On November 21, the 16th Academic Conference and 30th Academician Conference of the World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS) was held in Hangzhou, China, in the form of a combination of online and offline. At the award ceremony, Professor Luiz Davidovich, a Foreign Academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academician of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Academician of the World Academy of Sciences, and Foreign Academician of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States, announced the list of 13 winners of the 2022 TWAS Awards in 9 disciplines: agricultural sciences, biology, chemistry, Earth Sciences, engineering sciences, mathematics, medicine, physics, and sociology. Chunying Chen, a professor the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and alumnus of our school, was awarded the TWAS Award in Chemistry in recognition of her innovative contributions to the field of nanobiotic interface analysis methods and their biomedical applications.

With the theme of "Basic sciences for evidence-based decision-making and sustainable development in the global South ", the 16th TWAS Academic Conference and 30th TWAS Academician Conference was hosted by the World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries, co-hosted by Zhejiang University, and co-organized by the China Association for Science and Technology and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. Founded in 1983 by Nobel Prize winner Abdus Salam and headquartered in Trieste, Italy, TWAS is committed to supporting research activities in developing countries, promoting exchanges and cooperation between researchers and research institutions, and promoting the development of basic and applied science. The TWAS Award is awarded every two years to scientists from developing countries who have made outstanding contributions to scientific research.

Chen Chunying is a 1987 alumnus of our school. She is a professor from the National Center for Nanoscience and Technology and Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry. She is the chief scientist of the National Key Research Program "Nanotechnology", winner of the National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars, and winner of the "China Top Ten Young Women Scientists Award" in 2014.