Keynote Speakers
Martin Rees
The UK's Astronomer Royal and a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College, Cambridge University
Prof. Lord Martin Rees
The UK's Astronomer Royal and a Fellow
(and Former Master) of Trinity College, Cambridge University
Martin Rees is the UK's Astronomer Royal. He is based at Cambridge
University where he is a Fellow (and Former Master) of Trinity College. He is
a member of the House of Lords, and a former President of the Royal Society.
His research interests include space exploration, black holes, galaxy
formation, the multiverse and prospects for extraterrestrial life. He is co-
founder of the Centre for the Study of Existential Risks at Cambridge
University (CSER) in addition to over 500 research papers he has written
many general articles and articles and ten books, the most recent being ‘On
the Future: prospects for Humanity.
Jane Goodall
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute & UN messenger of peace
Dr. Jane Goodall
Founder, the Jane Goodall Institute & UN messenger of peace
Dr. Jane Goodall DBE is Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations
Messenger of Peace. In July 1960, at the age of 26, she travelled from England to
what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees.
Equipped with a notebook, binoculars and a fascination with wildlife, Dr. Goodall
braved a realm of unknowns to give the world a remarkable window into humankind’s
closest living relatives. Through nearly 60 years of ground-breaking work, she has
not only shown us the urgent need to protect chimpanzees from extinction; she has
also redefined species conservation to include the needs of local people and the
environment.
Today there are 23 Jane Goodall Institutes working to support the core programmes
including TACARE, two sanctuaries for orphan chimpanzees and Roots & Shoots,
JGI’s environmental and humanitarian programme empowering young people of all
ages to become involved in hands-on projects for their community, animals and the
environment in more than 65 countries.
When possible, Dr. Goodall travels the world, speaking about the threats facing
chimpanzees and environmental crises, urging each of us to take-action on behalf of
all living things and the planet we share.
www.janegoodall.global
www.rootsandshoots.global.
Mauro Ferrari
Affiliate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington, USA
Mauro Ferrari, Ph.D.
Affiliate Professor, Department of Pharmaceutics, University of Washington, USA
A leader in nanomedicine and transport oncophysics, and the former President of the European Research Council.
Professor Mauro Ferrari is currently an affiliate Professor of Pharmaceutics at the University of Washington, and serves as a Trustee and Adjunct Professor of Business at the University of St. Thomas.
Also, Prof. Ferrari is a Scientific Advisor at Houston Methodist Research Institute as well as Dompe' Farmaceutici. Concurrently, he is the Director of Arrowhead Pharmaceuticals Company, and serves as Director, Scientific Founder, and Reference Shareholder at BrYet Pharma.
Dr. Ferrari has published over 500 scientific articles, and several books and patents. He has won numerous scientific awards and recognitions, and received honorary degrees from the University of Naples “Federico II”, the University of Palermo, and the University of St. Thomas.
Prof. Ferrari studied mathematics, medicine, and business administration in different universities, and earned his doctorate in mechanical engineering from the University of California Berkley.
He had a full history of professional achievements which includes presidential, professorship, tenure and endowed chair positions in Engineering, Medicine, Therapeutics, and Nanomedicine at the University of Ohio, University of Texas Medical School at Houston, and MD Anderson Cancer Center.
He was a Special Expert on Nanomedicine and an Advisor to Director at the National Cancer Institute. He also served as the President and CEO of Houston Methodist Hospital Research Institute (HMRI) , then as the Executive Vice President of Houston Methodist Hospital. Recently, he was the President of the European Research Council.
Speakers
Nidhal Guessoum
Professor, American University of Sharjah, UAE
Prof. Nidhal Guessoum
Professor, American University of Sharjah, UAE
Prof. Guessoum is an Algerian astrophysicist. He received his M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of California at San Diego and spent two years as a post-doctoral researcher at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center. He has conducted research at several top centers in the USA and France, participated in dozens of conferences worldwide, and published in major international journals. He has been at the American University of Sharjah, UAE, since 2000, where he has served as chair of the Physics Department, Associate Dean of the College of Arts & Sciences, President of the Faculty Senate, and other roles.
In addition to dozens of technical papers in astrophysics, Prof. Guessoum has published several books that have been well received by both specialists and the general public, including: The Young Muslim’s Guide to Modern Science (Manchester, UK: Beacon Books, 2018); Islam’s Quantum Question: reconciling Muslim tradition and modern science (London: IB Tauris, 2011), which has also been published in French (in two editions), in Arabic, in Indonesian, and in Urdu; The Story of the Universe (in Arabic), which has had 4 editions and sold over 10,000 copies; The Determination of Lunar Crescent Months and the Islamic Calendar, with two editions (one in Algeria and one in Lebanon) and has had a very significant impact on the Arab-Islamic world’s handling of the problem. He has also edited two conference proceedings volumes on “Islamic Astronomy” (in English and Arabic), and published countless articles on general science issues in Arabic, English, and French.
Prof. Guessoum has been invited to lecture at prestigious universities such as Cambridge, Oxford, Cornell, Wisconsin, Malaya, New York University at Abu Dhabi, and others worldwide. He has been interviewed in numerous international media, including the BBC, The Times, Le Monde, Al-Jazeera, Der Spiegel, NPR, France 2, France 24, Fox News, Sky News Arabia, and others. He is a regular columnist for Arab News and writes occasionally for magazines. He also has a strong online and social media presence: 100,000 followers on Twitter, 82,000 followers on Facebook, and over 300,000 channel subscribers on YouTube, where he presents his regular program Ta’ammal Ma`I (Reflect with Me) on science, culture, and education.
Fouad Mrad
Senior Programme Manager, United Nations ESCWA
Prof. Fouad Mrad
Senior Programme Manager Frontier Technologies, United Nations ESCWA
Fouad Mrad is an Advocate of policies and programs for technology development and innovation in Arab countries. He has worked for Technology for Development at UN-ESCWA in Beirut since 2010. Also in the American University of Beirut as a Professor of electrical and computer engineering from 1994 till 2009 and at IBM in Minnesota from 1990 till 1993.
Kyle E. Cordova
Executive Director for Research Enterprise, RSS
Kyle E. Cordova
Executive Director for Research Enterprise, Royal Scientific Society
Kyle E. Cordova is currently the Executive Director for Research Enterprise and the Assistant to the President for Research & Development at the Royal Scientific Society. In these roles, he is working to establish, build, and foster innovative, world-class basic and applied research on campus. Mr. Cordova received his graduate degree in inorganic chemistry from the University of California, Los Angeles. He was a founding leader of the University of California, Berkeley Global Science Institute (BGSI) – an organization whose mission is to partner with institutions of learning, foundations, governments, and industry to create centers of research in the foundational sciences that address global problems and build a culture of global science. During his tenure at BGSI, Mr. Cordova was responsible for designing, implementing, and managing all global science centers in the United States and abroad (Japan, South Korea, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Jordan, China, Malaysia, Indonesia, Argentina, and Mexico). His research continues to focus on further developing and promoting the principles of reticular chemistry for applications in clean energy, health, and the environment. He has co-authored more than 30 publications, including 5 in Science or Nature family journals, with >10,600 citations.
Francisco Marmolejo
Education Advisor, Qatar Foundation
Francisco Marmolejo
Education Advisor, Qatar Foundation
Francisco Marmolejo is since February 2020, the Education Advisor of Qatar Foundation. Previously (2016-20), he was based in New Delhi while serving as World Bank’s Lead Higher Education Specialist for India and South Asia. Also, he worked (2012-18) as the World Bank’s Higher Education Global Coordinator based in Washington. From 1995 to 2002, he served as founding Executive Director of the Consortium for North American Higher Education Collaboration, a network of more than 160 universities mainly from Canada, USA and Mexico, based at the University of Arizona, where he also worked as Assistant Vice President, Affiliated Researcher at the Center for the Study of Higher Education, and Affiliate Faculty at the Center for Latin American Studies. Previously, he has been American Council on Education Fellow at the University of Massachusetts, Academic Vice President of the University of the Americas in Mexico, and International Consultant at OECD in Paris. He has received honorary doctorate degrees from his Alma Mater, the University of San Luis Potosi, and the University of Guadalajara in Mexico.
Said Ismail
Director, Qatar Genome Project
Dr. Said Ismail
Director, Qatar Genome Project
Dr. Said Ismail is the Director of the Qatar Genome programme (QGP), one of the major national programs in the region. QGP is a population-based initiative incubated at Qatar biobank and designed around on a comprehensive strategy involving drafting regulations and policies; forging local research partnerships; establishing national genomic data networks; building local human capacity; and facilitating the integration of genomics into the healthcare system.
Dr Ismail, a Ph.D. graduate from the University of Oxford, has work experience extending into various fields including research, education and consultancy. His research experience is in the field of molecular biology and genetics with focus on cancer genetics and the screening and characterisation of disease related mutations in the Arab population. He is the first president and co-founder of the International Society on Aptamers, and is also an editorial board member in multiple international journals.
As a research fellow at University College London (UCL), Dr. Ismail won the Said Foundation prize for young Arab researchers in the UK. As head of the Biochemistry department at the University of Jordan Medical School, he was awarded the Shoman award for Arab researchers in biomedical sciences in 2013. Dr. Ismail served as a consultant to several regional and international pharma and biotech companies. He also headed the Jordan University Hospital reference lab for molecular diagnostics, was the vice chair for research at the Cell Therapy Centre, and Board Member of the Jordan Advisory Board of the International Consortium for the American Society for Clinical Pathology International (ASCPi).
Dr. Ismail has special interest in promoting research among young students and researchers in the Arab world. He launched one of the largest efforts to enhance the Arabic medical and scientific content on the internet; The “Bel-Arabi” initiative: "بالعربي" (http://www.bel-arabi.com). He is also a Board member of the Phi Science Institute, which aims to promote science and research among youth (https://www.f6s.com/phiscienceinstitute).
Mohamad Bydon
Professor, Mayo Clinic
Mohamad Bydon, M.D.
Professor of Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery, Health Services Research, Mayo Clinic
Dr. Mohamad Bydon is a Professor of Neurosurgery, Orthopedic Surgery and Health Services Research at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. As a neurosurgeon, he specializes in the areas of complex spine surgery, spinal oncology, and minimally invasive spine surgery.
Dr. Bydon is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his medical residency and a clinical fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. At Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bydon see patients regularly and has received honors for his exceptional delivery of patient care. He also serves as Assistant Dean of Education in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Registry, a real-time patient safety and outcome platform that integrates data from Mayo Clinic’s hospitals in the US and internationally. In addition, Dr. Bydon is the Principal Investigator of the Mayo Clinic Neuro-Informatics Laboratory, dedicated to advancing neurologic patient care and safety.
Dr. Bydon is a frequent lecturer and has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts in addition to hundreds of book chapters, abstracts and other written publications. He is currently editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Neuroscience and holds reviewer responsibilities for several scientific publications. Dr. Bydon sits on the executive boards of three national neurosurgical societies.
Dr. Bydon is a graduate of Dartmouth College and Yale University School of Medicine. He completed his medical residency and a clinical fellowship at Johns Hopkins Hospital. At Mayo Clinic, Dr. Bydon see patients regularly and has received honors for his exceptional delivery of patient care. He also serves as Assistant Dean of Education in the Mayo Clinic College of Medicine and Science and Medical Director of the Mayo Clinic Enterprise Registry, a real-time patient safety and outcome platform that integrates data from Mayo Clinic’s hospitals in the US and internationally. In addition, Dr. Bydon is the Principal Investigator of the Mayo Clinic Neuro-Informatics Laboratory, dedicated to advancing neurologic patient care and safety.
Dr. Bydon is a frequent lecturer and has authored more than 300 peer-reviewed manuscripts in addition to hundreds of book chapters, abstracts and other written publications. He is currently editor-in-chief of the International Journal of Neuroscience and holds reviewer responsibilities for several scientific publications. Dr. Bydon sits on the executive boards of three national neurosurgical societies.
Walid Qoronfleh
Director of Healthcare Research & Policy, Qatar Foundation-WISH
Dr. Walid Qoronfleh
Director, Healthcare Research & Policy, Qatar Foundation / WISH
Dr. M. Walid Qoronfleh is currently the Director of Healthcare Research & Policy at Qatar Foundation-WISH. Dr. Qoronfleh leads the WISH Doha-based research unit which is engaged in research areas that are of immediate global and local healthcare relevance to Qatar. The research is undertaken with a view to positively impacting health policy. These areas include autism, mental health, dementia, patient safety, non-communicable diseases (cancer, diabetes & obesity), precision medicine and bioethics.
Immediately prior to WISH, Walid was the Biotechnology Development Director at HBKU-QBRI in Qatar. Dr. Qoronfleh has over 20 years of scientific, technology, business, and commercial experience. He has held several senior management and executive positions with increasing responsibilities at GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, US_NIH-NCI, ThermoFisher, NextGen Sciences (VP, Personalized Medicine) and SDIX (Executive Director, Diagnostics business, Nasdaq: SDIX).
Dr. Qoronfleh is the founder of three biotechnology companies and he is a co-founder and the managing director of the boutique consulting company Q3CG. Dr. Qoronfleh has published over 100 combined peer reviewed abstracts and papers. He is also an editor and an ad hoc reviewer for various scientific journals plus a frequent speaker at national and international conferences. He holds degrees from The University of Louisville–School of Medicine (graduate medical), Penn State University (MBA), and The University of Wisconsin–Madison.
Bashar El-Khasawneh
Associate Professor, Khalifa University
Dr. Bashar El-Khasawneh
Associate Professor, Khalifa University
Bashar El-Khasawneh is currently an associate professor of mechanical engineering at Khalifa University. He served as the chair of the graduate program at the Mechanical Engineering Department from 2016-2019. He served as the Associate Chair for the department from 2013-2016. Before that he acted as an academic advisor for the British University in Dubai to develop an accredited industrial engineering program. Between 2008 and 2010 he was the Manager of the Applied Research Programs at King Abdullah II Design and Development Bureau (KADDB), Jordan. Between 2002 to 2008 he held an assistant professor position in the Industrial Engineering Department, at Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST), within that time he served as a chairman for the department for two years. Between 1998-2002 he worked for Caterpillar Incorporated in the technical center and for KLA-Tencor with the technology group both in USA. He worked extensively on technical and managerial assistance for many industries. He founded a design and development pre-incubator at the JUST University to train and qualify students to become entrepreneurs. He obtained his PhD in Mechanical Engineering from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, USA (1997). He is a member of the Advisory Board of the Innovation Lab at the Dubai Health Authority (DHA) and a member of the editorial board of IJAER. His current research is focused on developing new concepts of advanced machining centers based on parallel kinematics mechanism and machining in harsh environments by adapting to the environment/geometry and be able to perform machining/welding tasks and developing robotic platforms for 3D printing of structures.
Amine Bermak
Professor and Associate Dean, HBKU
Prof. Amine Bermak
Professor and Associate Dean, Hamad Bin Khalifa University
Prof. Amine Bermak received the Masters and PhD degrees, both in microelectronics and Microsystems, from Paul Sabatier University, Toulouse, France in 1994 and 1998, respectively. He joined the ECE Department of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), where he held all academic ranks and subsequently promoted to a full Professor. He was also ECE Associate Head for Research and Postgraduate studies. Currently, Prof. Bermak is with Hamad Bin Khalifa University, Qatar Foundation, Qatar, holding a full professor appointment as well as Associate Dean. Prof. Bermak taught 25 different courses at the undergraduate and post-graduate levels. For his excellence and outstanding contribution to teaching, he was nominated for the 2013 Hong Kong UGC best teacher award (for all HK Universities). He is the recipient of the 2011 University Michael G. Gale Medal for distinguished teaching (Highest University-wide Teaching Award). Prof. Bermak is also a two-time recipient of the “Engineering School Teaching Excellence Award" in HKUST for 2004 and 2009, respectively. Prof. Bermak has received Six distinguished awards, including the “Best University Design Contest Award” at ASP Design Automation Conference (DAC) in Macau 2016; “Best student paper award” at IEEE International Symposium on Circuits and systems ISCAS 2010; the 2004 “IEEE Chester Sall Award” from IEEE Consumer electronics society; the IEEE Service Award from IEEE Computer Society and the “Best Paper Award” at the 2005 International Workshop on System-On-Chip for Real-Time Applications. He has published over 350 articles in journals, book chapters and conference proceedings and designed over 30 chips. He has graduated 25 PhD and 20 Masters students. He has served on the editorial board of IEEE Transactions on Very Large Scale Integration (VLSI) Systems and the Sensors Journal. He is also currently serving on the editorial board of IEEE Transactions on Biomedical Circuits and Systems and the IEEE Transactions on Electron Devices (TED). He is also an editor for Nature Scientific report. Prof. Bermak is a Fellow of IEEE and IEEE distinguished Lecturer. He is recognized as the world-leading author in the sensors area as well as the inventor of time-domain sensing.
Halima Bensmail
Associate Professor, HBKU
Dr. Halima Bensmail
Principal Scientist, QCRI & Associate Professor, HBKU
Halima Bensmail is principal scientist at QCRI and founded the bioinformatics team in 2011 and is a joint full professor at HBKU’s College of sciences and engineering. Prior to joining Qatar computing research institute, Dr. Bensmail served as an associate professor of Statistical Machine Learning and Biostatistics at the University of Tennessee and Virginia Medical School, a scientist at Oak Ridge National Laboratory and Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center and a postdoc at the University of Washington in Seattle.
Dr. Bensmail served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health (USA). She serves as an advisor to the Qatar Anti-Doping Lab and is a member of the HBKU Research committee and a Sidra Internal Grants reviewer member.
Dr. Bensmail is a recipient of the ONRST Fellowship from the Office of Naval Research Science and Technology, Virginia; the International Federation for Classification Society Young Investigator (IFCS) award in Rome and the Qatar Foundation Research Forum recipient award in Computing. Dr. Bensmail won the best contribution in the “Information Complexity (ICOMP) workshop” in Cappadocia in 2015.
Dr. Bensmail received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Science in Morocco (1989) and her M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) from University Paris 6 in France.
Dr. Bensmail served as a reviewer for the National Science Foundation and National Institute of Health (USA). She serves as an advisor to the Qatar Anti-Doping Lab and is a member of the HBKU Research committee and a Sidra Internal Grants reviewer member.
Dr. Bensmail is a recipient of the ONRST Fellowship from the Office of Naval Research Science and Technology, Virginia; the International Federation for Classification Society Young Investigator (IFCS) award in Rome and the Qatar Foundation Research Forum recipient award in Computing. Dr. Bensmail won the best contribution in the “Information Complexity (ICOMP) workshop” in Cappadocia in 2015.
Dr. Bensmail received her B.S. in Mathematics from the University of Science in Morocco (1989) and her M.S. (1992) and Ph.D. (1996) from University Paris 6 in France.
Mimoun Azzouz
Chair of Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield
Prof. Mimoun Azzouz
Chair of Translational Neuroscience, Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience, University of Sheffield
Professor Azzouz obtained a Master in Neuroscience with 1st Class Honours from the University of Marseille in 1994. In 1997 he was awarded a PhD in Neuropharmacology at the University Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg. He then worked as post-doctoral scientist at the Gene Therapy Center in Lausanne, Switzerland from 1997 to 2000. He was recruited in 2000 by Oxford BioMedica plc as Senior Scientist then appointed as Director of Neurobiology in 2003. He was also a visiting scientist at Oxford University between 2000 and 2005. In 2006, he was invited to join the University of Sheffield and was appointed to the Chair of Translational Neuroscience. Professor Azzouz is currently Professor at the Medical School, Deputy Head of Neurology Unit and Director of Research & Innovation. He has several managerial and teaching tasks within the department and at the Faculty level. His track record of translational research productivity is characterised by publications in top ranking scientific journals, including Nature, Nature Medicine, Nature Neuroscience, Science Translational Medicine and JCI. Several inventions emerged from his research. One of his major achievements is his involvement in a gene therapy approach designed to achieve dopamine replacement in models of Parkinson’s disease. This strategy has yielded significant translational impact having entered into phase I/II human clinical trials since 2008. His other pioneering work, which has already produced major breakthroughs in animal models, has short and medium term potential for real translation into major therapeutic advances for human neurodegenerative disease. He is currently driving 2 clinical development programs through regulatory tox, GMP clinical manufacturing and regulatory bodies. He has been successful in attracting an array of scientific awards and honours. He recently won the prestigious ERC Advanced Investigator (2011) and ERC Proof-of-Concept (2017) Awards. These awards are top level EU ad hominem award acknowledging his pre-eminence in European biomedical research. He has been nominated for the prestigious Shaw Price. He has been a key academic partner in the successful fundraising of £18M necessary to build the new Sheffield Institute for Translational Neuroscience (SITraN). He is frequently invited as a plenary lecturer at international scientific and clinical meetings where his work generates intense interest from the scientific community. He is/has been advisor for pharmaceutical companies and academic institutions. He is currently a member of the editorial board of various journals and member of scientific Panels/Boards for various funding bodies such as the Medical Research Council (Translational MRC Panel, UK), the French Muscular Dystrophy Association (AFM), the Health Research Board (HRB) of Ireland, Research Council of Norway, The Irish Research Council Advanced Laureate Awards scheme and LifeArc Philanthropic Board. He has been recently named as Board member of the British Society for Gene and Cell Therapy and Scientific Advisor for the Batten CLN7 gene therapy trial (Beat Batten). He has been member/chair of evaluation committees of academic insitutions.
Mohamed Alouini
Professor, KAUST
Prof. Mohamed-Slim Alouini
Professor, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology
Mohamed-Slim Alouini is the CEMSE Division Associate Dean, Professor of Electrical Engineering (EE), Affiliate Professor of Applied Mathematics and Computational Science (AMCS), Affiliate Professor of Statistics (STAT), Principal Investigator of the Communication Theory Lab (CTL) and active member of the Sensor Initiative (SI) of the King Abdullah University of Sciences and Technology (KAUST).
He is one of the Founders of the Program now leading the Communication Theory Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States, in 1998.
Professor Alouini current research interests include design and performance analysis of diversity combining techniques, MIMO techniques, multi-hop/cooperative communications systems, optical wireless communication systems, cognitive radio systems, and multi-resolution, hierarchical and adaptive modulation schemes.
Alouini has won several awards in his career: for instance, he recently received the 2019 Technical Achievement Award of the IEEE Communication Society Communication Theory Technical Committee. Prior to this, he was honored in 2017 with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Science and Technology (S&T) Achievement Award in Engineering Science at the First OIC Summit on Science and Technology, Astana, Kazakhstan. He also received the 2016 Recognition Award of the IEEE Communication Society Wireless Technical Committee as well as the 2016 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Engineering Sciences. Other recognitions include his selection as (i) Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the African Academy of Science (AAS), the European Academy of Science and Arts (EASA), and the Academia Europaea (AE), (ii) IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communication Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, (iii) member for several times in the annual Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge list of Highly Cited Researchers as well as the Shanghai Ranking/Elsevier list of Most Cited Researchers and the AMiner 2020 list of the AI 2000 Most Influential Scholars in the area of Internet of Things, and (iv) a co-recipient of best paper awards in twelve IEEE journals/conferences (including Communication Surveys & Tutorials, ICC, GLOBECOM, VTC, PIMRC, ISWCS, and DySPAN).
He is one of the Founders of the Program now leading the Communication Theory Lab. He received his Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), United States, in 1998.
Professor Alouini current research interests include design and performance analysis of diversity combining techniques, MIMO techniques, multi-hop/cooperative communications systems, optical wireless communication systems, cognitive radio systems, and multi-resolution, hierarchical and adaptive modulation schemes.
Alouini has won several awards in his career: for instance, he recently received the 2019 Technical Achievement Award of the IEEE Communication Society Communication Theory Technical Committee. Prior to this, he was honored in 2017 with the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) Science and Technology (S&T) Achievement Award in Engineering Science at the First OIC Summit on Science and Technology, Astana, Kazakhstan. He also received the 2016 Recognition Award of the IEEE Communication Society Wireless Technical Committee as well as the 2016 Abdul Hameed Shoman Award for Arab Researchers in Engineering Sciences. Other recognitions include his selection as (i) Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the African Academy of Science (AAS), the European Academy of Science and Arts (EASA), and the Academia Europaea (AE), (ii) IEEE Distinguished Lecturer for the IEEE Communication Society and IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, (iii) member for several times in the annual Thomson ISI Web of Knowledge list of Highly Cited Researchers as well as the Shanghai Ranking/Elsevier list of Most Cited Researchers and the AMiner 2020 list of the AI 2000 Most Influential Scholars in the area of Internet of Things, and (iv) a co-recipient of best paper awards in twelve IEEE journals/conferences (including Communication Surveys & Tutorials, ICC, GLOBECOM, VTC, PIMRC, ISWCS, and DySPAN).
Mohamed Aburawi
Founder and CEO, Speetar
Dr. Mohamed Aburawi
Founder and CEO, Speetar
Mohamed Aburawi is a surgeon turned health-tech entrepreneur. In 2017 he founded Speetar, an AI enabled telehealth platform awarded by Harvard and supported by MIT Sandbox Innovation Fund. Piloted in Libya and currently being scaled across the Middle East, Africa, and Central Asia, Speetar links underserved patients in low resource settings to a global pool of cultural and language-matched medical specialists.
Speetar represents a disruptive healthcare model, breaking down economic, social, and geographic barriers that too often limit the options patients have when seeking quality medical care. During the coronavirus pandemic, Speetar’s COVID-19 Platform, a newly developed rapid response solution helped triage patients and mitigate resource limitations in war-torn Libya. Prior to launching Speetar, Mohamed worked at Harvard Medical School’s Center of Engineering in Medicine as a senior researcher where he led the design and development of novel ex-vivo human organ reconditioning systems.
In 2018, Mohamed was named one of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation GoalKeepers, and an Ashoka Visionary in recognition for his efforts leveraging digital technologies to enable healthcare delivery in low resource settings. In 2019 he was awarded the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Community Service Award and most recently was selected as an Aspen Institute Fellow and a Fellow at the MIT Legatum Center of Development and Entrepreneurship.
Mohamed’s passion for improving global healthcare outcomes continues to place him at the intersection of technology, business, and medicine. His work has been featured by Forbes, the BBC, Aljazeera, PRI, PRX, WGBH, and StartupScene MENA among other local and global outlets. Dr. Aburawi holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, where he was also a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Edward S. Mason Fellow. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Speetar represents a disruptive healthcare model, breaking down economic, social, and geographic barriers that too often limit the options patients have when seeking quality medical care. During the coronavirus pandemic, Speetar’s COVID-19 Platform, a newly developed rapid response solution helped triage patients and mitigate resource limitations in war-torn Libya. Prior to launching Speetar, Mohamed worked at Harvard Medical School’s Center of Engineering in Medicine as a senior researcher where he led the design and development of novel ex-vivo human organ reconditioning systems.
In 2018, Mohamed was named one of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation GoalKeepers, and an Ashoka Visionary in recognition for his efforts leveraging digital technologies to enable healthcare delivery in low resource settings. In 2019 he was awarded the Harvard Medical School Dean’s Community Service Award and most recently was selected as an Aspen Institute Fellow and a Fellow at the MIT Legatum Center of Development and Entrepreneurship.
Mohamed’s passion for improving global healthcare outcomes continues to place him at the intersection of technology, business, and medicine. His work has been featured by Forbes, the BBC, Aljazeera, PRI, PRX, WGBH, and StartupScene MENA among other local and global outlets. Dr. Aburawi holds a Master of Public Administration from Harvard Kennedy School, where he was also a Center for Public Leadership Fellow and Edward S. Mason Fellow. He is currently pursuing an MBA at the MIT Sloan School of Management.
Christophe Zoghbi
Co-founder & CEO, Zaka
Christophe Zoghbi
Co-founder & CEO, Zaka
Christophe is a Software Engineer with over 8 years of experience in Software development and various fields of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. He is the founder of Beirut AI, the applied Artificial Intelligence community in Lebanon, where he organizes community events and technical workshops to help people understand and apply AI. He’s also the founder & CEO of Zaka, an Artificial Intelligence consulting company that aims to develop the AI sector in the local community and abroad.
Samer Obeidat
CEO, stallion.ai
Samer Obeidat
CEO, stallion.ai
Samer Obeidat is a serial entrepreneur, innovator, and an angel investor who believes in creating shared value and impactful entrepreneurship. During the last decade, Samer has performed various top management roles, and the focus of his work has been investment management, fintech, and artificial intelligence.
In 2013, Obeidat founded Dubai-based National Bullion House and led the development of the first online trading platform for precious metals spot deliverable contracts. As of 2016, he was involved in the investment of over $1 billion in the precious metals markets in the EMEA region.
Prior to this, Obeidat spent over 7 years with major financial brokers and gold trading companies helping them to grow and expand their operations in different jurisdictions in the region.
Obeidat is currently leading, with a group of AI scientists, Stallion.AI, an artificial intelligence solutions company with R&D operations in Ottawa, New York, Limassol, Dubai and recently Riyadh. Stallion AI is on a mission to transform enterprises with advanced AI solutions, products and services across different industries in both public and private sectors. Obeidat is also a managing director at Investifai, a SEC-regulated artificial intelligence-driven investment management, which is on a mission to transform the traditional asset management industry around the world.
Samer has a degree in Applied Sciences, and holds a Master’s degree in Global Management from the Royal Roads University (RRU) in Victoria, BC, Canada, where he conducted an intensive empirical research that focused on managing investment portfolios using deep learning technologies
In 2013, Obeidat founded Dubai-based National Bullion House and led the development of the first online trading platform for precious metals spot deliverable contracts. As of 2016, he was involved in the investment of over $1 billion in the precious metals markets in the EMEA region.
Prior to this, Obeidat spent over 7 years with major financial brokers and gold trading companies helping them to grow and expand their operations in different jurisdictions in the region.
Obeidat is currently leading, with a group of AI scientists, Stallion.AI, an artificial intelligence solutions company with R&D operations in Ottawa, New York, Limassol, Dubai and recently Riyadh. Stallion AI is on a mission to transform enterprises with advanced AI solutions, products and services across different industries in both public and private sectors. Obeidat is also a managing director at Investifai, a SEC-regulated artificial intelligence-driven investment management, which is on a mission to transform the traditional asset management industry around the world.
Samer has a degree in Applied Sciences, and holds a Master’s degree in Global Management from the Royal Roads University (RRU) in Victoria, BC, Canada, where he conducted an intensive empirical research that focused on managing investment portfolios using deep learning technologies
Ahmed Guessoum
Full Professor, USTHB
Prof. Ahmed Guessoum
Full Professor, University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene, Algiers
Professor Ahmed Guessoum received his Ingéniorat (5-year undergraduate degree) from the University of Science and Technology Houari Boumediene (USTHB, Algiers, Algeria) in 1984, his MSc from the University of Southern California in 1986 and Ph.D. from the University of Bristol (UK) in 1992, all degrees being in Computer Science. He was a Research Associate on two ESPRIT projects at the University of Bristol from 1989 to 1993 and a Guest Researcher at the Norwegian Institute of Technology in Trondheim (Norway) from 1993 to 1995. Between 2/1996 and 8/2000 Dr. Guessoum was an Assistant Professor at King Saud University in Riyadh (Saudi Arabia) and was then an Associate Professor till 8/2007 at the University of Sharjah (UAE). He has been a faculty member of the Computer Science department of USTHB since 10/2009 where he is a Full Professor.
Prof. Guessoum research interests fall within Artificial Intelligence (Automated Reasoning, Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation, Arabic Natural Language Processing). He has published extensively in international journals, conferences, and book collections and has reviewed for a large number of international conferences and journals. He has also been a member/chair of various conference Technical Program Committees and was the General Chairman of the IEEE International Symposium on Programming and Systems (ISPS’2013). He has also worked on various research projects, two European ESPRIT projects while in the UK, and others in Norway, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Algeria.
Prof. Guessoum has a very long experience in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels (MSc and PhD) and research. He has received various distinctions and awards including scholarships from the Algerian government to pursue Master’s and PhD studies, the College of Arts and Sciences “Distinguished Teacher Award” (University of Sharjah, in May 2007), the “University of Sharjah Distinguished Teacher Award” (Conferred by the Ruler of Sharjah during the university Graduation Ceremony for 2005 to the best university faculty member in terms of teaching), “Certificate of Outstanding Academic Achievement” (the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, after MSc studies), the Bank of Sharjah Award for best graduation project (supervised undergraduate project "A Web-Based Early Warning System for Anti-Microbial Resistance", June 2003), in addition to some best or second best paper awards at international conferences received for papers with (MSc and PhD) students he supervised.
Prof. Guessoum has moreover been in charge of important committees in the various universities he has worked for as well as a member of many others. At USTHB, he was the chair of a university committee who has developed the university 5-year strategic plan in ICT for the period 2015–2019; in the Spring of 2017, he chaired the USTHB committee in charge of Quality Assurance university self-evaluation, required by the Ministry of Higher Education. From 2013 to 2016, he was the Director of the PhD Programme of the Computer Science Department at USTHB, (Algiers, Algeria). He has also chaired or been a member of various committees in charge of education and research matters and a member of the national IT standing committee of the Algerian Ministry of Post and ICT. He is now and then invited as an expert in Quality Assurance in Higher Education for institutional and Computer Science Programme reviews in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Most recently, Ahmed Guessoum has been designated by the National Directorate for Scientific Research and Technological Development (DGRSDT) as the Principal Scientific Coordinator in the organisation of the Workshop on the National Strategic Plan on Artificial Intelligence held in Constantine 1-2/12/2019, the main role being to advise and help in the preparation of the scientific content of the workshop (150 AI experts) that aims at developing an Algerian national strategy in AI. The current effort as a principal scientific coordinator is on finalising the national strategy. Prof. Guessoum has also been selected by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Research to represent Algeria as an Artificial Intelligence Expert at the 17th Meeting of the Arab ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the theme of the meeting being “Artificial Intelligence”, Cairo, 23–25/12/2019.
Prof. Guessoum has also given various general lectures nation-wide in Algeria on topics related to the place of Science in society, scientific research priorities, the brain drain, challenges facing the youth, Artificial Intelligence, the Arabic language in the ICT Era, “Mobile Machine Translation”, etc. He has also been a guest in Algeria on various TV and Radio programmes dealing with some of these topics.
Prof. Guessoum research interests fall within Artificial Intelligence (Automated Reasoning, Natural Language Processing and Machine Translation, Arabic Natural Language Processing). He has published extensively in international journals, conferences, and book collections and has reviewed for a large number of international conferences and journals. He has also been a member/chair of various conference Technical Program Committees and was the General Chairman of the IEEE International Symposium on Programming and Systems (ISPS’2013). He has also worked on various research projects, two European ESPRIT projects while in the UK, and others in Norway, Saudi Arabia, the UAE, and Algeria.
Prof. Guessoum has a very long experience in teaching at the undergraduate and graduate levels (MSc and PhD) and research. He has received various distinctions and awards including scholarships from the Algerian government to pursue Master’s and PhD studies, the College of Arts and Sciences “Distinguished Teacher Award” (University of Sharjah, in May 2007), the “University of Sharjah Distinguished Teacher Award” (Conferred by the Ruler of Sharjah during the university Graduation Ceremony for 2005 to the best university faculty member in terms of teaching), “Certificate of Outstanding Academic Achievement” (the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, after MSc studies), the Bank of Sharjah Award for best graduation project (supervised undergraduate project "A Web-Based Early Warning System for Anti-Microbial Resistance", June 2003), in addition to some best or second best paper awards at international conferences received for papers with (MSc and PhD) students he supervised.
Prof. Guessoum has moreover been in charge of important committees in the various universities he has worked for as well as a member of many others. At USTHB, he was the chair of a university committee who has developed the university 5-year strategic plan in ICT for the period 2015–2019; in the Spring of 2017, he chaired the USTHB committee in charge of Quality Assurance university self-evaluation, required by the Ministry of Higher Education. From 2013 to 2016, he was the Director of the PhD Programme of the Computer Science Department at USTHB, (Algiers, Algeria). He has also chaired or been a member of various committees in charge of education and research matters and a member of the national IT standing committee of the Algerian Ministry of Post and ICT. He is now and then invited as an expert in Quality Assurance in Higher Education for institutional and Computer Science Programme reviews in the Kingdom of Bahrain. Most recently, Ahmed Guessoum has been designated by the National Directorate for Scientific Research and Technological Development (DGRSDT) as the Principal Scientific Coordinator in the organisation of the Workshop on the National Strategic Plan on Artificial Intelligence held in Constantine 1-2/12/2019, the main role being to advise and help in the preparation of the scientific content of the workshop (150 AI experts) that aims at developing an Algerian national strategy in AI. The current effort as a principal scientific coordinator is on finalising the national strategy. Prof. Guessoum has also been selected by the Algerian Ministry of Higher Education and Research to represent Algeria as an Artificial Intelligence Expert at the 17th Meeting of the Arab ministers of Higher Education and Scientific Research, the theme of the meeting being “Artificial Intelligence”, Cairo, 23–25/12/2019.
Prof. Guessoum has also given various general lectures nation-wide in Algeria on topics related to the place of Science in society, scientific research priorities, the brain drain, challenges facing the youth, Artificial Intelligence, the Arabic language in the ICT Era, “Mobile Machine Translation”, etc. He has also been a guest in Algeria on various TV and Radio programmes dealing with some of these topics.
Walid Al-Zyoud
Head, German Jordanian University
Dr. Walid Al-Zyoud
Head of Biomedical Engineering Department, German Jordanian University
Walid is the Head of the Biomedical Engineering Department and the Vice Dean of School of Applied Medical Sciences (SAMS) at the German Jordanian University (GJU).
Walid graduated from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) with a bachelor degree in Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (accredited by (ASIIN) a German Accreditation Agency for Degree Programs in Engineering, Informatics/Computer Science, the Natural Sciences and Mathematics). Then he earned a Master's degree in Biotechnology from Yarmouk University (YU). He joined the Central Laboratories of the Jordanian Ministry of Health and then the King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) at the Laboratory Medicine Department in Immunogenetics and HLA genotyping laboratories (labs accredited by the College of American Pathologists CAP).
Walid earned his PhD in Pathology from the faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, where he aimed to combine his molecular pathology background with robust biophysical techniques. The Jordanian Accreditation & Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions certified Walid to teach Human Physiology for university students. His postgraduate research project focused on the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) approach to resolve the architecture and conformational changes of an unusual bacterial transcription factor involved in amino acid metabolism in work published in Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), a highly reputed Oxford University Journal that has a 5-year Impact Factor of 10.727.
Besides, Walid and his colleagues at the Jordanian Society of Genetic Engineers (JSGE) have a deep interest in corona-viruses; they have invented a viral RNA extraction kit for SARS-CoV-2 for nasopharyngeal specimens. Walid has had a fellowship in Responsible Conduct of Research from the University of California, San Diego. He is also a member of IEEE.
Walid graduated from Jordan University of Science and Technology (JUST) with a bachelor degree in Biotechnology & Genetic Engineering (accredited by (ASIIN) a German Accreditation Agency for Degree Programs in Engineering, Informatics/Computer Science, the Natural Sciences and Mathematics). Then he earned a Master's degree in Biotechnology from Yarmouk University (YU). He joined the Central Laboratories of the Jordanian Ministry of Health and then the King Hussein Cancer Centre (KHCC) at the Laboratory Medicine Department in Immunogenetics and HLA genotyping laboratories (labs accredited by the College of American Pathologists CAP).
Walid earned his PhD in Pathology from the faculty of Medicine at the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in Sydney, Australia, where he aimed to combine his molecular pathology background with robust biophysical techniques. The Jordanian Accreditation & Quality Assurance Commission for Higher Education Institutions certified Walid to teach Human Physiology for university students. His postgraduate research project focused on the small-angle X-ray scattering (SAXS) approach to resolve the architecture and conformational changes of an unusual bacterial transcription factor involved in amino acid metabolism in work published in Nucleic Acids Research (NAR), a highly reputed Oxford University Journal that has a 5-year Impact Factor of 10.727.
Besides, Walid and his colleagues at the Jordanian Society of Genetic Engineers (JSGE) have a deep interest in corona-viruses; they have invented a viral RNA extraction kit for SARS-CoV-2 for nasopharyngeal specimens. Walid has had a fellowship in Responsible Conduct of Research from the University of California, San Diego. He is also a member of IEEE.
Ahmad N. Nabhan
Postdoctoral Scholar, Genentech
Dr. Ahmad N. Nabhan
Postdoctoral Scholar, Genentech
Ahmad N. Nabhan was born in Amman, Jordan and migrated to California, USA in 2000. He earned his BS from the University of California, Santa Barbara in 2010 where he studied Pharmacology and researched the molecular mechanisms of drug addiction. He also earned an MS from San Francisco State University and his research focused on the relationship between gene regulation and chromatin architecture.
In 2013 Ahmad began his doctoral studies at the Biochemistry department of Stanford University and did his research in the lab of Mark Krasnow. In the first half of his PhD, he molecularly identified the lung alveolar stem cell, the cell of origin for pulmonary fibrosis and lung adenocarcinoma, its supporting niche and the molecular signals emanating from the niche regulating stem cell behavior (Nabhan et al., Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aam6603). In the second half of his PhD, he worked on the human lung cell atlas (Nabhan and Travaglini et al., Nature, in press) and the mouse aging cell atlas (Tabula Muris Consortium, Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0590-4). These studies provide the molecular foundation for investigating how lung cell identities, functions, and interactions are controlled and maintained and how they go awry during disease.
Today Ahmad is a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Vishva Dixit at Genentech, after which he intends to return to academia as a professor.
In 2013 Ahmad began his doctoral studies at the Biochemistry department of Stanford University and did his research in the lab of Mark Krasnow. In the first half of his PhD, he molecularly identified the lung alveolar stem cell, the cell of origin for pulmonary fibrosis and lung adenocarcinoma, its supporting niche and the molecular signals emanating from the niche regulating stem cell behavior (Nabhan et al., Science 2018, DOI: 10.1126/science.aam6603). In the second half of his PhD, he worked on the human lung cell atlas (Nabhan and Travaglini et al., Nature, in press) and the mouse aging cell atlas (Tabula Muris Consortium, Nature 2019, DOI: 10.1038/s41586-018-0590-4). These studies provide the molecular foundation for investigating how lung cell identities, functions, and interactions are controlled and maintained and how they go awry during disease.
Today Ahmad is a post-doctoral fellow in the lab of Vishva Dixit at Genentech, after which he intends to return to academia as a professor.
Saed Khawaldeh
Researcher, University of Oxford
Saed Khawaldeh
Researcher, University of Oxford
Khawaldeh is a researcher of Artificial Intelligence, Neurotechnology and Biomedical Engineering. His main research area of interest include developing neurotechnological applications through integrating neuroimaging methodologies (i.e. MRI, EEG, LFP, and MEG), brain stimulation methods (i.e. DBS, TMS, TACS, and TDCS), and artificial intelligence (i.e. machine learning, deep learning, and feature engineering).
In 2014, Khawaldeh has done an internship at MIT Media Lab (U.S.A.). In early 2015, he started a research internship at the National Magnetic Resonance Research Center of Turkey, he also worked as teaching assistant at Bilkent University (Turkey). Afterward, he started working as a research and teaching assistant between Istanbul Sehir and Bogazici Universities (Turkey). In summer 2016, he started a research internship at MPI for Biological Cybernetics (Germany). In Sep 2016, he started working on a six months research project at the French national center for scientific research. Afterward, he has done a six months research internship at NASA medical Informatics. In summer 2017, he worked as a research assistant at Aalto University (Finland). Starting from January 2018, Khawaldeh joined the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at University of Oxford (U.K.) and currently he is PhD candidate in clinical neurosciences. Alongside that, Khawaldeh works as technical consultant in medical technologies and artificial intelligence.
In 2014, Khawaldeh has done an internship at MIT Media Lab (U.S.A.). In early 2015, he started a research internship at the National Magnetic Resonance Research Center of Turkey, he also worked as teaching assistant at Bilkent University (Turkey). Afterward, he started working as a research and teaching assistant between Istanbul Sehir and Bogazici Universities (Turkey). In summer 2016, he started a research internship at MPI for Biological Cybernetics (Germany). In Sep 2016, he started working on a six months research project at the French national center for scientific research. Afterward, he has done a six months research internship at NASA medical Informatics. In summer 2017, he worked as a research assistant at Aalto University (Finland). Starting from January 2018, Khawaldeh joined the Nuffield Department of Clinical Neurosciences at University of Oxford (U.K.) and currently he is PhD candidate in clinical neurosciences. Alongside that, Khawaldeh works as technical consultant in medical technologies and artificial intelligence.
Rana Dajani
Professor, Hashemite University
Prof. Rana Dajani
Professor, Hashemite University & President, Society for Advancement of Science and Technology in the Arab World
Rana Dajani Ph.D. molecular cell biology from U of Iowa, currently Cmalakova Fellow at the Jepson school of Leadership at the University of Richmond, Harvard Radcliff fellow, a Fulbrighter, Fulbright Foreign Student Program, Jordan to the United States, 2000; Fulbright Visiting Scholar Program, Jordan to the United States, 2012. Eisenhower fellow, Professor, former center of studies director, Hashemite University, Jordan, Yale and Cambridge visiting professor. World expert on genetics of Circassian and Chechan populations in Jordan. Established stem cell research ethics law in Jordan. Advocate for biological evolution and Islam, speaker at McGill University and MIT. Jordan team leader in studying refugee youth with Yale University and the epigenetics of trauma across generations. Higher education reform expert, member UN women Jordan advisory council. Writer in Science and Nature, Established a women mentor network, received Partnerships for enhanced engagement in research (PEER) award 2014. Organized the first gender summit for the Arab world 2017. Most influential women scientists in Islamic World, 12 among100 most influential Arab women 2015, women in science hall of fame 2015, King Hussein Cancer Institute for cancer and biotechnology award 2009 and 2016 Global Changemaker Award for celebrating 70 years of the Fulbright Programm. President of the Society for the Advancement of Science, Technology and Innovation in the Arab World.
Awarded the Jordan star of science by His Majesty King Abdullah II, University of Iowa, College of medicine, distinguished alumni Award 2018, Higher Education Reform Expert EU-TEMPUS, Jordan, founder service learning center, Hashemite University, speaker at TEDxDeadsea and TEDxPSUT, World Islamic Economic Forum 2012 and World Science Forum 2015 and 2017.
Developed a community-based model “We love reading” to encourage children to read for pleasure received Synergos Arab world social innovators 2009, Clinton Global Initiative 2010, Library of Congress best practices 2013, World Innovation Summit in Education Award 2014, King Hussein Medal of Honor 2014, Star Award 2015, IDEO.org best refugee education program 2015, UNESCO International Literacy Prize 2017, World Literacy Council Award 2018 and the Jacobs social entrepreneurship award 2018, Science, Technology and Innovation Award UN 2019, Ashoka Fellow 2019
Author of the book: Five scarves, Doing the impossible: If we can reverse cell fate why cant we redefine success, Nova Publisher 2018. Reviewed by Nature
Awarded the Jordan star of science by His Majesty King Abdullah II, University of Iowa, College of medicine, distinguished alumni Award 2018, Higher Education Reform Expert EU-TEMPUS, Jordan, founder service learning center, Hashemite University, speaker at TEDxDeadsea and TEDxPSUT, World Islamic Economic Forum 2012 and World Science Forum 2015 and 2017.
Developed a community-based model “We love reading” to encourage children to read for pleasure received Synergos Arab world social innovators 2009, Clinton Global Initiative 2010, Library of Congress best practices 2013, World Innovation Summit in Education Award 2014, King Hussein Medal of Honor 2014, Star Award 2015, IDEO.org best refugee education program 2015, UNESCO International Literacy Prize 2017, World Literacy Council Award 2018 and the Jacobs social entrepreneurship award 2018, Science, Technology and Innovation Award UN 2019, Ashoka Fellow 2019
Author of the book: Five scarves, Doing the impossible: If we can reverse cell fate why cant we redefine success, Nova Publisher 2018. Reviewed by Nature
Maha Nasr
Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics, Ain Shams University, Egypt
Dr. Maha Nasr
Associate Professor of Pharmaceutics, Faculty of Pharmacy Ain Shams University, Egypt
Dr. Maha Nasr is as an Associate Professor and researcher of Pharmaceutics and Industrial Pharmacy, Faculty of Pharmacy, Ain Shams University, Egypt. She has published more than 80 international papers in the field of drug delivery and nanotechnology (h index=21, number of citations 1313). Her research focuses on the formulation of drugs as nanoparticles for treatment diseases such as cancer, Alzheimer’s, and dermatological diseases. She also explores the pre-clinical and clinical applications of the formulated nanoparticles.
Dr. Maha was awarded The African Kwame Nrumah regional award in the field of Life Sciences 2019, the state encouragement prize in the field of advanced technological sciences serving the medical sciences 2017, Obada international prize for distinguished researchers under 40 years 2018, the ACDIMA-Egypt award for the best applied research in 2018, COMSTECH award for the best research paper in biological sciences in 2017, Professor Shawky Alhadad award in the field of cancer tumors 2018, and the Egyptian Excellence medal of the highest class 2020. She is also a peer reviewer in 76 international scientific journals and is an editorial board member in 12 journals, including Nature publishers and Cell Press.
Dr. Maha was granted several awards by diverse funding bodies such as Fondation pour l’Universite’ de Lyon, TWAS/Biovision unit in Bibliotheca Alexandria, FIP foundation for education and research, the National Academy of Sciences, Robert Bosch Stiftung foundation, and the National Institute of health. She is also Africa Science Leadership program ASLP fellow, a TWAS Arab regional office and African academy of Sciences young affiliate, a Next Einstein Forum (NEF) fellow, and an elected member of the Global young academy (GYA), steering committee member of the Arab-German academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), and World Economic Forum expert.
Dr. Maha was awarded The African Kwame Nrumah regional award in the field of Life Sciences 2019, the state encouragement prize in the field of advanced technological sciences serving the medical sciences 2017, Obada international prize for distinguished researchers under 40 years 2018, the ACDIMA-Egypt award for the best applied research in 2018, COMSTECH award for the best research paper in biological sciences in 2017, Professor Shawky Alhadad award in the field of cancer tumors 2018, and the Egyptian Excellence medal of the highest class 2020. She is also a peer reviewer in 76 international scientific journals and is an editorial board member in 12 journals, including Nature publishers and Cell Press.
Dr. Maha was granted several awards by diverse funding bodies such as Fondation pour l’Universite’ de Lyon, TWAS/Biovision unit in Bibliotheca Alexandria, FIP foundation for education and research, the National Academy of Sciences, Robert Bosch Stiftung foundation, and the National Institute of health. She is also Africa Science Leadership program ASLP fellow, a TWAS Arab regional office and African academy of Sciences young affiliate, a Next Einstein Forum (NEF) fellow, and an elected member of the Global young academy (GYA), steering committee member of the Arab-German academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA), and World Economic Forum expert.
Tamer Elsayed
Associate Professor, Qatar University
Dr. Tamer Elsayed
Associate Professor, Qatar University
Dr. Tamer Elsayed is an associate professor of Computer Science at the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at Qatar University (QU). He received his B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees from Alexandria University in Egypt, and Ph.D. degree from University of Maryland (UMD) in the United States in 2009. He also had an internship at Google in 2007. After getting his Ph.D., he worked as a Post-Doctoral researcher at UMD and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), and as an applied researcher at Microsoft, before joining QU in 2012. His main research interests are Information retrieval and Big Data Analytics. He published more than 70 publications in top-tier journals and conferences. He received two best paper awards at AIRS 2015 and HCOMP 2016 conferences, and his research team at QU was ranked first at TREC 2016 Real-time Summarization Track and second at TREC News Track 2019 international research competitions. He co-organized several workshops and evaluation labs in international conferences, and he is the co-chair of ACM Africa Summer School on Machine Learning for Data Mining and Search (AFIRM). He was awarded three NPRP research grants from Qatar National Research Fund. He leads an active research group (bigIR) that conducts research at the intersection of Information Retrieval, Big Data, Natural Language Processing, and applied Machine Learning, with emphasis on Arabic language and social media analytics. You can find more information about him at his personal webpage: http://qufaculty.qu.edu.qa/telsayed.
Olfa Messaoud
Associate Professor, Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Dr. Olfa Messaoud
Associate Professor, Institut Pasteur de Tunis
Olfa Messaoud, MSc, PhD, is an Associate Professor working in Institut Pasteur de Tunis in the field of Human genetics. She is member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities, member of the Network of Tunisian Experts in Support to International Research & Innovation Projects and also member of the DNA Repair Interest Group.
During the last 13 years, Olfa has been working on the molecular basis of rare DNA-repair diseases. Her research activities paved the way to the set-up of prenatal diagnosis for several life-threatening diseases. Furthermore, she has helped in the introduction of molecular diagnosis for several non-communicable diseases that are quite frequent in Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
Since 2014, she has worked on establishing a department dedicated to genetic diagnosis of non-communicable diseases. Olfa is currently conducting her research activities on genetic investigation of rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders predisposing to cancer in the laboratory of "Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics" and she is also responsible for the medical genetics core facility in Institut Pasteur de Tunis.
Olfa is being involved as the principal investigator or a partner in many multidisciplinary national and international research projects. She has participated to the organization of several international courses and Scientific & Public events and is continuously coordinating research activities between Tunisian and foreign collaborators.
Olfa Messaoud is an author/ co-author of 40 publications, she is memeber of the editorial board of Frontiers in Genetics journal and is a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, she has been awarded the 2nd prize of the 13th edition of the award Sanofi-Aventis for Medical Research.
During the last 13 years, Olfa has been working on the molecular basis of rare DNA-repair diseases. Her research activities paved the way to the set-up of prenatal diagnosis for several life-threatening diseases. Furthermore, she has helped in the introduction of molecular diagnosis for several non-communicable diseases that are quite frequent in Morocco, Egypt, Libya and Algeria.
Since 2014, she has worked on establishing a department dedicated to genetic diagnosis of non-communicable diseases. Olfa is currently conducting her research activities on genetic investigation of rare and ultra-rare genetic disorders predisposing to cancer in the laboratory of "Biomedical Genomics and Oncogenetics" and she is also responsible for the medical genetics core facility in Institut Pasteur de Tunis.
Olfa is being involved as the principal investigator or a partner in many multidisciplinary national and international research projects. She has participated to the organization of several international courses and Scientific & Public events and is continuously coordinating research activities between Tunisian and foreign collaborators.
Olfa Messaoud is an author/ co-author of 40 publications, she is memeber of the editorial board of Frontiers in Genetics journal and is a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals, she has been awarded the 2nd prize of the 13th edition of the award Sanofi-Aventis for Medical Research.
Basel Abu-Jamous
Senior Data Scientist, Sensyne Health Plc
Dr. Basel Abu-Jamous
Senior Data Scientist, Sensyne Health Plc
Dr Basel Abu-Jamous is a senior data scientist with interests in developing and applying state-of-the-art data science and machine learning in healthcare and bioinformatics. Currently at Sensyne Health, an Oxford-based healthcare technology company, he contributes to analysis of anonymised patient data in collaboration with the UK NHS hospitals in order to accelerate drug discovery and improve patient care. He leads the area of genomic and multiomic data analysis, in which he has a particular interest. Dr Basel obtained a BSc in Computer Engineering from the University of Jordan in 2010, an MSc in Information and Intelligence Engineering from the University of Liverpool in 2011, and a PhD in Bioinformatics from Brunel University London in 2015. Over his PhD and early post-doctoral research, his research spanned the areas of yeast genetics, human erythropoiesis, breast cancer, and neuroscience. Before coming back to human health, he joined the Department of Plant Sciences at the University of Oxford from 2016 to 2019 as a bioinformatics researcher in the international C4 Rice project aiming at engineering a more efficient photosynthesis pathway in the rice crop. He co-authored a number of journal publications as well as a book titled “Integrative Cluster Analysis in Bioinformatics”. Moreover, he received prizes including the Sir Robin Saxby Prize from Liverpool University and the Dean’s Prize for Innovation and Impact in Doctoral Research from Brunel University.
João Bocas
The Wearables Expert
João Bocas
The Wearables Expert
João Bocas is an expert and keynote speaker in wearable technology and is a globally recognized business thought leader, mentor, advisor, and entrepreneur. His passion lies in helping others, sharing experiences, transferring knowledge, working collaboratively, and helping businesses adopt the latest digital trends and innovations.As a thought leader in wearable technologies, digital health, IoT and healthcare innovation, including AI (artificial intelligence), robotics and ML (machine learning), João explores the intersection of technology and business. This includes examining how new technologies continuously shape consumer behaviour, influence business models, and help brands amplify their message. He also analyses the impact of disruptive innovations and shares future trends in the marketplace.With over 25 years of hands-on experience in Professional Sport and Corporate environments working with senior management, Boards and executive teams, João has worked across Healthcare, Financial Services, Media, Sporting, and Third and Public Sector organisations. He has also amassed an admirable array of 17 formal professional qualifications while studying sport for 8 years.He was a Finalist in the Great British Entrepreneurs Awards 2015, a Top 100 Global Digital Health Influencer, and is a global advisor and board member of several tech companies.
Ahmed El Fadhel
Coordinator, AGEOS
Ahmed El Fadhel
Coordinator of the Space Science and Technology (SST), AGEOS - African Association for Geospatial Development
Dina Sharif
Executive Director, Legatum Center at MIT
Dina Sharif
Executive Director, Legatum Center for Development and Entrepreneurship at MIT
Over twenty years of international and regional experience in women’s economic inclusion, integrated sustainable development, youth civic engagement, social entrepreneurship, impact investing, strategic philanthropy and responsible business practice (including corporate governance, inclusion and diversity, philanthropic activities and environmental risk management). Dina holds a Masters of Public Administration and Management from the Harvard Kennedy School, an MA in Economic Development Studies from the American University in Cairo, and a BA in Political Science and International Relations from the American University in Cairo. She is also a graduate of the non-credit leadership program at the THNK School for Creative Leadership in Amsterdam.
Committed to building sustainable, inclusive, and diverse societies through the application of a more ‘conscious’ form of capitalism, she co-founded Ahead of the Curve (ATC) in 2012 to further that goal - (www.ahead-ofthecurve.com). Dina formerly held the endowed Willard Brown Chair for International Business at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where she also founded the Center for Entrepreneurship, and taught Business Ethics and Social Entrepreneurship. Dina also helped establish the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at AUC in 2006.
Dina is recipient of the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Egypt by the American Chamber of Commerce in 2016; was recognized by the Embassy of India as a “Woman of Substance” in 2016; was chosen as one of 10 United Nations Global Compact Sustainable Development Goal Pioneers in 2016; and was most recently named as one of the top 50 most influential women by the Amwal Al Ghad Magazine.
Dina is the lead author of From Charity to Social Change: Trends in Arab Philanthropy and key reports including a 7 country study on trends in responsible business practice in the Arab region, and the 2015 UNDP Business Solutions Report.
Committed to building sustainable, inclusive, and diverse societies through the application of a more ‘conscious’ form of capitalism, she co-founded Ahead of the Curve (ATC) in 2012 to further that goal - (www.ahead-ofthecurve.com). Dina formerly held the endowed Willard Brown Chair for International Business at the American University in Cairo (AUC), where she also founded the Center for Entrepreneurship, and taught Business Ethics and Social Entrepreneurship. Dina also helped establish the John D. Gerhart Center for Philanthropy and Civic Engagement at AUC in 2006.
Dina is recipient of the Woman Entrepreneur of the Year Award for Egypt by the American Chamber of Commerce in 2016; was recognized by the Embassy of India as a “Woman of Substance” in 2016; was chosen as one of 10 United Nations Global Compact Sustainable Development Goal Pioneers in 2016; and was most recently named as one of the top 50 most influential women by the Amwal Al Ghad Magazine.
Dina is the lead author of From Charity to Social Change: Trends in Arab Philanthropy and key reports including a 7 country study on trends in responsible business practice in the Arab region, and the 2015 UNDP Business Solutions Report.
Nancy Hakouz
Professor, University of Jordan
Prof. Nancy Hakouz
Professor of Pharmacogenetics, University of Jordan
Professor Nancy Hakooz was the vice president and the dean of the faculty of pharmacy at Zarqa University in Jordan (2010-2016). She has contributed significantly to the improvement of higher education in Jordan. She obtained her PhD from the University of Manchester in the UK in 1997. Since that time, she has worked at the School of Pharmacy in the University of Jordan conducting research and lecturing.
Her research has focused on drug metabolism and pharmacogenetics of the Jordanian population. She was a part of a team that conducted research on genetically isolated populations in Jordan (Chechnians and Circassians), mainly studying diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome and their related genes.
She has published around 37 papers in reputable and prestigious international journals.
She is a member of the International Society of the Study of Xenobiotica (ISSX) since 1997 where she has participated in many of their international meetings. She is also a member of the UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network (since 2019), EUFEPS (since 2018), The Association of Jordanian Women Academics (since 2016) and the Jordan Pharmaceutical Association (since 1992). In 2011 she was awarded the Daniel Turnberg Traveling Fellowship-Academy of Medical Sciences and was spent at the Institute of Cellular Medicine- Medical School-Newcastle University-UK
She was the founder of the faculty of pharmacy at ZU in 2010 and as part of her duties as the vice president since 2013 she established connections with reputable international universities such as Seprinetiza (Italy), Queens of Belfast (Ireland) and West of England (UK).
Professor Hakooz was a member of The Technical Committee-Medical and Pharmaceutical sector at The Scientific Research Support Fund (2016-2018) and she is a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) committee of the International Pharmaceutical research Center (IPRC) since 2006. She also was a member in The Technical Committee for the Registration of Generic Products, Jordanian Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) and the Medical committee in the Circassian Welfare Association.
Over the years, Professor Hakooz, has been an outstanding example as a female researcher, a team-builder, an academic, a mother and true role model.
Her research has focused on drug metabolism and pharmacogenetics of the Jordanian population. She was a part of a team that conducted research on genetically isolated populations in Jordan (Chechnians and Circassians), mainly studying diabetes, hypertension and metabolic syndrome and their related genes.
She has published around 37 papers in reputable and prestigious international journals.
She is a member of the International Society of the Study of Xenobiotica (ISSX) since 1997 where she has participated in many of their international meetings. She is also a member of the UK Pharmacogenetics and Stratified Medicine Network (since 2019), EUFEPS (since 2018), The Association of Jordanian Women Academics (since 2016) and the Jordan Pharmaceutical Association (since 1992). In 2011 she was awarded the Daniel Turnberg Traveling Fellowship-Academy of Medical Sciences and was spent at the Institute of Cellular Medicine- Medical School-Newcastle University-UK
She was the founder of the faculty of pharmacy at ZU in 2010 and as part of her duties as the vice president since 2013 she established connections with reputable international universities such as Seprinetiza (Italy), Queens of Belfast (Ireland) and West of England (UK).
Professor Hakooz was a member of The Technical Committee-Medical and Pharmaceutical sector at The Scientific Research Support Fund (2016-2018) and she is a member of the Institutional Review Board (IRB) committee of the International Pharmaceutical research Center (IPRC) since 2006. She also was a member in The Technical Committee for the Registration of Generic Products, Jordanian Food and Drug Administration (JFDA) and the Medical committee in the Circassian Welfare Association.
Over the years, Professor Hakooz, has been an outstanding example as a female researcher, a team-builder, an academic, a mother and true role model.
Sana Afouaiz
Director, Womenpreneur Initiative
Sana Afouaiz
Director, Womenpreneur Initiative
Sana Afouaiz is an award-winning, gender expert, women advocate, and public speaker on global feminism and women issues in the MENA region. She is the author of “Invisible Women of the Middle East”. She was also heavily involved in SDGs discussions, she helped drafting several resolutions and recommendations on gender. In 2015, she established Womenpreneur Organisation, a community of 10,000 across 20 countries that aims to advance women’s place in entrepreneurial scene, technology, innovation & society. Through her work, Sana reached thousands of women and convened over 20 global events across different countries. In recognition of her achievements, Sana was named influential woman by the World Bank. She was also nominated among SE100 most inspiring Social Innovators in the World by Social Enablers, she was awarded Ashoka Changemaker Award, and she was named Influential female entrepreneur by Knowing Arabia, Watching Arabia and among 5 most inspiring and talented women by Moustacho.
Amer Hijazi
Researcher, Centre for Smart Modern Construction
Amer Hijazi
Researcher, Centre for Smart Modern Construction (Western Sydney University)
Amer Hijazi is a researcher at the Centre for Smart Modern Construction (c4SMC) at Western Sydney University (Australia). Amer has been funded by Western Sydney to pursue the first and most prestigious Blockchain Program in the world at Oxford University (the UK) and he aced all his modules with distinction. He was awarded a full scholarship from Western Sydney for his PhD with a value of around 0.25 million to work on developing a methodology for integrating Blockchain with Building Information Modelling for supply chains. Amer has participated in several international conferences in Sydney, Hong Kong and the MENA region and introduced Blockchain as a game-changer, on a path to disrupt many aspects of a business that deal with the coordination of information and trust. He has published several papers regarding Blockchain adoption in the construction supply chain and its potential applications for facilities management and how Blockchain could enable a single source of truth model.
Amer also holds a Master of Science degree from the University of the West of England, Bristol (the UK), in Building Information Modelling, Design Construction and Operation, and he was the only one to be awarded a full scholarship (UWE Bristol -Millennium Scholarship) in 2016 to pursue the same. In the UK, Amer has worked with the ‘’Vision Network’’ where he was awarded a grant from the Centre for Digital Built Britain based in the University of Cambridge to enable delivery and management of Digital Built Britain through asset, infrastructure, and service lifecycles. Amer was nominated by Transport for London to help them in Building Information Modelling implementation and he proposed a pathway focusing on current positioning and challenges for the future of London as a smart city. He was also nominated by the Digital Construction England Community to participate as speaker in the Peer to Peer BIM network where he talked about the integration of BIM and IoT to enable smart cities and enhance the level of digitalisation in the UK construction industry and also as a speaker for the UWE Bristol Conference in both 2017 and 2018.
Amer is also an entrepreneur as he has officially registered his company (A&H Group Ltd) with the UK Companies House (Company No.11182370) and worked as a BIM and Innovation consultant to several companies in England and the MENA region. In fact, Amer has worked in the AEC industry since 2009 in the UK and MENA region as a BIM consultant / Civil Engineer for making the BIM business case and establishing the BIM road map and planning BIM implementation. With more than a decade in the industry, he is a geek, he is energetic, positive and smart – and he is still only 32 years old.
Amer also holds a Master of Science degree from the University of the West of England, Bristol (the UK), in Building Information Modelling, Design Construction and Operation, and he was the only one to be awarded a full scholarship (UWE Bristol -Millennium Scholarship) in 2016 to pursue the same. In the UK, Amer has worked with the ‘’Vision Network’’ where he was awarded a grant from the Centre for Digital Built Britain based in the University of Cambridge to enable delivery and management of Digital Built Britain through asset, infrastructure, and service lifecycles. Amer was nominated by Transport for London to help them in Building Information Modelling implementation and he proposed a pathway focusing on current positioning and challenges for the future of London as a smart city. He was also nominated by the Digital Construction England Community to participate as speaker in the Peer to Peer BIM network where he talked about the integration of BIM and IoT to enable smart cities and enhance the level of digitalisation in the UK construction industry and also as a speaker for the UWE Bristol Conference in both 2017 and 2018.
Amer is also an entrepreneur as he has officially registered his company (A&H Group Ltd) with the UK Companies House (Company No.11182370) and worked as a BIM and Innovation consultant to several companies in England and the MENA region. In fact, Amer has worked in the AEC industry since 2009 in the UK and MENA region as a BIM consultant / Civil Engineer for making the BIM business case and establishing the BIM road map and planning BIM implementation. With more than a decade in the industry, he is a geek, he is energetic, positive and smart – and he is still only 32 years old.
Mai Medhat
CEO & Co-Founder, Eventtus
Mai Medhat
CEO & Co-Founder, Eventtus
Mai Medhat is the CEO and co-founder of Eventtus; an events engagement platform and the leading event technology company in the Middle East. Mai is an Egyptian tech entrepreneur who holds a Computer Engineering degree. She co-founded Eventtus with a mission to digitalis events after a personal experience at some events that used to be managed manually. The company successfully served 11,000 events and growing into 45+ cities. Mai was named “Entrepreneur of the Year" by Arabian Business in 2016 and she has been recognized by the Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 as one of the most promising entrepreneurs and was invited to represent Middle East startups in an iconic panel with Former President Barak Obama and Mark Zuckerberg, Founder of Facebook. Eventtus was named Startup of the year in 2017 by Entrepreneur Middle East Magazine.
Hassan Qandil
Lecturer and Researcher, University of North Texas
Hassan Qandil
Lecturer and Researcher, University of North Texas
Dr. Hassan Qandil is a Jordanian mechanical engineer with 7+ years of experience in the oilfield, maintenance and energy businesses, worked as a field engineer for Schlumberger and BAUER Resources in Jordan, Malaysia, UAE and India. Aside from being a Certified Energy Manager, Dr. Qandil has a PhD degree in Mechanical and Energy Engineering from the University of North Texas in USA, along with a master’s degree in energy management and a bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering both from the University of Jordan. He is currently a lecturer and researcher for the department of mechanical and energy engineering at the University of North Texas.
Dr. Qandil’s research focuses on solar energy harvesting, with the use of algorithmically-optimized designs of Fresnel lenses. His work is committed to commercialize the use of Fresnel-lens concentrators and its applications, while simplifying the process from design to implementation. Ongoing projects include; high-temperature solar fabrication, solar water desalination and fresnel-based concentrated photovoltaics.
Dr. Qandil’s research focuses on solar energy harvesting, with the use of algorithmically-optimized designs of Fresnel lenses. His work is committed to commercialize the use of Fresnel-lens concentrators and its applications, while simplifying the process from design to implementation. Ongoing projects include; high-temperature solar fabrication, solar water desalination and fresnel-based concentrated photovoltaics.
Tara Golshan
Executive Director, Jane Goodall Institute
Tara Golshan
Executive Director, Jane Goodall Institute
Tara has worked at the Jane Goodall Institute for twelve years as Executive Director, Education and is responsible for developing and managing the education division, in the UK, Czech Republic and the Middle East primarily, as well as co-chairing the global committee, under Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, a global humanitarian and education programme. She is responsible for overseeing the education sector of the Institute through the development of national and international projects.
Roots & Shoots is dedicated towards inspiring the next generation to become responsible global citizens by taking mindful action in protecting our planet.
A Business (Hons) graduate with a Masters in Marketing, she is a judge for the Observer Ethical Awards and the Women’s Innovation Awards; a fellow of St George’s House, Windsor Castle, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Directors.
Roots & Shoots is dedicated towards inspiring the next generation to become responsible global citizens by taking mindful action in protecting our planet.
A Business (Hons) graduate with a Masters in Marketing, she is a judge for the Observer Ethical Awards and the Women’s Innovation Awards; a fellow of St George’s House, Windsor Castle, a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing and the Institute of Directors.
Riadh Abdelfattah
Vice-President of the University of Carthage, University of Carthage
Dr. Riadh Abdelfattah
Vice-President, University of Carthage
Dr Abdelfattah is presently the vice-President of the University of Carthage (since December 15th, 2017) and Professor at the Higher School of Communications for engineers (SUP’COM) at the University of Carthage in Tunisia. He also is an Associate Researcher at the Department ITI at IMT-Atlantique, Brest, France. He is an elected member at the scientific council of the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie (AUF, 2016-2018). He was an elected member (2011-2017) at the university council of Carthage.
He received the engineer degree from the Telecommunication Engineering School of Tunis, Tunisia in 1995, the Master Degree (DEA) and the the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering from the ” Ecole Nationale Ingénieurs de Tunis”, in 1995 and 2000 respectively, and ”le Diplôme de l’Habilitation Universitaire” from SUP’COM at the University of Carthage in Tunisia in 2008.
He is a founding member of the Research Unit in Satellite Imagery and its Applications (URISA) in January 2004 (2004-2011), and a founding member of the Communication, Signal and Image Laboratory (COSIM-Lab) in November 2011 at SUP’COM. Between 2000 and 2002 he was a postdoctoral researcher at the ” Ecole Nationale des Télécommunications”, Paris, France consecutively at the department TSI and then at the department COMELEC.
He is a senior member of the IEEE and he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the IEEE Tunisia Section (2013-2015). He has authored and co-authored more than 70 journal papers, conference papers and book chapters. His main research interests include interferometric radar imagining, multiemporal and multiscale image analysis, desertification, flooding and soil salinity mapping from remote sensed data, and SAR-nanosatellite development.
He received the engineer degree from the Telecommunication Engineering School of Tunis, Tunisia in 1995, the Master Degree (DEA) and the the Ph.D degree in Electrical Engineering from the ” Ecole Nationale Ingénieurs de Tunis”, in 1995 and 2000 respectively, and ”le Diplôme de l’Habilitation Universitaire” from SUP’COM at the University of Carthage in Tunisia in 2008.
He is a founding member of the Research Unit in Satellite Imagery and its Applications (URISA) in January 2004 (2004-2011), and a founding member of the Communication, Signal and Image Laboratory (COSIM-Lab) in November 2011 at SUP’COM. Between 2000 and 2002 he was a postdoctoral researcher at the ” Ecole Nationale des Télécommunications”, Paris, France consecutively at the department TSI and then at the department COMELEC.
He is a senior member of the IEEE and he served as a member of the Executive Committee of the IEEE Tunisia Section (2013-2015). He has authored and co-authored more than 70 journal papers, conference papers and book chapters. His main research interests include interferometric radar imagining, multiemporal and multiscale image analysis, desertification, flooding and soil salinity mapping from remote sensed data, and SAR-nanosatellite development.
Rania Toukebri
Regional Coordinator for Africa, Space Generation Advoisory Council
Rania Toukebri
Regional Coordinator for Africa , Space Generation Advoisory Council
Rania Toukebri is Space Engineer,She works on Onboard Computers and data handling Units of spacecrafts (satellites, Telescopes.. ),She is a Space Policy Expert and has a Master Degree on Electronics ,Master Degree on Embedded Systems ( for space applications )
She has a Certificate on Cryptography, And on Space Policy.
She worked on Jupiter Icy Moons Satellite, Biomass Satellite, Kompsat 7 satellite, QB50 Constellation, Plato Telescope, and has also Participated on the launch and assistance of african mini satellites.
Now she is a Regional Coordinator for Africain Space Generation Advisory Council In Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, UNOOSA Delegate, Space Strategy of the African Region researcher" with several publications on the topic.
She has a Certificate on Cryptography, And on Space Policy.
She worked on Jupiter Icy Moons Satellite, Biomass Satellite, Kompsat 7 satellite, QB50 Constellation, Plato Telescope, and has also Participated on the launch and assistance of african mini satellites.
Now she is a Regional Coordinator for Africain Space Generation Advisory Council In Support of the United Nations Programme on Space Applications, UNOOSA Delegate, Space Strategy of the African Region researcher" with several publications on the topic.
