GSS 2019
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Keynote Speakers
Dr Friederike Otto: Friederike (Fredi) is the Acting Director of the Environmental Change Institute at the University of Oxford and an Associate Professor in the Institute’s Global Climate Science Programme where she leads several projects understanding the impacts of man-made climate change on natural and social systems with a particular focus on Africa and India. Her main research interest is on extreme weather events (droughts, heat waves, extreme precipitation), improving and developing methodologies to answer the question 'whether and to what extent external climate drivers alter the likelihood of extreme weather';. She furthermore investigates the policy implication of this emerging scientific field. Fredi is co-investigator on the international project World Weather Attribution which aims to provide an assessment of the human-influence on extreme weather in the immediate aftermath of the event occurring. Fredi is a physicist by training and obtained a PhD in philosophy of science from the Free University Berlin in 2012.
Omar Saif Ghobash: Ghobash is an Emirati diplomat and author. He is the former United Arab Emirates Ambassador to France (2017-2018) and former UAE Ambassador to Russia (2008-2017). He began his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a diplomat at the UAE Mission to the United Nations. In addition to his diplomatic work, Ambassador Ghobash sponsors the Saif Ghobash Banipal Prize for Arabic Literary Translation and is a founding trustee of the International Prize for Arabic Fiction in collaboration with the Man Booker Prize in London. Ambassador Ghobash is author of the book Letters to a Young Muslim (PICADOR, 2017). Ambassador Ghobash studied Law at Balliol College, Oxford and Math at the University of London.
Dr Edward Hughes: Dr Hughes is a Senior Research Engineer at DeepMind. Edward read Mathematics at Cambridge University, where he graduated with Distinction in Part III of the Tripos. He gained PhD in theoretical physics at Queen Mary University of London, working on applications of String Theory to the calculation of particle scattering. Edward co-leads a variety of projects on multi-agent cooperation, and he has had papers accepted at all the major machine learning conferences. In his spare time, Edward is a semi-professional choral conductor and enjoys long mountain walks.
Lynne Marlor: Lynne is CEO and Founder of Transformational Strategies, LLC (TS). TS is a consulting firm focused on Sales and Marketing Strategies as they relate to the digital world. Lynne is a frequent global speaker on Blockchain, Brand Creation, Cultivating Innovation, Navigating Uncertainty sales and marketing strategies. Prior to starting her own firm, Lynne was a Managing Director and the Head the Treasury Services Strategic and New Business Development group which included driving growth and developing sales strategies in new payment technologies with FinTech incubators. Prior to that, Lynne was Head of the Corporate Team within BNY Mellon’s Treasury Services and had responsibility for all of the Bank’s US based Corporate relationships.Lynne joined BNY Mellon in 2003 as a Market Manager in the Asset Management space after several years at First Chicago (now part of JPM Chase). Lynne was part of First Chicago’s Consulting Group where she man-aged projects for many of their financial services companies nationwide. Lynne graduated from First Chica-go’s Banking School Program. Lynne is a frequent national and international speaker on several financial and treasury topics.
Shai Reshef: Reshef is the President of University of the People (UoPeople), the first tuition-free, non-profit, American accredited online university, dedicated to opening access to higher education globally. UoPeople currently serves roughly 20,000 of the neediest students from over 200 countries. The University is supported by over 11,000 volunteers. UoPeople was founded in 2009 and accredited in February 2014. The University is led by distinguished international boards of trustees and advisors. Its President’s Council includes current and former leadership from several of the world’s foremost institutions, including NYU, Columbia, Vassar, UC Berkeley, Oxford, and Rockefeller University. UoPeople has academic partnerships with NYU, the University of Edinburgh, and UC Berkeley. Reshef has over 25 years of experience in the international education market. Reshef has been named one of Fast Company’s 100 Most Creative People in Business; selected by The Huffington Post as the Ultimate Game Changer in Education; granted an RSA Fellowship; nominated as one of Wired Magazine’s 50 People Changing the World, and selected as a Top Global Thinker by Foreign Policy Magazine.
Panel Speakers
LMIC: remodelling appropriate resources for use in constrained settings
Natalia Norori is a young Nicaraguan activist and a medical student pursuing her degree in San Jose, Costa Rica. She also works at the Open Access Button, where she manages and supports the creation of user-friendly deposit workflows to increase the amount of research made open through self-archiving. Natalia became passionate about the impact of Open Access in scientific research to overcome major global health challenges, in order to achieve health equity and international development. On top of leading several workshops to promote the adoption of better research practices, last year she was invited to speak at the United Nations. Working as a medical professional in the global south, she shared her experience on the impact of Open Access in medical research as a powerful and crucial tool to reach good health and well-being for all, at all ages.
Carla Grados is the Executive Director in Kunan, Peruvian Social Enterprise Platform with a +160 network of early stage Peruvian social enterprises, and developing the 1st State of Social Enterprise Report in the country. Former Social Entrepreneurship Director at Perú 2021, World Business Council for Sustainable Development Local Chapter in Peru. Co Founder & Partner of early stage Peruvian Social Enterprises focused in facilitating volunteerism and reducing plastic waste, Proa and Reciclando. + 6 years experience in Social Innovation in Peru and Argentina, and in Public-Private Partnerships focused in education for Regional Development at Intercorp, one of Peru's leading corporations. Bachelor of Business Administration with studies in political science, inclusive business, and social impact strategy in Universidad del Pacifico, Sciences Po and University of Pennsylvania.
Dr. Kumeren Govender is a Rhodes Scholar and currently reading for a DPhil where he focuses on genetics in clinical medicine. He holds a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery (MBChB) degree Cum Laude and Master’s degree in Health Science. He has published numerous peer-reviewed articles, written letters to journal editors and presented at conferences. He is an accomplished violinist and also swims the Midmar mile, which is the world’s largest open water swim. Dr. Govender hopes to bridge knowledge from developed worlds to developing worlds and contribute to pioneering innovative and interdisciplinary solutions that are globally relevant to ultimately improve the lives of those burdened by diseases.
Ramit Debnath is an electrical engineer by training and an aspiring sustainability scientist. He works on designing sustainable energy policies to reduce poverty and increase equity. He is a member of Behaviour and Building Performance Group at the architecture department in Cambridge, where his PhD research is trying to improve the quality of life of the people living in the slums in Mumbai through an energy justice-based policy mechanism. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation funds his current research through the Gates-Cambridge Scholarship. He has also read an MPhil in Engineering for Sustainable Development at the Department of Engineering in Cambridge as a Commonwealth Scholar. Before coming to Cambridge, he has worked as a researcher at the Civil and Environmental Engineering department at Stanford University, USA and the Centre for Urban Science and Engineering at Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India. He engages actively with the scientific community through public talks, seminars and peer-reviewed publications.
Health and genomics: charting unmapped territories
Dr Alka Saxena obtained her medical degree from Shivaji University in India and practiced as a clinician before switching to research with a PhD from the University of Melbourne in Australia. Dr Saxena was awarded the MDA and NH&MRC postdoctoral fellowships to work on monogenic disorders Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and Rett Syndrome at the University of Western Australia in Perth. In 2009, Dr Saxena moved to RIKEN Omics Science Center in Yokohama, Japan as a JSPS international fellow, to continue her work on Rett Syndrome through genomics and bioinformatics approaches, where she also participated in the FANTOM5 project. Since 2013, Dr Saxena is head of BRC Genomics Research Platform at Guy’s Hospital and Kings College London. Dr Saxena’s lab uses cutting edge Genomics technologies to accelerate translational research. In 2016, Dr Saxena established the MRC Single Cell Laboratory and in 2018, she established the NIHR funded Antimicrobial Resistance Genomics labs with the aim of evaluating long read sequencing for infection diagnosis. In 2015, Dr Saxena co-founded two charities in the memory of her son Samartha. The Samartha Saxena Foundation in the UK and the Samartha Saxena endowment fund in Australia, provide infrastructure funding to orphanages and scholarships to orphans in India.
Giles Yeo is from San Francisco, receiving his bachelor’s degree in Molecular and Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley. In 1994, he came to Cambridge joining the lab of Prof Sydney Brenner (Nobel Laureate 2002) for his PhD studies. In 1998 he began his post-doctoral training with Prof Sir Stephen O’Rahilly in the Department of Clinical Biochemistry, working on the genetics of severe human obesity. He was the first to report that mutations in the melanocortin-4 receptor (MC4R) and in the neurotrophic receptor TRKB resulted in severe human obesity. In 2007, Giles became a group leader at the University of Cambridge Metabolic Research Labs. Giles is also a graduate tutor and fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge, and is the current president of the British Society for Neuroendocrinology. His group is interested in studying the brain control of food intake and bodyweight, and how these might be dysregulated in obesity. Giles also presents science documentaries for the BBC, including ‘Horizon’ and ‘Trust Me I’m a Doctor’. His first book ‘Gene Eating: The Science of Obesity & the Truth About Diets’ was published in December 2018.
Dr. Waheed Arian was born in Afghanistan, spending his childhood in the middle of the Soviet conflict and fleding to a refugee camp. He studied medicine at Cambridge University and obtained qualifications from Harvard and Imperial and practised in Basildon, Thurrock University Hospitals, the Royal Free Hospital and Aintree University Hospital. Dr Arian established Arian Teleheal, a charity with 100 volunteer medics who advise their colleagues in Afghanistan and other countries using social media or other every-day technologies. He expanded his telemedicine scheme out to other conflict zones and developing areas, including Syria and African countries. His achievements have been recognised with the UN Global Hero Award (2017), the Health Service Journal Highly Commended Rising Star Award (2016), and the Presidential Award from His Excellency Dr Mohammad Ashraf Ghani, the President of Afghanistan, through his Minister Advisor on Health Matters. Dr Arian was also appointed as a NHS Innovation Fellow in 2017.
Stepheni Uh graduated from Emory University with degrees in Neuroscience and Ethics. As the 2014-15 Bobby Jones Fellow, she completed her MPhil in Behavioural and Neural Sciences at the University of St Andrews, Scotland. She has since engaged in exploratory and clinical research at the University of Pennsylvania’s Center for Neuroscience & Society and the Center for Autism Research at the CHOP. Since her time at Emory, she has also collaborated with the Dalai Lama and Emory’s Emory-Tibet Science Initiative, providing unique cross-cultural perspectives into her studies. Her primary interests lie in the ethical, social, and legal implications of human neuroscience research as well as the translation of science for policy across diverse populations. To this end, she has participated in the first two Global Neuroethics Summit to further clarify the ethical implications and questions that cut across neuroscientific research across cultures. Stepheni was recently awarded the Gates Cambridge Scholarship to pursue her PhD at the University of Cambridge’s MRC Cognition and Brain Sciences Unit, where she is investigating the neurophysiological foundations of resilience in children growing up in poverty. Her hope is to better inform interventions and policies targeting human development and well-being for children from all backgrounds.
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