The Ta Quang Buu Awards 2020 was presented to three scientists who have made significant contributions to the country’s science and technology sector at a ceremony held in Hanoi on May 18.

They are Associate Prof. Dr. Vuong Thi Ngoc Lan from Ho Chi Minh City University of Medicine and Pharmacy; Associate Prof. Dr. Pham Tien Son from Da Lat University; and Dr. Nguyen Truong Thanh Hieu from Ton Duc Thang University.

Lan received the honour thanks to her study about the efficiency between the transfer of fresh or frozen embryos in women without polycystic ovaries for in vitro fertilisation (IVF).

It showed the transfer of frozen embryos yielded similar results to fresh ones, and the research has helped doctors and patients make better choices and increase the chance of success of IVF.

The research proved it was not necessary to transfer all fresh embryos but freeze them and transfer only one embryo per cycle.

The results were found after Lan and her colleagues randomly studied 782 infertile women without polycystic ovary syndrome who had undergone IVF.

“Patients are our teachers with different characteristics, symptoms and medical problems. They are the motivation for us to do research to find the most effective and suitable treatment methods,” said Lan.

Son was honoured for the project 'Generic properties for semialgebraic programs' which was published by SIAM Journal on Optimization. He studied genericity for the class of semialgebraic optimisation problems with equality and inequality constraints.

"Good quality research results can only be achieved when we devote all our time to science," Sơn was quoted by chinhphu.vn as saying.

Meanwhile, Hieu was honoured for a project entitled 'Low energy electron inelastic mean free path in materials'.

Speaking at the award ceremony, Deputy Prime Minister Vu Duc Dam congratulated the scientists, saying their contribution was not only measured in the number of research works published in prestigious journals of the world or awards, but also in the number of useful initiatives to increase labour productivity and improve the lives of people.

"It is noteworthy that we have found opportunities and created the motivation to rise up in science and technology in difficulties given the context that the country and the whole world has been fighting a pandemic," he said.

According to the Ministry of Science and Technology, since its launch in 2014, the awards, named after the famous scientist Professor Ta Quang Buu (1910-1986),  have encouraged scientists and scientific and technological organisations towards high-quality research in Vietnam, fostering the development of an academic, creative and innovative environment which promotes the development of strong teams to undertake research at international level.