Category: Delegate

Uduak Archibong is the Pro Vice Chancellor [Equality, Diversity and Inclusion], directs the Centre for Inclusion and Diversity and provides strategic oversight for equality, diversity and inclusion [EDI] across the institution. She obtained a BSc (First Class) from the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria in 1990, a PhD from Hull University in 1995 and promoted to Professor of Diversity with a cross-disciplinary and institutional portfolio in 2004. She is a Fellow of the West African College of Nursing and a Fellow of the Royal College of Nursing. She was listed in the New Year Honours list 2015 and was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire for her contributions to higher education and equality.

She has been recognised as a foremost authority on inclusion and diversity and became the first ever UK Professor of Diversity with a cross-disciplinary and institutional portfolio. She has a sustained, distinguished presence in the field of diversity management, she is currently leading in setting agenda to drive research, learning and knowledge exchange activities internationally and has published extensively on inclusion and diversity. Informed by over 30 years’ experience of working in the health and higher education sectors, her academic and professional work has major impacts locally, nationally and globally. Key among these impacts is that the body of her research work has provided the evidence base for, and a robust understanding of, the development and application of cultural solutions and diversity interventions in public, private and third sector organisations.

She is at the forefront of transforming organisational culture for sustainable diversity and inclusion approaches. Her research has provided a unique international definition of positive action and application for representational and participative diversity. She led to completion a major multi-million European Commission funded gender equality research project, GENOVATE, across 7 European Universities and led the EDI elements of a multi-million European Horizon 2020 project, RRING, in collaboration with 20 international partners. Her research projects – Disrupting the disproportional disciplinary proceedings in the UK NHS and Cracking the concrete ceiling for the advancement of UK BME Academic staff have made a major contribution to shaping the agenda on race equality, and informed global debates on systemic racism and other forms of structural inequality.

A multi-award winner, Uduak has been honoured as one of the top 100 Nigerians in the UK to receive a Centenary Award, one of the top 50 Inspirational Women in Healthcare in the UK, a Distinguished Nurse Leader in 21st century in Nigeria, and one of the 70 most outstanding Nigerians in the UK Health Sector. She featured in Northern Power Women Power List, 2019 and Phenomenal Women – Portraits of UK Black Women Professors in 2020. She was listed in the Black WHO’S WHO in the Millennium. Uduak is an Ecumenical Canon of the Bradford Cathedral, UK.

Uduak has founded AFfIH [Affiong Etuk Foundation for Inclusive Health] to help her determination to make Nigeria a Dementia Responsive Country. Her outstanding leadership for the development and promotion of a movement to forge community unity against dementia in Akwa Ibom State has led to the conferment of numerous high chief titles in Akwa Ibom State of Nigeria.

Dr.Laksanasopin is a Deputy Director of Hatch, a student incubator at King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi. She received Ph.D. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, USA in 2015, M.S. degree in Biomedical Engineering from Columbia University, USA in 2010, and B.Sc. degree in physics (First Class Honors) from Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. Despite her background in Biomedical Engineering, she is passionate about entrepreneurship education. She initiated new courses and activities to promote and develop entrepreneurial skills in students. With her experiences in scientific research and her commitment in improving the outcomes, she is actively examining the effect of learning approaches on student developments and assisting in the technology commercialization and spin-offs from university’s technologies. She specializes in microfluidics (hard plastic, PDMS), point-of-care diagnostics, assay development (ELISA, PCR, cell-based), field testing and implementation of new healthcare technologies (pre-clinical trial), and healthcare IoT (Internet of Things). She received the Outstanding Dissertation Award from the National Research Council of Thailand and KMUTT’s Young Researcher Award 2018 in IoT Platform for Point-of-Care Monitoring.

Dr. Rui Wang is the interim Vice-President Research and Innovation of York University while he has been functioning also as the inaugural Deputy Provost Markham of York University since August of 2018. He had been the Vice-President Research of Laurentian University in Sudbury for 2015-2018 and the Vice-President Research, Economic Development and Innovation at Lakehead University in Thunder Bay during 2004-2014. Dr. Wang was a Professor of Physiology and leader of both the Cardiovascular Research Group and the Cardiovascular and Respiratory Network of the University of Saskatchewan. Prior to that, Dr. Wang was a Principal Investigator from 1995 to 1997 at the Mount Desert Island Biological Laboratory in Maine, USA, and an Assistant Professor of Université de Montréal from 1993 to 1997. Trained in China as a medical doctor initially, he received a PhD degree in 1990 from the University of Alberta. Dr. Wang is an international leader in biomedical study of a group of small molecules of gas, known as gasotransmitters, a category which includes nitric oxide, carbon monoxide, and hydrogen sulfide (H2S). His research has been supported by Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR), Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council (NSERC) of Canada, Social Sciences and Humanity Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada, and the Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada (HSF). Over the course of his career, Dr. Wang has received >$13M research funding, and published 280 peer-reviewed papers in leading scientific journals. His publications on H2S biology and medicine have received the highest total citations in this field in the world. He has been invited to give 165 lectures and keynotes around the world. To date, Dr. Wang has trained more than 125 graduate students, post-doctoral fellows, visiting scientists, and other research personnel.

Dr.Warinthorn Songkasiri currently holds a position of Vice President for Research Strategy of King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Bangkok, Thailand. She is a principal researcher and a lab head at the Excellent Center of Waste Utilization and Management (ECoWaste), National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (BIOTEC). She received the Royal Thai Government to pursue her B.S. degree in Chemical Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 1997, M.S. degree in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University in 1998, and Ph.D. degree in Environmental Engineering from Northwestern University in 2003 from the US. She has been working in the environmental and renewable energy areas. Her research interests include agro- and food-process optimization. She was a co-founder of the program called Starch Engineering and Process Optimization (SEPO) program, which incorporate the university-public-private partnership program. Further, she works on anaerobic digestion for biogas production as renewable energy especially in the cassava starch industry. She was participating in several EU projects on knowledge and technology transfer.

Professor Mansoor Alaali has served as the President of Ahlia University since 2015. He holds a BSc from the University of Teesside (UK), an MSc in Computer Science, and a PhD in Artificial Intelligence and Knowledge-Based Systems from Aston University in Birmingham (UK).

His research interests span applied computer science, data mining, algorithms, artificial intelligence, university governance and ethics. Among his recent publications are two books: “Artificial Minds and Digital Souls: AI and the Future of Humanity” and “Success Through the Soul: Building Confidence”.

Professor Mansoor is an editor and reviewer for several international peer-reviewed journals and a regular keynote speaker at global conferences. He holds memberships in multiple professional bodies and has delivered numerous workshops and seminars in both technical and non-technical areas, including strategic planning and information technology.

Previously, he has developed innovative technical solutions and provided consultancy services to various international and local organisations.

Professor Mansoor advocates for a renewed perspective on higher education in the Arab world, believing that reform is essential to empower future generations and uplift societies.

Under his leadership, Ahlia University has achieved significant milestones in local and international accreditation, advancing both research and educational excellence.

His recent intellectual pursuits focus on human philosophy and expanding the frontiers of knowledge.

Dieter Bryniok graduated as a micro-biologist. He obtained his doctorate from the University of Tuebingen, Germany with a doctoral thesis on the immuno-enzymatic detection of methanogens in biogas producing microbial consortia. Between 1985 and 2017, he worked for the Fraunhofer Institute for Interfacial Engineering and Biotechnology (IGB), Stuttgart, Germany as a scientist, research group leader and vice department leader, initially in the chemical microbiology (CMB) department. He has been vice department leader of the institute’s environmental biotechnology and biochemical engineering department (UBT) since 2001. Previously, he worked as senior project manager in the fields of biodegradation of hazardous substances, water management, bio-energy, sustainable development, industrial biotechnology and bio-economy. Byniok headed the Fraunhofer Demonstration Center for Process Integrated Environmental Technology for six years (1995-2001) He was also responsible for establishing the Fraunhofer Center for Energy and the Environment in Pittsburgh, PA, USA, between the years of 1998 and 2001. Furthermore, he was managing director of the Fraunhofer Water Systems Alliance – a network of up to 13 Fraunhofer Institutes working in the field of water supply and wastewater management – for ten years from 2007 onwards. Bryniok held a professorship in environmental biotechnology from 2010 to 2022 at the newly founded Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences (HSHL) in Hamm, Germany, where he worked full-time from November 2017. He headed two research fields for bioenergy and bio-economy. Since 2018, he was Vice President for Research and Transfer, before he retired in August 2022.