Four Bangladeshi students from engineering and science fields have won the Honda Young Engineer & Scientist’s (Y-E-S) Award – 2023.
The awards from Japan’s Honda Foundation were handed to the winners at a ceremony held on Sunday night in Dhaka.
Japanese Ambassador to Bangladesh IWAMA Kiminori was the chief guest at the ceremony while the Chief Evaluator of Honda Y-E-S Award programme in Bangladesh, Dr Ainun Nishat; Chairman of International Committee and Director of Honda Foundation Akira Kiminori; Secretary of Honda Foundation Norie Arai; Managing Director and CEO of Bangladesh Honda Private Limited Shigeru Matsuzaki; actor, writer and civil engineer Abul Hayat; Chief Marketing Officer of Bangladesh Honda Private Limited Shah Muhammad Ashequr Rahman, and representatives of respective universities were present.
The winners of the Honda Y-E-S Award – 2023 are Labiba Islam Salsabil, Farsia Kawsar Chowdhury, Md. Toki Tahmid and S.M. Sakeef Sani from Bangladesh University of Engineering & Technology (BUET).
The objective of this award is to “foster future leaders of science and technology fields to spearhead the growth of Asian countries.”
The Y-E-S Award program aims to identify and encourage students who would become future leaders to develop and implement innovative technologies that help to realize a truly humane civilization, maintaining harmony with the environment.
The program initially kicked off in Vietnam in 2006 and it has been also implemented in India, Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar. It was introduced in Bangladesh in 2019 to support the development and promotion of young leaders to spearhead the growth of these countries in the future.
The organisers informed that the program annually selects up to four undergraduate students of the designated universities in Bangladesh to award USD 3,000 to each student. The awardees can receive an additional award/grant of up to USD 10,000 under the Honda Y-E-S Award Plus programme if they continue their study and training within four years after the receipt of the Honda Y-E-S Award either via masters, doctoral or study abroad programs in Japanese universities, or via internship programs in Japanese research organisations or private companies as approved by the Honda Foundation.
