Category: 2018 Speaker

Peter Scharff is the former president of TU Ilmenau, Germany since 2004 and is currently a Professor of Chemistry. Before he was the Director of Physical Institute and Head of the Department of Chemistry. Peter received his Ph.D. in Inorganic Chemistry from the Technical University Clausthal, Germany and his Habilitation (venia legendi) in Inorganic Chemistry from the same institution. Before joining the TU Ilmenau in 1998, he served as a Visiting Professor at Nicolas Copernicus University, Torun, Poland. His research interests consist of preparative carbon chemistry and electrochemistry. He has published nearly 300 papers in international journals. He is member of head of German Exchange Service (DAAD) and fellow of the Academy of Useful Sciences in Erfurt. Peter was awarded several Dres h.c., as well as several Prof. h.c. He was awarded honorary member of senate of TU Ilmenau in 2021.

Prof Scharff is the former Chair of the World Technology Network (2020-2023).

Professor Rodgers was appointed to Brunel University in 1989 as a lecturer in Physics, becoming a Reader in Mathematical Physics in 2001 and Professor of Theoretical Physics in 2003. In 2004 he joined the Brunel Graduate School and was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2008. He was promoted to Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2014. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Physics and the Higher Education Academy. He is also a Visiting Professor at the University of Havana, Cuba. Between 2010 and 2014 he chaired the Research Excellence Group of London Higher, made up of the PVCs for Research of the universities in London. Professor Rodgers is currently leading the Science and Innovation Audit on Sustainable Airports on behalf of BEIS.

Professor Melo has been Rector of the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte since May 2019. Before that, he held the positions of Vice Rector (2015-2019) and Dean of the School of Engineering and Architecture (2011-2015). Prof. Melo received his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from Colorado State University (2002), M.S. in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Maine (1993), and B.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering (1990) and in Civil Engineering (1997) from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte. He was Visiting Scholar at the Department of Aeronautics and Astronautics of Stanford University from 2008 to 2019. Prof. Melo has worked in the field of Composite Materials for over 30 years. His main research interests and contributions are in design and mechanical characterization of polymer composites. In this area, he advised many graduate students, published three books and numerous papers in peer-reviewed journals and international conference proceedings. Prof. Melo is also Associate Editor of the Journal of Reinforced Plastics and Composites.

Dr. Robert Haché is Vice-President Research and Innovation at York University, where he is responsible for promoting and overseeing the strategic development of research.  Haché has been instrumental in building research collaborations and partnerships with international universities.  He also oversees institutional supports for research, such as Innovation York, which provides services to York researchers, government and industry partners within five service streams including: commercialization, industry liaison, agreements, entrepreneurship and the internationally award-winning Knowledge Mobilization stream, which has been increasingly recognized for its leadership in social innovation.

Dr. Haché has driven the institutional strategic research priorities forward with the development and implementation of the University’s Strategic Research Plan, Building on Strength 2013-2018, and the University’s Plan for the Intensification and Enhancement of Research, while working to strengthen the University’s research profile both nationally and internationally

Prior to York, he served as the Associate Vice-President Research at the University of Calgary. He has also served as Vice-Dean Research for the Faculty of Medicine at the University of Ottawa.

A molecular and cellular biologist and biochemist with a substantial record of publications, Dr. Haché has made invaluable contributions to the understanding of how steroid hormone signaling takes place in cells and how cells respond to DNA damaging agents. He has received research grants and awards from the Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR), National Cancer Institute of Canada (NCIC), National Science and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) and other organizations.

Dr. Haché holds a BSc (biochemistry) from McGill University and a PhD (biochemistry) from Queen’s University.

Anne Graham is professor of biochemistry at University of Bradford and she leads the Faculty Research & Knowledge Transfer agenda. She was appointed to her current role in 2016 after completing the role of Director of Postgraduate Research for 5 years. In addition to her role as an active researcher into mechanisms of inflammation in cardiovascular disease, she is passionate about development and success of early career researchers (postgraduates and postdoctoral researchers). In 2018 Anne set up a Faculty Early Career Forum for networking between early career researchers and academics. She leads the institutional working group developing our action plan to demonstrate how we meet the obligations of the Researcher Development Concordat, after the institution became a signatory in spring 2020.

Professor Guy Daly is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Health and Life Sciences) at Coventry University.

He is a member of various UK based groups and bodies including: Executive Member (International) of Council of Deans of Health (affiliated to Universities UK), West Midlands Clinical Senate, West Midlands Combined Authority Wellbeing Board, Coventry Health and Wellbeing Board, and Non-Executive Director of Coventry and Warwickshire Partnership NHS Trust.  He is a member of the Coventry and Warwickshire Sustainability Transformation Partnership Better Health – Better Care – Better Value Board and chairs its Clinical Design Authority Board.  He is a social policy academic and his research interests are in health policy, social care (personalisation, choice, adult social care), housing policy, local government, and the governance of public services generally. He is an active member of the Social Services Research Group and is currently Joint Editor of its journal, Research Policy and Planning. He is a trustee and current chair of the third sector social policy think-tank, The Human City Institute (HCI), as well as a trustee of Research in Specialist and Elderly Care (RESEC), a charity which aims to improve the quality of research in specialist and elderly care.

Recently, he has been developing partnerships with Indonesia’s government and universities in relation to nursing workforce and assisting with the evaluation of Indonesia’s recently introduced social insurance health system (BJPS).

John Bramwell is the British Council’s Director of Education, responsible for global strategy and policy development.

He is currently based in the UK, having previously been based in Istanbul. Sau Paulo and Mexico City, managing the British Council’s education and society portfolio for the Americas, and wider Europe portfolio in education from Istanbul.

He authored the Mexico /UK Treaty on Mutual Recognition , and was awarded the Mexican Order of the Aztec Eagle by President Pena Nieto, for services to International Education.

He previously established and managed an F/HE institute in Tripoli, a Quality Assurance and Statistical Research Centre in Kazakhstan, and a UK /Oman Enterprise Unit in Muscat.

He has enjoyed over 20 years in UK Higher Education senior management, following a career in information systems and consultancy. He is an expert in international education, and an occasional researcher in the psychology of security in computer systems.

Dr. Abdulla Y. Al-Hawaj, the Founding President of Ahlia University, ranks in the top echelon of educational leaders in the Arabian Gulf. His incumbency in numerous managerial posts in prestigious organizations associated with educational development at a national level, combined with a plethora of academic accolades awarded to him by esteemed institutions, attests to Dr. Al-Hawaj’s being in the vanguard of higher educational reform in the Kingdom of Bahrain. In recognition of Dr. Al-Hawaj’s trail blazing contributions in the sphere of educational advancement in the Kingdom of Bahrain, he was appointed in the year 2000 — by royal decree – as a member of the Supreme Committee for the Kingdom National Charter, in which he serves as the coordinator of its Educational Committee. Dr. Al-Hawaj holds a Ph.D. and M.Sc. in Applied Mathematics from the University of Manchester (UK) and a B.Sc. (Hon.) in Mathematics from the University of Kuwait.

Dr. Al-Hawaj launched his distinguished academic career at the University of Bahrain, in which he held the successive posts of Dean of Registration & Student Affairs, Chairman of the Department of Mathematics, and Chairman of the Department of Computer Science. He attained the rank of Professor of Mathematics at the University of Bahrain in 1993 and continued to serve the University of Bahrain in that capacity until 2005. Dr. Al-Hawaj’s profound contributions to the fields of Mathematics, Computer Sciences, and Education through numerous research papers, books, media debates, and public discussions are vast. His unstinting dynamism, paradigm-shattering innovation and superlative achievement in the academic and social arena have accorded him a number of prestigious awards and honorariums.

Dr. Al-Hawaj has extensive experience in leading large multi-dimensional institutions. His signature use of pragmatic and innovative thinking in solving complex educational and business issues stems from his strong managerial and educational background. He is widely acclaimed as a pioneering architect of the private university in the Arabian Gulf and a leading proponent of excellence in Higher Education in the whole of the Middle East. He is the Chairman of the Executive Office of The Association of Arab Private Institutions for Higher Education. In the year 2019, he was awarded the Doctor of Science honoris causa (DSc) from Brunel University London for his contribution to international education.