Tang Prize Week to Return on August 1 After Five-Year Interval

The biennial Tang Prize Award Ceremony, staged at National Chiang Kai-shek Memorial Hall in 2018, was held virtually in 2020 and then postponed in 2022, both due to the pandemic. After a five-year interval, it will take place on site again on August 1 at Howard Civil Service International House, with livestreaming (https://www.tang-prize.org/en) also available to allow global audiences to participate in real time. Six 2022 laureates, Jeffrey Sachs for Sustainable Development, Katalin Kariko, Drew Weissman, and Pieter Cullis for Biopharmaceutical Science, Jessica Rawson for Sinology, and Cheryl Saunders for Rule of Law, will travel to Taiwan to attend the ceremony and other Tang Prize Week events in person. Their visit and their interactions with various institutions in Taiwan are expected to spark a buzz of excitement among the island’s industrial leaders, government officials, as well as researchers and academics.     

CEO of the Tang Prize Foundation Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern pointed out that all six laureates are renowned scholars who have made notable contributions to the world. Professor Sachs served as Special Advisor to three UN Secretaries-General and played a key role in setting the Sustainable Development Goals and in negotiating the Paris Agreement. Drs. Kariko, Weissman and Cullis successfully developed mRNA COVID vaccines that have helped save millions of lives. Professor Rawson’s career at the Department of Oriental Antiquities of the British Museum spanned nearly thirty years. With an intimate knowledge of Chinese artifacts, she gave voice to muted objects and provided evidence of the mutual influence between the material culture of the East and the West. A pioneer in comparative constitutional studies, Professor Saunders has made a substantive contribution to constitution-building especially in the Asia-Pacific region. It is hoped that the laureates’ presence in Taiwan and the conversations they will have with the general public would not only generate more interest for the research related to the four award categories but also serve as the best way to introduce Taiwan to the international community.   

This year’s Tang Prize Week kick starts with the award ceremony, followed by a banquet at Taipei’s Grand Mayfull hotel in the evening of the same day. Another important event, the Tang Prize Laureate's Lecture series, is scheduled for August 2, from 9:30 to 17:20, at the Howard Civil Service International House. At this 8-hour academic festival, attendees can meet the laureates face-to-face and learn first-hand about their ground-breaking research achieved over a lifetime. Students, teachers and anyone enthusiastic about cutting-edge knowledge in these four fields can apply at https://reurl.cc/65j2X5.    

“The Tang Prize—Ten Years of Aspiration and Inspiration,” a special documentary that celebrates the prize’s 10^th anniversary, is available on the Tang Prize’s official YouTube channel (https://youtu.be/Tc4JbR8qk98) as of July 11. It features interviews with many important figures behind the success of the Tang Prize, including the founder Dr. Samuel Yin, President of Tang Prize Selection Committee Dr. Shu Chien, CEO of the Tang Prize Dr. Jenn-Chuan Chern, former President of Academia Sinica Dr. Chi-Huey Wong, Tang Prize board member Mr. Charng-Ven Chen, Academician of Academia Sinica Dr. Ovid Tzeng and Chair of Tang Prize Selection Committee for Sustainable Development Dr. Chao-Han Liu. They dive into the history of the Tang Prize, recounting why it was established, what makes it unique, and the milestones it has reached in the past 10 years, while also sharing their expectations for its future trajectory. In the midst of global turmoil and uncertainty, it is particularly meaningful to look back at how a prize, born in Taiwan and awarding major achievements in four distinctive fields, has encouraged and facilitated international collaboration across different disciplines. Ultimately, its goal is to bring to fruition Dr. Yin’s vision of embracing the innovative legacy of the Tang Dynasty so as to build a modern-day golden age for all humanity.         

Tang Prize Laureate's Lecture Series:

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About the Tang Prize

The advent of industrialization and globalization ushered in a new era of comfort and convenience through scientific and technological advancements. Yet, a multitude of crises have emerged along the way, such as climate change, wealth gap, and moral degradation. To tackle these problems, Dr. Samuel Yin founded the Tang Prize in December 2012. It consists of four award categories, namely Sustainable Development, Biopharmaceutical Science, Sinology, and Rule of Law. Every two years, four independent and professional selection committees made up of distinguished international experts and scholars, including several Nobel laureates, choose Tang Prize winners from a pool of nominees who have influenced and made substantive contributions to the world, regardless of their ethnicity, nationality or gender. A cash prize of NT$50 million (approx. US$1.75 million) is allocated to each category, with NT$10 million of it (approx. US$ 0.35 million) designated as a research grant to fund laureates’ research and education projects. The hope is to encourage more people with professional knowledge and skills to address mankind’s most urgent needs in this century, and to become leading forces behind the development of human society through their outstanding research and civic engagement.