Scientific Advisory Board

Professor Shirin Faraji received her PhD. in Theoretical Chemistry from Heidelberg University in 2010. Upon completing postdoctoral training at the Goethe University in Frankfurt, she started her habilitation at the Interdisciplinary Center for Scientific Computing of Heidelberg University. Shirin has also spent two years at the University of Southern California as a German Academic Exchange Service visiting researcher. Since March 2017, Shirin holds the position of chair in Theoretical Chemistry at the University of Groningen. Shirin’s research is centered around the development of hybrid classical/quantum dynamical methods for studies of light-induced processes and quantum effects in biomolecules and novel materials.

João is a full Professor at the Chemistry Department of University of Aveiro, Portugal. João is the director of the COMPASS Research Group, from the research unit CICECO–Aveiro Institute of Materials, focusing on the use of advanced biomaterials and cells towards the progress of transdisciplinary concepts to be employed in regenerative and personalised medicine. João is the Editor-in-Chief of Materials Today Bio. João has been coordinating several national and European research projects, including Advanced and Proof-of-Concept Grants from the European Research Council (ERC) and is an elected fellow of the European Academy of Sciences.

Kurt is a Director of the Max Planck Institute (MPI) for Informatics and Professor of Computer Science at Saarland University. Kurt heads the algorithms and complexity group at the MPI for Informatics. Kurt works on data structures and algorithms in a broad sense spanning both theory and engineering. Kurt has received several prizes (Leibniz Award, Beckurts Award, Zuze Medal, Humboldt Award, EATCS Award, ACM Paris Kanellakis Theory and Practice Award, Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europaea) for his work and is a member of the German Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Academia Europaea, the German Academy of Science and Engineering acatech, the US Academy of Engineering, and the US Academy of Science. From 2002 to 2008, Kurt was vice president of the Max Planck Society. Kurt is also a co-founder of Algorithmic Solutions Software GmbH.

Born and educated in Finland, Toma received his award-winning doctorate from Aalto University in 2011, moving to Austria two years later. In 2017, he received an ERC Starting Grant to create a new way to manipulate materials at the atomic level and since 2019 he has the position of Assistant Professor on Tenure Track at the Faculty of Physics of the University of Vienna. He has authored over 50 peer-reviewed articles and reviews, mostly on heteroatom-doped carbon nanomaterials. Toma has long been an advocate for open access publishing and currently leads the open science policy work of the Young Academy of Europe.

Riccardo is a Senior full Professor of Physical Chemistry and lecturer of Sustainable and Efficient Energy at the University of Siena, Italy. Since 2013, Riccardo has held the positions as the Italian Permanent Representative in Energy Committee of HORIZON 2020 and a Ministry of Research and Innovation Delegate for the SET (Strategic Energy Technology) Plan. In 2014, Riccardo was awarded the SCI Gold Medal for excellent achievements in the field of energy and environment and was also the co-recipient of the World Energy Globe Award. In 2017, Riccardo was appointed by the Ministry of Research to the Mission Innovation Inter-Ministry Task Force and became a member of the Italian National Agency for new technologies, energy and sustainable economic development (ENEA).

Professor Linda Doyle is the Vice President of Research/Dean of Research and Professor of Engineering and The Arts at Trinity College Dublin, the University of Dublin. Her expertise is in the fields of wireless communications, cognitive radio, reconfigurable networks, spectrum management and creative arts practices. Linda has a reputation as an advocate for change in spectrum management practices and has played an integral role in spectrum policy at the national and international level.

Lisa is the Executive Director, Biomedical Research Council, A*STAR, a Senior Principal Investigator, Singapore Immunology Network, A*STAR and holds a secondary appointment at the Institute of Infection, Veterinary and Ecological Sciences, University of Liverpool, UK as Chair and Professor. Lisa’s research group focuses on the immune responses of arthrogenic arboviruses that are epidemic or highly endemic in the tropical region, including chikungunya virus, dengue virus, Zika virus and other related alpha- and flavi-viruses. Her team have made several key important findings to move the human immunology field forward in controlling chikungunya virus, Zika virus and SARS-CoV-2 infections. Lisa has won numerous prestigious international awards for her work and contributions to SARS and serves in various expert research grants and fellowships committees for Wellcome and the European Commission.

As the Head of the European Oncology Business, Kees is responsible for leading over 2000 dedicated associates in 51 countries on ajourney to reimagine medicines. Kees Novartis career started in 1985 in the Netherlands. Since then Kees has held various roles of increasing responsibility in several international markets and cultures from Europe to Latin America and Japan. Each move has given Kees a greater perspective on why research, access, affordability, and accessibility to care are now more critical than ever. Beyond Kees professional career, he is also a member of the EFPIA Patient Access Committee and sits on the Assembly for the Mission on Cancer for the European Commission.

Torsten is the Vice President for Research at the University of Basel. Since 2002, Torsten has been a group leader at the SIB Swiss Institute of Bioinformatics. In 2007, he was promoted to Associate Professor and, in 2014, to Director of sciCORE, where he is responsible for the central infrastructure for scientific computing at the University of Basel. As chairman of the Scientific Expert Board and director of the Data Coordination Centre of the Swiss Personalized Health Network (SPHN), Torsten is committed to the development of research in the field of personalized health and medicine in Switzerland.

Karin is Professor of Medicine and Head of Experimental Cardiology at the KU Leuven, the University of Leuven, Belgium. Karin’s academic research is focused on cellular mechanisms of heart failure and arrhythmias, ion channels and calcium regulation in ischemic heart disease and atrial fibrillation. Karin has taken an active role in research policy previously chairing the KU Leuven Research Council and Research Coordinator on the board of the group Biomedical Sciences. At European and international level, Karin has served on the board of the European Society of Cardiology where she was also chair of the Council Basic Cardiovascular Sciences and member of the EU affairs committee. Karin was also a liaison member of the Council Basic Cardiovascular Sciences of the American Heart Association as well as the founding member and President of the Alliance for Biomedical Research Europe. Currently, Karin chairs the Scientific Panel for Health under the provision of the European Commission H2020 program.

Mangala studied at the National University of Singapore, before completing her Ph.D. at Carnegie Mellon University. Mangala is currently a Group Leader at the Radboud University Medical Center. Mangala’s team has taken a new type of imaging agent from development to the clinic and commercialisation. This multidisciplinary work is, and has been, supported by prestigious grants such as an ERC Starting Grant, and has been spun-out to Cenya Imaging BV, where Mangala is Chief Scientific Officer. Mangala is also active within the Young Academy of Europe (YAE), where she is currently the elected Chair. She has also been invited to speak at several events related to science policy organized by the Association of Universities in the Netherlands (VSNU), European University Association (EUA) and United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Thomas Bartzanas is Associate Professor and Director of the Lab of Farm Structures at the Agricultural University of Athens in Greece and a collaborative researcher at the Institute for Bio-Economy and Agri-Technology (iBO) at the Centre for Research and Technology Hellas (CERTH). Thomas’s research area is focused on the application of precision agricultural technologies (sensors, automation and ICT tools) for sustainable agriculture, systems analysis and modelling in agriculture, controlled environment agriculture (greenhouses, vertical farming systems, livestock storage systems) and environmental impact assessment of agricultural operations using the life cycle approach. Thomas has participated in and coordinated several national and EU funded research projects, including participation as an expert in the European Innovation Partnership (EIP-AGRI) focus groups dealing with livestock emissions and circular horticulture.

Odile is the head of the department for Open Science at INRAE. An agronomist by training, Odile oversees the implementation of the open science policy (open access, open data, citizen sciences) and of the development of the e-infrastructure supporting data-driven and open science practices in INRAE’s fields of interest. For many years, Odile has managed projects and teams linked to information technologies and knowledge sharing in these domains. In her current position Odile is involved in many international working groups dealing with “open science in the agri-food sector” (GODAN, RDA, GO FAIR) and the French National plan for Open Science.

Avo is a scientist and educator of animal and food biochemistry based at the Department of Food Science and Food Technology of the Estonian University of Life Science. Avo graduated from the University of Tartu, gained a PhD in Biochemistry at the Moscow State Academy of Veterinary Medicine and Biotechnology and in 1995 became a Doctor of Agriculture at the Estonian Agricultural University. Avo is a national expert for Horizon 2020 and has participated in several international projects contributing as an external expert, rapporteur and evaluator of many projects, actions and institutions.

Luca has worked as a scientific project manager in the European Commission since 1992, leading the Soil Data and Information Systems activities of the Joint Research Centre in support to the EU Thematic Strategy for Soil Protection and numerous other soil related policies, like the Common Agricultural Policy (CAP), the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).

Luca is responsible for the European Soil Data Centre (ESDAC), the European Soil Information System (EUSIS) and the European Soil Bureau Network (ESBN) and is leading the JRC portfolio on Soil Health. In 2011, Luca oversaw the establishment of the Global Soil Partnership (GSP) at the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Between 2012-2018 Luca chaired the Intergovernmental Technical Panel on Soils (ITPS) and between 2016-2018 co-chaired the Intergovernmental Platform for Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services (IPBES) Land Degradation and Restoration Assessment.

Orla is a Senior Research Officer at Teagasc Food Research Centre, Principal Investigator at VistaMilk SFI Research Centre and Funded Investigator with the APC Microbiome Ireland. Orla is also a theme lead (Biotechnological genomics, including metagenomics) with the SFI Centre for Research Training in Genomics Data Science. Orla is a computational biologist focusing on elucidating the microbiome from a variety of ecosystems including soil, food, rumen and human gut. Of interest to her is the role of exercise and diet, specifically whey protein, on the human gut microbiome both in healthy and diseased cohorts. Orla also has a keen interest in science communication and sits on the education and outreach committee of the APC and VistaMilk. In 2019 Orla was awarded SFI Early Career Researcher of the Year.

Patrick Dunleavy is Professor of Political Science and Public Policy at the London School of Economics and Political Science, and a Fellow of the British Academy and of the Academy of the Social Sciences. He is also Chief Editor of the new open access publisher, LSE Press; Chair of the Advisory Board for LSE Impact blog; and co-author of The Impact of the Social Sciences (Sage, 2014) and Maximizing the Impacts of Academic Research (Macmillan Research Skills/ Red Globe Press, 2020). Patrick’s @Write4Research Twitter account has 71,000 followers.

Francesc is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Pedagogy and Rector’s Commissioner for Digital Affairs at Universitat Jaume I (Castelló, Spain). Francesc is a member of the Teaching, Learning and Technology Research Group (GREAT) and his research interests include digital competence, teacher professional development, design-based research, and virtual learning environments. Francesc has published articles and book chapters on topics related to educational technology. A visiting scholar in ICLON Graduate School of Teaching at Leiden University (2014), Francesc has also held academic and research positions at Rovira i Virgili University (2012-2016) and was the UNESCO Chair in Higher Education Management and Policy (2008-2011).

Ellen is a Professor in Open Access/Open Data/Open Science at the Department of Information Sciences at UAS Potsdam and is an expert in (copyright) legal questions of our digital cultural heritage, as well of the economic aspects associated. Whilst at the Institute for Information and Business Law at the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) Ellen was the National Project Lead responsible for the national adaptation of the global open access licenses of Creative Commons. At the same time, she supported KIT Scientific Publishing in the implementation of an open access strategy. Ellen was the author and (co-)editor of an open access publication series for a (diamond) open access journal published by Nomos and has numerous scientific publications and monographs dealing with various aspects of digital change. Ellen was also appointed Commissioner of the State of Brandenburg for the implementation of the state's open access strategy.

Phoebe is Professor (Chair) of Sustainable Development (Economics and Econometrics) at the School of Economics, Athens University of Economics and Business. Phoebe is also the founder and Scientific Director of the Research laboratory on Socio-Economic and Environmental Sustainability (ReSEES) at the same university and an affiliated Professor at the ATHENA Research and Innovation Center (Greece) where she directs the Greek hub for the European Institute of Innovation and Technology’s Climate Knowledge and Innovation Community (EIT Climate-KIC). Phoebe is also President of the European Association of Environmental and Natural Resource Economists (EAERE). Phoebe is an advisor to the European Commission and numerous intergovernmental and international organizations, including the World Bank, EIB, EBRD, OECD, UN, NATO, WHO, as well as organizations and national governments in all five continents, and holds global leadership roles on numerous committees. Since 1997, Phoebe has coordinated more than 75 interdisciplinary research projects and with her team has produced research that have helped shape European policies.

Anne is Professor and Director of the UCD Humanities Institute. Internationally known for her work on German cultural memory, modernist and contemporary literature and on temporality in the 20th and 21st centuries, she has overseen major funded research projects and acts as a regular grant assessor for the German Scientific Council, the DFG, and the Swiss National Fund. As a member of the Royal Irish Academy (RIA) and a Fellow of the British Academy she serves on strategic committees, such as the RIA Council, the RIA Higher Education Futures Group, the RIA Committee on Research Infrastructure and the RIA Brexit Taskforce.

After a career as a National Fund for Scientific Research (FNRS) researcher at the University of Liège, Vinciane is now Professor at the Collège de France in Paris. Her fields of research are the ancient Greek religion, ancient polytheism and the historiography of the history of religions. Vinciane is the director of the project Collection of Greek Ritual Norms and of the journal Kernos. Vinciane was previously active in research structures in Belgium for years and is now Vice-President of the International Fund for Open Science in France.

Patrik is Professor of Humanities and Information Technology at Umeå University and Visiting Professor of Digital Humanities at UCLA (2016-2020). He was the Director of HUMlab at Umeå (2000-2014). Patrik’s work focuses on digital and experimental humanities and conditions for knowledge production, including intellectual middleware, academic events as infrastructure, the culture of presentation software, and the history and role of digital humanities. Patrik has spearheaded policy work on humanistic research infrastructure and is currently developing a program on “humane infrastructures”. His practice includes curating events and designing infrastructure.

Daphne is a research and innovation professional based in the Netherlands. She has an extensive background in ‘knowledge utilisation’, the translation of academic research into products and services to make societal impact. In 2014, Daphne founded the THRIVE PhD Academy which empowers researchers to apply their academic knowledge and skills to solve complex societal challenges together with corporate and governmental partner organizations. Daphne was Project Manager within the Valorisation Program Rotterdam (2014-2016), an incentive programme to create an ecosystem for universities and colleges in Rotterdam to make better use of scientific research for innovation. In addition, Daphne held a position as Program Manager at national Think Tank SMO (2014-2019). Daphne holds a M.A. in Philosophy (Cum Laude) and a LL.M. in Law from Leiden University and is currently pursuing a PhD in Philosophy and Economics at Erasmus University Rotterdam. Daphne is also is a member of the Blikverruimers Academy, an intensive and high-profile program to train young professionals for supervisory board member positions in order to create more diversity and inclusion of younger generations in high-level decision making.