Different Iranian institutions, artists, athletes and scientific centers have made outstanding achievements in the past one year setting the country among top Islamic states.

Science

44 Iranian institutions among top Islamic World scientific entities

The research quality ranking system of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) in its 2016 edition has put names of forty-four Iranian institutions among top ones in Islamic World, Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology announced on Monday.

44 Iranian institutions among top Islamic World scientific entities.

According to the Iranian Research Institute for Information Science and Technology (IRANDOC), 486 institutes have been evaluated in 2016 by ITU, including 109 institutes from the Islamic Republic of Iran.

ITU assesses institutions in the Islamic World based on five quality-related indices before ranking them and announcing their names.

The ITU indices include citation ratios of 1%, 10% and 50% in top-quality journals as well as the scientific cooperation ratio among compatriot and international institutions.

Based on this report, the University of Tehran ranks first in Iran as long as the citation ratios are concerned, and Tehran University of Medical Sciences stands on top for the scientific cooperation ratio it represents.

Iran and Turkey with 44 institutions each ranked based on the ITU system, represent the highest number of institutions assessed.

Egypt and Malaysia each with 17 institutions, Pakistan with 12 and Saudi Arabia with 10 institutions come next in the list.

The ITU ranking system obtain the data it needs to make its assessments from the Scopus which is the largest abstract and citation database of peer-reviewed literature, including the scientific journals, books and conference proceedings.
 
Iranian university snatches SME Award

Department of Mining & Metallurgical Engineering of Amirkabir University of Technology ranked first and received the Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration (SME) Award.

Iranian university snatches SME Award
SME Distinguished Member Award is one of SME various prizes given for creating competitiveness among students.

SME is located at the University of Colorado Boulder and has over 15,000 students from 100 world countries.

Society for Mining, Metallurgy, and Exploration aims at helping developing students’ understanding and also their expert synergy.

Colorado School of Mines, University of Michigan, New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology, University of Pennsylvania, South Dakota School of Mines and Technology, University of Arizona, University of Missouri, University of Nevada, Reno, University of British Columbia, University of New South Wales and Queen's University participated in competitions.
 
 
Arts

Iran maestro on Grammy-winning ensemble

The international Silk Road Ensemble, which enlists the virtuosity of a world-renowned Iranian traditional music maestro among other greats, has been conferred with the title for Best World Music Album at this year’s Grammy Awards.

The 59th Annual Grammy Awards were held at Staples Center in Los Angele on Sunday.

The multinational band, led by fêted French-born Chinese-American cellist Yo-Yo Ma, serves to intermingle world’s sundry musical styles as a means of sending across an eclectic and intertwined cultural message. Yo-Yo Ma is touted as one of the century’s greatest cellists.

The band won the accolade for its “Sing Me Home” album. The ensemble’s website calls the work a “tribute to the ways culture can help us encounter, connect, and build something new.”

On the ensemble, Iranian maestro Keyvan Kalhor plays Kamancheh, an Iranian traditional stringed instrument. He is known as Iran’s “most international” artist.

He has invested much effort in acquainting foreigners with the Iranian music and is the only Iranian musician to have been nominated to receive a Grammy Award four times.

His musical mastership has adorned the score for Youth Without Youth, a 2007 fantasy drama film written and directed by Francis Ford Coppola.

“Musicians, music experts, and musicologists should be au fait with mathematics, history, and literature,” has said Kalhor, in words that echo the profundity of his musical expertise.

A second Oscar Award for "The Salesman" by Iran's Asghar Farhadi

Also Iranian director Asghar Farhadi won the best foreign language Oscar in Los Angeles, for a second time, for domestic drama The Salesman. Farhadi, did not attend the ceremony because he said that the conditions that would be attached to a potential entry visa were unacceptable.

The director had originally planned to travel to Hollywood for the prize-giving to highlight “the unjust circumstances that have arisen for the immigrants and travelers of several countries to the United States”.

Iranian astronaut Anousheh Ansari and Firouz Naderi, a former Nasa director accepted the award on behalf of director and read his message to the event.

 
Iranian master of calligraphy receives French Legion of Honor

Legion of Honor, the highest cultural order in France, was awarded during a ceremony to the great Iranian master of Persian calligraphy Gholam-Hossein Amirkhani.

Iranian master of calligraphy receives French Legion of Honor
The ceremony was held on Tuesday at the French Embassy in Tehran.

After receiving France’s Legion of Honor, Master Amirkhani will be called Chevalier (Knight).

Speaking to IRNA on Wednesday, the prominent Iranian calligrapher said that the French medal of Legion of Honor is given to those who have produced impressive works in art and culture.

Already, several outstanding Iranian figures including the internationally acclaimed classical singer Mohammad-Reza Shajarian, prominent vocalist Shahram Nazeri, well-known film director Abbas Kiarostami, famous writer Mahmoud Dolatabadi and several others have been awarded the order of Legion of Honor.
 
 
Sports

Iran’s Nemati, best female Para archer of 2016

Iranian recurve athlete Zahra Nemati has been elected as the best female Para archer of the year 2016.

Nemati, the Paralympic gold medalist, clinched the valuable title after the poll taken from 43,000 people and experts in February, 2017, National Olympic Committee of Iran reported on Monday. 

She was named as the best female Para archer of year 2016 during the Las Vegas 2017 Indoor Archery World Cup.

Being paralyzed in an accident in 2003, Nemati did successfully start her presence in Paralympic scenes.
She has records of medals, among which the gold medals of London Paralympics 2012 and Rio Paralympics 2016 are the most valuable.