Portraits of two female professors who won the Kovalevskaia Prize 2021

The Vietnam Kovalevskaia Prize Committee has just announced the results of the consideration for the 2021 Kovalevskaia Prize for two female scientists: Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuy, lecturer in food technology, Faculty of Agriculture, University Can Tho and Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai, Vice Rector of the University of Natural Sciences (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City).

The award ceremony is expected to be held on the occasion of Vietnam Science and Technology Day (May 2022) in Hanoi.

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Minh Thuy (61 years old, from An Giang), is a lecturer in Food Technology, Faculty of Agriculture & Applied Biology, Can Tho University. In 2017, she completed her doctoral program and was recognized as an associate professor in 2010 and professor in 2020. She was also honored as an excellent teacher in 2014.

Prof. Thuy’s research focuses on solutions and strategies to solve the problem of agricultural product consumption in the long-term, supporting farmers and the agricultural industry when facing difficulties due to natural disasters, fires and epidemics.

Currently, she owns more than 150 publications published in peer-reviewed domestic scientific journals (ISSN index) and prestigious international journals (SCOPUS, Indexed ISI).

Prof. Dr. Nguyen Thi Thanh Mai (50 years old, native of Quang Ngai), Vice President of the University of Natural Sciences (Vietnam National University, Ho Chi Minh City). She graduated in chemistry from the General University (now the University of Natural Sciences). After that, she obtained a doctorate in pharmaceutical chemistry from Toyama University of Medicine and Pharmacy (Japan) and was appointed associate professor in 2014 and then professor in 2021.

In the first 10 years after her PhD, she mainly focused on research in the field of drug discovery from Vietnamese medicinal herbs. Recently, the female professor continued to carry out a number of applied studies, completing 2 products to support gastrointestinal cancer and arthritis from domestic herbs.

With these studies, Prof. Mai owns more than 60 articles published in prestigious international scientific journals. With research on products from bee species raised in Vietnam, GS Mai’s research team won the Golden Globe Award in 2017 and the HCMC Innovation Award in 2019.

The Kovalevskaia Prize is named after the eminent Russian mathematician of the 19th century – Sophia Kovalevskaia (1850 – 1891).

In Vietnam since 1985, the Kovalevskaia Prize began to be built. To date, this award has awarded to 20 collectives and 49 individuals of female scientists with outstanding achievements in natural science research and outstanding applications in the fields of mathematics, chemistry, biology, health, education, agriculture.