“Science knows no border”

BRATISLAVA, May 19, 2020 – The catchphrase “science knows no boundaries” provided the backdrop for a constructive conversation about the future cooperation between the scientific societies of Kazakhstan and Slovakia that took place today between Ambassador of Kazakhstan to Slovakia Roman Vassilenko and President of the Slovak Academy of Sciences Pavol Shaigalik.

During the meeting a detailed historical excursion was made devoted to the formation and development of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. As it turned out, both academies were created approximately at the same time – in 1953 and 1946 respectively. Being oriented towards basic and applied research, they have much in common.

The Slovak Academy is an independent self-governing scientific organization with about 3,000 employees and 45 independent research institutes of various fields. The annual state funding is about 85 million euros. Nevertheless, the Academy is not a subordinate structure of any ministry. It works closely with domestic universities but is not legally connected with them. The Academy is actively involved in the educational process. About 500 PhD students including 35 foreign citizens are studying under the aegis of that scientific organization.

The internationalization of student and staff composition and enhancing of international cooperation is among the primary goals of the Slovak Academy. In this regard, the management of the Academy expressed interest in establishing direct contacts with colleagues in Kazakhstan and discussing possible areas of promising cooperation. Among these areas are conducting joint research in various fields, training at the PhD level and work in post-doctoral studies.

For his part, the Ambassador spoke about the activities and achievements of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Kazakhstan. At the moment there are more than 400 research organizations in the country. Their effectiveness is proved by a multiple increase in publications in the Scopus and Web of Science databases. The Ambassador confirmed the mutual interest of the Kazakh side in enhancing cooperation. Currently, under the auspices of the European Union’s “Horizon 2020” program, the Institute of Geotechnics of the Slovak Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Combustion Problems of Nazarbayev University are collaborating on a project in the field of nanoporous and nanostructured materials for medical applications.

The Ambassador also noted the 175th anniversary of the great classicist and humanist Abai Kunanbayev and the 1150th anniversary of the outstanding philosopher and scientist Al-Farabi that are celebrated at the international level in 2020. In this regard the meeting noted the importance of donating to the Central Library of the Slovak Academy of Sciences a significant number of books by Abai and about Abai in January 2020 by representatives of Kazakhstan delegation under the auspices of the National Academic Library of the Republic of Kazakhstan. The Ambassador emphasized the importance of Abai’s heritage for the Kazakh people and expressed confidence that the replenishment of the library’s fund with Abai’s books would give the Slovak public the opportunity to learn more about the Kazakh people. At the end of the meeting Roman Vassilenko invited the leadership of the Academy to take part in

the presentation of the Words of Edification by Abai in Slovak language, which will take place later this year.