Three Bangladeshi researchers — Dr Salma Sultana, Dr Firdausi Qadri and Prof Samia Subrina — have been featured in the sixth edition of Asian Scientist 100 list. What makes this an even more special is that all of them are women.

The Asian Scientist Magazine has been compiling a list of Asia’s most outstanding researchers since 2016.

Only those who have received a national or international award in the preceding year or made a significant scientific discovery are eligible for the prestigious award.

According to Dhaka Tribune, Sultana who is the founder of Model Livestock Advancement Foundation was the winner of the Norman E Borlaug Award for Field Research and Application by the World Food Prize Foundation in 2020. She was given the award for her work with small-scale farmers in Bangladesh, and her efforts involving veterinary outreach, treatment and education in particular, the news organisation said.

Qadri is emeritus scientist at the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research. She “is a laureate of the 2020 L’Oréal-Unesco For Women in Science Award for her advocacy of early diagnoses and global vaccination as well as her work on understanding and preventing infectious diseases affecting children in developing countries,” DT said.

Subrina is professor of electrical and electronic engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet). She is a recipient of the 2020 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Award for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World for her research on the properties and uses of nanomaterials.

Several Indians including Kailasavadivoo Sivan, Chairman Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), Byrana Nagappa Suresh, aerospace scientist, also with ISRO, Rajeev Kumar Varshney, agricultural scientist with International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics are among those who have made it to the most coveted list.