Vision statement

‘Believe in yourself. Be the game changer and driver for economic growth. Be a role model.’

The whole world is facing an unprecedented global challenge due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Apart from severe loss of human lives, it has drastically disrupted every aspect of our society including education, research and travel, causing decreases in development and economic growth across the globe. The impact is long term and little we know when this uncertainty will be over. Scientific research & innovations are the game changers. The impact of COVID-19 on women scientists from developing countries is massive. At the same time, globally, their role at home and in scientific work during this crisis is priceless. This is the time for collaborative and coordinated efforts from all disciplines, using a common platform to fulfill OWSD's objective of strengthening their role in the development process and promoting their representation in scientific and technological leadership. OWSD may have limited funds for fellowships but has the opportunity to engage a huge pull of mentors across the globe. Virtual platforms are the demand of the day for networking opportunities, to unfold positive effect from negatives. Their effective and innovative use is essential to improve access to educational, training and professional development opportunities, encourage participation and leadership of women in national and international science and innovation systems and make science more responsive to the needs of society.

Candidate’s bio

Dr. Sharmin Parveen is Associate Professor and Head of the Department of Health Informatics and Dean of Faculty of Allied Health Sciences at Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, Dhaka, Bangladesh. She received her BSc (Hons) and MSc degree in Applied Physics & Electronics from University of Dhaka. She did her MPhil in Applied Physics, Electronics & Communication Engineering from the same University. She completed her PhD from the same department under a sandwich program between University of Dhaka, Bangladesh (registered with) and Jadavpur University, India (carried out main research). She started her career in 1996 as a lecturer of computer science at IST, Bangladesh National University. After receiving her PhD, she worked at the University of Indonesia and then University of Malaya as a faculty member. She has multidisciplinary research accomplishments in the field of high-speed computer network, vehicular network, green computing, medical image processing, telemedicine, mobile health and healthcare management information system. Her current research and scientific activity involve various areas of health informatics with the aim of implementing Digital Health in Bangladesh. She has also contributed as a key member of the steering committee towards the development of the National Digital Health Strategy. One of the greatest achievements of her research is to get the funding opportunity for developing an app-based outdoor appointment system for public hospitals as part of the digital health vision of the country. In the COVID-19 pandemic situation, her team is working on COVID-19 data management and analytics, carrying out study of awareness, attitude, anxiety and perceived mental healthcare need in Bangladesh during the pandemic under the government fund. They are working on developing telemedicine system to support mental healthcare. They are also working on developing a telemedicine system based on IoT, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning based to support maternal & child healthcare. Dr. Parveen is a member of various national and international organizations such as IEEE, OWSD, and BAWS. She is presently serving as the chair of the OWSD Bangladesh National Chapter.