Vietnamese Scientist wins Noam Chomsky Award

Associate Professor Tran Xuan Bach (Trần Xuân Bách), 36, a lecturer at the Ha Noi Medical University, has become the first Vietnamese person to win the Noam Chomsky’s Shining Star Achievement in Research Award.

The award, part of the 2020 A. Noam Chomsky Global Connections Award and was granted at a ceremony held at the headquarters of the Society of Transnational Academic Researchers (STAR) in the US on Tuesday (US time).

Bach, who graduated with an excellent doctorate from the University of Alberta, Canada in 2011, is deputy head of the Ha Noi Medical University’s Health Economics Department.

He was appointed Adjunct Professor at the prestigious John Hopkins University in 2019.

In September 2019, the PLoS Biology magazine published a list of the top 100,000 scientists ranked in the most cited group in the world. There were three Vietnamese scientists in the list, including Bach.

His writings have been published in prestigious international magazines, including The Lancet, Bulletin of the World Health Organization, JMIR and AIDS and Behaviour. He has also taken part in efforts to develop a network to research global health issues and disease-control policies.

In 2018, he was elected a member of the Global Young Academy’s Executive Committee – a network that connects young scientists to solve global problems and encourage young people to do scientific research, especially, young people from developing countries.

Also in 2018, he took the role of Secretary-General of the Global Young Vietnamese Intellectuals Network. The network provides opportunities for young Vietnamese intellectuals at home and abroad to contribute their initiatives to national development.

Through the network, dozens of research groups have been established and hundreds of proposals and initiatives have been submitted to the country’s leaders for consideration.

Previously, Bach was recognised as the youngest associate professor in Viet Nam when he was 32 years old in 2016.

Receiving the award is not only international recognition of Bach’s contributions to scientific research and research co-operation but also a motivation for him to continue spreading the spirit of connection and co-operation to develop young intellectuals in the country and around the world.

Professor Noam Chomsky, 92, is one of the greatest scholars of this era. He is considered the father of modern linguistics and one of the most cited authors alive. He is the author of more than 100 books on linguistics, politics, war and mass media.

With Chomsky’s tremendous academic and social contributions, Mousumi Mukherjee (Chief Representative of STAR Network in India) asked for permission to use his name to create the A. Noam Chomsky Global Connections Award in October.

The award aims to honour the power of human connections and honour individuals, who have a profound effect on promoting social and global mobility.

Source: VNS