Successful scientists can often be found among the Hastor Foundation’s scholarship holders. Besides dealing with science successfully, the way science is presented to the public is almost equally important, so that the public can be informed about science in the right manner. Science communication is usually inspirational to younger generations, who decide to make a living out of science, precisely because of certain teachers or people who work on promoting it.

Regarding that, we can proudly point out that our scholarship holders won four awards at the recent “3-Minute Competition” (3MT), organized by the Bosnia & Herzegovina Futures Foundation. The “3-Minute Competition” was intended for undergraduate and postgraduate students whose task was to explain the basics and importance of their current research projects in a three-minute video. The award for the best presentation in the category of master’s degree students was won by Vahida Velić from the University of Sarajevo. Vahida also won the first prize in the category of STEM presentations (STEM – Science, Engineering, Technology, and Math).

I’m thrilled and very much proud of my results, which I primarily see as a special award for my effort so far and hard work throughout my studies. My presentation tackled the topic of redesigning the knee mechanism of HKAFO orthosis, which enables movement for the patients who suffer from cerebral palsy. This was actually the topic of my final thesis at the faculty. The project was realized in collaboration with UTBM University in France, APF Handicap Community in France, and the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering in Sarajevo.

I had a wish to contribute to my community through the final thesis, i.e., to be an active community member and, in such a way, to gain knowledge and skills which would be crucial for my personal development, as well as the development of my community. Thanks to the Foundation, I received an opportunity to learn and educate myself, so I firmly believe that this is just a beginning of my professional development journey. The Hastor Foundation is “to be blamed” for my confidence, independence, and self-esteem, because the Foundation has taught me that nothing is impossible if we want something strongly enough!

The second award in the category of master’s degree students was won by Kenan Kraković, who also won the first prize in the category of medical sciences. Kenan presented his current project where he tries to develop miniaturized livers, the so-called liver organoids, which can later be used as a research model for viral liver infections. The project was very exciting, provided the said organoids are pretty much a new thing in terms of technology and something that students do not get a chance to work with every day.

We even succeeded at connecting miniaturized livers with the coronavirus, and we also developed a model which is, theoretically speaking, prone to being infected with Sars-CoV-2 – that’s something that will be tested in the future. Besides its main purpose of presenting our current research projects, 3MT competition was a great opportunity for connecting with other students of Bosnian roots from all over the world.

Kenan also added this: I have been the Foundation’s scholarship holder ever since my second year of undergraduate studies. It goes without saying that the Foundation’s generous scholarship and help in all other fields of life played a big role when it comes to my successfully enrolling in a master’s degree program abroad and participating in many competitions ever since I became a scholarship holder. To be a part of the Foundation is something special, and I will never take that “privilege” for granted.

Their presentations depicted more closely the necessity to connect engineering and medical sciences for the purposes of human health and confirmed once again the need to make scientific progress in every developed society. We congratulate them and are proud of their successes, because, as our mission from the very start suggests, education is the choice of winners!

Prepared by: Nejla Komar

Translated by: Said Kamenica