Realizing the importance of many royal initiatives by HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn and to promote young researchers awareness to the need to help mitigate community needs, NECTEC and NANOTEC organized a joint forum on the topic of “S&T under HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s Initiatives”. Prof. Dr. Pairash Thajchayapong, Chairman of NANOTEC Executive Board and Senior Advisor to NSTDA was the invited speaker.
“The purpose of HRH various royal projects is simply for the benefit of the Thai people. HRH has set up the ICT Fund in 1995 to promote the use of ICT to enhance quality of life, improve education and increase employment opportunities of the disadvantaged. At present, the ICT Fund is used to help four disadvantaged groups namely; (1) rural school students, (2) sick children in hospitals, (3)prison inmates and (4) persons with disabilities” said Prof. Pairash. “There are gaps in our society that education and S&T is considered inaccessible. HRH initiated projects act as a magnet to bring together potential partners to help bridge the gaps”. In addition to undertaking the projects domestically, Prof. Pairash informed that HRH projects have also gained interest from overseas partners. Several collaborations with well known international institutions have been signed and exchange of knowledge is currently being implemented.
The root of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn’s interest in development stems from the experiences that HRH gained from accompanying Their Majesties the King and Queen on frequent visits to rural and remote areas from a very young age. The trips exposed HRH to various community problems from education to health, to environmental and so on. It is from witnessing these problems first hand that HRH begins to initiate royal projects that focuses on education of S&T.
Given the tremendous interest in this topic it is expected that a second series talk will have to be organized in a few months time.
