Ambassador Andrzej Kanthak discusses Polish-South African scientific cooperation in the field of pharmaceutical sciences with Dr. habil. Piotr Luliński
03.10.2022
On October 3, 2022, the Ambassador of the Republic of Poland Andrzej Kanthak received Dr. habil. Piotr Luliński, Deputy Dean of the Pharmaceutical Faculty of the Medical University of Warsaw, who visited South Africa in connection with the implementation of a research project financed by the National Research Foundation - a South African agency established to support scientific activities.
Several years of scientific cooperation between the Faculty of Pharmacy of the Medical University of Warsaw and the Faculty of Pharmacy of Rhodes University in Makhanda (Grahamstown, Eastern Cape) in the field of pharmaceutical sciences is one of the examples of internationalization of research and exchange of scientific ideas between researchers from various, often geographically distant, regions of the world.
The result of cooperation between the aforementioned research centres was the granting of funding by the National Research Foundation for a project entitled: "Molecularly imprinted polymers: lamotrigine nasal delivery system", which aims to design and verify the possibility of using a new polymer drug carrier for intranasal administration. The project manager is prof. Sandile Khamanga, Dean of the Pharmaceutical Faculty of Rhodes University, and the promoter of some of the project's tasks is the research group of Dr. Piotr Lulinski.
During the meeting, Dr. P. Lulinski provided Ambassador A. Kanthak with detailed information on the assumptions of the project, its implementation and the degree of advancement of research, as well as the prospects of intensifying scientific cooperation between the two institutions and further possibilities of obtaining funds for joint research projects.
The conversation also covered more general topics related to scientific cooperation between academic centres from Poland and South Africa, the development of cooperation and implementation of institutional projects, as well as stimulating the mobility of scientists. It also drew attention to barriers that may hinder scientific cooperation between the two countries.
In the summary of the meeting, it was stated that the high scientific potential of Polish research centres is an asset in establishing research cooperation with foreign centres from the European Union, the United States and Canada. It was hoped that research contacts with South African institutions would also be continued, which would allow further projects to be carried out in the future.
Photo: Grażyna Koornhof / Embassy of the Republic of Poland in Pretoria
