ABSTRACT
The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA) has organised its eighth international biennial conference, BioVisionAlexandria (BVA) 2016 on 12-14 April 2016 in Alexandria, Egypt. The theme of BVA 2016 was 'New Life Sciences: The Road Ahead', where cutting-edge relevant research topics at the forefront of science were presented by a variety of world-wide renowned speakers. BVA 2016 hosted around 2000 participants and speakers of diverse backgrounds, creating a multi-disciplinary arena for dialogue to explore the opportunities, benefits, and controversial threats.
ABSTRACT
Numerous studies are demonstrating that engaging undergraduate students in original research can improve their achievement in the science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) fields and increase the likelihood that some of them will decide to pursue careers in these disciplines. Associated with this increased prominence of research in the undergraduate curriculum are greater expectations from funders, colleges, and universities that faculty mentors will help those students, along with their graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, develop an understanding and sense of personal and collective obligation for responsible conduct of science (RCS). This Feature describes an ongoing National Research Council (NRC) project and a recent report about educating faculty members in culturally diverse settings (Middle East/North Africa and Asia) to employ active-learning strategies to engage their students and colleagues deeply in issues related to RCS. The NRC report describes the first phase of this project, which took place in Aqaba and Amman, Jordan, in September 2012 and April 2013, respectively. Here we highlight the findings from that report and our subsequent experience with a similar interactive institute in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Our work provides insights and perspectives for faculty members in the United States as they engage undergraduate and graduate students, as well as postdoctoral fellows, to help them better understand the intricacies of and connections among various components of RCS. Further, our experiences can provide insights for those who may wish to establish "train-the-trainer" programs at their home institutions.
