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LAPORAN PRESIDENPRESIDENT’S REPORTlawatan Prof Ahmed Zewail, pemenang hadiah Nobeldalam bidang Kimia 1999, ke Malaysia bulan Ogoslalu untuk menghadiri beberapa program yang telahdisediakan. Tiga pemegang hadiah Nobel lain jugatelah menyampaikan syarahan umum, dialog, danpidato sains. Justeru minat dalam bidang sains tersuntikdalam hati warga muda. Akademi, selaku rakan kongsiantarabangsa Majlis Lindau telah menyelaraskanpenglibatan empat saintis muda daripada disiplinfi siologi atau perubatan di Mesyuarat Tahunan ParaPemenang Hadiah Nobel di Lindau. Penglibatan dimajlis berprestij seumpama ini dapat membuka peluangkepada Penyelidik Malaysia mencapai kecemerlangandalam bidang sains di samping mencapai pengiktirafanantarabangsa. Mesyuarat di Lindau juga menjadi satuforum saintifi k yang unik dalam menyuntik dialog bagimerangsangkan penemuan baru dan penyelidikanharian mengenai kesan lebih meluas yang terjana hasilkerja P&P Laureate, yang sesungguhnya merupakansatu pengalaman pembelajaran luar biasa.Dalam usaha membantu para saintis tersohor, yangmempunyai rekod kecemerlangan dalam sesuatu bidangutama di bidang sains asas, pembiayaan penyelidikandiberikan di bawah Pembiayaan Penyelidikan Saintifi kLanjutan (SAGA). Pembiayaan ini bermatlamatmenjulang saintis sebegini ke persada pencapaianyang lebih unggul termasuk meraih pengiktirafanantarabangsa dalam penjanaan pengetahuan danpenemuan baru. Dewasa ini, 89 projek yang melibatkanhampir RM19.4 juta dibiayai menggunakan danaSAGA. Bidang penyelidikan utama yang dibiayaimerangkumi bidang-bidang fi siologi/perubatan, kimiadan fi zik seperti denggi, kanser, malaria, sel stem, produkbioaktif baru, nanostruktur/nanotiub baru dan hablurcecair. Berdasarkan Laporan Kemajuan Projek Bulanke-20 untuk 59 projek dalam tahun 2007, SAGA yangmembiayai saintis cemerlang yang mempunyai rekodkecemerlangan dalam bidang utama di bidang sainsasas, berjaya menghasilkan 392 penerbitan sains dantujuh paten hasil kerja P&P.Berikutan kerumitan dan penekanan di bidang STI,negara harus membangunkan agenda penyelidikanyang lebih tertumpu kepada penekanan terhadapkecemerlangan. Tahun ini, Anugerah Sains Mahathir,anugerah kecemerlangan Malaysia yang palingberprestij untuk penyelidikan tropika telah dihadiahkankepada Prof Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris dari Universityof Hong Kong atas sumbangan cemerlang beliauterhadap perubatan tropika, khususnya penemuanagen etiologi yang menyebabkan SARS, seterusnyamemahami patogenesis dan epidemiologi penyakitof Prof Ahmed Zewail, the Nobel Laureate for Chemistryin 1999, to Malaysia in August to attend several plannedprogrammes. Three other Nobel Laureates also gavepublic lectures, dialogues and scientifi c orations, andinterest in science was inculcated in the young. TheAcademy, as one of the international partners of theLindau Council facilitated the participation of four youngscientists from the physiology or medical discipline at theAnnual Meeting of the Nobel Prize Winners in Lindau.Participation in these prestigious meetings should pavethe way for Malaysian researchers to achieve excellencein science as well as gain international recognition.The Lindau Meetings also provide a unique scientifi cforum for stimulating dialogue on new fi ndings andday-to-day research on the wider consequences of theLaureate’s R&D work, which constitute a remarkablelearning experience.In a move to support budding scientists with a proventrack record in identifi ed priority areas of fundamentalsciences, research funding has been initiated under theScientifi c Advancement Fund Allocation (SAGA). Theaim of such an allocation is to allow these scientists tomove to the next level of achievement including gaininginternational recognition for knowledge generationand new discoveries. Currently 89 projects amountingto about RM19.4 million are being funded with SAGAfunds. The major research areas funded in the fi eldsof physiology/medicine, chemistry and physics aredengue, cancer, malaria, stem cell, novel bioactiveproducts, novel nanostructures/nanotubes and liquidcrystals. SAGA which supports budding scientists witha proven track record in identifi ed priority areas ofresearch in fundamental sciences, yielded 392 scientifi cpublications and 7 patents emanating from R&D work,based on the SAGA 20th Month Project Progress Reportsfor 59 projects in 2007.There is a need for the nation to develop a more focusedresearch agenda with emphasis on excellence becauseof the increasing complexity and emphasis in STI. This year,the Mahathir Science Award, Malaysia’s most prestigiousscientifi c excellence Award for tropical research, wasbestowed on Prof Joseph Sriyal Malik Peiris of the Universityof Hong Kong for his outstanding contribution to tropicalmedicine, specifi cally for his discovery of the aetiologicalagent causing SARS leading to the understanding ofpathogenesis and epidemiology of the disease in 2003.8In Pursuit of Excellence in Science