Advancing access to science education as a critical driver of economic growth and social progress, will be the central topic at the conference of Nobel Laureates this spring. More than 30 Nobel Laureates will meet in Petra, Jordan, from June 17-19 to lend their insights to addressing this issue. The attendees also will consider the best learning and teaching strategies that are already being implemented in worldwide education.
His Majesty King Abdullah II and Elie Wiesel, who received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1986, will co-host the event. While the focus this year is on science education, economics and drivers of growth, among the attendees are Nobel Laureates from all six fields in which the Nobel Prize is awarded each year - peace, economics, literature, physics, chemistry and medicine. They are expected to be joined by other eminent guests representing media, business and educational institutions worldwide.
King Abdullah welcomed the convention of the conference for the fourth time, describing it as a unique opportunity for the region's youth.
"The knowledge and experience the participants impart is making a substantial contribution to the nurturing of young leaders throughout our region," he said, adding that he also looked forward to the operational launch of the Middle East Science Fund initiated by the conference organizers last year.
Other sessions during this year's conference will address the global finance crisis, food security, health, energy and the environment. There will be several presentations by Nobel Laureates at the event and the format is one of sharing, debating and then coming to common ground on workable strategies to adopt. A tone of urgency and creative collaboration are the hallmarks of the event, together with a widely-held conviction that many of the problems facing the world are eminently solvable, if there is the political and intellectual will to persist.
“Like evil, goodness, too, is contagious. Whatever one undertakes somewhere, will affect people elsewhere," said Professor Wiesel. "When human beings agonize in a small, remote village barely apparent on the map, their tears and muffled cries wound our collective conscience. It is to their call that we, scientists and educators, writers and industrialists, journalists, researchers and philanthropists, physicians and statesmen, must respond. This is what brings us back to Petra.”
Among this year's participants in the three-day conference are the Dalai Lama, former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev, President of Croatia Stjepan Mesiو and President of Senegal and Chairman of the Organization of the Islamic Conference Abdoulaye Wade.