TEHRAN – The winners of the 3rd Mustafa Prize 2019 will be announced and granted awards during a ceremony on November 11, IRIB reported.

Held biennially, the Mustafa Prize is a science and technology award, granted to top researchers and scientists of the Islamic world.

During a press conference held on Sunday at the Institute of Culture, Art and Architecture in Tehran, the president of Mustafa Prize, Mehdi Safarinia, said that 90 scientists from 30 countries will attend the ceremony.

The award will be granted to two scientists in the field of biomedical science and technology and three scientists in all fields of science and technology whose names will be announced at the ceremony, he noted.

Along with the Mustafa Prize ceremony in 5 universities of the country, there will be scientific programs.

The winners will be granted cash prizes financed through the endowments and contributions made to the prize, he said, calling on the benefactors to participate in the event.

Hassan Zohoor, head of the Mustafa Prize Scientific Committee, for his part, said that 5 scientists from Iran and Turkey will be awarded in the third edition of the event.

Pointing out that 202 research centers and 512 scientists have been invited to submit projects, he said that some 1,649 had attended the nomination process of the 2019 Mustafa Prize.

The Mustafa Prize is awarded in 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.

All the nominees have been evaluated and selected with the participation of 500 jury members and 200 universities from 35 countries, he stated.

He went on to note that this year, after evaluating the cases, 10 files have been sent to the Mustafa Prize Policy Council, 5 of which were selected to receive the award, who are from Iran and Turkey.

In all specialized fields of the Mustafa Prize, the nominees should be Muslim and have a high profile in scientific research. However, there would be no other limitations regarding gender and age, according to Zohoor.

Mustafa Prize, the Iranian version of the Nobel Peace Prize, was launched in 2013 with the mission to promote science and technology in the Islamic world.

In 2015, the first edition of the prize was held in Tehran and professors Jackie Y. Ying and Omar M. Yaghi were the two winners of the 2015 Mustafa Prize.

The Mustafa Foundation seeks to encourage education and research and is set to play the pioneering role in developing regional relations between science and technology institutions working in member states of the Organization of Islamic Countries.

As the name of the event suggests, the Mustafa Prize is held biennially during the Islamic Unity week in Iran, which is annually celebrated between two dates of the birthday of Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) by Sunnis and Shia.

The prize will be granted to the works which are deemed to have improved human life and made tangible and cutting-edge innovations on the boundaries of science or have presented new scientific methodology.

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