A two-day international conference on "Innovative Biological and Public Health Research (IBPHR-2017)" on Wednesday began at the GC University Lahore under the auspices of its Zoology Department, Higher Education Commission, Punjab Agriculture and Research Board (PRBA) and PHEC. Punjab Minister for Higher Education Syed Raza Ali Gillani chaired the conference's inaugural session which was also addressed by Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Hassan Amir Shah, Dr James D Harwood from Qingdao Agriculture University, China and Dr Muhammad Ashfaq from University of Guelph, Canada.
In his opening remarks, Dr Tahir Ali, the conference chairman, said that besides eminent zoologists from within the country, foreign professors from Sri Lanka, Turkey, Canada and UK were also participating in the IBPHR-2017 where 101 research papers were scheduled to be presented in technical sessions. He said that the conference focused the contemporary public health issues.
Speaking on the occasion, Syed Raza Ali Gillani asked the university students to always to keep aim high in their life, and never hesitate from asking questions. "When your aim is high, you must reach it close but when you think low you would certainly end below it," the minister said. He called upon the students to become entrepreneurs instead of job seekers. He also lauded the huge participation of female speakers and participants in the conference.
Vice Chancellor Prof Hassan Shah proudly shared that IBPHR-2017 was the fourth international conference at GCU Lahore in last four weeks, saying that these conferences paved the way for scientific cooperation by connecting their faculty and students with scientists from different countries. He said that subjects like Botany, Zoology and Environmental Sciences had acquired a special significance in this era where human interventions had threatened the existence of many species of plants, animals and fungi.
GCU Dean Faculty of Science and Technology Prof Dr Islam Ullah Khan said that Zoology Department of GCU was the oldest seat of learning and imparting knowledge of Zoology in Pakistan, and produced many eminent scientists including Prof Dr Nazir Ahmed, Prof Dr Naseer-ud-Din and Prof Dr Ramzan Mirza. He also shed light on the objectives of the conference. PRBA Executive Member Dr Muhammad Younas also addressed the conference's inaugural session. Later, Prof Dr S H P Parajrama Karunaratne from Sri Lanka and Prof Dr Sami Simsek from Turkey addressed the first technical session of the conference.
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