Bangabandhu Chair
$0.8 million endowment fund given at AIT, Bangkok
UNB
A four-year endowment fund of about US$ 800,000 has been given for the Bangabandhu Chair professorship and doctoral research fellowship at the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), reports UNB. The funds have been placed under a special account in Thailand to be administered jointly by the Embassy of Bangladesh in Bangkok and the AIT under guidance and supervision of the National Committee on the Bangabandhu Chair at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Dhaka.
It was done under the direct patronage of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the government of Bangladesh, according to Bangladesh Embassy in Bangkok. Foreign Minister AH Mahmood Ali will inaugurate the Bangabandhu Chair on Thursday evening.
The Chair Professor fellowship is aimed towards the advancement of sustainable development aspirations of the people of Bangladesh as envisioned by Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman in his dream for a Golden Bengal and by Bangabandhus daughter Prime Minister Sheikh Hasinas Vision 2021 for sustainable energy for sustainable development.
The Bangabandhu Chair Professor will primarily work on energy sector development of Bangladesh with a focus on ensuring access to affordable, reliable, sustainable and modern energy, a key Sustainable Development Goal. The Bangladesh government is also funding a doctoral student, an official of the Ministry of Energy, Power and Mineral Resources of Bangladesh selected through a national level search, who will be working under the Bangabandhu Chair Professor at AIT.
The creation of the Bangabandhu Chair and Endowment Fund at the AIT was first proposed at an annual meeting of the AIT Board of Trustees in early 2015 by Ambassador of Bangladesh to Thailand Saida Muna Tasneem, and elected Member of the AIT Board of Trustees, who also subsequently forwarded the proposal for such a Chair to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh and sought supporting funds for same.
She also proposed the subject matter of the research on sustainable energy to the Bangladesh government and played a sustained instrumental role between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Bangladesh, the Prime Ministers Office and the AIT in bringing to fruition this initiative.
This is not only the first doctoral level endowment made by the government of Bangladesh in establishing a Chair Professorship named after Bangladeshs Father of the Nation, Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, but also the first Chair Professor that has been established at the AIT by a partner government, said the Embassy.
