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His Royal Highness Prince Hassan, chairman of the Higher Council for Science and Technology (HCST), on thursday honored the winners of Hassan bin Talal Award for Scientific Excellence for 2023 and 2024, in the presence of HRH Princess Sarvath Hassan.

In his speech, Prince Hassan stressed the importance of relying on excellence and innovation in the fields of education, training, health, and agriculture, highlighting the need for supporting Jordanian youth by enhancing competitiveness through competencies, which start with the mind and conscience. The prince noted that relying on an integrated development plan and building on solid foundations is crucial to exploiting diverse investment opportunities in Jordan. Prince Hassan reiterated the call to establish a base and center for scientific data based on reliable information, pointing out that achieving stability and development comes through reordering priorities and eliminating competition over information.

For his part, Secretary-General of the HCST, Prof. Mashhour Rifai, said that the award is a success story in the Kingdom and aims to encourage educational, scientific, and technological activities in institutions concerned with education and training. Prof. Rifai noted that 13 universities submitted 32 projects for the 2024 award, out of which three projects from three universities won. The first award was granted to the Hashemite University for its project “National Seed Bank", the second award to Hussein Technical University for its project “Skills Improvement Program", and the third award to Jordan University of Science and Technology for its project “Royal Initiative to Support Creative Projects in Nanotechnology".

The President of JUST, Prof. Khaled El-Salem, expressed his happiness at winning the award of His Royal Highness Prince Hassan bin Talal, which is considered one of the highest scientific awards at the national level, which contributes to enhancing leadership and excellence in higher education institutions at the national level and in the research and academic sector, and also highlights the qualitative achievements achieved. Prof. El-Salem noted that JUST (the jewel of Jordanian universities) excels in excellence, leadership and creativity in most scientific fields. In this regard, the Royal Initiative to Support Creative Projects in Nanotechnology, with generous support from the Hashemite Royal Court, is considered one of the success stories at JUST. On this occasion, the University President expressed his sincere thanks and appreciation to everyone who contributed to this huge effort from the academic and administrative bodies.

Prof. Borhan Aldeen Albiss, dean of the nanotechnology institute, stated that the Innovative Projects Initiative in Nanotechnology has contributed to enhancing innovation and creativity at JUST through its support for students and faculty projects in collaboration with other regional and international institutes. These projects resulted in the development of new materials and devices using the state-of-the-art nano-characterization and manufacturing techniques. The applications of the produced nanomaterials are mainly in water purification, renewable energy, food reservation, and diseases detection.