British Council launches FameLab Bangladesh 2018

In collaboration with the First Security Islami Bank, the British Council is hosting "FameLab" in Bangladesh for the first time. The launching ceremony of FameLab Bangladesh 2018 was held on March 18, 2018 at the British Council Dhaka University campus office.

Prof. Abdul Mannan, Chairman, University of Grants Commission of Bangladesh joined the event as the chief guest. Representative from The Daily Star; Dewan Hanif Mahmud, Editor, the Daily Banik Barta; Mir Md Motaher Hasan, advisor to Chairman and Head of Recovery (Sales), ATN Bangla Ltd.; Sayed Waseque Md. Ali, Managing Director, and Andrew Newton, Deputy Director Programmes, British Council; Sarwat Masuda Reza, Head of Cultural Centre, British Council were present at the ceremony.

This is the first time FameLab was introduced in Bangladesh and has already generated a good response from the areas of STEM students, academics and researchers, with over 150 registrations for the competition. This competition is for the natural scientists, mathematicians, and engineers to talk about an aspect of their science in 3 minutes only, without any PowerPoint but with any props that they can carry on the stage. They can sing, dance, draw, talk, do demos and tricks – as long as it is all scientifically sound. Each contestant is judged according to FameLab's 3C's: Content, Clarity and Charisma.

FameLab Bangladesh is supported by ICT Division, Government of Bangladesh. The media partners are ATN Bangla, Daily Bonik Barta, and The Daily Star for reaching out to the appropriate audience.

EU arranges 5th Eastern University Math Olympiad 2018

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Eastern University (EU) arranged the "5th Eastern University Mathematics Olympiad 2018" and "Bangladesh Olympiad in Informatics 2018" for higher secondary level students on March 16, 2018 at EU premises. Students from various colleges of the country participated in this national level Olympiad.

The participants had 2 hours to solve 20 challenging mathematical problems. Chief guest Prof. Dr. Muhammed Zafar Iqbal, Head of EEE Department, Shahjalal University of Science and Technology distributed the prizes; Engr. Kh. Mesbah Uddin Ahmed, Chairman, BOT, EU was the guest of honour; Prof. Dr. M. Kaykobad, Professor, Department of CSE, BUET, and Prof. Dr. Shaikh Suhrabuddin, Founder Secretary, Bangladesh Mathematical Society were the special guests of the programme. The programme was chaired by Prof. Dr. Md. Nurul Islam, VC, EU.

Tasmeem Reza, student of SOS Herman Gmeiner College became the champion; first and second runners-up were Ruhan Habib, student of Pivot Point, and Syed Rubab Redwan, student of Rajshahi University School and College respectively.

RSRM was the title sponsor; Toma Taxi and Royal Buffet were the co-sponsors; The event was coordinated by Eastern University Computing Club; and The Daily Independent, The Daily Jugantor, SATV, Radio Capital FM were the media partners of the programme.

DIU holds seminar on child rights in Bangladesh

Remembering the occasion of National Children Day and the birthday of the Father of the Nation Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, Department of Law of Daffodil International University organised a seminar on "Child Rights in Bangladesh: Special Focus on Right to Education" on March 15, 2018 at 71 Milonayoton of Daffodil International University (DIU).

Mahmuda Sharmeen Benu ndc, Additional Secretary of the Ministry of Women and Children Affairs was present as chief guest; M. Habibur Rahman, Vice Chair, Bangladesh ECD Network & Senior Education Advisor, Save the Children was present as the special guest while Dr. Farhana Helal Mehtab, Head, Department of Law, DIU presided over the seminar. Prof. A.M.M. Hamidur Rahman, Dean, Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences; faculty member of different departments; and students were present at the programme.

IUBAT  observes Pi-Day 2018

IUBAT – International University of Business Agriculture and Technology –observed Pi-Day on March 14, 2018 in the university campus. Various competitions and other programmes were organised on the occasion.

The Pi-Day 2018 programmes were organised by the Department of Quantitative Sciences to encourage students in studying Mathematics with fun. Pro-VC Brig. Gen. Dr. Md Zahid Hossain (Retd.) and the Registrar Prof. Dr Md Abdul Jabber were present in the closing event. Three students were given prizes and certificates for poster competition on the theme "Pi in Life"; three other winners were awarded the same for the Pi-Day quiz competition. The winners of the Math Olympiad were also given crests and prize money at the event. The day-long programme was a success with enthusiastic and festive participation of the faculty members and students of IUBAT.

GEBC of DU hosts outreach programme for students

Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology Club (GEBC) of the University of Dhaka organised an outreach programme on March 16, 2018, with the collaboration of Bangladesh Biology Olympiad. The daylong event at Curzon Hall was aimed to demonstrate young biology enthusiasts attending the National Biology Olympiad the ongoing researches in the field of genetic engineering and biotechnology.

GEBC set up interactive stalls with posters on important concepts such as PCR, CRISP-Cas9, Central Dogma of life, genetically modified organisms, etc. The students of the department of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology presented different intriguing ideas on this field. They chose volunteers from the keen students for live demonstrations of DNA extraction from buccal cell swab and discussed various misconceptions regarding genetically modified organisms during the 15-minute demonstration. Furthermore, antimicrobial susceptibility disks, bacterial growth plates, etc. were exhibited in the stall to give the young students a hands-on idea. The programme successfully managed to ignite the desire within the future biologists to delve into the field of genetic engineering and biotechnology with their spontaneous participation.