Close up:

The brain drain

By Salama A Salama

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It's no secret that many advanced countries -- America, Japan, even China -- have come to rely on foreigners for much of their scientific research, sparing no effort to entice them with attractive packages and providing all the scientific and material resources necessary for success.

Amid the crush of debates and reports on scientific research in Egypt and the endless conferences convened to give the impression that technological progress is being made one fact remains unchanged: scientific research in Egypt is, as it always was, a haphazard activity.

Sadly, the team spirit necessary for successful research is lacking in Egypt. Our research centres and universities do not encourage it; indeed, they actively degrade the relationship between professors and young researchers. This has resulted in a great many young scientists looking for positions in other countries, countries that are only too happy to welcome them.

Mohamed Gad, a graduate of the Faculty of Sciences, Ain Shams University, specialises in the cutting-edge field of nanobiotechnology -- an area that brings together a number of specialisations in studying the behaviour of molecules. He recently sent me a letter in which he said that problems in Egypt are not restricted to the desperate and unemployed. The successful, as well as those eager to serve their country, also suffer from the effects of the corruption and ill- advised appointments that feed the self-destruction and social disintegration that is taking place all around us.

After examining his scientific work, the Ain Shams promotions board refused to appoint him as an assistant professor. The application was rejected because of the poor relationship between the professor supervising his research and the president of the board.

The very research that failed to secure his promotion in Egypt received plaudits in Japan, which has awarded him a state prize for biological research, and his findings have been published in several international journals.

The young researcher wrote: "I find myself more successful abroad than I am within Egypt itself. For the last 11 years the Japanese government has funded my research at the Technology Institute in Tokyo and at the Science and Agriculture Departments at the Kobe University for Advanced Industrial Sciences in Tsokuba Science City. At the same time I've lost all patience and hope with my prospects of gaining recognition in Egypt. All I care about is avoiding the attempts to destroy me and break me down."

He is currently contemplating leaving Japan and returning to Egypt to fight for his rights. Most probably this will delight those who threw him out in the first place; who spent so much time squandering his talents in the endless personal squabbles that have become a permanent feature of institutes and university departments dedicated to scientific research.

It is absurd, in my opinion, that this young man should waste his life and his formidable gifts in intractable disputes. He should stay wherever he is able to realise his own potential and achieve even more success with his research. Sooner or later people will be judged by their achievements, however great or small. Only when that happens will we make real headway towards genuine scientific research in Egypt.