The Mustafa Prize is a science and technology award, granted to top researchers and scientists from the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) member states.[2][3][4] The prize is granted to scholars of the Islamic world as one of the symbols of scientific excellence in recognition of the outstanding scientists and pioneers of scientific and technological cooperation and development in the world.[5] The science and technology $500,000 prize, Medal, and Diploma are awarded to Muslim researchers and scientists, regardless of whether they live in Muslim-majority nations or elsewhere, as well as non-Muslim scientists in Muslim countries.[6] In 2016, science journal called the prize, the Muslim Nobel.[7]

The Mustafa Prize
The Mustafa Prize
Mustafa prize medal
Awarded forA top scientific achievement that has played a considerable role in the human life or has expanded the boundaries of our understanding of the world
Presented byMustafa Science and Technology Foundation
First awarded2015[1]
Websitemustafaprize.org

The Mustafa Prize is held biennially during the Islamic Unity week in Iran.[8] The prize is awarded in the four categories of "Information and Communication Science and Technology," "Life and Medical Science and Technology," "Nanoscience and Nanotechnology," and "All Areas of Science and Technology".[9] These areas include the following UNESCO fields of education: natural sciences, mathematics, and statistics; information and communication technologies; engineering, manufacturing, and construction; agriculture, forestry, fisheries and veterinary; health and welfare as well as cognitive science and Islamic economics and banking.[10]

History, governance, and nominations

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The Mustafa Prize is biennially given by Iran's government to leading researchers and scientists from countries of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation. The inaugural prize was given in 2016.[11] [12]

The Mustafa Science and Technology Foundation has formed several committees to organize the Mustafa Prize. The Mustafa Prize Policy-Making Council was established in 2013.[13] Its secretary said in 2017 that the prize and its governing bodies had no formal political relations with any country.[14] The MSTF Advisory Board is composed of volunteer high-rank academics, public sector officials, technologists, and business leaders from the Islamic community who will advise and recommend the MSTF at a strategic level and help it in achieving its objectives through promoting public awareness, fundraising, and networking. Other communities created to achieve the goals of Mustafa Foundation are Safir Al-Mustafa Club, Mustafa Prize Volunteers Community, The Mustafa Art Museum, the MSTF Laboratory Network, and the MSTF innovation labs.[15] Nature interpreted the establishment of the prize as growing importance of domestic science in Iran and the nurturing of scientific cooperation and exchange with other nations.[16]

For the first Information and Communication Science and Technology, Life and Medical Science and Technology, and Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the nominees should be citizens of one of the 57 Islamic countries with no restrictions on religion, gender and/or age. However, for the category "All Areas of Science and Technology," only Muslims may be nominated with no restrictions on citizenship, gender and/or age.[17] Nominations maybe made by scientific centers and universities, science and technology associations and centers of excellence, academies of science of Islamic countries, and science and technology parks.[17]

Laureates

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Name Affiliation Year Category
   Omar M. Yaghi Co-Director of Kavli Energy Nanosciences Institute and faculty member of University of California, Berkeley 2015 Nanoscience and Nanotechnology
   Jackie Yi-Ru Ying Executive Director of the Institute of Bioengineering and Nanotechnology of Singapore 2015 Bio Nanotechnology
   Sami Erol Gelenbe Professor of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at Imperial College London, United Kingdom, and a member of the Science Academy of Turkey 2017 Information and Communication Science and Technology
  Amin Shokrollahi Professor of Mathematics and Computer Science at EPFL, and Founder, President, and CEO of Kandou Labs, Lausanne, Switzerland 2017 Information Theory
   Ali Khademhosseini[18] Professor of Bioengineering, Chemical Engineering, and Radiology at University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA), USA[19] 2019 Life & Medical Science and Technology
   Uğur Şahin[20] Professor of Immunology at University of Mainz, Germany[18] and the director of the TRON institute[21] 2019 Life & Medical Science and Technology
  Ümran İnan[20] President of Koç University, Turkey,[18] Emeritus Professor of Electrical Engineering at Stanford University 2019 Ionospheric and Atmospheric Physics
  Hossein Baharvand[20] Professor of Stem Cells and Developmental Biology at Royan Institute, Iran[18] 2019 Stem Cell Biology
  Mohammad Abdolahad[20] Faculty Member of School of Electrical and Computer Engineering at University of Tehran, Iran[18] 2019 Nano Electronic Science and Technology
   Cumrun Vafa Hollis Professor of Mathematics and Natural Philosophy at Harvard University 2021 Theoretical Physics
   M. Zahid Hasan Eugene Higgins Professor of Physics at Princeton University 2021 Quantum Physics
 Mohamed El. Sayegh Professor of Medicine and Immunology at American University of Beirut 2021 Medicine
  Yahya Tayalati Professor of Physics at Mohammed V University 2021 Theoretical and Particle Physics
  Muhammad Iqbal Choudhary Directore of the International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences 2021 Bio-organic Chemistry
  Ahmed E. Hassan Professor at Queen's University 2023 Information and Communication Science and Technology

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "Mustafa Prize Ceremony Dec. 24–29". Financial Tribune. 20 December 2015. Retrieved 1 December 2017.
  2. ^ "Al-Mustafa Award from the University of Tehran in 2015". Cu.edu.eg. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  3. ^ "APA – Iran establishes "Mustafa" Award alternative to Nobel Prize". En.apa.az. 2014-01-09. Archived from the original on 2014-08-03. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  4. ^ "The Mustafa Prize". Waitro.org. 2014-09-12. Retrieved 2016-08-07.
  5. ^ "Iran awards prize to two Turkish scientists". hurriyetdailynews.com. 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  6. ^ "Iran awards prestigious prize to 2 US-educated scientists". Apnews.com. 2019-11-11. Retrieved 2019-11-11.
  7. ^ "Iran creates Muslim Nobels". sciencemagazinedigital.org. 2016-01-08. Retrieved 2016-01-08.
  8. ^ "Mustafa Prize 2019 goes to Iranian, Turkish scientists". tehrantimes.com. 2019-11-09. Retrieved 2019-11-09.
  9. ^ "What's Mustafa Prize?". mustafaprize.org.
  10. ^ "umran inan awarded 2019 mustafa prize". stanford.edu. 2019-12-16. Retrieved 2019-12-16.
  11. ^ Mamhoori, Ali (2018-04-10). "Mustafa Prize". ssrn.com. Retrieved 2018-04-29.
  12. ^ "Iran launches the Mustafa Prize for Sciences" (PDF). currentscience.ac.in. 2016-03-25. Retrieved 2016-03-25.
  13. ^ "Mustafa Prize Ceremony Dec. 24–29". financialtribune.com. 2015-12-20. Retrieved 2015-12-20.
  14. ^ "2017 Mustafa Prize laureates announced". tehrantimes.com. 2017-11-30. Retrieved 2017-11-30.
  15. ^ "Mustafa Foundation". mstfdn.org.
  16. ^ Auerbach, Elise (2014-04-23). "Iran needs to present a united front on science". Nature. 508 (7497): 433. Bibcode:2014Natur.508..433A. doi:10.1038/508433a. PMID 24759380. S2CID 4454498.
  17. ^ a b "MUSTAFA Prize". techpark.ir.
  18. ^ a b c d e "Mustafa Prize". www.mustafaprize.org.
  19. ^ "Ali Khademhosseini | UCLA Samueli School Of Engineering". samueli.ucla.edu. Archived from the original on 2019-05-04.
  20. ^ a b c d "Mustafa Prize".
  21. ^ "Management". tron-mainz.de (in German). 20 March 2017. Retrieved 17 December 2020.
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