The 1st International Conference on Pure & Applied Science ICPAS 2018 was held on 23rd - 24th April, 2018 at the Presidency Building of Koya University, Koya, Kurdistan Region of Iraq, http://koyauniversity.org/node/155. The conference was supported by Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research in Erbil, Kurdistan Region-Iraq. The conference was the first that organized by Faculty of Science and Health at Koya University. With respect to registrations, 107 submitted papers registered from different Iraq and Kurdistan Region Universities and only 43 papers were accepted to be presented in the conference after peer review procedure by professional staff of Faculty of Science and Health http://conferences.koyauniversity.org/index.php/pas/2018/about/organizi…, in different fields. Attendees of 130 academics from Mosul, Kirkuk, Anbar and Baghdad Universities were registered. Over 35 delegates attended the conference from General Consulate of Japan, Ministries of High Education and Scientific Research, Health, Agriculture and Natural Resources. More than 212 staff member of Koya University registered and attended the conference.

The conference opening was attended by the President of Salahaddin University, Assistant Professor Dr. Ahmad Dizayi, the Counselor of Japan in Erbil, Moriyasu Katsumi, Head of World Universities Union, Dr. Orhan Oglu, the director of safety and health in the Ministry of High Education and Scientific Research, Dr. Brwa Muhamad, the director of safety and health in Salahaddin University, Dr. Media Noori, the director in the Ministry of Agriculture, Dr. Khalis Hamad, the director in the Ministry of Natural Resources, Fatah Tahman, lab director in the Ministry of Health, Muzafar Salih, the general manager in the Directorate of Health of Koya, Dr. Kamaran Abbas, the Dean of Technical Institute of Koya, Dr. Muhamad Khidr and the Dean of Haibat Sultan Institute, Hemn Bayez. The opening ceremony had a special welcoming word from the chair, Assistant Professor Dr. Wali Mahmood, the President of Koya University and the co-chair, Assistant Professor Dr. Taha Jalal, the Dean of Faculty of Science and Health.

With a focus on pure and applied research, the theme of the ICPAS 2018 was science applications in Biology, Microbiology, Chemistry, Physics and Mathematics Research. The conference addressed a variety of topics relevant to the main theme, including specific researches on microbiology, biotechnology, nanomaterials, renewable energy, nuclear structure, environmental green chemistry and applied mathematics. 
 
2. CONFERENCE HIGHLIGHTS

After 14 years of establishing Faculty of Science and Health in Koya University since 2003, and with many issues raised during preparations of ICPAS conference, regarding international airports of Kurdistan Region-Iraq, the conference was an outstanding one in terms of organizing and talks selected by the keynote speakers. 

The ICPAS also addressed problem relevance and challenges in an artificial intelligence and applications as trend research by a Professor of Mathematics and Computation in University of Buckingham, UK, Dr. Sabah Abbas. 

Professor Dr. Sabah Abbas during his talk which is titled “Artificial Intelligence-Trends, Challenge and Implications” 

ICPAS 2018 has promoted to direct the 1st year undergraduate students to pick up problems and do their research, as this theme was selected by Assistant Professor Dr. Francis Burns from University of South Carolina, U.S. as one of the main talks in the conference. 

The aim of talk by Professor Dr. Jamal Rasul from University of Kurdistan Hewler was to provide an assessment of the state of education and higher education in Kurdistan in comparison to their counterparts in the developed countries highlighting the important and necessary steps that need to be taken to make sure that higher education will not be trapped in as a pharaoh and can take its natural and expected role in Kurdistan Nation Building.  In this, he intended to highlight adjustments and initiation of a set of selfless new rules and regulations that need to be adopted by Kurdistan’s parliament, the government, the Ministry of Higher Education and turn higher education into the fairy with their expected role in Kurdistan’s society and nation building as expected. 

Professor Dr. Salah Isamel from Koya University focused in his talk on the dosimetry of the cellular frequency fields and their recent trends. He explained how to achieve the dosimetry by computing the specific absorption rate in human tissues. 

(From Left, First Row) Violinist Dawan Abdullah, flutist, Pola Ismael, oud player, Darbaz Jalal, artist, Shyaw Satrip. (From Left, Second Row) Dr. Bnar Jawdat and Dr. Tara Fuad in the Art Paintings Exhibition

The schedule of the ICPAS 2018 was quite busy, with an extensive program, http://conferences.koyauniversity.org/index.php/pas/2018/schedConf/prog…, and the activities started after the formal opening of conference and welcome speeches with the 11 min of a documentary film on Faculty of Science and Health. On first day of conference, 23rd there were two sessions of Biology and Chemistry. The second day of conference, 24th included five sessions of Mathematics and Physics with Biology as well. Among the participants there were two undergraduate students from Medical Microbiology Department who presented their work under the support of their supervisor; Assistant Professor Dr. Ayad H. Hasan. 

List of Universities that have participated in ICPAS 2018

1. Al Mustansiriya University, Iraq
2. University of Mosul, Iraq 
3. University of Sulaimani, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
4. Al-Ayen University, Iraq
5. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, Malaysia
6. Sulaimani Polytechnic University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
7. University of Zakho, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
8. University of Diyala, Iraq
9. Salahaddin University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
10. University of Technology, Iraq
11. University of Duhok, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
12. University of Kirkuk, Iraq
13. Erbil Polytechnic University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
14. Ishik University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
15. University of Raparin, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
16. University of Anbar, Iraq
17. Kurdistan Technical Institute, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
18. Duhok Polytechnic University, Kurdistan Region-Iraq
     

Please download the full report in the attached PDF file