KARACHI: Karachi University’s (KU) National Nematological Research Centre (NNRC), jointly with ECO Science Foundation and Pakistan Society of Nematologists, organised the 5th international workshop for capacity building in Nematology at the Professor Salimuzzaman Siddiqui Auditorium, HEJ, KU, on Monday.

Vice Chancellor of KU Prof Dr Muhammad Ajmal Khan welcomed the national and international participants to the workshop and said the university played an imperative role in promoting higher education in the country.

Chairman Pakistan Science Foundation Prof Dr Muhammad Ashraf, while lauding the academic and research activities of NNRC, said the centre has conducted a highly commendable campaign against the menace of nematode infection of agricultural crops. It has also made significant contribution in research pertaining to nematological problems and has produced trained manpower in nematology.

Prof Dr Manzoor Hussain Soomro said that the promotion of improved methods in the teaching of science was one of the prime initiatives of ECO foundation. The foundation focuses on the evaluation of the existing training facilities in the region and formulation of training programmes for building highly skilled scientific and technical manpower.

Giving the welcome address, Prof Dr Shahina Fayyaz, director NNRC said that Pakistan is an agricultural country and effective improvement in agricultural productivity depends on appropriate crop protection from pests and diseases.

While describing the NNRC, Dr Shahina Fayyaz informed that the centre was founded in 1973 in the old buildings barracks of KU while the publication of an internationally reputed Pakistan Journal of Nematology was initiated in 1983 by Dr M.A. Maqbool and Prof Dr Abdul Ghaffar. MPhil/PhD programme was launched in nematology in 2009. More than 1,000 research papers have been published in national and international reputed journals by the centre. The centre has produced 18 PhDs and four MPhils. It has close linkages with 50 national and international universities and institutes for joint collaborative research work.

Published in Dawn, February 13th, 2018