The Nigerian Society of Physical Sciences (NSPS) has reaffirmed that physical sciences remain critical to driving innovation, economic transformation and sustainable development in Nigeria.
This was contained in a communiqué issued in Abuja at the end of the society’s 4th International Conference held in Zaria, Kaduna State, from Feb. 9 to Feb. 14.
The communiqué, signed by the President of NSPS, Prof. Oladiran Abimbola, Secretary Prof. Babatunde Falaye, and members of the Local Organising Committee, emphasised the strategic role of physical sciences in addressing national challenges.
The conference, themed “From Labs to Lives: Harnessing the Prospects of Physical Sciences in Tackling Nigeria’s Economic, Security, and Energy Crises,” highlighted how research in Nigeria is increasingly aligning with global technological frontiers, particularly in artificial intelligence, advanced materials, computational sciences and sustainability.
The society noted growing evidence of locally driven innovations capable of addressing national priorities in energy security, environmental management, digital infrastructure and healthcare technologies.
It stressed that interdisciplinary collaboration is essential to translating research outputs into scalable industrial applications and effective policy solutions. The communiqué also underscored the need for stronger integration among academia, industry and government institutions to accelerate technology transfer and commercialisation.
NSPS called for sustained investment in research infrastructure, including advanced laboratories and high-performance computational systems, to ensure global competitiveness.
Among its resolutions, the conference pledged to strengthen national and international research collaborations through structured institutional partnerships and advocated increased public and private sector funding for science, technology and innovation infrastructure.
The society also proposed frameworks to promote entrepreneurship, commercialisation and intellectual property development, while committing to enhanced postgraduate research training, mentorship and early-career capacity building.
It further reaffirmed its dedication to responsible, ethical and environmentally sustainable scientific practices.
In his address at the conference, Abimbola highlighted recent milestones in the society’s publishing portfolio. He announced that the Journal of the Nigerian Society of Physical Sciences achieved a Q1 ranking by Scopus and a Q3 ranking in Scimago. He also revealed that African Scientific Reports had been accepted into Clarivate’s Emerging Sources Citation Index.
According to him, these achievements reflect increasing international recognition of Nigerian-led scientific scholarship.
The conference attracted researchers, industry leaders, policymakers and postgraduate scholars from within Nigeria and abroad.