Four prominent faces: Dr. Nguyen Viet Huong (Phenikaa University), Dr. Ngo Ngoc Hai (Institute of Genome Research - Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology), Dr. Pham Huy Hieu (VinUni University) and Dr. Pham Sy Hieu (Institute of Materials Science - Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology) shared with Dan Tri reporters their stories of choosing to return, devoting themselves to exploring unexplored scientific lands and solving problems that only Vietnamese people can fully understand.
In the ranks of young intellectuals of A80, they expressed pride and responsibility: their presence at the ceremony is not only a personal honor, but also a commitment to continue serving and writing scientific pages for the country.
2 times valedictorian, bringing SALD technology "made in Vietnam" to life
From a village school student in Can Loc ( Ha Tinh ), Nguyen Viet Huong is now one of the outstanding young scientists, converging in the young intellectual block A80.
The journey of 9 years of studying and researching in Europe and then deciding to return home to contribute, along with a list of achievements, has affirmed the position of a generation of young Vietnamese intellectuals who integrate but always turn towards the Fatherland.
Coming from a poor rural area in the Central region, Dr. Nguyen Viet Huong soon nurtured the desire to return to contribute to changing his homeland.
Currently, Dr. Nguyen Viet Huong is Deputy Head of the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Phenikaa University.
Right from her school days, Nguyen Viet Huong soon made her mark with a golden record of academic achievements: In 2006, Second Prize in Analysis of the National Student Math Olympiad; In 2007, Top scorer in the University Entrance Exam - University of Technology, VNU Hanoi (29/30 points)
That excellent academic path continued in Europe, when he once again ranked valedictorian of the Engineering and Master of Research Program at the Lyon National Institute of Applied Sciences (INSA de Lyon, France).
With a doctorate in hand, Nguyen Viet Huong faced a familiar choice for many young intellectuals: to continue staying in Europe to do postdoctoral research to gain more experience, or to return to Vietnam when conditions were not yet favorable.
His decision was without hesitation: to return home.
“Do something for your homeland,” his father's simple advice became his guiding principle.
His father, who had the opportunity to study in the Soviet Union but had to put it aside because of family responsibilities, has always inspired Dr. Huong to contribute. For him, studying abroad and doing research in Europe is to continue his father's unfinished dream.
In 2019, he officially became a lecturer at the Faculty of Materials Science and Engineering, Phenikaa University.
He is one of the leading researchers in Vietnam in the field of nano thin films, with a typical work being the development of atmospheric pressure atomic monolayer deposition (SALD) technology.
SALD technology enables the fabrication of nano-films at low temperatures without the need for a vacuum chamber, thereby significantly reducing production costs.
This solution is being researched and applied in a number of important fields such as gas sensors, storage batteries and protective coatings, opening up many new opportunities in scientific research and innovation activities.
To pursue SALD technology in Vietnam, he and his colleagues had to start almost from scratch.
The initial budget of 2.4 billion VND may sound large in domestic terms, but in reality it is only a fraction of the millions of USD needed to purchase a complete commercial system.
Not choosing the "shortcut" of imported equipment, Dr. Huong decided to design and manufacture it herself.
For more than 2 years, the research team worked hard on every detail, from drawings to assembly. By February 2022, the first “made in Vietnam” SALD system was officially put into operation.
Recently, he also excelled in the list of 19 nominations for the "Outstanding Young Vietnamese Face" award in 2024.
He owns 1 international patent; has 43 scientific articles published in international scientific journals in the ISI - Q1 category (the most prestigious scientific journal today), of which 35 are Q1 works.
10 years of dedication to biodiversity, winner of the 2023 Golden Globe
After 10 years of traveling from deep forests to ornamental plant markets, from rocky islands to European laboratories, Dr. Ngo Ngoc Hai - Researcher at the Institute of Genome Research, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, has chosen for himself a difficult but valuable path.
Today, he is present in the A80 young intellectual block as a typical representative of the generation of young scientists committed to Vietnam's biodiversity.
Born in 1991 in Tu Ky (Hai Duong), now Hai Phong, Dr. Ngo Ngoc Hai grew up amidst two opposing currents: the pace of urbanization and painful environmental cuts. The forests being lowered and the streams changing color have planted in the provincial student the lingering question: "How can the remaining nature be properly protected?"
Passion takes Hai to many places, but to turn his love of nature into real impact, an academic background is a prerequisite.
In 2018, he received a full DAAD scholarship from the German Government to study for a PhD at the University of Cologne - one of the prestigious molecular biology research centers in Europe.
At the end of 2022, after successfully defending his doctoral thesis at the University of Cologne, Hai could have stayed in Europe with promising postdoctoral research positions. But he chose to return immediately. The reason is summarized in one sentence: "I went to study, and came back to work."
And what he wants to “do” is to continue the path of biodiversity conservation in his homeland, where there are little-known treasures such as the eyelid gecko. They have large eyes and delicately colored skin – beauty that makes them a target for international collectors.
Since 2014, Hai and his colleagues have begun specialized surveys. Many nights, the group crawls along the limestone veins, examining each hole, marking coordinates, and recording food composition. On trips to the island, they have to wait for the tide to recede, and squeeze through sharp rocks to reach the distribution area.
But conservation cannot stop at “forests and labs”. From Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City to Dong Nai, Hai visited pet stores, playing the role of a player to ask the sellers – from origin, price to “unwritten rules”.
In Europe, he attended the Hamm pet fair (Germany) - where the Vietnamese "big-eyed queen" can be sold publicly for several hundred to several thousand USD/pair.
From these experiences, he accumulated data, published internationally, made policy recommendations and won prestigious scientific awards.
He has successfully presided over and defended 6 international projects; participated as a main member and successfully defended 3 international projects; presided over 1 Academy-level project; participated as a main member and secretary of 3 ministerial-level projects of the Nafosted fund, and is also a member of many other domestic projects.
He is honored to be one of 10 talented young scientists to win the "Golden Globe 2023" science and technology award.
Recently, he was honored in the "Enduring Passion" award to honor young people who dare to step out of their comfort zone and are not afraid of challenges to pursue their passion.
9X PhD with more than 50 publications, returns to build AI solutions for Vietnamese people
In October 2019, in a small room in Toulouse, France, Pham Huy Hieu, a 1992-born man from Nam Dinh (now Ninh Binh), packed his last belongings into a suitcase.
The excellent PhD degree in Computer Science bearing his name, awarded by the Director of the Institute for Research in Computer Science Toulouse (IRIT) the day before, was carefully placed by Hieu in the most solemn position.
He put aside job opportunities and offers with high salaries and "dream" research conditions in France, the US, Switzerland, Singapore and other developed countries. On the flight back to Vietnam, the new 9X PhD was immersed in ideas to answer the question "what will I do when I return home?".
Returning to Vietnam, the next day, Dr. Pham Huy Hieu was present at Vingroup Big Data Research Institute (VinBigData). The journey to solve problems that "only Vietnamese people can help Vietnamese people" also began from there.
Dr. Pham Huy Hieu is currently a Lecturer at the Institute of Computer Science and Engineering, Deputy Director at VinUni-Illinois Smart Health Research Center (VISHC), and Scientific Director of E-lab Startup Center at VinUni University.
In a conversation with Dan Tri, Dr. Pham Huy Hieu emphasized: science is a borderless field, but scientists all have their own Fatherland.
According to him, there are national problems that only Vietnamese people can fully solve. Typically, in the field of smart healthcare that he pursues, many challenges are closely tied to the local context – problems that cannot be found anywhere else.
As a young intellectual who was trained in the world's leading research environment, Dr. Hieu affirmed his desire to devote himself to Vietnam.
At the VinUni-Illinois Smart Health Research Center (VISHC), Dr. Hieu and his colleagues developed the VAIPE system - a digital health solution that helps people proactively manage their health via mobile devices. AI technology is trained on Vietnamese data, providing early warnings of diseases, supporting safe medication use and even suggesting timely medical examinations.
He is the youngest winner of the 2023 Golden Globe Science and Technology Award, owns many valuable inventions and innovations, and is on the nomination list for the "Outstanding Young Faces of Vietnam" award in 2023.
Dr. Pham Huy Hieu is the author and co-author of more than 50 scientific publications published in prestigious international journals and conferences. He is a young pioneer scientist in the field of digital health and smart health in Vietnam.
His research has been recognized by the global scientific community with thousands of citations on Google Scholar. In 2024, Dr. Hieu became a member of the editorial board of Nature Scientific Data .
9X owns 2 PhDs, returns to continue writing Vietnam's science dream
From more than 200 candidates from many countries, Pham Sy Hieu (born in 1994, Hai Phong) has excelled to become the only Vietnamese among 6 doctoral students to be awarded the Challenge Doctorant Prize in the Nord region (France) in the 2020 academic year.
Hieu studied Materials Science in a joint doctoral program between the University of Mons (Kingdom of Belgium) and the University of Artois (France).
Before entering the PhD level, he continuously made his mark with prestigious scholarships: 6 months of graduation internship at IMT Mines Albi Engineering School (France) and Erasmus Mundus scholarship for master's degree at Toulon University (France).
Not only outstanding in the lab, Hieu also actively connects with the young intellectual community.
He was the President of the Vietnamese Student Association in Belgium, Vice President of the Union of Vietnamese Youth and Student Associations in Europe, and was awarded many prestigious awards from the Central Youth Union, the Central Vietnam Student Association, and the Ministry of Education and Training: Outstanding Youth Following Uncle Ho's Teachings in 2020, Central-level 5-Good Student, and many other certificates of merit. He has also participated in the Global Forum of Young Vietnamese Intellectuals many times.
After 5 years of studying and researching in Europe, in March 2022, after successfully defending two doctoral theses - PhD in Chemistry at the University of Artois (France) and PhD in Science at the University of Mons (Belgium), Hieu and his wife decided to take a flight back to their homeland.
For him, it is not the end but a new beginning in the journey of turning knowledge into concrete contributions to the country.
From August 2022, Dr. Hieu has been working at the Institute of Materials Science, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology, with the main research direction on synthesis and application of advanced nanomaterials in optoelectronic devices, microchips, semiconductors and catalytic materials for energy storage and conversion.
He participated in many State-level and Academy-level projects and was a key member of international cooperation projects on clean energy.
Notably, in 2024, Dr. Hieu was honored with the Outstanding Research Award of the Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology in the field of materials science - a milestone added to the golden record of achievements of the young scientist.
In the A80 young intellectual block, Dr. Pham Sy Hieu is a typical face of the young intellectual generation: confidently integrating internationally, but always considering the Fatherland as a fulcrum to return to and contribute.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/khoa-hoc/thanh-tuu-xuat-sac-cua-cac-anh-tai-trong-khoi-tri-thuc-tre-dieu-hanh-a80-20250901091325441.htm
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