A UNESCO Chair in ‘Digital Science’ has been established at the International Scientific-Technological Park of the Academy of Sciences of Turkmenistan. This was reported by the news website Turkmenportal, citing the newspaper ‘Neutral Turkmenistan’.

This is now the third such unit in the country under the UNITWIN programme, which aims to accelerate the digital transformation of science and its integration into the global scientific and educational community.

The Chair has been established within the UNESCO network, which brings together more than 1,100 centres in over 130 countries, and complements existing specialist chairs in Turkmenistan in the fields of cultural heritage and environmental education.

Nikolay Nikolayev, a research fellow at the GIS laboratory, has been appointed as head of the department. Key areas of focus include artificial intelligence, big data, geospatial technologies and satellite monitoring for resource management and the development of the agro-industrial complex. Partnerships have already been established with research centres in Russia, Belarus, Turkey and Iran.

Participants at the ceremony emphasised that the project is in line with UNESCO’s strategy for 2022–2029, including the principles of open science and AI ethics.