One of Maldives’ biggest academic conferences begins at IUM

One of the biggest academic conferences held in Maldives, the International Conference on Intellectual Advancement (ICIA), began at the Islamic University of Maldives (IUM) on Saturday.

The opening of the two-day conference was attended by Planning Minister Mohamed Aslam, who highlighted on the need to for Muslims to travel across the world and discover new academic findings.

“The global population of Muslims now stands at 1.3 billion. But the percentage of Muslims who have won the Noble Prize in the field of science doesn’t even reach one percent. This is concerning,” he said.

The conference will see the presentation of 48 papers under four main themes. The themes are:

• Social science, humanities and education
• Quran, sharia and law
• Tourism, environment and technology
• Management, trade, economy, accounting, finance and banking

Three globally renowned academics are scheduled to deliver keynote speeches. They are:

• Professor Dr. Muhammad Daud Bakar, former president of Islamic University of Malaysia and chairman of the sharia advisory council of Malaysia’s central bank
• Professor Dr. Dawood Abdulmalek Yahya Al-Hidabi, founder and former president of University of Science and Technology, Sana'a, Yemen
• Professor Dr. Muhammad Zia-ul-Haq, is director general of Islamic Research Institute and professor at International Islamic University, Pakistan

The ICIA has been held annually since 2016.