Work life quality

The memoir Gánh Gánh…Gồng Gồng… (Burden of Life) by female documentary filmmaker Nguyễn Thị Xuân Phượng of HCM City was named the best literary work in 2020 from the HCM City Writers’ Association. File photo courtesy of the publishing house

HCM CITY  The HCM City Writers’ Association has honoured publicly acclaimed literary works created in 2020 at an awards ceremony held in HCM City.

The memoir Gánh Gánh… Gồng Gồng… (Burden of Life) by female documentary filmmaker Nguyễn Thị Xuân Phượng of HCM City was named the best literary work.

The 308-page book includes stories about the ups and downs of the life of the 92-year-old Phượng since 1945.

Phượng quit school to join the war of resistance against the French in Huế City in 1945.

She served as a dynamite maker and a doctor, before being assigned by President Hồ Chí Minh to become an interpreter and guide to foreign journalists and filmmakers in 1967.

In 1968, she became a documentary director and war correspondent for the Television Department (now Việt Nam Television).

She has made a series of documentaries about the country’s historical events such as Khi Tiếng Súng Vừa Tắt (When Gun Sound Ends), 1975; Khi Những Nụ Cười Trở Lại (When Smiles Return), 1976; and Hai Tiếng Quê Hương (My Homeland), 1978.

In 2011, she was conferred the Ordre national de la Légion d’honneur (National Order of the Legion of Honour), the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, for her contributions to developing Việt Nam – France relations.

Gánh Gánh…Gồng Gồng… was published by the Culture, Literature and Arts Publishing House.

The association also awarded a prize to the novel Đất K (Land K) by author Bùi Quang Lâm, and poetry book Bấm Chân Qua Tuổi Dại Khờ (Walking by Innocent Age) by poet Cao Xuân Sơn.

Both works were released by the Writers’ Association Publishing House.

According to the association’s managing board, the association will recruit 21 new members at the ceremony.

Author Trịnh Bích Ngân, chairwoman of the association’s managing board, said: “The association is working to build solidarity among members and create inspirations for each member to release more quality literary works in the future.” — VNS

Harvesting the 2020 summer – autumn rice in Kiên Giang  Province’s Hòn Đất District. The province is investing more in small irrigation works to secure irrigation water for agricultural production. – VNA/VNS Photo Lê Huy Hải

KIÊN GIANG — The Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta province of Kiên Giang will focus on small irrigation works and in-field irrigation works in the 2021- 25 period with an aim to restructure crop and animal cultivation and adapt to climate change.

The province plans to call for private investment in small and in-field irrigation works to improve yield, quality and efficiency of agricultural production.

The irrigation works will meet the demand for agricultural products using advanced farming techniques, according to the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development.

Irrigation water will be ensured for up to 85 per cent of rice fields that grow two rice crops a year by 2025.

The province, which is the country’s largest rice producer, aims to have 20 per cent of its rice areas using advanced farming techniques by 2025.

The province plans to secure irrigation water for 45 per cent of zoned dry crop areas by 2025, while 35 per cent of the zoned areas will use efficient irrigation facilities to save water.

Nguyễn Thanh Nhàn, deputy chairman of the provincial People’s Committee, said the province has designed exemplary irrigation models suited to each locality.

It will also upgrade small and in-field irrigation works for rice cultivation with advanced techniques. This will reduce production costs, save irrigation water and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, he said.

The province has called on individuals and organisations to invest in building and upgrading pumping stations, sluices, small dams and reservoirs, as well as dredging of irrigation canals and ditches to store water.

The province is building the irrigation works with new materials and precast thin-wall reinforced concrete canals.  VNS

The first batch of COVID-19 vaccine arrives in Tân Sơn Nhất Airport. VNA/VNS Photo Đinh Hằng

HÀ NỘI — Việt Nam’s COVID-19 vaccination programme will be conducted in line with the Government’s resolution, ensuring equal access to the vaccines, heard a meeting between the Ministry of Health and WHO and UNICEF representatives.

The meeting took place after the first batch of COVID-19 vaccines, studied and produced by AstraZeneca pharmaceutical company and the UK’s Oxford University, arrived in Việt Nam on Wednesday.

Health minister Nguyễn Thanh Long expressed his thanks for the efforts by the COVAX Facility programme to help Việt Nam access the vaccines.

Việt Nam wishes to get quality vaccines at suitable prices and matching the country’s storage capacity, he said, pledging his ministry will promptly deal with procedure-related issues to facilitate the delivery of COVID-19 vaccines under the programme.

The ministry has assigned agencies to put forth communication plans for the vaccination.

Representatives from international organisations agreed on the need to mobilise the involvement of different economic sectors in the storage of certain vaccines like Pfizer that must be kept at minus 70 degree Celsius and can be refrigerated for only five days.

This will be the biggest vaccination campaign in Việt Nam so far, with more than 100 million doses, Long said, adding that the ministry has charted scenarios and mobilised the participation of all units both and outside the medical sector for the campaign.

The participants also stressed the significance of supervising and assessing the body’s reactions to the vaccine.

A plane carrying the first batch of 117,600 doses of COVID-19 vaccine landed at Tân Sơn Nhất Airport, HCM City, on Wednesday.

Deputy health minister Trương Quốc Cường highlighted the significance of the vaccine delivery at a time when the COVID-19 pandemic is erupting in Hải Dương, Hải Phòng and Quảng Ninh provinces.

Results from clinical trials showed 22 days after the first shot, the AstraZeneca vaccine could fully protect people from serious illness, hospitalisation and death caused by the novel coronavirus. Within 90 days, the vaccine’s potency could reach 76 per cent. VNS

The company is also running its Management Trainee program Genext Challenge 2021 to recruit, train and develop young talents to meet its business growth needs in Vietnam.

The core of this strategy is the objective to build Generali Vietnam to be “more than just a place to work”, where every staff member can “learn – grow – live – thrive”.

Learn – Generali Vietnam will step up its training activities and programs with practical, innovative and diverse content and formats, as well as reinforce a learning and development culture. The company constantly digitalizes all human resources processes, including the registration and management of training and development requests, and many practical online training programs.

Grow – Generali Vietnam will continue to focus on developing its high quality workforce via the Generali Talent Management program and the ongoing Management Trainee program Genext Challenge 2021. Both programs aim at developing the company’s talent pool and outstanding individuals, to build the next generation of leaders, meeting Generali’s needs for rapid and sustainable development in Vietnam.

Live – With an aim to become “more than just a place to work” where every employee can live and work to their heart’s content with great passion and ambition, the company has been carrying out notable people policies: reinforcing Diversity & Inclusion; implementing smart working policy enabling employees to flexibly manage their work and family responsibilities; promoting work-life balance through stepping up diverse engagement activities and initiatives, and enhancing compensation and benefits; reinforcing the SOHI culture (Simplification, Ownership, Human Touch, Innovation) through continuous training, rewards and recognition, and constant feedback in day-to-day work.

Thrive – In addition to offering staff opportunities for development and career progress, Generali Vietnam plans and organizes various meaningful, practical, innovative and engaging community programs. These programs enable staff to join hands with the company in realizing its ambition of becoming “Lifetime Partner”, creating positive and sustainable values for its customers, partners and the community. Concurrently, this helps motivate staff with meaningful work life purpose and build pride.

Ms. Tina Nguyen, Generali Vietnam CEO, said: “The “More than just a place to work” people strategy is one of Generali’s strategic and sustainable efforts to build an ideal working environment and develop a happy, engaged, professional and inspired workforce. And with that, we hope to spread such happiness to customers and the community through our quality insurance services and products as well as our contributions to the society.”

PV

Dr. Nguyen Phan Thang, who is currently working at Gachon University (Korea), is one of 10 scientists receiving the 2020 Golden Globe Award.

At the age of 33, Nguyen Phan Thang’s academic fortune is 43 scientific articles, of which 28 are in the Q1 list (Group of the most prestigious scientific journals).

Graduating with a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Hanoi University of Technology, Nguyen Phan Thang won a PhD scholarship from Chung-Ang University (Korea). After six years of studying and researching, he was admitted to the position of professor intern and is working at the functional materials laboratory for energy application in the Faculty of Chemical Technology and Biology of Gachon University.

“It’s about what you learn rather than what score you get”

Thang said his passion for science was nurtured in a very simple way. “When I was a child, I never thought my dream was to become a professor. When I was little, after I was able to read and do math, I dreamed of becoming a teacher. Growing up a little, I followed my dad to fix household appliances: install wires, fix lights, repair pumps… At that time, I was always curious about the way machines operate. Many times, I broke the alarm clocks before I fixed my first,” he told VietNamNet.

Speaking about his high school achievements, he said: “I did not take any specialized classes for gifted students, but studied in the French class at Nguyen Thi Minh Khai High School (Bac Tu Liem, Hanoi).”

He always put high importance on what he could learn rather than what score he could get, so he didn’t have many outstanding achievements. With 29 points for the university entrance exam (3 subjects), he got admitted into the prestigious Hanoi University of Technology and started his research in the 4th year.

Having finished his master’s degree, having not yet figured out the path he wanted to take – in the direction of engineering, business or research – he thought he should switch to other jobs like his friends.

After asking for advice and encouragement from the teacher who led him at the Hanoi University of Technology, he applied, interviewed and passed to receive a doctorate scholarship for Chung-Ang University.

Doing science takes persistence

“Vietnamese scientists, no matter where they are working, contribute to bring the name of Vietnamese intellectuals to the world level.”

Currently, his main research at Gachon University is to learn about nanomaterials: fabrication methods, characterization analysis, structure and application to electrical, optical, and catalytic applications.

He is directing his research materials to energy storage batteries using Li, Na, and Ca metal ions. “The problem with storage batteries today is the capacity and durability of the battery, as well as how to make high quality batteries but still keeping cost reasonable.”

The areas he has researched have started to thrive in Vietnam. He said that with the capability of technology corporations, the demand for research and development of technology is huge. Vietnam is following the momentum of world development and will catch up in the foreseeable future.

He also plans to return to Vietnam in the near future to continue to carry out research at home, contribute to domestic science and develop more modern science applications.

He always thinks that published scientific work reflects one’s dedication, contribution and the value of research for basic science or practical application value.

When asked about having a respectable number of scientific papers, he said: “Partly because I have an open mindset, and always want to learn interdisciplinary studies, so besides the main research, I often participate in other studies from the network inside and outside the school.”

Like all other scientists, to get the results today, he failed many times. “During my time as a graduate student, there were days when I worked 16 hours to solve the difficulties of the experiment, the deadlock, or studies that I wanted to repeat many times to understand better.”

After each failure, he learned many lessons. Science needs a vast sea of knowledge and experience, he said, and there may be setbacks that he will still have to face. But with accumulated experience, the scientist can limit and easily overcome obstacles.

According to Thang, the qualities that scientists need, in addition to grasping background knowledge, are hard work, perseverance and passion for the job.

“Young people who have chosen the path of scientific research should firmly believe in themselves, work hard on their skills and knowledge. But the most important thing is to always keep the flame of passion in your heart. On the scientific path, there are times when things are favorable, sometimes difficult, as long as you have the courage, awareness and confidence, you will achieve great and practical achievements for humans and the earth. country.”

The love of a scientist is logic and creativity

Thang and his colleagues

Unlike what many people think, science work for Thang is not a ‘dry’ job. “The farmer loves the fields, the crops and the harvest. The artist loves the lyrics, melody and entertainment for life. So do scientists, they love logic, creativity and real value in life. Therefore, each job has its own characteristics, it is dry for outsiders but it is love for people in the profession. I feel very happy every day to learn, do research, create and think about their value in the future.”

“The happiness of a scientist is to create scientific products that are valuable for life, recognized by society, cared for and supported by the society.”

To balance work and life, he often does sports activities such as table tennis, mountain climbing, or picnics, and gathering with family and friends. “When outdoor activities are not allowed, I can sit and sing, or sip a cup of hot tea. All these activities make me slow down to enjoy life, continue to motivate me to work hard.”

When asked what he would do if he didn’t do science, he replied: “I can be a farmer – grow crops and vegetables. Any job that creates value in life, I find it very meaningful and do not hesitate to try myself.”

Nguyen Thao

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At Macalester College in the US, a university-level school with 2,000 students from 100 countries, all students have to answer the question ‘Who am I?’. This question led a Vietnamese female student to ‘find herself’ again.