Category: 2022

 11:47,

Ella Minasyan determined to become a scientist while studying in the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry of the Faculty of Chemistry at Yerevan State University when theoretical classes went hand in hand with experiments in the laboratory. Since the year 2015 Ella has been a junior researcher at the Scientific and Production Center “Armbiotechnology” of the National Academy of Sciences of Armenia. She is also engaged in the ADVANCE grant program by the Foundation for Armenian Science and Technology (FAST).

 

How did your pathway as a scientist commence?

I was into chemistry and biology at school, so when I had to opt for a profession, the decision was made quite fast, and I applied for the Department of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at Yerevan State University. I was really keen on pharmaceutical work while at university. I also happened to work at the chemist’s but research has always been closer to me, thus that’s what I’m currently doing. I am an applicant at the Scientific and Production Center “Armbiotechnology” as well.

What motivates you to get up in the morning?

There are plenty of reasons to get up indeed, just like anybody else, but the arrangements for the upcoming day stand in the first place. That’s what motivates me to get up in the morning, to continue with incomplete tasks with renewed vigor.

How would you depict a scientist?

It goes without saying that one’s conceptions as a student are completely different, even stereotypical at times. Later on, once you’ve opted for that very career path, they alter altogether. Thanks to my scientific supervisor in both the bachelor’s and master’s programs, Candidate in Chemical Sciences Satenik Petrosyan, who is an extremely friendly person, I envisioned a scientist just like her, knowledgeable and smart but, at the same time, modest and friendly. Sadly enough, some people in our society are unaware of what a scientist does. I’d like such approaches to be altered through role models of young scientists.

 

Is pursuing science as tough as it is thought of?  

As for me, it’s not at all tough. Quite the contrary, it serves as a platform for endless creativity. Science enables people to realize their potential, as well as to feel self-sufficient by means of discoveries.

 

 

Would you highlight any milestone in terms of your decision making to pursue a career in science?

Probably our research experiments throughout university years, which reinforced my passion for chemistry and pharmaceutics. My job at the chemist’s was another turning point for me to realize it was not what I needed.

 

 

Which discovery has impressed you the most within the scope of your scientific interests?

I find all inventions interesting and crucial, they come to enrich already existing knowledge, contributing to newer inventions and discoveries. As a researcher, who also conducts research on the identification of various substances, I would emphasize the importance of technologies which enable, for instance, medical quality control and assurance at all stages, starting from production up to its intake by the patient.

 

 

Are there any scientists whom you consider to be a role model and whose work has been a guideline for you?

I’ve studied works by foreign scientists in the field, I’m also well-aware of research being currently conducted. As for a scientist who inspired me, I’d highlight Marie Curie, who was the only person to win the Nobel Prize in two scientific fields, in physics and chemistry. The best role models for me are Armenian scientists, who keep working and manage to get results in the toughest conditions.

 

 

What research have you currently been conducting?

By means of analytical equipment, we carry out qualitative and quantitative analyses of a substance of unknown composition, to figure out what elements they are made of. Those can be medicine, newly-synthesized substances, or plant extracts. Also, I’ve been working on a technology for extraction and purification of plant melanin, mostly present in low-cost agricultural waste, and have been carrying out multilateral research on physicochemical and biological characteristics of the extracted melanin, and detection of its structural elements and new fields of application.

 

 

What would you recommend to a child who wants to become a scientist?

Never give up, generate new challenging ideas and try your best to bring them to life in the future. I’d also tell them not to be scared of hardships. As for adults, I would urge them to encourage their children to pursue a career path that would benefit humanity.

 

 

What is your aspiration as a scientist?

Each scientist would definitely consider the much-coveted Nobel Prize to be their career peak. Broadly speaking, I would personally regard any beneficial and crucial invention for humankind as a career peak. 

 

Previous interviews of the “10 questions to a scientist” series are below:

 I decided to carry on with the family tradition of pursuing science. Karen Trchunyan

Nothing brings as much joy to a person as the feeling of the reward of a scientific result. Ani Paloyan

The story of Anoxybacillus karvacharensis found in the geothermal spring of Artsakh as a source of inspiration. Diana Ghevondyan

In an American lab 20 years ago I felt like in a Hollywood movie. Anna Poladyan

Science excelled all jobs because it is perspective: Sargis Aghayan

The easiest way to change the world is to do science: Sona Hunanyan

 12:24,

HAGUE, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan met with the representatives of the Dutch business community in Hague on May 11, Armenpress correspondent reports. Pashinyan presented Armenia’s current opportunities in terms of making investments and establishing a business.

From the Armenian side, the meeting was also attended by Foreign Minister Ararat Mirzoyan, Minister of Education, Science, Culture and Sport Vahram Dumanyan, Minister of Territorial Administration and Infrastructure Gnel Sanosyan, Minister of Economy Vahan Kerobyan and Chairman of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs Eduard Aghajanyan.

Introducing Armenia’s economic, investment opportunities, the Prime Minister said: “In order to have economic growth and progress, we have an agenda of major democratic reforms”.

The Armenian PM assured that they have eliminated the systematic corruption in the country and are at a stage of strengthening democratic institutions. He emphasized that the regional situation is also important for investments, reminding that the government of Armenia is working towards peace and stability in the region. “Agriculture is one of the most important sectors for us. We are expecting investments from the Netherlands because we see how agriculture field is developed in your country”, Pashinyan said.

As for what could attract Dutch businessmen to make investments in this field of Armenia, the PM highlighted Armenia’s membership to the Eurasian Economic Union and its opportunities. Pashinyan highlighted IT as an important and rapidly developing direction. He said that the development of this industry is a strategic direction for Armenia. Nikol Pashinyan also touched upon tourism, water resources management and other areas, calling them as opportunities for Dutch investors.

Director of the Confederation of Netherlands Industry and Employers Ingrid Thijssen, who was in attendance, said: “The presence of many guests and organizations at this meeting shows that Armenia really is a very attractive country for doing business”.

Representative of the company PRIVA operating in agriculture sector Maria Komorowska was also participating in the meeting. “We have been present in Armenia for already 10 years. We started the first project 10 years ago. We have many clients”, she told Armenpress. Presenting the reason of founding a business in Armenia, she said they see a good potential in the country.

The Armenian PM arrived in the Netherlands on May 10 on a two-day official visit.

 12:54,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenian health authorities announced that the COVID-19 health pass will be lifted from May 12th given the relatively stable epidemiological situation in the country.

The COVID-19 health pass took effect January 22 and required people to produce either a vaccination certificate or a negative recent test result upon entering restaurants, hotels, gyms, libraries, museums, theaters, cinemas and other similar venues.

 13:23,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Vice Speaker of Parliament of Armenia Hakob Arshakyan is participating in the Future Innovation Summit 2022 in Dubai, the United Arab Emirates, together with founder of the STARMUS festival, Professor Garik Israelyan and the representatives of the business community.

Hakob Arshakyan is attending the summit at the invitation of Sheikh Saqer Al Qasimi, member of the ruling family.

“I had a chance to present Armenia’s technological ecosystem, legislative field and privilege system in the field of space technologies”, the Vice Speaker said on social media.

He invited the summit participants to attend the STARMUS VI festival to be held in Yerevan this year on September 5-10.

Future Innovation Summit is the largest leading governmental conference and exhibition about innovations in healthcare, education, AI & tech, real estate, telecom, blockchain etc.

 15:08,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Tigran Avinyan, Chairman of the Board of the Armenian National Interests Fund (ANIF) and Bella Manukyan, Director of ANIF’s “Entrepreneur + State” Investment Fund, participated in the Annual Meeting and Business Forum of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD), ANIF said in a statement.

“The EBRD Annual Meeting is a platform for networking and exploring of cooperation opportunities between representatives of the Bank’s member countries, partner organizations, business and civil society, as well as for discussions around economic issues and sustainability agenda.

The EBRD is a long-term partner for the Republic of Armenia. Over the years, the Bank has invested more than $ 1.6 billion in Armenia in more than 195 projects in the fields of infrastructure, energy, agriculture, finance and more.

ANIF considers the role of the International Financial Institutions in the investment landscape of Armenia and the standards they imply of outmost importance. There are a number of potentially interesting areas for cooperation opportunities with EBRD, and ANIF is glad to continue the discussions around those”, the statement says.

 15:10,

THE HAGUE, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. During the ongoing official visit to the Netherlands, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan visited the Peace Palace and inaugurated an Armenian cross-stone (khachkar).

The cross-stone, a replica of a medieval cross-stone sculpted by Atom Verakatsu, is installed at the garden of the Peace Palace and symbolizes Armenia’s contribution to world peace.

It is the first gift in 17 years that the Peace Palace is accepting.

“This is history that we are shaping together today, because this is the first Armenian cross that is being installed in a city known as the world capital of international law and justice,” Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said the cross-stone symbolizes friendship, solidarity, cooperation and gratitude.

“For millennia, Armenia and Armenians strived for peace as the ultimate goal of living and creating in their homeland. Our government is now doing everything possible to encourage the agenda of peace in the region despite the existential threats that my nation is facing. This cross-stone symbolizes the Armenian perception of peace and endurance and the constant struggle for peace, be it in the Armenian highlands or elsewhere.”

The cross-stone was chosen as a gift to the Peace Palace to symbolize the Armenian generations who contributed to establishing world peace.

“With this gift, Armenia is reiterating its strong commitment to continue contributing to peace in our region and in the world,” Pashinyan said.

President of the Board of The Hague Academy of International Law and Chairman of the Carnegie Foundation Peace Palace Piet Hein Donner said: “We are very grateful for this Armenian cross-stone. This gift to the Peace Palace isn’t simply a contribution to the art collection, it is a dedication that implies commitment to the idea that the Peace Palace stands for – peace, justice and rule of law.”

 15:59,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. A serviceman of the Armenian Armed Forces was found shot dead in his military position on May 11, the Ministry of Defense said.

Private Argishti Yeghyan’s body was found with a gunshot wound to the chest at a military position in the eastern direction.

An investigation is underway to determine the circumstances of the incident.

Private Yeghyan was 20 years old.

 16:25,

HAGUE, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan is trying to make the issue of the return of Armenian captives a subject of trade, Prime Minister of Armenia Nikol Pashinyan said at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, in response to the question of the meeting participants.

“Unfortunately, despite the 2020 November 9 statement and calls of numerous international organizations, our citizens who were captured during the 44-day war have not been returned, which cannot be understood. This is a practice of using people for political purposes and making them a subject of trade, which is condemnable”, the PM said.

Pashinyan said that when the topic of captives was touched upon, Azerbaijan tried to make it a subject of trade for exchanging them with the maps of minefields that the Armenian side had. “And when we saw that an attempt is made to exchange people with maps, we made a political decision that doing trade is out of the logic of our values. Azerbaijan was claiming that every day people are being killed on the minefields left during the war, it was releasing numbers, and I personally made a political decision that this trade must not take place, and we handed over all our maps to Azerbaijan, with the hope that the humanitarian step will be followed by a humanitarian step. After that Azerbaijan started announcing that those maps are not so correct. We said it’s not that we kept the good maps and gave the bad ones to you, that’s what we have. And they tried to make this a subject of speculation as well, but they didn’t notice one thing that after the exchange of the maps, the information on the killing of citizens from mine explosion has disappeared from their newsfeed”, the PM said.

Pashinyan stated that the Armenian side did this to show its sincerity in the peace agenda, its dedication to the peace agenda.

“Till today at least 38 of our captives are held in Azerbaijan. An attempt is made to regularly make this process a subject of trade on different topics. By the way, the last time it was at the presence of the President of the European Council that the Azerbaijani leader promised that he will release another group of captives, but this has not happened so far. I think that it’s impossible to talk about peace by ignoring the humanitarian side of the issue, we have shown this in practice”, the Armenian PM noted.

He stressed the need for the international community to know about this situation. Pashinyan called on the international community to continue urging Azerbaijan not to make people a subject of political trade.

“The war has brought tragedy to many, but I don’t think that the approach of constantly pouring salt on that open wound fits into the value system that is typical to the 21^st century”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

 16:32,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Azerbaijan continues its policy of aggression against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh, Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said during a lecture at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael in response to a question from the audience.

“Unfortunately Azerbaijan continues its very aggressive policy against Armenia and Nagorno Karabakh. You know that there is a Russian peacekeeping contingent in Nagorno Karabakh. And the main objective of the Azerbaijani diplomacy in the recent months was the following: They go the EU and the US and say ‘look, Armenia is a pro-Russian country’, in some cases they say ‘with a proxy Russian government’, and then they go to Russia and tell them look ‘Armenia is a pro-Western country, look how they are building ties with the West’. Sometimes they say that the government in Armenia was brought to power by the West through a color revolution, which is acting against Russia’”, Pashinyan said.

Pashinyan said that by doing so Azerbaijan seeks to develop an understanding of its aggressive policy against Armenia in both the West and in Russia. He said that they can’t say that there are no arguments to substantiate this position. “The objective reality is that there are arguments to substantiate this position because Armenia is a strategic ally of Russia, it is a CSTO member and an EEU member, and has very warm and close relations with Russia. On the other hand, the relations of Armenia with the EU and EU member states are gradually deepening because the EU is Armenia’s main partner in the democratic reforms area,” Pashinyan said.

Speaking about the observation in the question that Armenia is trying to carry out a multilateral policy, the PM said that he can add that multilateral policy is in turn being attempted against Armenia itself. “And not only must we carry out multilateral policy but we must also be able to manage the risks that are emerging as a result of carrying out this policy,” Pashinyan said.

The PM stressed that Armenia is engaged in balanced policy and that the Armenian government is guided by national interests of Armenia. He emphasized that the Armenian government is attaching importance to all relations but that it is highly important for these relations not to be at the expense of one another. “The world order is changing before our eyes and no one knows how it will be as a result. I want to say that times like these are the most dangerous times for countries like Armenia, this must be recorded and understood. Carrying out balanced policy isn’t easy for us at all, but we are trying to do everything to succeed,” Pashinyan said.

 16:36,

YEREVAN, MAY 11, ARMENPRESS. Armenia has registered a major progress in the fight against corruption over the past four years, Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan said at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations, Clingendael, while delivering a lecture on the friendship and partnership between Armenia and the Netherlands.

“I am the first Armenian leader to pay an official visit to the Kingdom of the Netherlands. I view this visit not only in the context of the Armenian-Dutch traditional historical ties, commercial relations, but also in the context of Armenia’s democracy. I want to note that after the Revolution of 2018 we have felt the support of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the democratic reforms. Democracy is Armenia’s main brand, and this is not my assessment. These realities have been recorded by all those international institutes that do global research in democracy, fight against corruption, freedom of speech”, he said.

He said that in 2021 for the first time Armenia has been classified by international democratic institutes as a country with electoral democracy. Pashinyan called this an important achievement.

“Yes, I must make a loud statement and say that the systematic corruption has been eradicated in Armenia. Although there are corruption phenomena, but we are consistently fighting them and it is visible. In 2021, the post-war crisis year, we registered a major progress in the field of freedom of speech and media. According to the latest indices, Armenia is the 51st in the world. It is in better positions than about ten European countries. I say this to show how determined we are in the implementation of democratic reforms”, Nikol Pashinyan said.

The PM said that pages such as the public doubt to the election results, the practice of falsifying elections have been closed in Armenia. He emphasized that Armenia has no way back.