Hosted by Singapore's leading Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*Star), the theme for this year's conference is 'Grooming Scientific Talent In Asia', and it will see a series of roundtable discussions on topics centring on the different sciences.

Workshops on popular culture, gender studies in Asia and the changes in space and lithosphere will be conducted by regional experts.

SCA member countries will also provide updates of their joint projects in areas such as sustainable water resource management, ocean security and natural disaster management during the conference.

More than 100 participants from 14 countries including China, India, Japan, France, South Korea, and the US are expected to attend the conference, to be held at the Grand Copthorne Waterfront Hotel.

'Such exchanges among like-minded people will no doubt contribute towards helping us realise the vision of the SCA, that is to bring about an improvement to the quality of life through sustainable and collaborative efforts in advancing science and technology', said Professor Hong Wanjin, President of the SCA and Deputy Director of A*Star's Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology (IMCB).

The annual SCA conference is held on a rotational basis and next year's conference will be held in Manila.