Geneva, Switzerland, 7 - 8 June 2019
Sharing Knowledge Conference (12)
The Sharing Knowledge Foundation held its annual conference at CERN in Geneva June 7th to 8th 2019. This major international event brought together over top scientists, innovators, business and policy leaders, as well as young STEM leaders from Europe, the Middle East and Africa.
Learn more about the different start-ups invited to our conference in our Think Tank section.
For the Pdf version of the program PLS2019PROGRAMME
Link to all the videos
Program
Registration
13.45
Opening session
14.30
Welcome Address by Fabiola Gianotti, DG of CERN
Fabiola Gianotti
Member of the CERN community since 1994, Fabiola Gianotti is the first female Director-General of CERN. Fabiola Gianotti received her Ph.D. in experimental particle physics from the University of Milano in 1989. Since 1994 she has been a research physicist in the Physics Department of CERN and since August 2013 an honorary Professor at the University of Edinburgh. She is also a corresponding member of the Italian Academy of Sciences (Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei) and foreign associate member of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States. Dr Gianotti has worked on several CERN experiments, and been involved in detector R&D, construction, software development and data analysis. From 2009 to 2013, she held the elected position of project leader (spokesperson) for the ATLAS experiment, and had the task of presenting the results on the search for the Higgs boson in a seminar at CERN on 4 July 2012. Gianotti has authored, or co-authored over 500 publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals and given more than 30 invited plenary talks at major international conferences in her field. She also holds or has held membership of several international committees, including the Scientific Council of the CNRS (France), the Physics Advisory Committee of the Fermilab Laboratory (USA) the Scientific Council of the DESY Laboratory (Germany) and the Scientific Advisory Committee of NIKHEF (Netherlands). She is also a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the UN Secretary-General. Gianotti was awarded the honour of “Cavaliere di Gran Croce dell’ordine al merito della Repubblica” by the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano. She received the Special Fundamental Physics Prize of the Milner Foundation (2012), the Enrico Fermi Prize of the Italian Physical Society (2013) and the Medal of Honour of the Niels Bohr Institute of Copenhagen (2013). She was included among the “Top 100 most inspirational women” by The Guardian newspaper (UK, 2011), ranked 5th in Time magazine’s Personality of the Year (USA, 2012) and included among the “Top 100 most influential women” by Forbes magazine (USA, 2013). On 1st January 2016 she became the first female Director-General of CERN.
14.40
Welcome Address by John Ellis, Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics at King's College London, Member of SKF Council
John ELLIS
John ELLIS is the Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics at King’s College in London. After his 1971 PhD from Cambridge University, he worked at SLAC, Caltech, and CERN (Geneva), where he was Theory Division Leader for six years. His research interests focus on the phenomenological aspects of elementary particle physics and its connections with astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity. Much of his work relates directly to interpreting results of searches for new particles. He was one of the first to study how the Higgs boson could be produced and discovered. He is currently very active in efforts to understand the Higgs particle discovered recently at CERN, as well as its implications for possible new physics such as dark matter and supersymmetry. He also studies possible future particle accelerators, such as the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) and future circular colliders, and is known for his relentless efforts to promote global collaboration in particle physics. John Ellis was awarded the Maxwell Medal (1982) and the Paul Dirac Prize (2005) by the Institute of Physics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1985 and of the Institute of Physics in 1991, has several honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College Cambridge and of King’s College London. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2012.
14.50
SKF Award Ceremony presented by Robert Klapisch, President of the SKF Foundation and John Ellis
Lionel ZINSOU-DERLIN
Lionel Zinsou is an economist and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Benin. (2015-2016). Born in 1954, he holds a Beninese and a French citizenship.
As Founder and Managing Partner of SouthBridge, Lionel Zinsou relies on an experience accumulated over the course of an international career, both in the public and private sector.
From 2008 to 2015, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of PAI Partners, a French private equity firm with more than € 11 billion in assets under management.
Prior to joining PAI, Mr Zinsou worked for 11 years at Rothschild & Cie, where he was General Partner from 1997. In this capacity he served as Head of Global Consumer Goods and Head of Africa Middle East until 2008.
Previously, Mr Zinsou had worked at world leading food company Danone, which he joined in 1986 as Financial Controller. He then went on to serve as its Corporate Development Director, Head of Grocery UK-USA operations, CEO of the Grocery Division and Executive Committee member.
His professional career began in public service as an academic. As a graduate from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Agrégation in Social Sciences and Economic History – 1978) the premier French institute for higher education and research, as well as of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences –Po) and the Paris IV and VII Universities. He worked as a Research Student at the London School of Economics. In 1978 he went on to work, first as Associate Professor and then as Lecturer in Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Paris XIII. He remained Director of the Centre for Social Sciences of the Ecole Normale Supérieure from 1983 to 1986.
During that time he also worked as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. In addition, he was involved in two long-term missions for the French Government, first as a researcher in the “Research and Prospective” division within the Ministry of Industry (1980-1984) and then as a member of the office of Prime Minister Laurent Fabius (1983-1986).
Mr Zinsou is currently on the board of several companies including the PAI supervisory Board (Vice-chair), the Danone group Board of Directors and the Americana Board (UAE).
He is also actively involved in community work, serving as President of the Foundation de l’École Normale Supérieure, of the Foundation Terra Nova and Vice President of the Société des Amis du Musée Branly-Jacques Chirac, as well as Director of the Ashinaga Foundation (Tokyo), the Foundation Sanofi, and the Foundation Zinsou, the latter of which he also founded.
John ELLIS
John ELLIS is the Clerk Maxwell Professor of Theoretical Physics at King’s College in London. After his 1971 PhD from Cambridge University, he worked at SLAC, Caltech, and CERN (Geneva), where he was Theory Division Leader for six years. His research interests focus on the phenomenological aspects of elementary particle physics and its connections with astrophysics, cosmology and quantum gravity. Much of his work relates directly to interpreting results of searches for new particles. He was one of the first to study how the Higgs boson could be produced and discovered. He is currently very active in efforts to understand the Higgs particle discovered recently at CERN, as well as its implications for possible new physics such as dark matter and supersymmetry. He also studies possible future particle accelerators, such as the Compact Linear Collider (CLIC) and future circular colliders, and is known for his relentless efforts to promote global collaboration in particle physics. John Ellis was awarded the Maxwell Medal (1982) and the Paul Dirac Prize (2005) by the Institute of Physics. He was elected Fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1985 and of the Institute of Physics in 1991, has several honorary doctorates and is an Honorary Fellow of King’s College Cambridge and of King’s College London. He was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in 2012.
Robert KLAPISCH (deceased)
Robert KLAPISCH entered the French CNRS after graduating from Ecole de Physique et Chimie de Paris. His PhD work, under René Bernas, a pioneer in Mass Spectrometry was about the nucleosynthesis of the rare light elements Lithium Beryllium and Boron and the puzzle of how they survive being burnt by fusion. This led him to using CERN accelerators and to participate in its advisory committees. He left CNRS in 1981as Herwig Schopper CERN DG asked him to become Director of Research (1981-1987). Carlo Rubbia the new DG (1989 to 1993) asked him to be his adviser and to boost the CERN Communication Policy. He organized the LEP Inauguration Ceremony in 1989 and directed a Pavilion at the 1992 Seville Expo. After the end of Rubbia’s mandate he co-authored the proposal for the Energy Amplifier, a new approach to nuclear energy (1993-1997). In 2002, he was appointed by President Chirac to the Committee preparing the “Charte de l’Environnement” which has since become a part of the French Constitution. As President of the French Association for the Advancement of Science (2000-2003), he advocated a North-South Scientific Dialogue between scientists from Europe and those from Less Developed countries, from the African Continent and the Middle East, as a privileged means to avoid the infamous “Clash of Civilisations”. This led him to set up in 2006 a dedicated “Sharing Knowledge Foundation” (SKF), which he chairs. President Sarkozy promoted him Officier de la Légion d’Honneur in 2007.
Robert Klapisch passed away on the 21 March 2020.
15.15
Keynote Address by Lionel Zinsou, economist, former Prime Minister of Benin, 2019’s awardee of the SKF Award
Lionel ZINSOU-DERLIN
Lionel Zinsou is an economist and former Prime Minister of the Republic of Benin. (2015-2016). Born in 1954, he holds a Beninese and a French citizenship.
As Founder and Managing Partner of SouthBridge, Lionel Zinsou relies on an experience accumulated over the course of an international career, both in the public and private sector.
From 2008 to 2015, he served as Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of PAI Partners, a French private equity firm with more than € 11 billion in assets under management.
Prior to joining PAI, Mr Zinsou worked for 11 years at Rothschild & Cie, where he was General Partner from 1997. In this capacity he served as Head of Global Consumer Goods and Head of Africa Middle East until 2008.
Previously, Mr Zinsou had worked at world leading food company Danone, which he joined in 1986 as Financial Controller. He then went on to serve as its Corporate Development Director, Head of Grocery UK-USA operations, CEO of the Grocery Division and Executive Committee member.
His professional career began in public service as an academic. As a graduate from the Ecole Normale Supérieure (Agrégation in Social Sciences and Economic History – 1978) the premier French institute for higher education and research, as well as of the Institut d’Etudes Politiques (Sciences –Po) and the Paris IV and VII Universities. He worked as a Research Student at the London School of Economics. In 1978 he went on to work, first as Associate Professor and then as Lecturer in Economics and Social Sciences at the University of Paris XIII. He remained Director of the Centre for Social Sciences of the Ecole Normale Supérieure from 1983 to 1986.
During that time he also worked as a consultant to the United Nations Development Programme and the United Nations Industrial Development Organization. In addition, he was involved in two long-term missions for the French Government, first as a researcher in the “Research and Prospective” division within the Ministry of Industry (1980-1984) and then as a member of the office of Prime Minister Laurent Fabius (1983-1986).
Mr Zinsou is currently on the board of several companies including the PAI supervisory Board (Vice-chair), the Danone group Board of Directors and the Americana Board (UAE).
He is also actively involved in community work, serving as President of the Foundation de l’École Normale Supérieure, of the Foundation Terra Nova and Vice President of the Société des Amis du Musée Branly-Jacques Chirac, as well as Director of the Ashinaga Foundation (Tokyo), the Foundation Sanofi, and the Foundation Zinsou, the latter of which he also founded.
15.45
Q&A
16.00
Coffee break
Session 1: Contextualizing Migrations: the European migrant crisis, brain-drain and brain-gain
16.30
Roundtable
Moderator: Pierre Ruetschi (Independent Journalist and Columnist)
- Vincent Chetail, Professor of International Law and Director of the Global Migration Centre (Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies, Geneva)
- Hanadi Ibrahim, Professor in Biochemistry, University Simon Fraser in Canada, member of the Refugee Scholars Network (Syria)
- Oula Abu-Amsha, Chief Academic Officer, Jesuit Worldwide Learning (Switzerland)
- David Robert, General Manager, Singa (France)
Vincent Chetail
Vincent Chetail is Professor of International Law at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies (Geneva) and Director of the Global Migration Centre. He is Editor-in-Chief of Refugee Survey Quarterly (Oxford University Press) and General Editor of the series Organisation internationale et relations internationales (Bruylant).
Vincent Chetail has been Visting Professor at various universities, including Harvard Law School (Human Rights Programme, 2013), the European University Institute of Florence (2010), the University of Paris XI (2006-2012) and the Université Libre de Bruxelles (2008-2012).
His recent publications notably includes: Research Handbook on International Law and Migration (co-édité avec C. Bauloz), Cheltenham: Edward Elgar Publishing, 2014 ; “The Legal Personality of Multinational Corporations, State Responsibility and Due Diligence: The Way Forward”, in D. Alland, V. Chetail, O. de Frouville & J.E. Viñuales, (eds), Unity and Diversity of International Law. Essays in Honour of Prof. Pierre-Marie Dupuy, Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2014, pp. 105-130; “Armed Conflict and Forced Migration: A Systemic Approach to International Humanitarian Law, Refugee Law and Human Rights Law”, in A. Clapham & P. Gaeta (eds), The Oxford Handbook of International Law in Armed Conflict, Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014, pp. 700-734; “Vattel and the American Dream: An Inquiry into the Reception of the Law of Nations in the United States”, in V. Chetail & P.-M. Dupuy (eds), The Roots of International Law,Boston/Leiden: Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 2013, pp. 251-300; “Droit international général et droit international humanitaire: retour aux sources”, in V. Chetail (ed.), Permanence et mutations du droit des conflits armés, Bruxelles : Bruylant, 2013, pp. 13-51.
Hanadi Ibrahim
Graduated from the Faculty of Pharmacy (Damascus University), Hanadi Ibrahim completed a Master and PhD degree in Analytical Chemistry at the University of Paris Sud. She worked on developing analytical methods for lipids detection for the early and accurate diagnosis of several diseases and follow up treatment. Also, she characterized physicochemical properties of potential drugs for cancer treatment. After completing her Ph.D. Hanadi Ibrahim was eager to return to Syria and contribute her expertise to her home country. She returned in February 2011 to serve as assistant professor at Damascus University, a month before the start of the Syrian conflict, Hanadi had never considered herself an activist, but she felt the responsibility to call out the injustices and persecution of so many people in her country. Such actions, including the release of a video calling for civil disobedience against the regime, put her life in danger. She fled the country at the end of 2011. Thanks to Scholars at Risk organization, Hanadi was offered a position to continue her research at Western University in 2016 and recently at Simon Fraser University-Canada.
Oula Abu-Amsha
Oula Abu Amshais joining the Jesuit Worldwide Learning as their Chief Academic Officer in May 2019. As a former Syrian Computer Science professor, she has significant experience of e-learning technologies, curriculum development, and education in emergencies, having spent 12 years at Higher Institute for Applied Sciences and Technology in Damascus, as well as working for World Bank, UN ESCWA, the University of Damascus, and the Syrian Virtual University. She has been a visiting scholar in few Swiss universities since 2014. Forced into exile, she started her activities in refugee education working with the World Bank education team. Since 2016, she was the academic adviser of Mosaik Education (formerly The Jamiya Project), leading the development of programmes and support services specifically designed for Syrian refugee students in the Middle East.
David Robert
David Robert now runs the operations of SINGA France, an NGO that activates citizen projects and entrepreneurs who unlight migration as a source of wealth for host societies. He came to social impact issues through the cultural sector, studying the influence of cultural policies on social reproduction and on the economic development of a territory. He worked in particular in the fields of contemporary art, design and architecture, within a CSR consulting agency between 2008 and 2012, then as a journalist for So Press and mostly Artclair (Le Journal des Arts), in Brazil from 2012 to 2014 and in France until 2017, when he joined SINGA.
17.20
Q&A
Session 2: Harnessing Science and Innovation for Development in the MENA and Africa
17.45
Keynote Address Klaus Schönenberger, Director, EPFL EssentialTech Centre, Technology Innovation for Development and Humanitarian Action
Klaus Schönenberger
Klaus Schönenberger obtained a PhD from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne (EPFL), Switzerland. After a post-doctoral research assignment at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (USA), he joined the medical devices industry. During 10 years, he held various leading positions as director and global vice-president of R&D. In his last position, he was the global vice-president of Research and Technology at DJO Inc. (Vista, California), a Medical device company with annual revenue of $1bn. In 2009, he left the industry to create the EssentialMed foundation, with the goal to develop appropriate medical devices for developing countries. In 2011, he joined EPFL to initiate and lead the EssentialTech programme, which aims to fight poverty and vulnerability, through the development of innovative technologies combined with sustainable business models. In December 2019, EPFL’s presidency decided to transform the programme into a centre. Dr Schönenberger currently leads EPFL’s EssentialTech centre as its Director.
18.15
Startup Pitching and Networking
Presented by Jonas Moses
Startups from Europe, Africa, and the MENA (final list TBC) will pitch their innovations and ways they aim to address great societal challenges in the field of Energy, Agriculture, Health and Education.
- Chysmelle Adanmenou, ENERGY BIO FOODS recovers organic waste to produce biogas with cogeneration equipment that ensures the simultaneous production of heat for cooking and electricity for lighting providing isolated communities with autonomous energy solutions.
- Abiola Ajala, SUNBOX provides clean and affordable electricity to off-grid, low income consumers in Africa combining flexible, affordable and innovative asset based financing business model enabling lease-2-own of mobile solar solutions.
- Prince Essel, ECONEXUS provides innovative clean energy solutions in Africa with the focus on energy recovery from waste using environmentally compatible technologies.
- Victor Masumba, FARM CONNECT provides small scale farmers with wind turbine and solar pumps to ensure continuous farming activities even in the dry season, also increasing market access for farmers.
- Maher Maymoun, SOLAR PIEZOCLEAN tackles the significant energy output loss of solar panels due to dust and airborne particules with a waterless self-cleaning technology.
- Camila Rios, UNIR supports refugees and asylum seekers in the resumption of their studies and French language learning.
- Adil Daoumer, KONEXIO, Empowerment and connection through digital learning. Bridging the digital divide through innovation and community collaboration.
- Fadi Alshalabi, NIUVERSITY, educational system that caters for the differences of learners and their speed of learning and that can reach anyone wherever s/he is.
- Soulemane Hayibo, EnergyGeneration Incubator
- Olivier de Fresnoye, ECHOPEN, Low cost echostethoscope
- Mejdi Nciri, Multispectral imaging by LEDs
- Tianheng Zhao, Open flexure Microscope, 3D printed microscope with a webcam
- Hiba Al Halaby, Fiber optics sensor systems for irrigation (FOSS4I) is a research project to develop a system for optimized irrigation and use of pesticides, based on Fiber optics technologies.
Chysmelle Adanmenou
Co-founder of Bio Energy Foods. Born on 26th of July 1991 in Cotonou, Annette Chysmelle Akpedje ADANMENOU is of Benin Republic nationality. She holds a master 2 in Transport Economics and Insurance. In 2019 Co-founder of Bio Energy Food project, a biogas waste recovery project. In 2018 she won the second prize in the competition organized by Africa Energy Generation Prize. In 2017 she participated for a year in the program of Energy Generation Academy in Lomé. In 2017 she participated in the training on inclusive agro-industry and entrepreneurship in Côte d’Ivoire. She worked as a technical advisor in the NGO ” SOLUTION ” to raise girls’ awareness in schools and to help poor children. Annette was selected with the project of her community in January 2017, to participate in the entrepreneurship leadership bisuness training programme in the Young African Leaders Initiative (YALI DAKAR) account in Senegal. In 2017, she wrote and supported her Master’s thesis in Transport Economics and Insurance on containerized handling as a lever of competitiveness at the port of Cotonou. In 2015, she completed a 6 months internship at ASECNA especifically on the weather for her Master’s degree in spatial planning obtained at the University of Abomey-Calavi in Benin.
Abiola Ajala
Prince Essel
Prince Nana Kow Essel, President of EcoNexus Ventures is a award-winning Schneider Electric trained Energy Access Entrepreneur and an Entrepreneur-in-Incubation at Energy Generation Academy, Lomé. Awards won includes; Africa Energy Generation Prize 2016 in Lomé, Togo, Africa Energy Ideas Competition in Lagos, Nigeria and “MakeInAfrica” International Contest in Rome, Italy. He is now a Consulting Fellow at the Waste-to-Energy Research and Technology Council (WtERT), Germany, an international top-tier-technical group that brings together engineers, scientists, and managers from industry, universities and the government with the objective of advancing the goals of sustainable waste management on a global scale. The objective of WtERT is the global promotion of the recovery of energy and materials from waste.
Victor Masumba
Maher Maymoun
Maher Yousef Maymoun holds a Masters degree in Energy Engineering from University of Illinois at Chicago, and has a wide professional experience in both Jordan and US. Maher is an Energy Consultant, and a founder of an Innovation Based Company called “Solar PiezoClean” incubated here at HTU, developing advanced and smart cleaning technologies for solar panels, and one of them was registered as a US Provisional Patent. Maher got the Energy Innovator of the Year 2017- ME and the global “Young Energy Professional” of the year 2018 from the Association of Energy Engineers in the US. His startup Solar PiezoClean got several global awards and recognition such as, from Harvard University, Global Entrepreneurship Summit (Silicon Valley), Emirates Energy Award, and Queen Rania Entrepreneurship Prize.
Camila Ríos Armas
Camila Ríos Armas (26.05.1989) was born in Caracas, Venezuela. She has a Bachelor’s degree in Humanities from the Universidad Metropolitana (Venezuela) and a Master’s degree in International Development, with a focus on migration from Sciences Po Paris (France). In 2016, she volunteered in Calais (France) where she animated independent artwork workshops and French lessons. She then worked for one year and a half for the French branch of the international NGO Kiron Open Higher Education for Refugees. In 2018, she founded the NGO UniR Universités & Réfugié.e.s, where she is currently Director. She has participated in several entrepreneurship programs in France, including offering her knowledge as a pre-incubation mentor at SINGA France. In parallel, she has a literature career as a poet with two book publications.
Adil Daoumer
Adil Daoumer is Konexio’s* Project Manager in charge of Programs Coordination. He graduated from La Sorbonne – Paris 1 & 10 with dual degrees in political sciences and international relations. He is now basing his researches on migration and harnessing multi-sectors collaboration for refugee integration. He speaks French, English and Arabic.
Fadi Alshalabi
Fadi Alshalabi holds a PhD in Economics and Social Sciences from Kassel University, Germany, specializing in the management of higher education and a Master degree in teaching English for the speakers of other languages from Edinburgh University in the UK. Fadi was a visiting researcher at the Technical University of Berlin between 2014 and 2016. Before coming to Germany, he worked as the Director of the International and Cultural Relations of Damascus University, a teacher at the University, and as the academic director of the Syrian Computer Society, and the director of many international educational projects. He then decided to follow his dream of establishing an educational system that caters for the differences of learners and their speed of learning and that can reach anyone wherever s/he is. This has led him to establish his EdTech startup; Niuversity. His vision is a borderless and global educated society. Fadi strongly believes that education is the main tool for development.
Olivier De Fresnoye
Olivier de Fresnoye is a specialist in open source and community-based projects. With a dual scientific and economic background, he has developed several “open” projects using collective intelligence in France and abroad. Co-founder of the echOpen project (connected ultrasound probe) and coordinator of the Epidemium program (collaborative research on cancer using open data), he participates in several working groups on new technologies and their scientific and societal contributions with a focus in the field of health.
Tianheng Zhao
Mejdi Nciri
Hiba Al Halaby
Hiba completed her B.Sc. degree in Electronics from Lebanese University, Faculty of sciences, Beirut, Lebanon in 2014. She received her 1st Master degree in Electronics and telecommunication in 2015, then she obtained a M.Sc. degree in Microwave engineering from Lebanese University, Faculty of sciences in 2016. Currently, she is a second year PhD student in the field of fiber optics sensing including fiber brag grating for agriculture application and lab on fiber technology for bio-sensing at university of Sannio, Italy in affiliation with the Lebanese University.
Koami Soulemane Hayibo
Soulemane Hayibo is the Technical Manager at Energy Generation, where he coordinates technical aspects of training programs. He is currently in charge of the Solar Entrepreneurship Program where he trains installers and maintenance technicians of solar photovoltaic systems. Soulemane also manages the relationship between Energy Generation and its technical partners. Before this role, Soulemane was an engineer at Le Monde de l’Energie where he was in charge of designing solar PV systems. He installed 4 functional solar PV systems for households. He holds a master’s degree in Renewable Energy Technologies from Université Ouaga I Pr. JKZ in Burkina Faso.
19.30
Welcome Diner Cocktail at Globe
Session 3 : Achieving Gender Equality in STEM
09.00
Keynote address by Rajaa Cherkaoui, Physicist, laureate of the L’Oréal-UNESCO Award For Women in Science (Morocco) TBC
Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli
Rajaâ Cherkaoui El Moursli was born in Salé, Morocco. After obtaining her Baccalaureate Degree in Rabat, she traveled abroad to follow her postgraduate studies and got her Ph.D. in Physics at the University Joseph Fourier in Grenoble, France. Her first steps in research started with heavy ion Physics. In 1982, back in Morocco, she joined the Faculty of Sciences, University Mohammed V, Rabat as a researcher-professor and since 1996 until 2017, she worked as a head of the Nuclear Physics Laboratory. This responsibility led her to develop several themes around nuclear applications and to implement several masters at the university, especially the first master of medical physics in Morocco. She has been one of the precursors of Morocco’s official participation in the international collaboration ATLAS at CERN in Geneva on 1996.
- Cherkaoui became Vice-President of Mohammed V University from 2013 to 2017. Aside to that, she became a resident member of the Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology in Morocco as well as a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and of The World Academy of Sciences.
She received the L’Oréal-UNESCO award for “Women in Science” on 2015. On 2017, she has been honored for her contribution in science and technology fields in the Islamic world by by the Organization of Islamic Cooperation.
09.20
Roundtable
Moderator: Astria Fataki
- Geneviève Guinot, Gender and Equality, CERN
- Regina Honu, Founder and CEO of the software development company Soronko Solutions (Ghana)
- Colette Lewiner, Physicist, Member of the Académie des Technologies, former vice-president of EDF and CEO of SGN Eurisys, former President of the European Nuclear Society (France)
- Ingrid Wünning Tschol, Biologist, Senior Vice-President and Head of Health and Research at the Robert Bosch Foundation (Germany)
Geneviève Guinot
Dr Geneviève Guinot joined CERN in 2006 as a Human Resources generalist. She is currently Deputy Head of Human Resources, member of CERN HR Management Board where she contributes to designing and implementing CERN HR strategy. She is also responsible for the unit in charge of Compensation and Benefits, managing projects, processes and daily operations in the area of social welfare, financial and social benefits, classification and remuneration. She was for more than 4 years (2014-2018), Head of CERN Diversity Office driving and implementing the diversity policy.
Geneviève has a dual background. Holder of a PhD in engineering from Ecole Centrale de Paris, France, she started her career as a scientist in the oil industry. She made the move to human resources early in her career for her passion for people development. Since then she graduated with a Bachelor in Law and a Master’s in HR.
Regina Honu
Regina is the CEO of Soronko Solutions. She just opened the first coding and human centered design school for children and adults called Soronko Academy. She was just awarded the 2018 AFS Active Global Citizen Award for her contributions to global competence education and a winner of the Challenging Norms, Powering Economies initiative by Ashoka, Un Women and Open Society Foundations for work to challenge gender norms in women’s economic empowerment
She recently spoke at UNESCO Headquarters in Paris and on closing the gender gap in computer science. She also spoke at Brookings Institute in Washington DC on Advancing Female entrepreneurship in Africa. She is an ambassador and mentor for thecamp, first European campus dedicated to emerging technology and social innovation. She is listed as one of BBC 100 most inspirational and innovative women for 2017.She was also recently interviewed by Bishop TD Jakes. She was awarded the 2017 Northwestern University Buffet Institute for Emerging Global Leaders Award and awarded by Coca Cola in the Coca Cola young achievers award as one of the big six and a leader in technology. She was also unveiled as the 2016 Vlisco Brand Ambassador. She won Startup Entrepreneur of the year and Soronko Solutions won Social Start-up of the year for 2016 at the Ghana Startup Awards. She was featured on CNN as one the 12 inspirational women who rock STEM(Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics). She was named as one of the six women making an impact in Tech in Africa and one of 10 female entrepreneurs to watch in emerging economies. She was awarded Young Entrepreneur of the year by the GPA Awards from Africa 2.0 and JCI Ghana Outstanding Young Person award for scientific and technological advancement. Soronko Solutions was nominated for the editor’s choice award in the Women in IT award in the UK. She was featured on CNN African Voices,CNN African Startups and interviewed by BBC World Service, Deutsche Welle and Aljazeera. She is an Ashoka Fellow,Aspen Institute New Voices Fellow, GOOD Fellow, Global Shaper of the World Economic Forum, Vital Voices Fellow and a Change Leader with Tigo Reach For Change. She belongs to Africa Leadership Initiative West Africa .
Her story was published in the Lean In for Graduates by Sheryl Sandberg COO of Facebook, Impatient Optimist blog by The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and was a finalist for the ITU African Digital Woman of the Year. She is a Mandela Washington Fellow and had the honour of meeting Barack and Michelle Obama. She also recently returned from China from participating in the World Economic Forum Meeting of New Champions which focused on Science and Technology. She is part of the advisory board on a project to amend the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child to include Digital rights of a child. She loves to mentor and has been invited to speak and mentor the Camfed master card scholars program, TedxLabone, TedxDartmouth, University Events, Symposium at Harvard University and at Oxford University. She has been invited to speak and participate in events in over 15 countries. She is an online mentor with the Women’s Tech Connect Global Mentoring program. She was awarded a Women of Courage Award for Technology and Tech Needs Girls was awarded in the Ghana CSR Diary Awards.
Colette Lewiner
Dr Colette Lewiner has graduated from Ecole Normale Supérieure (a leading French higher education University) and has a PhD in physics. In November 1979, after around 10 years spent as a physics researcher, she joined Electricité de France(EDF), she headed the Fuel Procurement division (purchasing fuel oil, gas, coal and mainly nuclear fuel)and then she became in 1989 EDF’s first woman Executive Vice Presidentin charge of the Commercial division that she created. Colette Lewiner was appointed Chairman of the Board, Chief Executive Officer, of SGNon March 1992. When she took SGN leadership, this engineering Company revenue was only in the nuclear sector and at 90% for its main shareholder Cogema. She expanded this 9 000 persons top class engineering and services Company internationally and added a Chemical branch. In 1998, SGN revenues had grown (despite its decreasein France ) and non-French clients(US, Japan..)accounted for 30% of the revenues. In 1998, Colette Lewiner joined Capgemini and created the Utilities Global Market Unit. In May 2000, following the merger of Cap Gemini and Ernst & Young,Colette was nominated Executive Vice President and Global Leader of the Energy, Utilities and ChemicalsSector. In 2011, with 1bn€ revenue this global Unit represented 11% of Capgemini’s revenue (compared to 4% in 1998) had more than 11 000 collaborators. After having lead during 14 years the “Energy, Utilities and Chemicals” sector, Colette became on July 1st2012, Senior Energy advisor to Capgemini Chairman. In addition, Colette was TDF chairwoman (from September 2010 to April 2015). She is presently independent Board Directorat EDF (Electricité de France), Bouygues Group, Nexans, GETLINK (formerly Eurotunnel), and CGG.
Ingrid Wünning Tschol
After receiving her PhD in Zoology from the University of Tübingen in 1985, Ingrid did her postdoctoral work at Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Cambridge, and State University of Stony Brook, US from 1985-1990. Further career steps include positions as Head of Molecular and Cellular Biology at Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG) in Bonn and Head of the European Medical Research Councils at European Science Foundation (ESF) in Strasbourg, France. She joined the Robert Bosch Foundation in 1999, first as Head of Research, since 2005 as Senior Vice President Research, and later as Senior Vice President Strategic Development. Amongst many other activities she initiated and designed AcademiaNet, an internet platform for outstanding female researchers. Her numerous committee activities include membership in national and international bodies, such as membership in the Board of Trustees (BOT) as Co-Initiator of the Next Einstein Forum (NEF), Africa; BOT Falling Walls Conference in Berlin; BOT University of Ulm; BOT Natural History Museum in Berlin, the German Museum in Munich, the African Agricultural Technology Fund (AATF) in Nairobi and Vice Chair of ERAB (European Research Area Board, advising the EU-Commissioner for Research); She is Co-Initiator of the Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF), Member of ESOF Supervisory Board, Vice Chair/Co-Chair/ Member Steering Committees and Programme Committees of ESOF 2006-2020. In 2019 she received the Woman of the Decade Awardof the Women Economic Forum in New Delhi.
Astria Fataki
Astria Fataki is an energy professional passionate about Africa’s energy transition and is fully committed to addressing this challenge, both at the micro and the macro levels in Africa. At the macro level, since 2013, she works as a consultant for the development of Public-Private Partnership projects for the construction of large capacity photovoltaic solar power plants in several African countries. At the micro level, in 2016, she founded the pan-African Energy Generation organization, whose objective is to train, incubate and invest in young African entrepreneurs in the energy sector in order to promote and develop “made in Africa” access to energy solutions.
10.40
Coffee break
Session 4: Defending an Open Access to Technology
11.10
Roundtable
Moderator: Guy Mettan (Journalist, Club de la Presse)
- Markus Norberg, From Open Science to Open Innovation – case: Ideasquare@CERN, Development and Innovation Unit, CERN
- Francois Piuzzi, Open Access by examples :Focus on medical applications. President of the Commission Physique sans frontières (France)
- Olivier de Fresnoye : Echopen, Low cost echostethoscope
- Mejdi Nciri : Multispectral imaging by LEDs
- Tianheng Zhao : Open flexure Microscope, 3D printed microscope with a webcam
Markus Nordberg
Head of Resources Development of the Development and Innovation Unit (IPT-DI) at CERN, Switzerland. In addition to coordinating multi-disciplinary innovation projects at IdeaSquare at CERN (cern.ch/Ideasquare), he also coordinates the EU-funded sensor and imaging R&D&I initiative called ATTRACT (www.attract-eu.com) aiming at both scientific and societal impact of disruptive co-innovation. Prior to this function, he served 12 years as the Resources Coordinator of the ATLAS project at CERN (www.atlas.ch). He has also served as Visiting Senior Research Fellow at the Centrum voor Bedrijfseconomie, Faculty ESP-Solvay Business School, University of Brussels, and as a member of the European Physical Society, Strategic Management Society and the Association of Finnish Parliament Members and Scientists, TUTKAS. He has a degree both in Physics and in Business Administration.
François PIUZZI
Physical chemist (basic research) PhD in Physical Chemistry, Research engineer at the Atomic Energy Commission (CEA) since 1982, retired 2014. Teaching: application of lasers in Physical Chemistry at University Paris XI (Orsay) and at the University Paris VI (Jussieu).
Research management: Member to the National Agency for Research. (ANR) “Scientific Committee Sciences for Engineering” (2005-2007). Project officer for Nanosciences at the French ministry of high Education and Research (MESR 2010-2013), French delegate to the NMP (Nanosciences Materials Production) committee of the EU commission at Brussels. Member of the committee of the “Photoniques” Journal (Journal of the French optical Society) (since 2006). Founder of the Instrumentation award in Physical Chemistry (2007). Member of the Board of the Division of Physical Chemistry (SFC-SFP) (since 2004).
International cooperation in science : Chairman (2016-now) of the “Physics without Borders” commission of the French Physical Society. Former Chairman of the Inter-division group “Physics for Development” of the European Physical Society (EPS) (2009-2015). Founder and former president of the association “Puya Raimondi”, Franco-Peruvian and Latino-American scientific cooperation association (2004-now). Member of APSA committee (Association pour la Promotion Scientifique de l’Afrique) and co-organizer of the « Rencontres des Jeunes Chercheurs Africains Francophones » (2014 and 2016). Honorary Professor of the National University of Engineering (UNI) (2005) and the University Ricardo Palma (2013), Lima, Peru.
Olivier De Fresnoye
Olivier de Fresnoye is a specialist in open source and community-based projects. With a dual scientific and economic background, he has developed several “open” projects using collective intelligence in France and abroad. Co-founder of the echOpen project (connected ultrasound probe) and coordinator of the Epidemium program (collaborative research on cancer using open data), he participates in several working groups on new technologies and their scientific and societal contributions with a focus in the field of health.
Mejdi Nciri
Tianheng Zhao
12.30
Lunch Break
Session 5: CERN is an innovation hub: knowledge sharing for the benefits of society
14.20
Keynote address by Frederick Bordry, Director of Accelerators and Technology, CERN
Frédérick BORDRY
Frédérick BORDRY, has a degree in engineering and a PhD in energy conversion from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (INPT). After a two-year teaching post at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (Brazil), he took up a teaching and research post in Toulouse before joining the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in 1986. From 2009 to 2013, he was the Head of the CERN Technology Department. Since January 2014, he is the Director of Accelerators and Technology, responsible for the operation and exploitation of the whole CERN accelerator complex, with particular emphasis on the LHC and for the development of new projects and technologies. As a convinced advocate of international exchange in the cultural, political and scientific fields, he has devoted a considerable amount of time towards reflecting on issues relating to education, research, and multilingualism.
14.40
Roundtable
Moderator: Frederick Bordry
- Giovanni Anelli, Introduction to CERN Knowledge transfer, CERN
- Charlotte Jamieson, Affordable medical linear accelerators for challenging environments, STFC
- Amalia Ballarino, Superconducting cables for Energy Transportation, CERN
- Becky Parker, CERN@School project (Medipix based), CERN
- Einar Bjorgo, UNOSAT: 15 years of humanitarian mapping, UNITAR
Giovanni Anelli
Giovanni joined CERN’s Knowledge Transfer Group in 2010 as Technology Transfer Officer and was appointed Head of the Knowledge Transfer Group in August 2011.
Before he worked for three years for LEM SA, a company market leader in providing solutions for measuring electrical parameters, where he was managing projects on the design of Integrated Circuits (ICs) for current transducers to be used in industrial and automotive applications.
Prior to this, Giovanni worked for 10 years in CERN’s Microelectronics Group (Physics Department), where he designed several low-noise low-power analog and mixed signal VLSI circuits for High-Energy Physics applications. His research work also dealt with techniques to design radiation tolerant integrated circuits in deep submicron CMOS technologies, an approach which is now employed by the large majority of the integrated circuits of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) at CERN.
Giovanni received a M.S. in Electronics Engineering from the Polytechnic of Milan (Italy) in 1997, a Ph.D. in Electronics Engineering (with honors) from the Polytechnic of Grenoble (France) in 2000 and an EMBA from HEC in Paris (France) in 2008. He is author and co-author of more than 70 publications and is an IEEE senior member.
Charlotte Jamieson
I work for the Science and Technology Facility Council, which is part of UK Research and Innovation, where I am Head of Particle Physics in the funding agency branch of the organisation. My group provides funding, support and oversight of the particle physics and accelerator research programmes that we fund in UK universities as well as interactions with international facilities such as CERN. Having gained a degree in Food Science from the University of Leeds I worked in the R&D centre of the food packing company Metal Box. After a career break I returned to work in local government. Prompted by my then teenage daughter to make more use of my science degree and having just completed a Masters degree in Strategic Management I applied for a job in the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research Council. I started working for the Research Councils in 2004. Over the last 15 years as well as working with the particle physics and accelerator communities in the UK I have been a frequent visitor to CERN as a UK delegate on the Finance and other committees. I was Chair of the Finance Committee and Audit Committee for 3 years from 2014.
Amalia Ballarino
Senior scientist at CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, Amalia Ballarino was responsible for the several thousand current leads that today power the superconducting magnets of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC). For the development of High Temperature Superconducting (HTS) current leads, which has been the first large scale commercial application of HTS, she received the award of “Superconductor Industry Person of the Year 2006”. After having participated in the commissioning of the Large Hadron Collider, she has been working on the development of a superconducting power transmission system based on a novel MgB2 electrical transfer line. The system will be used in the LHC for the powering of the High-Luminosity (HL-LHC) magnets; it has also potential for power transmission in future grids. Since 2010, Amalia Ballarino is in charge of superconductors’ development, characterization and procurement for the CERN accelerator complex. Her field of activity covers low and intermediate temperature (Nb-Ti, Nb3Sn and MgB2), and high-temperature (BSCCO and REBCO) superconducting wires and cables. Focus today is on the procurement of the Nb3Sn for the HL-LHC magnets and on the R&D of high-performance superconductors for future high-energy machine. Coordinator of international collaborations in the field of applied superconductivity, she serves the community as lecturer, member of program committees of international conferences, and technical editor and reviewer of papers for scientific journals.
Becky Parker
After a physics degree and research at the University of Chicago, Becky taught in a variety of schools and found when she offered genuine research opportunities to her students they thrived in the subject, girls and boys alike. Setting up the Institute for Research in Schools (IRIS) was to scale this approach across the county and there is huge enthusiasm for authentic science from both school students and teachers. IRIS is based at the Science Museum and Becky’s teaching base is in Sheffield. Becky was awarded an MBE in 2008. She is visiting professor at Queen Mary, University of London. In the summer of 2016 she was awarded the Kavli Education Medal from the Royal Society.
Einar Bjorgo
In 2013, the Executive Director of UNITAR has appointed Dr. Einar Bjorgo of Norway as UNOSAT Manager after a selection process involving internal and external candidates. Bjorgo, who was serving as Senior Officer at UNITAR had been in charge of UNOSAT operations under the previous management. Bjorgo received his PhD in Geophysics from the University of Bergen, Norway, in 1999 on applications of very high resolution satellite imagery in support of refugee relief operations. He holds a Master of Science in Meteorology (Climate Science) and a Bachelor in Mechanical Engineering from the University of California San Diego. He started working for the United Nations in 1999 when he joined the UN High Commissioner for Refugees to work on the integration of new solutions into UNHCR operations, including the use of GIS, GPS and satellite imagery. Bjorgo joined the UNOSAT team in 2002 when he was a central element in the development of the Humanitarian Rapid Mapping service and later become in charge of all operational activities at UNOSAT. Apart from the operational mapping side, Bjorgo was the initiator of capacity development and disaster risk reduction activities in Asia and East Africa. Since 2010 he had served as deputy to the Manager.
16.00
Coffee break
CERN Guided Tour
16.30-18.45
LHC Large Magnet Facility, IdeaSquare and ALICE Experiment
Closing Reception (upon formal invitation only)
20.15
Reception
Conclusions of conference
20.30
Conclusions of conference by Patrick Fassnacht, Member of SKF Foundation’s Council, Geneva
Patrick FASSNACHT
Patrick FASSNACHT started his career in Experimental Nuclear and Particle Physics at the University of Strasbourg in 1979. Later moving to the Centre de Physique des Particules in Marseille he also shifted his focus to High Energy Physics joining the CPLear (asymmetry matter/anti-matter) collaboration and finally to ATLAS (one of the four large LHC experiments at the LHC (Large Hadron Collider)). To the latter he contributed as Test Beam coordinator and later, for six years, as Technical Coordinator of the ATLAS Liquid Argon Calorimeter system. He was responsible for getting the calorimeters assembled, integrated into the cryostats and commissioned. From April 2004 onwards, for a period of more than six years, he was acting as CERN ATLAS Team leader, leading a group of close to 200 users. During that period he had numerous interactions with the many ATLAS Users coming to CERN; which lead him to become an Advisor to the DG for the MENA, 2012 onwards. Since 2018, Patrick is also the Vice President, Communications of SKF.
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