TEHRAN – Iran and China will support the implementation of five out of 190 research projects proposed in the Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants, and Energy sectors after the fifth joint call by the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) and the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC).

The grant, amounting to 40 billion rials (some 30,000 dollars) for each research project, will be allocated to the following fields.

1. Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants: Evidence-based integration and standardization of traditional Chinese and traditional Persian medicine for major diseases; Sustainable medicinal plants: eco-cultivation, biodiversity, and resilience; and the Application of Digital and AI Tools in the Classification, Analysis, and Clinical Research of Traditional Medicine and Medicinal Plants.

2. Energy: Renewable Energy; High-efficiency Utilization of Conventional Energy; Energy-Related Materials; Storage Technologies; and the Application of Artificial Intelligence in the Energy Field.

Recent joint efforts

Supported by the INSF and the NSFC, an Iranian-Chinese workshop was held from November 10 to 12, focusing on new technologies for decarbonization and the sustainable built environment.

Organized by Sharif Energy, Water, and Environmental Research Institute and Chongqing University, China, the three-day event is being conducted in English, with participants attending the workshop in person and online, IRNA reported.

It was centered around pathways toward a net-zero and decarbonized energy future, sustainable sectors, and carbon efficiency, as well as innovation and digitalization for the energy transition, and the development of climate-resilient and resource-efficient cities.

The workshop served as a valuable step towards expanding scientific ties between the two countries to lower carbon dioxide emissions and develop a sustainable environment.

In May, Iran and China conducted a workshop on emerging ways to boost climate change resilience.

The workshop titled ‘Emerging Technologies and Methods for Climate Resilience’ was also organized by Sharif University of Technology and Chongqing University, both in person and online, in the English language. The primary objective of the workshop was to identify the most innovative ways to strengthen urban climate change resilience.

The workshop centered on climate-responsive urban design and technologies, climate risk management and new technologies for risk mitigation, urban energy transition, climate resilience, water resilience, as well as integrated system planning, smart governance, and social adaptation to climate change, and climate system modeling to assess and predict climate change.

It also highlighted the use of artificial intelligence, machine learning, and big data in analyzing and adapting to climate change, as well as sustainable infrastructure, resource management for climate-resilient cities, international cooperation, and the development of joint solutions to enhance urban resilience.

MT/MG