The annual Kovalevskaya awards 2012 honouring outstanding female scientists were presented at a ceremony in Hanoi on March 4.

The 17-member staff of the Experimental Biology Centre under the Technological Application Institute of the Ministry of Science and Technology received the award for numerous projects researching the production of nutritious supplement products from sea weeds and biological waste treatment solutions.

The centre was also successful in multiplying a number of valuable local medicinal plants.

The individual prize went to Associate Professor, Dr Bach Khanh Hoa, former director of the National Institute of Haematology and Blood Transfusion.

Speaking at the ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc praised the prize winners’ efforts to overcome all difficulties to pursue their scientific research, contributing to national construction and development through their initiatives and inventions.

He called on the whole society to create conditions for women to devote more to the country.

The Vietnam Kovalevskaya Award Committee was established in 1985. The award was named after the great Russian female mathematician Sofia Kovalevskaya.

On this occasion, prizes were also presented to winners of a writing contest on bright examples of Vietnamese women, which attracted nearly 30,000 entries nationwide between June-October 2012.-VNA