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Americans for Artsakh, AFA, a nonprofit U.S.-based organization, that has offered training programs to Artsakh government staff in the past 2 years, has expanded the scope of its programs to include local university students.

According to the Armenian Reporter, AFA sent a team of experienced trainers to Stepanakert and Shushi to provide a leadership skills course to a selected group of university students in the area. Students were selected from a range of local HEIs, and training space was provided by Artsakh State University and the Naregatsi Art Institute in Shushi.

The course included leadership, negotiation, and cognitive effectiveness (or "lateral thinking") training, based on methodology developed by the Harvard University/Mercy Corps Conflict Management Group.

These are topics that local HEIs have not been able to integrate into their curricula since the collapse of the Soviet Union and despite the reforms that they have supposedly implemented.

Leadership in 36 Hours

A total of 30 students received an intensive (8 hours a day), 8 day training session that was broken up into 4 components based on which author was being presented at a given time. Class activities included games, role plays, and various types of team-building exercises that helped reinforce the ideas and foster a sense of camaraderie among the group.

Another component of the program involved the provision of special grants to select students who will conduct their own community service projects using the methods they learned in the course. The grants will be given on a competitive basis, based on which students write the best proposals.

Upon completion of the course, team leader Mr. Arshak Balayan told the Reporter; "People in Artsakh need us. They really need what we teach and I feel that I am doing more than I have done teaching 2 years in Yerevan."

Since AFA began organizing training courses in 2008, most of the trainers have taken note of the great need in the area and deep appreciation that they receive from the beneficiaries in Artsakh.

Because of its unrecognized political status and comparative lack of foreign aid programs, Artsakh's particular disadvantage affects its ability to implement programs such as these. As a result, the enthusiasm of the participants, penetration into the local population, and overall impact are far greater than in many other places.

AFA plans to continue its training courses at both the government and university level, and also offer more subject-specific courses to students and professionals in Artsakh.

Anatolia News Agency, via Hurriyet Turkish Daily, reports that the Bilkent University National Nanotechnology Research Center, or UNAM, is planning to undertake a significant role in its field through a workshop on “cleanroom” laboratories. A group of 40 people from North Africa, the Central Asian Turkic republics, the Balkans and Eastern Europe will attend the workshop.

UNAM is Turkey’s largest nanotechnology research center. Funded with the support of the State Planning Organization, it also started nanotechnology seminars for scientists at Turkish universities and research centers at the end of January.

A cleanroom is an area typically used in manufacturing or scientific research that has a low level of environmental pollutants.

Technologies based on nanotechnology bring a new dimension for the production of materials used in all fields, but particularly in cosmetics, medicine, energy and the defense industry, said Necmi Bıyıklı, who is responsible for the UNAM Cleanroom Laboratory.

Turkey has made crucial investments in nanotechnology, said Bıyıklı, adding that significant progress has been achieved. These investments include UNAM’s 62 nanotechnology laboratories, as well as Turkey’s largest academic cleanroom laboratory covering 400 square meters.

Bıyıklı stressed the importance of the use of laboratories and devices in conducting research and making nanotechnology-based products, adding that this helps obtain technology patents as well as train entrepreneurs.

Intensive Cleanroom Training

The Nanotechnology Cleanroom Laboratory started offering full-capacity services to researchers at the end of January, he said. Within this framework, 43 scientists from several universities have benefited from the new training.

Bıyıklı said nanotechnology cleanroom-use training would be periodically organized every month. “Researchers will get to use the equipment necessary for experiments from the process engineers after their cleanroom training. Obtaining experience this way, the researchers will have the opportunity to develop their projects using the equipment by themselves. All they need to do is fill in the information forms on UNAM’s Web site.”

A cleanroom-use workshop in June, meanwhile, will aim to provide applied education for participants from developing countries about cleanroom technologies, nano-device process design, optimization and the latest developments in nanotechnology, Bıyıklı said.

The training will consist of 35 hours of theoretical training from academic staff and 40 hours of applied training by technical staff, he said. “The workshop participants will bring experience and know-how to their own countries and establish a business network with other participants.

Regional Leader in Nanotechnology

This international workshop series aims to help Turkey lead its region in nanotechnology and cleanroom technologies, become a model in terms of technology and economic development for relatively less developed countries and secure and speed up cooperation among neighboring economies.”

The upcoming workshop will run from June 17 to 30 under the management of the United Nations Industrial Development Organization, or UNIDO, the coordination of Turkish Ministry of Industry and Trade and the support of the Turkish International Cooperation and Development Agency, or TİKA, and will include 40 scientists from surrounding regions.