Together with the attendance of the President of VASS, the meeting also had the participation of Assoc. Prof. Dr. Dang Nguyen Anh, Vice President of VASS; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Minh Tuan, Director of Organization and Personnel Department; Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Thi An, Director of Scientific Management Department; M.A. Nguyen Thanh Ha – Director of International Cooperation Department. Attending the meeting included, in the SSRC side, together with Ms. Nina R McCoy, Representative of SSRC in Vietnam, there was Ms Tran Thi Bich Van, Deputy Director of Vietnam Programme.
In the meeting, representing as the head of VASS, Prof. Dr Nguyen Quang Thuan presented duties and functions of VASS, and primary activities in the fields of research, policy advice and training high-quality human resources as well as collaboration with different foreign partners and researchers in various areas. The President also reported the results of cooperation activities between VASS and SSRC for several years, which has brought many positive consequences to VASS. However, in today situation, due to the priority of impulse of integration in science and technology, education and training, international cooperation in general and collaboration with SSRC in particular play an integral role especially to VASS. The President hoped that in the near future, SSRC would continue supporting VASS to introduce partners to VASS in the fields of scientific research, training high quality human resources as well as strengthen international workshops and conferences to enhance research ability and share an understanding in international cooperation.
In response to Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan, Dr. Mary Byrne McDonnell appreciated the relationships and results during nearly 30 years cooperating between SSRC and VASS, from organizing visit trips to social scientific research organizations in the US to the connection and exchange of researchers and fellows between the two parties. The exchange of scholars and training fellows have helped the researchers in the US to gain understanding about Vietnam and contributed to the normalization of the bilateral relation between the two countries. Ms. McDonnell also affirmed that SSRC would focus on enhancing human resources for VASS as well as connecting researchers worldwide.
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Dr. Mary Byrne McDonnell was pleased as the interdisciplinary research program in social sciences which was applied for the pilot in VASS and was replicated and deployed as training programs. She also shared difficulties and suggested several topics to discuss in order to bring suggestions and comments of SSRC and VASS to the agenda of policy-makers.
Prof. Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan confirmed that with a 30-year traditional cooperation between the two parties, VASS would enhance collaborating activities with SSRC in scientific research under different aspects and proposed some contents as follow:
1) Organizing workshops and international scientific conferences under topics about Vietnam, region and globe in the orientation that VASS builds topics and invites experts in Vietnam, while SSRC invites the US and international researchers;
2) VASS proposes some research topics, while SSRC introduces funding sources and international researchers to join;
3) SSRC supports young researchers from VASS and Vietnam to enhance the quality of education and training in the US and other countries;
4) VASS organizes courses to improve the ability of researchers in Vietnam, while SSRC sends experts to instruct and introduce research programs, and especially strengthens interdisciplinary research method training.
The meeting was successful. At the end of the meeting, Prof, Dr. Nguyen Quang Thuan and Dr. Mary Byrne McDonnell gave souvenirs to each other and agreed on the deployment of a collaborative relationship in the future./.
Nguyen Thu Ha
