Celebrating Professor Phan Huu Dat's 90th birthday

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

Professor Phan Huu Dat graduated from university with a major in Ethnology, at the Faculty of History (Lomolosov Moscow State University, Soviet Union) in 1961. He received an Associate Doctorate in History (PhD) at the Faculty of History (Lomolosov Moscow State University, Soviet Union) in 1963 and was recognized as a Professor in 1996, and was awarded the title of People's Teacher in 2008.

After more than half a century of teaching and scientific research, Professor Phan Huu Dat has become one of the leading professors in Anthropology. His research works focus on the following contents: Theoretical issues on ethnicity, national community and Anthropological theory; Culture of ethnic groups in Vietnam, Culture and development; Ethnic processes and ethnic relations in Vietnam, Southeast Asia and the world; Ethnology and ethnic policies of our Party and State in the light of Ho Chi Minh's thought; History of marriage and family.

VNU President Nguyen Kim Son speaks at the ceremony

Over 100 published research works of Professor Phan Huu Dat have addressed core issues in Ethnological research, from theoretical issues in research to summarizing research issues in Ethnology in our country; from Vietnamese Ethnology to ethnological issues in the world; from culture and development to the requirements of training and researching Ethnology to serve the planning and implementation of ethnic policies and guidelines of the Party and State; from ethnic relations and urgent issues in our country and in the world to ethnic issues in globalization; from promoting research in social sciences and humanities to applied research...

As one of the leading Ethnologists, his research issues laid the foundation for the development of Vietnamese Ethnology. He was the first Vietnamese to compile textbooks.“Ethnological Basis”(1973) for research and teaching. In the 90s of the 20th century, many of his research works continued to address the requirements of Ethnological research in the direction ofAnthropologyon the basis of research achievements and new perceptions of the country's development requirements, regional and international integration.

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh honored the contributions of Prof. Dr. Phan Huu Dat to the development of the University in terms of research, teaching and management.

On the basis of basic research, the scientific research works of Professor Phan Huu Dat have paid special attention to research and summarize the theory and ethnic policies in our country in history and at present. One of the very important contributions of Professor Phan Huu Dat is the research on ethnic communities in Vietnam, culture and development. His over 30 research works have covered many issues in this field. It can be considered that the work "The development of Vietnam's ethnic minorities in the 20th century"is a work of summary, high theoretical and practical value. Professor Phan Huu Dat is also the first person to summarize most fully the main characteristics of the ethnic communities in our country. He also introduced research to participate in building criteria to determine the composition of ethnic groups in Vietnam. Those criteria were put into practical application in the 70s of the 20th century.

Prof. Dr. Pham Quang Minh congratulates Prof. People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

He has published over 100 research works, including 9 monographs, notably:“Festival culture of ethnic groups in Southeast Asia”(Editor-in-Chief, 1992);"Praying for a good harvest of ethnic groups in Vietnam"(Editor-in-Chief, 1994);“Thai-Vietnamese Culture”(co-written with Cam Trong, 1995);"Our ancestors' policy of using people in history"(Editor-in-Chief, 1998);“Some issues on Vietnamese Ethnology”(1998);“Contributing to the study of Vietnamese Ethnology”(2003)... Many of his research theses have been published in prestigious international scientific journals and magazines such as: Soviet Ethnology (1961); ASEMI (1978), international conference proceedings... in many languages ​​such as English, French, Russian. In 2005, the Professor was honored to receive the State Prize for Science and Technology with the work "Some issues on Vietnamese Ethnology" (1998).

Rector of the University of Natural Sciences Nguyen Van Noi congratulates Professor, Dr., People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

As a teacher, he has participated in training thousands of bachelors of Ethnology and History, and guided dozens of doctoral students to successfully defend their theses. He also directly taught training courses for cadres at the Ho Chi Minh National Academy of Politics, the Nationalities Committee, the Nationalities Council of the National Assembly as well as universities... and at the same time participated in teaching ethnic issues in Vietnam at a number of universities in the world such as: Lomonosov University (Soviet Union), Humbolt University (Germany) and many international scientific conferences.

Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Vu Minh Giang - Chairman of the Science and Training Council of VNU congratulates Prof. Dr. People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

Professor Phan Huu Dat also made great contributions in the management aspect to the development of Hanoi University: he was the Head of the History Department (1970-1975), Head of the Department of Ethnology (1986-1988), Vice Principal (1977-1981), Acting Principal (1981-1985) and Principal of Hanoi University (1985-1988). After retiring from management work at the University, Professor Phan Huu Dat continued to be assigned important responsibilities such as: Member of the National Council for directing the compilation ofVietnamese Encyclopedia,Deputy Editor-in-Chief and Head of the Ethnology Department of the Vietnam Encyclopedia, President of the Vietnam Historical Science Association, Session II.

Associate Professor Dr. Lam Ba Nam - President of the Vietnam Association of Ethnology and Anthropology congratulates Professor Dr. People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

Speaking at the ceremony, VNU President Nguyen Kim Son affirmed: Professor Phan Huu Dat has made great contributions in academics and teaching not only for VNU but also at the national level. As the President of Hanoi National University, he has made great contributions to leading the development of the University in an important period. In particular, he has always received the respect and love of generations of students - that is the most precious reward for a teacher. With those contributions, VNU leaders always consider teachers like him as an important support, a source of encouragement and a valuable asset of VNU. Before VNU celebrates its 25th anniversary of establishment and development, VNU leaders hope that he will not only be a contributor to today's achievements but also a witness to those achievements. Forever in the development of Hanoi National University, of Anthropology and of VNU, he will always have a position worthy of his name and contributions.

Associate Professor, Dr. Nguyen Van Suu - Head of the Department of Anthropology congratulates Professor, Dr., People's Teacher Phan Huu Dat

Expressing gratitude for the affection of the leaders of VNU, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, generations of colleagues and students, Professor Phan Huu Dat said: I have lived until now and have achieved some of the achievements I have today because I grew up with the Vietnamese revolution, received the teachings of the teachers of Lomolosov University, was cared for by the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, and was supported and shared by my family. In which, the University of Social Sciences and Humanities played an extremely important role. I had two periods of attachment to the school, that was in 1955 when I was a second-year student of the Faculty of Letters and the period 1964-2000 as a staff of the school. For more than half a century, I have had the most profound and unforgettable memories with the school, especially during the resistance war against the US to save the country, accompanying the teachers of the school in the trenches. Those are memories that my family and I will remember for the rest of our lives. "My parents gave birth to me, made me who I am, created the conditions for me to develop, mainly the University of Social Sciences and Humanities, VNU, associated with me is the Department of Ethnology up to the Faculty of Anthropology today. I wish the School, wish VNU to continue to develop steadily, contribute more to the cause of Vietnam's revolution, realize the aspiration of the times to become an excellent advanced university of Vietnam, not only the top in the region but also on par with the international level".