Asian Science Camp

The idea of the Asian Science Camp was co-proposed in September 2005 after the 55th Annual meeting of Nobel Laureates and Students in Lindau, Germany, by Professor Yuan –Tseh Lee (1986 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry) from Chinese Taipei, and Professor Masatoshi Koshiba (2002 Nobel Laureate in Physics) from Japan. The proposal expressed the aim to enlighten science talented youths through discussions and dialogues with top scholars in the world, and promoting international friendship and cooperation among best young students of the next generation in Asia. The Lindau Meetings will serve as a model. The Asian Science Camp would invite a dozen Nobel Laureates or world-distinguished scientists as speakers and devise an interesting program to attract all the participants, including plenary sessions, round table discussions, student master dialogues, a creative poster competition, social events and excursion. The working language would be English. This proposal was soon discussed in a board meeting of the Wu Chien-Shiung Education Foundation and was approved unanimously by the board.

The governing body of the Asian

Science Camp is the International Board of Asian Science Camp (IBASC). IBASC is a not- for- profit organization, consisting of non-governmental educational institutions. The 2007 Asian Science Camp was organized by the Wu Chien-Shiung Education Foundation with the assistance of Academia Sinica in Taiwan. This non-government Foundation was established in 1995 to commemorate the monumental contributions of Madame Dr. Wu Chien-Shiung to physics and her lifelong love for science education. Since its inauguration in Taiwan in August 2007, the Asian Science Camp has become an International annual event in Asia.

Surya Institute, established in 2006 by Prof. Yohanes Surya Ph.D. is a non-profit Indonesian institution, with a mission to promote Science advancement through innovative science learning, campaign and research. Prof. Yohanes Surya Ph.D. began to train the Indonesian Physics Olympiad Team (TOFI) in 1993 and since then, every year Indonesian team achieved incredible results in both Asian Physics Olympiad and International Physics Olympiad. With the teaching and training methods he has developed, Prof. Surya has successfully trained students from small/remote areas in Indonesia and from simple backgrounds to excel and win prestigious International Science Competitions. Surya Institute had been appointed by the International Board of Asian Science Camp (IBASC) to host / organize the 2008 Asian Science Camp, to be held on August 3rd – 9th in Bali. It will be a 6–days inspiring /life changing moment for around 500 Asian students, who will learn from Nobel Laureates and other world class scientists in the fields of Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Medicine.

Considering that Asia’s current education systems, compared with those in the West, traditionally lack flexibility in developing students’ individuality, creativity and originality, particularly with respect to science, reshaping of education in Asian region is a very urgent task. A realistic first step is to provide those very bright students an opportunity to satisfy their desire for learning and inspire them to pursue excellence in science research. These talented students would then become assets not only to their own countries, but to all human kind. It is our dream that students participating in Asian Science Camp event will one day contribute to shape a better future for Asian Countries through their creative inventions.