UNESCO Awards Grants for Research in the Field of Green Chemistry to Top Young Scientists From Around the World in Conjunction with PhosAgro and IUPAC

PARIS, Nov. 8, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) has awarded grants for research in the field of green chemistry to leading young scientists from around the world in conjunction with PhosAgro Group and the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry (IUPAC).

The ceremony was held at UNESCO headquarters in Paris and was timed to coincide with World Science Day for Peace and Development. In attendance were UNESCO Assistant Director-General Shamila Nair-Bedouelle and Deputy Director-General Xing Qu; Peggy Oti-Boateng, Director of UNESCO's Division of Science Policy; Natalia Tarasova, Director of the Institute of Chemistry and Sustainable Development at the Dmitry Mendeleev University of Chemical Technology of Russia and a former president of IUPAC; Professor Pietro Tundo of Ca' Foscari University of Venice, UNESCO Chair on Green Chemistry and Chair of the IUPAC Green Chemistry and Sustainable Development Committee; John Corish, Chair of the International Scientific Jury for the Green Chemistry for Life project and a professor at the School of Chemistry at Trinity College, University of Dublin; Nicole Moreau, Chair of the Scientific Board of UNESCO's International Basic Sciences programme; and Andrey A. Guryev, PhosAgro CEO and a member of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.

The global Green Chemistry for Life programme, run by UNESCO, IUPAC and PhosAgro, was initiated by Andrey G. Guryev, Vice President of the Russian Chemists Union and Deputy Chairman of PhosAgro's Board of Directors, and supported by the UN. This is the first time in the long history of UNESCO and the entire UN system that such an initiative is being implemented with extra-budgetary funds and, moreover, funds provided by the Russian business PhosAgro, which is one of the project partners.

Since the programme's launch in 2014, the authoritative international scientific jury consisting of 13 scientists from 11 countries has reviewed more than 700 applications from 120 countries submitted by young scientists conducting advanced research in the field of green chemistry. The diverse origins of the winners demonstrates the programme's global reach, with 41 young scientists from 29 countries in Asia, Africa, the Middle East, Europe and Latin America having already received grants.