Jean-Pierre BOURGUIGNON was the Director of the Institut des Hautes Études Scientifiques (IHÉS) from 1994 till 2013. This international research institute located near Paris, France, was built as the European counterpart of the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton. He was also the first ERC Panel Chair in Mathematics, for Starting Grants. A mathematician by training, he spent his whole career as a fellow of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS). He held a Professor position at École polytechnique from 1986 to 2012. From 1990 to 1992, he was President of the Société Mathématique de France and President of the European Mathematical Society from 1995 to 1998. He is a former member of the Board of the EuroScience organisation (2002-2006) and served on EuroScience Open Forum (ESOF) committees since 2004. Professor Bourguignon received the Prix Paul Langevin in 1987 and the Prix du Rayonnement Français in Mathematical Sciences and Physics from the Académie des Sciences de Paris in 1997. He is a foreign member of the Royal Spanish Academy of Sciences. In 2005, he was elected honorary member of the London Mathematical Society and has been the secretary of the mathematics section of the Academia Europaea. In 2008, he was made Doctor Honoris Causa of Keio University, Japan, and, in 2011, Doctor Honoris Causa of Nankai University, China. In addition to his mother tongue, French, Professor Bourguignon is fluent in English and German.

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.

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.

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.

• Degree in International Relations, Degrees and Masters in Business Management (Webster University of Saint-Louis)
• Economist; former bank director (private bank HSBC)
• Director of financial and fund management companies

• PhD in Law (Geneva)
• LLM Cambridge (United Kingdom)
• Legal adviser, active in property management, project leadership, and “family office”
• Former chairman of the Jean-Gabriel Eynard Association

Miriam BALABAN is a graduate in chemistry from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, USA. She is the founder of Desalination, the international journal for desalting and purification of water, and was its Editor-in- Chief from 1966 to 2009. In 2009 she launched the monthly journal Desalination and Water Treatment to accommodate the growing flood of papers in the field and enable prompt publication. She is editor and publisher of the Desalination Directory, the international online database in desalination water reuse. She is the Secretary General of the European Desalination Society with its headquarters in Italy, where she organizes courses, conferences, and workshops in desalination. She is associated with the desalination program – Center for Clean Water and Energy – in the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She has received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the International Desalination Association and Star of Honor from the President of Italy. She has been adviser to the African Academy of Science in establishing the journal “Discover” and establishing the African Association of Science Editors.

Oum Kalthoum BEN HASSINE is a Professor of Biology at the University of Tunis, Founder and Director of the Research Unit of Biology, Ecology and Parasitology of Aquatic Organisms which consists of 55 researchers and PhD students. Oum Kalthoum holds a Scientific Baccalaureate, License in Natural Sciences, Advanced Studies Diploma in Marine Biology and Oceanography, Doctorat of specialty in Marine Biology and Oceanography and «Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences». She is the author of many publications in international scientific journals and of many presentations at national, regional and international congresses. Oum Kalthoum has supervised many Masters and PhD students, is a member of numerous commissions on scientific research, agriculture, sustainable development & women in sciences. She is the Founder and coordinator of Masters in “Integrative Biology of Coastal Ecosystems, Founder and the first President of the Tunisian association “Women and Sciences”, member of several international research networks and training such as GRACE, OWSD and Network for the training of women trainers in the Mediterranean basin in the field of science and biotechnology. Oum Kalthoum received the “Mérite de l’Education et des Sciences” awards in 2000 and 2008, and the Certificate of Appreciation for Outstanding Volunteer Services by the United Nations in 2001. She is also a member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters and Awarded the «Emeritus Honor Diploma» of the Academy in 2013. In 2016, she received the Rammal Medal 2015.

Jean-Patrick CONNERADE is Emeritus Professor of Physics at Imperial College London, Honorary Professor at the East China University in Shanghai and permanent guest researcher at the WIPM Laboratory of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is the President of the European Academy of Sciences Arts and Letters, which is connected with UNESCO. He is also a former president of EuroScience. As a poet, under the pen name Chaunes, he has published many books of both prose and verse in French. He was awarded the José-Maria de Heredia medal of the French Academy, the Paul Verlaine prize of the Maison de Poésie in Paris and the Grand Prix de Poésie (prix Victor Hugo) by the Society of French Poets.

Nathalie DELAPALME was previously a French senior civil servant. Her most recent position was Inspector at the Inspection Générale des Finances. Prior to this, Mrs Delapalme served the French Government as an advisor for Africa and Development in the offices of various Foreign Affairs Ministers, between 1995-1997 and 2002-2007. She also served the French Senate as advisor for the Finance and Budgetary Commission, where she assessed fiscal and public expenditures and policies between 1984–1995 and 1997–2002. She sits on the Board of IFRI (Institut Francais des Relations Internationales).

Jean-Christophe DEBAR, trained as an agronomist, started his career as an agro-economist at the Embassy of the United States in France. He has been a consultant in international farm policy and agricultural economics, and the editor of Agri US Analyse, a monthly newsletter on US agriculture. Since 2011, he has been the director of the Foundation for World Agriculture and Rurality (FARM), based in Paris. FARM is a think tank devoted to the promotion of productive and sustainable agricultures and food value chains in developing countries. It also supports producer organizations in Africa. FARM’s entrepreneurial vision of agriculture focuses on the emergence of small and medium farms, and their ability to supply to local markets.

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.

Azzedine ELMIDAOUI has been the President of Ibn Tofail University – Kenitra since 2014. He has also been a member of the European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Literature since 2015 and the Higher Council for Education, Training and Scientific Research since 2014. He received several national and international scientific awards. In 2008 he received the Competitiveness Award “University-Business Partnership Award” bestowed by the Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Training. Recognizing the value of research and development in the field of desalination, he was responsible for 34 research contracts and agreements that resulted in funding of around 15 million dirhams; he also held two patents in 2011 as the first inventor. Both patents have to be submitted to international recommendation by the OMPIC. With his rich scientific experience, he has been appointed expert with eight international companies and groups.

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.

Lionel GBAGUIDI is a veterinary epidemiologist. Private practitioner and consultant for FAO and USAID, he is working in West Africa since 2003 on agricultural value chains and on the control of Transboundary Animal Diseases. He has also developed competences in the implementation of the one health concept for public and veterinary health systems in developing countries. He holds an MSc in epidemiology (Data collection and analysis) from Institute of Tropical Medicine of Antwerp (Belgium), a DVM from Tunisia National Veterinary Medicine School, a Master in Toxicology from Tunis Medical School and a graduate certificate in avian pathology from French National veterinary school of Alfort.

Abdeslam HOUMMADA obtained his PhD degree in 1985 in the field of nuclear and high energy physics. He worked at the University of Grenoble from 1982 to 1985 as Assistant professor of Physics. Afterwards, he was often an invited professor at the same University. He is currently professor at the HASSAN II University of Casablanca and Scientific Director at the HASSAN II Academy of Science and Technology. His major fields of interest are Neutrinos Physics and Higgs research at the ATLAS experiment in the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) of the CERN. He is the team leader of the Moroccan physicists, “High Energy Physics Cluster”, working in the ATLAS experiment since 1996, after setting up a cooperation agreement with the CERN and ATLAS. In 1996 Morocco was the first Arab and African country, officially participating to an experiment in LHC.

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.

Henry MARTY-GAUQUIÉ, Honorary Director till early 2016, he was Director of liaison with non-EU International Organisations and Representative in Paris of the EIB Group. 1978: with a PhD in International Law (University of Paris X), a specialization in European Law (University of Paris I) and being graduated from the Institute of Political Sciences of Paris, he begins his career working for the French Prime Minister (Raymond Barre) in the legal department of the General Secretariat of the Interministerial Committee for European Cooperation (S.G.C.I. now S.G.A.E). From 1981 to 1982, he is First Secretary at Law of the French Judge (Fernand Grevisse) at the European Court of Justice. From 1982 to 1989, he works at the European Court of Auditors, first as Legal Advisor and then as the Director of the President’s Private Office (1986-89). In 1989, he joins the European Investment Bank where he is first in charge of the development of the Bank’s communication policy and then, in 1995, Director of Communication and spokesman of the EIB.

Mousa S. MOHSEN is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering; currently he is the Dean of School of Engineering at the American University of Ras Al Khaimah. His research interests are energy systems, renewable energy, water treatment and desalination, integration of energy and water systems, environment and decision making. Prof. Mohsen managed and coordinated several research projects that are funded by regional and international agencies such as European Commission, Middle Desalination Research Center and NATO science for peace program. Prof. Mohsen is the Editor-in-Chief for the International Journal of Sustainable Water and Environmental System and he is an associate editor for other international Journals.

Alison PARKER has a large research activity in technologies for urban sanitation. She is leading Cranfield University’s response to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation’s challenge to “Reinvent the Toilet”, using novel membrane technology to treat human waste on-site. She is working at both ends of the technology development process – helping to develop a novel technology for Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) and in testing “off the shelf” systems for Water and Sanitation for Urban Poor (WSUP). Supporting stakeholders to provide safe water supplies is another research focus through Alison’s work in WASHTech project, a European project aiming to help African decision makers decide which water and sanitation technologies to use in their projects and Community Water Plus, an AusAID funded project aiming to understand what support communities in India need to manage their water supplies. She also has research students working on Water Safety Plans in Malaysia, Nigeria, Jamaica, India and Uganda and on the transition of urban communities between informal supplies and piped systems in Kenya. She is the Course Tutor of the MSc in Community Water and Sanitation.

Albert SASSON is a founding member of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology. He has had a distinguished scientific career as a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Sciences of Rabat and thereafter at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO, Paris). He was Assistant Director-General of UNESCO and Special Adviser to UNESCO Director-General from 1993 to 1999. He has been a Senior Visiting Professor at the United Nations University Institute of Advanced Studies (Yokohama, Japan) and is a senior consultant to United Nations specialized agencies, several governments, national and regional institutions, as well as to the European Commission. He is President of the Association BioEuroLatina that aims to promote cooperation between Europe and Latin America in biotechnology. Albert Sasson has been appointed by the King of Morocco as member of the Kingdom’s Human Rights Consultative Council (CCDH), the governing board of the Royal Institute of Strategic Studies (IRES), and the Economic and Social Council. His research and work have culminated in over 200 publications, including many books and reviews on biotechnology in developing countries over the last 38 years.

Bruno Weymuller has been Executive Vice President at Total, member of the Executive Committee (2000-2008) in charge of Strategy and Risk Assessment. After joining Elf Aquitaine group in 1981 he has held various management positions in the upstream division both in France and abroad, and has been Chief Financial Officer from 1994 to 2000. He has begun his career in the French civil service at the Ministry for Industry from 1972 to 1978. He joined the Prime Minister Raymond Barre’s cabinet from 1978 to 1981.

He is presently director in the board of the French Energy Council. He is a professor at « L’Institut Français du Pétrole et des Énergies Nouvelles. » and a member of Total Professors Associates. He works on the economics of energy and on the interactions between energy and environment. Bruno Weymuller is an alumnus from the École Polytechnique. He is also a graduate of the École des Mines in Paris. He holds a Master of Science of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (Harkness Fellow).

Sandra CARMIGNANI is a Social and Cultural Anthropologist. She obtained her Phd in Social Sciences in 2011. She is currently preparing the publication of a book based on her thesis. Sandra works since 2010 for Robert Klapisch and the Foundation as an Executive Assistant and Project Manager.

Jonas MOSES graduated from Sciences Po Paris in 2015 with a Masters degree in International Affairs and is currently enrolled in a post-graduate program in Public Policy at Aviv University. He joined the Foundation as an assistant to the President in June 2015.

Marine DIDIER has studied political sciences and Middle Eastern studies at Strasbourg and Georgetown University (Washington DC). Trainee for the Foundation in June 2016, she contributes to the preparation for the programme for SKF conference in Jordan. She is currently working at IFPO, since July 2016, on environmental issues in Lebanon.