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The Tunisian Scientific Community Meets in Montreal

The Tunisian University Mission in North America (MUTAN) organized a meeting this month in Montreal that brought together members of the Tunisian scientific community in Quebec.

The event was held in partnership with HEC Montrรฉal, which hosted it. It brought together Tunisian academics, researchers and students enrolled in Quebec universities.

It was the first face-to-face meeting with the Tunisian scientific community in Quebec organized by the Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN, a Tunisian government agency, since the COVID-19 pandemic.

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According to federal government data, in 2020 Canada had approximately 35,000 Tunisian immigrants, residing mainly in Quebec.

Canada, one of the most popular destinations for studying abroad, attracts between 2,000 and 3,000 Tunisian students a year, according to the same source.

In an interview with Radio Canada International (RCI), the director of Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN, Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, puts the number of Tunisian students in Canada at around 6,000. But he points out that this number is not precise.

Many Tunisian students are enrolled in master’s and doctoral studies, many of them in engineering.
A quote from Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, Director of MUTAN

Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, director of the Tunisian University Mission in North America (MUTAN), during the meeting with the Tunisian Canadian scientific community organized on January 12, 2023 at HEC Montrรฉal.

Mr. Ben Mahfoudh said that the Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN represents the entire ecosystem of Tunisian scientific research and higher education in North America.

He specifies that the objective of the meeting, entitled Multiple sciences in 2023, is to forge links and exchanges with our scientific community, establish appropriate networks, generate opportunities, and above all stay in contact with our scientific community.

He adds that there is a framework agreement for cooperation in scientific research between the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Tunisia and the Fonds de recherche du Quรฉbec (FRQ) and that there are calls for projects funded by both parties.

The Tunisian Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Moncef Boukthir, intervened in this regard during this event by means of a video recording.

During this meeting, the director of the Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN, who is also the deputy consul of Tunisia in Montreal, announced that the year 2023 will be rich, both in terms of achievements and projects.

In a few weeks, we will launch the first call for projects as part of the collaboration between the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Quebec Research Funds. The research areas have been identified and the financial envelopes will be allocated shortly.
A quote from Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, Director of MUTAN

These areas include digital economy, circular economy, and entrepreneurship. Researchers, businesses, and emerging companies can submit applications for funding.

The framework agreement for scientific cooperation between the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research and the Quebec Research FundFRQ was signed during a scientific symposium organized last November in Djerba, Tunisia, as part of the Francophonie Summit, recalls Mr. Ben Mahfoudh.

During this summit, the two parties renewed the agreement between the Tunisian government and the government of Quebec concerning student mobility at the level of higher education.

The director of the Tunisian University Mission in North America MUTAN also announced the signing of an agreement between the Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the University of Montreal, and the Sadok Besrour Foundation for the promotion of medicine in Tunisia.

The latter bears the name of a Canadian-Tunisian family physician established in Montreal for more than half a century.

This agreement will open up great prospects for scientific partnerships between the public and private sectors, affirms Mr. Ben Mahfoudh, who chairs the Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN since January 2022. This organization belongs to Tunisian scientific diplomacy, according to him.

The meeting was also an opportunity to organize a debate on the dialogue between scientific communities in Quebec.

Haykel Ben Mahfoudh, Marie-Nathalie LeBlanc, vice-rector of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF) and professor in the Department of Sociology at the University of Quebec in Montreal (UQAM), and Michel Audet, associate professor at HEC Montreal, took part in this dialogue led by Philippe Rรฉgnoux, founder and publication director of the CScience website.

Tributes

At the end of the meeting, four members of the Tunisian scientific community in Quebec were honored.

They received awards and certificates of appreciation for their achievements in their areas of specialization and their dedication to serving the Tunisian community in Canada.

The laureates are Dr. Sadok Besrour, Professor Ahlem Ammar, vice-dean of studies at the Faculty of Education at the Universitรฉ de Montrรฉal, Dr. Mohamed Haddad, a postdoctoral researcher at the Center Armand-Frappier Santรฉ Biotechnologie de l National Institute for Scientific Research (INRS), as well as Yousra Rimani from the Tunisian University Mission in North AmericaMUTAN.

Note: This report is also available in Arabic and has been translated into French by Fadi Harouny.

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