Under the auspices of Prof. Dr. Mahmoud El-Metini, President of the University, and Prof. Dr. Ayman Saleh, Vice President of Postgraduate Studies and Research, the Scholarship Welfare Office at Ain Shams University organized a seminar entitled "Grants offered by the Alexander von Hebmoldt Foundation to conduct post-doctoral research in German universities and institutes" via video conference technology using the Zoom application.

The seminar hosted Dr. Moamen Hanafi, Professor of Plant Biotechnology at the National Research Center and Science Ambassador of the Alexander Von Humboldt Foundation in Egypt. Dr. Hanafi was Chairman of the Egyptian National Committee for Biological Sciences at the Academy of Scientific Research and a member of the Executive Committee of the International Federation of Biological Sciences. Dr. Moamen Hanafi obtained many awards and grants that decorated his academic path from Egypt to Germany, then Japan and back to Germany, Egypt and Saudi Arabia, where he worked as an associate professor at Salman bin Abdulaziz University in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, published and contributed to many research and scientific books that are an important reference in the field Plant Biotechnology.

Prof. Dr. Ayman Saleh - Vice President of Ain Shams University of Postgraduate Studies and Research indicated that the seminar comes within the framework of Ain Shams University's keenness to support faculty staff to obtain prestigious scholarships such as Alexander von Humboldt with a global reputation in academic fields and various scientific research fields, then he said that recipients of this type of scholarship have a prominent place in the international scientific community and have skills that enrich their university communities.

Dr. Abdullah Sami - General Supervisor of the Scholarship Welfare Office at Ain Shams University - explained that the seminar dealt with one of the most important international scholarships with a prestigious reputation in the international community.

He added that Ain Shams University has more than 25 graduates of this scholarship who previously received the Alexander von Humboldt scholarships, and we hope to increase this number to place Ain Shams University at the top of the list of universities that receive grants from this prestigious institution.

The seminar dealt with a detailed presentation of the scholarship definition, conditions for applying, methods of application, and the advantages that this scholarship offers to recipients, including German language courses.

The seminar also presented the various statistics of the grantees of Alexander von Humboldt scholarships to Egypt, which received more than 296 different scholarships from Alexander von Humboldt, the share of Ain Shams University of which more than 25 scholarships.

The seminar dealt with a detailed presentation of the various research fields of faculty members who received these grants from Egypt, most of them in the field of life sciences.

In the end, the seminar discussed some inquiries related to the various aspects of the scholarships of Alexander von Humboldt. Prof. Dr. Moamen Hanafi, the Foundation’s Ambassador in Egypt, preferred to answer all these important inquiries of the faculty staff at Ain Shams University.

It is worth noting that the symposium was also attended by a group of faculty staff and researchers at other universities and research centers such as Cairo University, Alexandria, Mansoura, German University, the British University, Suez Canal, Kafr El-Sheikh, Al-Azhar, Assiut, Menoufia, Fayoum, Modern Sciences and Arts University, and finally Agricultural Research Center, this reflects the extent of communication and the strong relationships that Ain Shams University has with other local universities and institutes within the Arab Republic of Egypt.

Dr. Abdullah Sami concluded the seminar by announcing the completion of the master’s and doctoral seminar programs, which were suspended during the Eid al-Fitr holiday and are scheduled to resume tomorrow.