ANSO Scholarship Students Fight in the Frontline of COVID Prevention in Shenzhen

06 04, 2022

The international students from Shenzhen Institute of Advanced Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT/CAS) joined the frontline of COVID-19 prevention and control as volunteers. SIAT also lend a hand to them to cope with the difficulties during the pandemic.

Since the beginning of March 2022, many international students from SIAT have actively joined the volunteer team to support the COVID-19 testing in Shenzhen, including Uroosa Sehar from Pakistan and Frank Kulwa Nkulila from Tanzania, both of whom are awardees of the ANSO Scholarship for Young Talents.

So far, Uroosa has volunteered for seven times, and she is in charge of checking and scanning the QR code of every testee. Enrolled in 2021, Uroosa is a PhD student under the supervision of Prof. Xia Zeyang. Currently, she is working on the Design Optimization of Soft Robotics, and Computational Biomechanics specifically in Oral Biomechanics, including Simulations, Algorithm development, and Systematic evaluation. Although busy with her research, Uroosa quickly settled into the SIAT community and managed to devote her time in volunteer work.

"SIAT is striving to give us a good living and education, and it is our pleasure to stand with SIAT in the hard time. Working together we can make our community better!" Uroosa said.

Uroosa scanning the QR code

Frank volunteered in distributing the stickers to testees. Also enrolled in the year 2021, Frank finished all his PhD courses with an excellent overall GPA of 3.98/4.0. Currently he is working on signal processing based on upper limb prostheses under the supervision of Prof. Li Guanglin.

“The Covid-19 pandemic has affected our daily life, including our working style, living style and education style. To make our living place free from it, we have to join force and fight against it together. Together we can do it!” said Frank.

SIAT also paid much attention to the requests and needs of international students. For example, when the epidemic prevention measures brought difficulties to students’ daily life, the volunteers from the graduate college of SIAT would support international students on how to use the Chinese delivery Apps and teach them frequently used Chinese sentences to communicate with delivery staff. With the help of Chinese students, the international students learned to master the whole process from ordering to picking up the take-outs. International students expressed their appreciation for this activity, which was exactly in time and solved the biggest difficulties during the epidemic, and they said it made them feel at home.

Volunteers teaching international students how to use delivery Apps

"Although we are foreigners, we are definitely not outsiders! Studying at SIAT in Shenzhen makes us feel at home, and we also want to make our efforts and contribute to the epidemic prevention and control!" Friendship and solidarity between Chinese and international SIATers bring warmth and confidence in the hard time. Spring always comes after winter!

International students picking up their take-outs ordered via delivery Apps

[About SIAT, CAS]

The Shenzhen Institute of advanced technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (SIAT) was established in 2006. After 16 years of rapid growth, SIAT has established a micro innovation ecosystem focusing on scientific research and integrating research, education, industry and capital as well. There have been a number of original achievements in the fields of biomedical engineering, brain science, synthetic biology, biomedicine, advanced electronic materials, robots, artificial intelligence, advanced computing and new energy, which have had a great impact on the academia and promoted technological innovation in the industry. Currently, there are 499 graduate supervisors at SIAT, 85% of whom have overseas experience, and they have trained more than 10000 graduate students over the years. In November 2018, the Shenzhen Municipal government and the Chinese Academy of Sciences signed an agreement on building a new university based on the scientific research strength of SIAT and the other branches of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Guangdong. Facing the needs of future industries for sci-tech and talents, and based on the “three-in-one” talent training framework - Academic Faculties, Research Institutes, and Residential Colleges, the university will dedicated to building a world-class research university and an exemplifying model in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

SIAT has been recruiting ANSO Scholarship students since the establishment of the scholarship in 2019. Currently there are 38 ANSO Scholarship Awardees at SIAT, including 19 doctors and 19 masters. The students have performed well since enrollment, not only making great efforts in scientific research but also actively participating in various recreational and sports activities and enthusiastically serving the community, which has been highly praised by teachers and students alike.