training the next generation of water sustainability leaders.

He said that apart from the academic program, USPCAS-W focuses on applied research in the water sector and this connection, the National Water Research Network (NWRN) has been established for joint consultation and undertakings and collaborative activities under the umbrella of the Water Center.

He further said that this young researchers’ national conference is one of the nice initiatives taken by the Center last year and it will be continued further. Dr Lasahri thanked USAID, the University of Utah for providing technical support to the Center, Higher Education Commission (HEC) Pakistan, Government of Sindh and other organization for their generous support for the Center.

Conference Convener Dr Kamran Ansari said that the conference aims to provide an ideal academic platform to young researchers and scholars from all over the country to present, share and exchange their latest findings of water and environment related issues.

Dr Rasool Bux Mahar presented the vote of thanks and thanked all the participants for joining in the conference.