OIC researchers to benefit from COMSTECH’s Thematic Workshops
By Adnan Rafique

ISLAMABAD—The OIC Standing Committee on Scientific and Technological Cooperation (COMSTECH) has planned to conduct 10 thematic workshops on Molecular Biology and Biotechnology in two years.
More than 200 researchers from OIC states are expected to benefit from these workshops which are aimed at finding solutions or developing strategies to solve specific problems of economic importance in OIC region.
An official at COMSTECH Wednesday said eminent scientists of international repute would conduct these workshops, being organized under a programme in collaboration with Higher Education Commission (HEC).
These workshops would provide the participants a platform to share and enhance their knowledge and develop collaborative research programmes, he added.
The programme will impact the ongoing programmes in biotechnology in OIC member countries. The official said this programme focuses on arranging specific thematic symposia and workshops on the pattern of specialized symposia organized by Cold spring Harbor Labs, New York, USA and ICGEB.
The ultimate goal is to develop strategies to find solutions through the applications of frontier biotechnologies. These strategies will guide a prescribed agenda of research for various universities and research Institutes.
Regarding selection criteria, the official said the candidates who have Masters, M. Phil or Ph.D (in process or have completed) can apply to participate in these workshops related to their field of study.
The candidates with potential to continue research in the specific area of proposed workshop will be given preference. Meanwhile, the COMSTECH has also announced to organize an International School on Formal Analysis of Security protocols in collaboration with other organizations here from November 26-30. The participants will include graduate or final year undergraduate students or those pursuing a research degree in computer science, computer engineering or related disciplines and coming from the OIC member states.
The International School will assist in addressing the issue of designing and analyzing the security protocols and will mainly include process algebra, Communicating Sequential Processes (CSP), the basic building blocks of CSP, describing the notation and features of the language, particularly relevant to the modelling of security protocols.
The basic notions of events, channels and processes will also be introduced followed by choice, parallel composition and interleaving.
The participants will be introduced to the traces model in CSP including the use of trace semantics to specify trace properties for systems as trace specifications. Running examples,exercises and tools will be used to allow participants to model a variety of systems including interactive systems and protocols. International resource persons will guide the participants.
The participants will include graduate or final year undergraduate students or those pursuing a research degree in computer science, computer engineering or related disciplines and coming from the OIC member states.