EWORA 7th CONFERENCE

Sarah Springman

Rector, ETH Zürich

Sarah Marcella Springman has been Full Professor for Geotechnical Engineering at ETH Zurich since January 1997 and Rector of ETH since January 2015. Born in London in 1956, Professor Springman studied engineering science at Cambridge University before embarking on a career in industry. She worked for five years as a civil engineer on several geotechnical projects in England, Fiji, and Australia before returning to Cambridge, where she earned her PhD in 1989 and established an academic career as a university lecturer. She has been a full professor at the ETH Zurich in the Institute for Geotechnical Engineering (Department Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering), since 1997, heading the institute from 2001 to 2005 and again from 2009 to 2011. Professor Springman also served as the Director of the ETH Zurich Network for Natural Hazards from 2007 to 2009 and as Joint Deputy Head of the Department of Civil, Environmental and Geomatic Engineering from 2013 to 2014. Her research interests focus on soil-structure interaction and the geotechnical aspects of natural hazards, in particular landslides and melting permafrost. She uses geotechnical modelling to develop solutions that can improve the design of structures and stabilise slopes in the natural environment.

Professor Springman has published numerous journal articles and monographs, as well as co-editing proceedings and reviewing submissions for a range of scientific publications. She has contributed to more than 100 presentations at refereed conferences and given many keynote lectures. She received an honorary Doctor of Science degree from the University of Bath in 2013, and of Philosophy from the University of Berne in 2016. Professor Springman is active in a number of research organisations in Switzerland and abroad, including eight years as a member the Swiss Science and Technology Council (2000–2007), forerunner to today’s Swiss Science and Innovation Council. She is currently a member of the Swiss Academy of Engineering Sciences (SATW) and a fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering. Professor Springman has supervised two dozen doctoral theses over the course of her career and inspired many young women to take up engineering degrees.

Arne Flåøyen

Director, NordForsk

Dr Arne Flåøyen is since 2018 the Director of NordForsk. He has spent the past 20 years at the Norwegian Veterinary Institute, where he was Deputy Director General and Head of Department between 2007 and 2017. Dr Flåøyen studied at the Norwegian School of Veterinary Science, where he earned a DVM degree and two Ph.D. degrees. He also completed a Master of Management at the BI Norwegian Business School. From 2004 to 2006 he worked as National Expert and Project Officer in DG Research in the European Commission. Between 1998 and 2002, Dr Flåøyen chaired the Nordic Forestry, Veterinary and Agricultural University’s (NOVA) steering group for collaboration with developing countries. Dr Flåøyen was a member of the Research Board of the Division for Science at the Research Council of Norway from 2011 to 2015.

Louise Morley

Professor of Education, University of Sussex

Louise Morley AcSS is a Professor of Education and Director of the Centre for Higher Education and Equity Research (CHEER) (http://www.sussex.ac.uk/education/cheer/) at the University of Sussex, UK. Louise has an international profile in the field of the sociology of gender in higher education studies. Her research and publication interests focus on international higher education policy, gender, equity, micropolitics, quality, leadership and power. She is an Academician of the Academy of Social Sciences, a Fellow of the Society for Research into Higher Education, a Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Gender Excellence, University of Örebro, Sweden, and the 2013-2014 Inaugural Chair, Women’s Leadership Centre, Universiti Kebangsaan, Malaysia. 
 

She is currently conducting research on women and leadership in higher education in South Asia for the British Council. She has also completed research for the Leadership Foundation for Higher Education on women and leadership, and on Widening Participation in Higher Education in Ghana and Tanzania (www.sussex.ac.uk/education/cheer/wphegt) for the ESRC/DFID. She has held research grants from the Economic and Social Research Council, the UK Department for International Development, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the British Council, and the Higher Education Funding Council for England. She is on the editorial boards for Studies in Higher Education, Gender and Education, Teaching in Higher Education and Higher Education Research and Development. Recent publications include: Morley, L. (2014). “Lost Leaders: Women in the Global Academy.” Higher Education Research and Devel opment. 33(1): 111–125; Morley, L. (2012). “The Rules of the Game: Women and the Leaderist Turn in Higher Education “ Gender and Education. 25(1). For further details of publications, please see Sussex Research Online- http://sro.sussex.ac.uk/view/creators/461.html

Liisa Husu

Professor of Gender Studies, Örebro University

Professor of Gender Studies, Örebro University, Sweden

Dr. Liisa Husu is a Finnish sociologist and gender expert, actively engaged in gender and science issues in research, policy and civil society since the early 1980s. She is Professor of Gender Studies at the Örebro University, Sweden, and Co-Director of the three-university research platform GEXcel International Collegium for Advanced Transdisciplinary Gender Studies, and also affiliated to the Department of Management and Organisation, Hanken School of Economics, Helsinki. From the early 1980s to mid-1990s she was engaged in gender equality policy-making in the Finnish governmental gender equality machinery in the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Social Affairs as a Senior Adviser and National co-ordinator of Women’s Studies.
 

Her re­­search and publications fo­­cus on gen­­der in scien­­ce, academia and knowledge production, espe­­­­­­cially gen­­der dyna­­mics and in­­equa­­li­­ties in scien­­tific careers, organisations and scien­­ce po­­licy. She has lectured and presented her research in thirty countries, including Australia, Canada, Chile, China, Europe, Morocco, South Africa and USA. She has contributed extensively as a gender expert and ad­­vi­­ser for research and higher education stakeholders in Nor­­dic count­­­­­­­­­­­­ries, Europe and internationally, including ministries, international and national agencies and research funding organisations, as well as several universities especially in the Nordic region. Husu has played an active role in European research development and actions on gender and science in EC expert groups, European research projects (ADVANCE, PROMETEA, genSET, GEDII) and international networks. She is partner of GenPORT, a major EU FP7 project pooling and organising international gender and science resources for research, policy and action into an interactive portal. Husu contributed to the EC re­­port Gen­­der and Excel­­lence in the Making (2004), and was the Rap­­­­porteur of the EC ex­­pert group Gen­­der and Ex­­cel­­len­­ce (The Gender Challenge in Research Funding, 2009). She was a founding member of the European Platform of Women Scientists and a long-term member of its board. As the moderator of the European Network on Gender Equality in Higher Education she has contributed to organising nine European Conferences on Gender Equality in Higher Education. She has been Vice-Chair of the University of Helsinki Equality Committee, and inaugural Chair of the Board of NIKK, the Nordic Gender Institute. In 2009 she was awarded the University of Helsinki Gender Equality Prize, the Maikki Friberg Prize.

Gulsun Saglamer

Founding Honorary President, EWORA (2015-2023)

Prof. Dr. Gulsun Saglamer, Former Rector of Istanbul Technical University (1996-2004) is a professor of architecture at Istanbul Technical University. She graduated from Istanbul Technical University with a Master of Architecture degree in 1967 and received her PhD from the same university in 1973. She became Associate Professor in 1978, Full Professor in 1988 at ITU.  She taught Architectural Design, Computer Aided Architectural Design, Logic Model of Design, Architectural Design Methods and Theories at ITU since 1973 until she retired in 2012.

She carried out her post-doctoral studies at the Martin Centre, Department of Architecture, University of Cambridge, UK 1975-1976 and continued her studies at the Martin Centre for short periods in 1987 and 1989.  She was a member of the Scientific Committee of TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technical Research Council of Turkey) INTAG between 1990 and 1996. Prof Sağlamer was invited to Queen's University of Belfast as a Visiting Professor between 1993 and 1996 and was also invited to be an external examiner at the same university for four years between 1999 and 2003.  She is a member of the Editorial Boards of “Open House International”, “International Journal for Housing Science and Its Applications”, “ITU Journal AZ/ Architecture Design” (in Turkish). She has been on numerous architectural competition juries at national  level and also at international level such as the jury for the prestigious Daimler-Chrysler-UNESCO Mondialogo Engineering Prize 2005.

She was a Board Member of EUA (European University Association) (2005-2009) and a member of the Steering Committee of the EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) (2009-2013), a chair of evaluation teams in IEP evaluations since 2011 and a member of the Research Policy Working Group of EUA since its establishment in 2005 till 2017.  She has been an Executive Committee Member (2003-2021) of the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP) and the President of CMU (Community of Mediterranean Universities) (2012-2016). She was invited to the Marie Curie People Programme (EC) Advisory Group for five terms: 2006-2018 and has been the Chair of the Marie Sklodowska Curie Actions Advisory Group in Horizon 2020 (2013-2016). She was invited to the” Expert Working Group on The External Research Funding of Universities”, established by the EC (2007-2008). She was a member of the Steering Committee of the OECD/IMHE Quality Teaching Project (2009-2012).

She is a Member of the Board of Trustees of Kadir Has University (2006-2014)(2020-2024) and the President of the Council for Technology and Technoparks in Turkey (2006-2010). She is the Founder and a Board Member of ITU’s Technology Park and Incubation Centre, ARI Techno-City and a Board Member of ITU Development Foundation (2009-2021). She is the founder of ITU Development Foundation’s K12 Schools: Nursery (1998), Primary School (2001), High School (2006) to provide better work-life balance for ITU academic staff. She was the Chair of the Academic Council of these schools for 8 years (2000-2008)

Professional experience

Gulsun Saglamer is a registered architect at the Chamber of Architects of Turkey, Istanbul. She designed several important architectural projects and received awards at national and international levels such as First Prize in the Architectural Competition of the Aydin-Kusadasi Tourism Complex, Organized by the Ministry of Public Works, 1982; Best Buildings of the Year 2000 by Kolleksiyon, ‘Sedat Üründül Nursery’. Same project also received a prize from OECD PEB 2nd Compendium of Exemplary Educational Facilities, 2000.  She designed a five-star hotel building with 320 beds (Trabzon-Grand Zorlu), a housing group with 360 dwelling units (Trabzon-ATAŞEHİR), a research centre, and villas in different parts of Turkey.  She has served as jury member in many national architectural design competitions. She is the founder and president of “the Association for Architectural Education” (MIMED)(ArchED)(1997-2019) MİMED has been organizing very prestigious “Architectural Students Projects Competitions” since 2001 at National level.  She is the first female Vice-Rector (1992-1995) and the first female Rector (1996-2004) of Istanbul Technical University since its establishment in 1773.

Research interests and experience

Major research areas are Computer Aided Architectural Design (CAAD), Architectural Design Theories, Computer Applications in Housing, CAAD of Dwelling Units, Morphological Studies of House Forms, Housing for Low Income Groups,Immigration from Rural to Urban Areas, Squatter Settlements, Comparative Studies in Housing, Space Syntax in Housing, CAAD in Housing, Higher Education and Research Management, and Women Academics in Science and Engineering. She did her PhD in CAAD in 1973. She is the pioneer of the CAAD courses at undergraduate and graduate levels at ITU and supervised 11 PhD theses together with 25 master theses at ITU Graduate Schools.

She coordinated a Med Campus Project titled “Housing for Low Income Groups in Turkey” under the 4th Framework Programme in 1995 and established “The Housing Research Centre” at ITU in 1997. This centre has taken part in many research projects and has organised international meetings for international networks. This centre also designed a master degree programme for “Earthquake Resistant Housing”(2000- ).

Prof. Saglamer established a centre at Istanbul Technical University titled “Women Studies in Science Engineering and Technology“ in 2009 and served as the director of this centre 2009-2012. She organised the “European Women Rectors Conferences” at ITU in Istanbul four times (2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014). Prof.Saglamer also chaired the “European Women Rector Platform” (EWRP) that was established in 2010. She has led the ITU team in 5 of the EC funded (FP6 and FP7) projects on Women in STEM (2006-2017). In December, 2015 European Women Rectors Association (EWORA) has been established under the Belgian Law in Brussels and Prof. Saglamer is the founding Board member and the President of EWORA. She is re-elected as the President of EWORA for the second period of 2019-2023. She has been representing Turkey in ERAC Standing Working Group on Gender in Research and Innovation (Former Helsinki Group) since 2o18. She has been  an “External Assessor of Senior Academic Leadership Initiative 2020” of the Ireland Higher Education Authority.

Prof. Saglamer has a great interest in graduate programmes and under her leadership all the graduate programmes of ITU were restructured and new graduate programmes were created on “Advanced Technologies in Engineering” in 2000. The aim of these programmes was to train doctoral candidates for employment not only in academia but also in industry. This project was funded by the State Planning Organisation of Turkey and was successful in attracting funds from industry as well.

She has continued her work on graduate programmes after stepping down from her rectorship and established a research group on “Doctoral Education in Architecture”, and organised the first Conference on “Doctoral Education on Housing Studies” in 2008. After completing the pilot study at international level on “Doctoral Education in Architecture” she co-chaired the first international workshop on this subject at ITU in November 2011. She has established a research group on “Doctoral Education in Architecture and co-authored the book titled “Doctoral Education in Architecture” by Cambridge Scholars Publishing, 2015.

She is also representing Turkey in the network titled “European Research in Architecture and Urbanism” and chaired the EURAU 2014 Conference on “Composite Cities” and Co-authored a book titled “Reinterpreting and Restructuring Composite Cities” (2016).

She has given over 90 keynote speeches and invited lectures on architecture and different aspects of higher education (such as research policy, doctoral education, quality assurance, quality enhancement, funding) at international meetings besides her keynotes on gender equality in HE&R, that has been her major research area since 2008. 

Other significant events and prizes

• Honoris Causa by
  • Carleton University, Canada (2001),
  • Universitatea de Nord Din Baia Mare University, Romania (2002),
  • Ovidius University of Constantza in Romania (2009),
  • Queens’ University Belfast (2018)
• American Institute of Architects (AIA) Honorary Fellowship (Hon FAIA) in 2006
• “Leonardo da Vinci Medal” by SEFI (Société Européenne Pour la Formation Ingénieurs - European Society for Engineering Education) in 2005-2006
• Founding Board Member, Global Relations Forum (2009-2017)
• Member of European Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters since 2011
• Member of the Selection Committee for Fulbright Prize 2014
• Chair of the Selection Committee of the Vehbi Koç Educational Prize, 2015.

She has led the ITU team in 5 of the EC funded (FP6 and FP7) projects on Women in STEM (2006-2017)

1. UNICAFE–Survey of the University Career of Female Scientists at Life Sciences versus Technical Universities, funded by European Commission, 2006-2008

2. Meta Analysis – Meta-analysis of gender and science research, funded by European Commission, 2008-2010:

3. SHEMERA–Euro-Mediterranean research cooperation on gender and science: SHE Euro Mediterranean Research Area, funded by European Commission, 2011-2014

4. FESTA–Female Empowerment in Science and Technology Academia, funded by European Commission, 2012-2017 http://www.festa-europa.eu/

FESTA Resistance Handbook on Resistance to Gender Equality in Academi a (www.resge.eu)

Authors: Gülsün Sağlamer, Mine Tan, Hülya Çağlayan, Nina Almgren, Minna Salminen-Karlson,Liv       Baisner, Eva Sphia Myers, Gitte Toftgaard Jorgensen, Manuela Aye, sabine Bausch, Pat O’connor,          Clare O’Hagan, Ita Richardson,Mario Conci, Georgi Apostolov, Irina Topuzova

5. COST Gender STE, Science, Technology, Environment. genderSTE is a network of policy makers and experts committed to promoting fair representation of women and better integration of gender analysis in research and innovation http://www.cost.eu/about_cost/strategy/targeted_networks/genderste

Kerstin Tham

Former Vice Chancellor, Malmö University

Kerstin Tham was vice-chancellor of Malmö University from 2015 to 2024. She previously served as Deputy Vice Chancellor at Karolinska Institutet (KI) in Stockholm. She has extensive experience from research, teaching and academic leadership positions within the field of health sciences.

Professor Tham is professor in occupational therapy (2009) and has a doctoral (phd) degree in Neurology (1998). Her research focuses on aspects of rehabilitation after stroke and the overall aim is to build knowledge, develop and evaluate personcentered health services for people with stroke and their families. Professor Tham has conducted internationally unique research identifying the lived experience of individuals with neuropsychological impairments after stroke, as unilateral neglect, by applying an occupational science perspective. The research has contributed to the development of new models, methods and strategies for rehabilitation after stroke. Professor Tham has extensive numbers of scientific publications and has served as supervisor of 15 doctoral students at Karolinska Institutet.

Professor Tham has led the strategic development of Malmö university which is the youngest university in Sweden. When the Swedish government decided on giving Malmö university the full research university status 2018, she has focused her work on strengthening the research and research education in interdisciplinary research centers and programs addressing complex societal challenges such as sustainable city development, migration and integration, life- and material sciences, internet of things and people and learning for change.

Malmö university has a strong global and societal engagement and has during the years built and extensive experience in widening participation in higher education. Collaboration with different societal stakeholders within public, private and the nonprofit sectors is very important for the further development of the university and professor Tham is therefore involved in several national, regional and local boards.

Fanny M.C. Cheung

Former Pro Vice Chancellor, The Chinese University of Hong Kong

BA (UC, Berkeley); PhD (Minn)

Former Pro-Vice-Chancellor / Vice-President
Choh-Ming Li Professor of Psychology 

Professor Cheung is currently Choh-Ming Li Professor of Psychology and Co-Director of the Hong Kong Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies at CUHK. She was formerly Dean of the Faculty of Social Science and Chairperson of the Department of Psychology. Professor Cheung was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research in 2013. As Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Research, Professor Cheung is the Chairperson of the Research Committee and oversees the governance of interdisciplinary research institutes as well as knowledge transfer at CUHK. An active advocate for promoting women’s status through scientific research, Professor Cheung established the Gender Research Centre in 1985, and initiated the Gender Studies Programme at the University. Over the years her efforts have led to an increased awareness of gender issues in academia as well as the community at large. From 1996 to 1999, Professor Cheung served as the Founding Chairperson of the Hong Kong Equal Opportunities Commission, setting up the mechanism to eliminate discrimination and promote equal opportunities for women and men, and for people with disabilities.
 

Professor Cheung obtained her bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of California, Berkeley, and PhD in Psychology from the University of Minnesota. Her research expertise lies in cross-cultural personality assessment and psychopathology, personality and vocational behavior, gender equality, and women leadership. Professor Cheung is Past President of the International Test Commission, a Fellow and former President of the Hong Kong Psychological Society, and a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) as well as the Association for Psychological Science (APS).
 

Professor Cheung is dedicated to public service and has served on many government committees and advisory bodies, including the Electoral Affairs Commission, Advisory Group on Eliminating Discrimination against Sexual Minorities, the Women’s Commission, and the Independent Police Complaints Council,. She was invited as a special delegate to the 7th to the 11th Sessions of the National Congress of Chinese Women. In recognition of her contributions to the community, she was appointed Justice of the Peace in 1988 and a Hong Kong Affairs Advisor from 1995 to 1997. She was made an Officer of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire (OBE) in 1997.
 

Professor Cheung’s academic publications total over 180 internationally refereed journal articles, book chapters, books and monographs. Her research on Chinese personality assessment has raised international attention on the need to mainstream culture in psychology. Her academic honours and awards include the IAAP Distinguished Scientific Contribution Award 2014, APA Award for Distinguished Contributions to the International Advancement of Psychology 2012, Distinguished International Psychologist Award of APA Division 52 (2005), and Distinguished Leadership Award for Internationals from the University of Minnesota (2003).

Zehra Sayers

Former Rector, Sabanci University

Dr. Sayers is a molecular biophysicist with research focus on synchrotron X-ray structure analysis of biological macromolecules. She is also interested in implementation of modern pedagogical approaches for teaching interdisciplinary curricula.

She holds a BSc in Physics, from Bogazici University, Istanbul Turkey (1974) and a PhD in Biophysics,from the University of London, UK (1978). She was a post-doc in the UK and Sweden and was a staff scientist at European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL)Hamburg Outstation (1986-1998), before joining Sabanci University (SU), Istanbul, Turkey, as a founding faculty member (1998). Here she was the Director of Foundation Development Program (2010-2019) and served as the interim President in
2018. Currently she is on a sabbatical at the EMBL Outstation in Hamburg, Germany.

She has been the Chair of the Scientific Advisory Committee (SAC) of the international synchrotron radiation facility project SESAME (Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East) between 2002 and 2018. Her scientific achievements and contributions to the realization of this project have been internationally recognized with the Rammal Award in 2017 and AAAS Science Diplomacy Award in 2019. She was included in the BBC list of 100 Most Inspiring and Influential Women of 2019. Dr. Sayers is also an honorary member of the Science Academy of Turkey.

Mª Vicenta Mestre

Rector, University of Valencia

Mª Vicenta Mestre was born in Oliva and she is a Full University Professor of Basic Psychology at the Universitat de València. Graduated in Philosophy and Educational Sciences, in the specialties of Psychology and Educational Sciences, she was distinguished with the National Award for the best fellows and with the llicenciatura (former Spanish undergraduate degree) extraordinary award. Doctor of Psychology, she also won the Ph.D Extraordinary Award. As director of a research group she has been principal investigator (IP) of 34 competitive projects, among which two PROMETEO projects with the University of Missouri (USA) and CONICET of Buenos Aires, as well as the excellence network management of ISIC “Fortalecimiento personal, inclusión social y calidad de vida, CVIFOR” (Personal strengthening, social inclusion and quality of life, CVIFOR). Its objective was to detect factors of protection and vulnerability and intervene in childhood and adolescence at risk of poverty and/or social exclusion. She is currently IP of the Project “Violencia y victimización en la adolescencia: el rol de los valores” (Violence and victimization in adolescence: the role of values) [National Plan R+D+i, PSI2016-78242-R]; and the PROMETEO Project on “Competencia socioemocional y personal como prevención de la conducta desadaptada” (Socioemotional and personal competence as prevention of maladaptive behaviour). She is co-director of the Luis Amigó Chair between the Universitat de València and the Amigó Foundation for Psychosocial Intervention in children at risk. She is the author of more than 160 articles in national and international journals, 23 books and 50 book chapters. In addition, she has directed 20 doctoral theses and her research career has been recognised with six research six-year term. Committed to the transformation of the university, in her career Dr. Mestre has known the different levels of the academic career, as well as the main areas of university management being, successively, Secretary of the Department of Basic Psychology (1986-1989), Vice-Dean of Infrastructure of the Faculty of Psychology (2001-2002), (First) Dean of the Faculty of Psychology (2002-2006), Vice-Principal of Studies (2006- 2010), Vice-Principal of Academic Planning and Teaching Staff (2010-2015), and VicePrincipal for Academic Planning, Teaching and Sustainability (2015-2018). In 2018, she was elected as the first female Rector (Principal) of the Universitat de València (appointed by Decree 41/2018, of April 6, of the Government of the Valencian Community Council [Consell de la Generalitat]). At the national level, she has been Executive Secretary of the Sectorial Commission of the CRUE of Academic Affairs and of the Sectorial Commission of the CRUE of Sustainability. Since May 2019, she presides over the Sectorial of the Teaching Staff of the CRUE Spanish Universities and, since the same year, she is part of the Executive Committee of the Ibero-American University Postgraduate Association (AUIP). Being responsible for the inclusion and integration of people with disabilities such as Vice-Principal for Academic Order, Faculty and Sustainability, their university, the Universitat de València, has received different national awards such as ONCE Foundation Solidarity Awards and Telefónica Ability Awards. Academic full member of the Academy of Psychology of Spain, she received the police merit award from the Unit of the National Police Corps attached to the Valencian Community (Decree 189/2019, of December 13, of the Consell de la Generalitat Valenciana), and the Awards of the Federation of Progressive Women of the Valencian Community, Ferrer Pastor of the Commonwealth of Municipalities of La Safor, the honorary award to the Cultural Trajectory of Foment AIC of Gandía and on 9 October 2018, she received the Distinction of the Valencian Government (Generalitat Valenciana, Decree 160/2018, of October 5). In 2018, she received the José Luis Pinillos Award by Psicofundación for Excellence and Innovation in Psychology in the “Psychologist of the Year” category that recognises excellence in the professional and academic activity of Spanish Psychology.

Andrea Schenker-Wicki

President, University of Basel

Born in 1959 Andrea Schenker-Wicki holds a master degree in Food Engineering from ETH Zurich and a master degree in Business Administration from the University of Zurich. In 1990 she obtained a doctoral degree from the University of Freiburg in the field of Operations Research and Information Technology. She habilitated in 1996 at the University of St. Gallen with a thesis about the measurement of academic performance.

From 1990 to 1997 Andrea Schenker-Wicki worked at the National Emergency Operations Centre in Zurich, as a research associate and from 1993 on she also became its Head of the information office. For the subsequent four years, she led the section for higher education at the Federal Office of Education and Science (today: State Secretariat for Education, Research, and Innovation).

From 2001 to 2015 she held a full professorship in Business Administration at the University of Zurich and acted as the Director of the Executive MBA as well as the CAS program “Essentials of management”. In addition, she was Vice President for Law and Economics at the University of Zurich between 2012 and 2014. On August 1, 2015, she became President of the University of Basel.

Andrea Schenker-Wicki has joined, among others, the Council of the Zürcher Fachhochschule (ZFH). Furthermore, she was part of the Austria Science Board (2010–2016) and the German Accreditation Council and presided over the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swiss Center of Accreditation and Quality Assurance in Higher Education (OAQ) from 2007 to 2012. From 2012 to 2015, she was a member of the Swiss Science and Innovation Council. In 2013 the University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences in Vienna awarded her an honorary doctoral degree.

Andrea Schenker-Wicki has been President of the University of Basel since 1 August 2015. She was elected for a further four years on 27 September 2018; her second term of office runs until 31 July 2023.

Mamokgethi Phakeng

Vice-Chancellor, University of Cape Town

Prof. MAMOKGETHI PHAKENG, PhD(Wits), Hon DSc (Bristol), MASSAf, GCOB, FAAS Mamokgethi Phakeng (formerly Setati) began her term of office as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Town on 1 July 2018, where she had been serving as Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Internationalisation since January 2017. Previous to this appointment she served as Vice Principal for Research and Innovation at the University of South Africa (Unisa) for five years, after serving three years as Executive Dean of the College of Science, Engineering and Technology at the same university. She holds a PhD in Mathematics Education from the University of the Witwatersrand and is a highly regarded B1 NRF-rated scientist with over 80 research papers and five edited volumes published. She has been invited to deliver over 40 keynote/plenary talks at international conferences, and as a visiting professor in universities around the world (in Australia, Botswana, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, India, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, New Zealand, Pakistan, Senegal, South Korea, Sweden, Switzerland, UK and USA). She has won numerous awards for her research and community work, including the Order of the Baobab (Silver) conferred on her by the President of South Africa in April 2016. In August 2014 CEO magazine named her the most influential woman academic in Africa and in August 2016 she was awarded the prestigious Businesswoman of the Year Award in the education category. In July 2019 the University of Bristol conferred on her an Honorary Doctorate in Science in recognition of her leadership role in mathematics education in South Africa.
 

Kgethi, as she is popularly known, was elected as a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) in November 2007; an honorary member of the Golden Key International Honour Society in May 2009, an honorary life member of the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) in July 2009 and a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences in 2018. In 2008 she became the first black South African researcher to be appointed to co-chair a study commissioned by the International Commission on Mathematical Instruction. The study entitled “mathematics and language diversity” has completed its work and published a volume in 2016, which she co-edited.

She is a member of the board of the Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls (OWLAG); a trustee of the FirstRand Foundation; the South African Student Solidarity Foundation for Education (SASSFE) and the Pearson Marang Education Trust (PMET). In 2016 she was appointed by the then Deputy President of South Africa, Cyril Ramaphosa, to chair the Human Resource Development Council standing committee on Mathematics and Science Education. She served as member of the board of the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) and chaired its Research Development and Innovation Committee from January 2015 till September 2017. She was elected in 2011 as the first woman President of the Convocation of the University of the Witwatersrand and served for five years till 2016. She led the Association for Mathematics Education of South Africa (AMESA) as its first woman National President from 2002 to 2006, served as founding chairperson of the Board of the South African Mathematics Foundation (SAMF) from 2004 to 2006 and secretary and member of the executive committee of the International Group for the Psychology of Mathematics Education (PME) from 2003 to 2007.

Kgethi is founder of the Adopt-a-learner Foundation (www.adopt-a-learner.com), a non-profit organisation that started in 2004 and provides financial and educational support to students from township and rural areas to acquire higher education qualifications.

Krista Varantola

Former Rector, University of Tampere

Chancellor Krista Varantola received her PhD in English from the University of Turku, Finland in 1985. She worked as a senior lecturer at the same university until 1989 when she moved to the University of Tampere to become Professor of English. She has published widely on technical English usage, as well as the use of dictionaries and the use of electronic text corpora as translation tools. She is member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters.

Alongside her scholarly pursuits she has held several administrative positions at the university of Tampere and has served as Head of Department, Dean, Vice-Rector and Rector. During 2006-2007 she served as Vice-Chair and during  2008-2009 as Chair of the  Finnish Council of University rectors.
 

After her five-year term as Rector she was appointed Chancellor of the University of Tampere in 2009.

Krista Varantola has been member of  a number of national and Nordic academic boards, research councils and foundations. She served twice on the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland. From August 1, 2014 she is Professor and Chancellor emerita of the University of Tampere.
 

She is currently Chair of the National Advisory Board on Research Integrity in Finland  and Board member of the University Board of the University of Jyväskylä, Finland and member of ALLEA (All European Academies)  Standing Committee on Science and Ethics 2010- .
 

Leadership positions at the University of Tampere

• II Vice-Rector, University of Tampere,  August 1, 1996 – December 31, 1997
• I  Vice-Rector, University of Tampere,  January 1, 1998 – July 31, 1999

• Rector of the University of Tampere, 1.8.2004-31.7.2009
• Finnish Council of University Rectors, Vice-Chairman 2006-2007, Chair 2008-2009
• Chancellor, University of Tampere, 1.8.2009-31.7.2014
• Chancellor emerita, professor emerita at the University of Tampere (agreement-based) 1.8. 2014-

SCHOLARLY AND PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES AND POSITIONS OF TRUST

• Member of the University Board of the University of Jyväskylä 1.8 2014- 31.12. 2017

• National Advisory Board on Research Integrity in Finland. Chair 2010-

• Member of the Council of Finnish Academies 2011-  (Vice-Chair 2011-2013)

• Board Member, Emil Aaltonen Foundation, Finland 2009-

• Member of the Finnish Academy of Science and Letters 2005- Board Member of the Finnish Fulbright Commission FUSEEC (Finland  -U.S. Educational Exchange Commission) 2002-2009

• Member, Research Council for Culture and Society, The Academy of Finland 2001-2004

• Member of the Science and Technology Policy Council of Finland under the Prime Minister of Finland 1999-2002, 2005-2007

• NordForsk. (Nordic Funding Agency for Research under the Nordic Council of Ministers) Board Member 2006 - 2013

• NordForsk. Chair of the Steering Committee of the thematic programme “Education for Tomorrow” . 2012-

• University of Gothenburg, Sweden.  Member of the Advisory Board 2008-2015

• The Nordic Centre at Fudan University, Chair 2006-2011

• ALLEA (All European Academies), Member of the Standing Committee on Science and Ethics 2010-

• EUA (European University Association)  The Standing Sub-Committee of Council on Nominations  2010- 2013

• Member of the evaluation team pool of  EUA/IEP 2012-

• Board member of  HÖGUT, (Steering Group for Higher Education, Nordic Council of Ministers) 1999-2007.

CURRENT RESEARCH INTEREST AND PUBLICATIONS

Lexical knowledge management, the use of text corpora  in translation, dictionary use in translation,  translation-related research, lexicography and terminology, electronic translation tools.

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir

Vice-Rector, University of Iceland

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir completed a BA in sociology from the University of Iceland in 1984, an MA in sociology from Lund University in Sweden in 1990 and a PhD from the same university in 1995. From 1994–2007, she was head of the Education Department and later programme director at the Research and Health Department of the Administration of Occupational Health and Safety where she conducted research into the working conditions and wellbeing of various professional groups.

Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir is currently a Professor of Sociology at the Faculty of Sociology, Anthropology and Folkloristics. Since 2016 she is also Pro-Rector of Science. Her research spans a broad field within the sociology of work, well-being and gender. She has taken part in a wide range of Icelandic and international research projects and is an affiliate of the Center for Research on Gender in STEMM at the University of California San Diego.

Some of Rafnsdóttir's earliest research focused on the gender divide in the labour market and the Icelandic labour movement. Her doctoral thesis, Women's Strategies for overcoming Subordination. A discussion of Women's Unions in Iceland, discussed the gender divide in the Icelandic labour movement and its impact on the position of women in the labour market. Her research focus later shifted considerably towards occupational health and wellbeing. She has also explored gender segregation in labour and the impact of information technology and online work on work arrangement, work life balance and well-being. In recent years, she has conducted a significant amount of research into the position of gender in academia and business leadership, gender quotas, the interplay between family and work responsibilities, and last but not least time and love as an instrument of power.

Over the years, Guðbjörg Linda Rafnsdóttir has taken on many administrative positions, mainly but not only within the academia. For example, she was the first female president of the Nordic Sociological Association and is an honorary member of the Icelandic Sociological Association. She has been director of the Graduate School at the University of Iceland since 2016, a member of the University Science Committee since 2014 and chair of the Committee since 2015. She was head of the Faculty of Social and Human Sciences from 2008 to 2013 and on the board of the Social Science Research Institute from 2008 to 2013, chairing the board from 2009. She was on the board of the University of Iceland School of Social Sciences 2008 to 2013. She was also chair of the Ethics Committee for the UI Faculty of Social Science from 2007 to 2010 and is currently a member of the Icelandic Committee on Good Practices in Science and in the Science and Technology Policy Council. Rafnsdóttir has been at the editorial board for Acta Sociologica and for the Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies. She has also served on Icelandic and Nordic review panels. She was on the board of the Nordic Gender Institute NIKK 2006–2009, and is now on the steering committee for the research network NORDICORE.

Gabriele Siegert

Vice President, University of Zurich

Gabriele Siegert has been Full Professor of Communication Science and Media Economics at the University of Zurich since October 2001, Vice President Education and Student Affairs of the University of Zurich since 2016 and Deputy President since 2018. She served as President ad interim from February to July 2020.

She studied economics and social sciences, earning her doctorate at the University of Augsburg. She then taught and conducted research at several higher education institutions, including the universities of Salzburg and Jena and the Hanover University of Music, Drama and Media. In 2001, Prof. Siegert successfully submitted her habilitation at the University of Salzburg.
 

She was president of the Swiss Association of Communication and Media Research from 2005 to 2009, head of the Institute of Mass Communication and Media Research at UZH from 2009 to 2013, and Vice Dean of Research at the Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences from 2008 to 2012. In her capacity as member of the Federal Media Commission FMEC (from 2013 to 2017), Gabriele Siegert advised the Federal Council and federal officers on media issues and on the development of communication within society. In addition, she chaired the Foundation for Research in Science and the Humanities at the University of Zurich (from 2011 to 2017). She was also active in several mentoring programs to advise young female scientist in their career.

Her research interests include media economics, media markets, media brands and advertising. She published numerous journal articles, introductions, handbooks and monographs. She also served as expert, keynote speaker and panel discussant at conferences of the media industry and gave numerous interviews for newspapers, radio and TV. In 2019 she received the EMMA Award from the European Media Management Association in recognition of her outstanding contribution to the field.

Helena Pereira

President of the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology

Helena Pereira is a full professor at Instituto Superior de Agronomia, University of Lisbon. She was a member of the Board of Directors of the Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) from 2017 to 2019 and in 2019 was appointed as Chairman of the Board of Directors of FCT. Helena Pereira has held several positions of management, academic and scientific coordination in  Universities, Polytechnic Institutes and Research Institutes. From 2007 to 2011, she was vice-rector of the Technical University of Lisbon, and from 2011 to 2012 she was rector of the same University. From 1989 to 1992, she was pro-rector of the University of Algarve and president of the InstallingCommission of Unit for Aquatic Resources Science and Technology of UAlg. She was also president of the Installing Commission of the Higher School of Technology of the Polytechnic Institute of Faro and of the Scientific Council of the Instituto Superior de Agronomia. From 2008 to 2010, she also chaired the Association AMONET - Portuguese Association of Women Scientists. Her research area has been forests and forest products, including bioenergy and biorefineries, from an integrated and multidisciplinary perspective. Her academic supervision activity resulted in 30 doctoral theses, several postdoctoral programs, and a high number of master's theses.   Helena Pereira has more than 300 international scientific publications and two international patents, one of which is a finalist for the European Patent Inventor Award 2013. She has experience coordinating collaborative, multidisciplinary and multi-institutional research and development projects, including 8 European projects and 20 national projects. She has received several scientific and academic distinctions, including the ULisboa/Santander Scientific Prize (2016), the ISA 100-year Merit and Distinction Award (2011), the UTL/Santander Scientific Award (2008), the Académie Amorim Prize (2008), the EID Transfer Award (2008) and the UTL Creativity Award (2008) and the FCT Excellence Award (2006). Before taking up duties at FCT she was responsible for the action of the Thematic Agenda for Research and Innovation with the theme Agroalimentary, Forests and Biodiversity, developed by the Foundation. She has also collaborated as an evaluator in several tenders. She has been a project evaluator for the European Commission, the National Innovation Agency and the National Institute for Agrarian and Veterinary Research several times.  Helena Pereira holds a degree in Chemical-Industrial Engineering from the Instituto Superior Técnico, a PhD (Dr. rer. nat.) by the Faculty of Biology of the University of Hamburg, Germany and is aggregated by Instituto Superior de Agronomia.  Born in 1949, in Coimbra.

Pam Fredman

International Association of Universities

Pam Fredman is, since 2016, the president of the International Association of Universities (IAU), a global network of Higher Education Institutions and organizations created under the auspices of UNESCO 1950, serving the global higher education. Her academic background is professor in Neurochemistry at the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. She has been and is active in many of scientific and scholarly contexts, as board member and chair of national and international scientific organisations, academies and research centres with interdisciplinary and global approaches. The role of research and higher education for sustainable societal development is a heart issue for her leadership. Her experience also include serving on review committees including research project and institutions and as reviewer on scientific journals.

Through many years she was active involved in European Society for Neurochemistry and awarded for this 2019. Starting in the end of the 90ths, she has had assignments as academic leader; head of department, dean and 2006-2017 the rector at the University of Gothenburg. During 2009-2014, she was elected to chair the Swedish rector conference and in that position also a member of the European University Association, EUA, council, and the EUA Research Policy Working Group. Pam Fredman has been actively involved in political initiatives and policy development in Sweden and on behalf of the Swedish government; she led the investigation on governmental steering and resource allocation (delivered 2019) to Swedish higher education institutions. For more than ten years she is the chair of the national leadership programs for incoming rectors and deans and has also been active in international leadership and research career programs. From 2020 she is member of the board of, APHRC African Population and Health research Centre 

Ferruccio Resta

Rector, Politecnico di Milano

RECTOR OF THE POLITECNICO DI MILANO RESTA AND PRESIDENT OF THE CRUI (CONFERENCE OF ITALIAN UNIVERSITY RECTORS)

Ferruccio Resta is Rector of the Politecnico di Milano and President of the CRUI (Conference of Italian University Rectors). Born in 1968, he graduated in Mechanical Engineering from the Politecnico di Milano, where in 2004, he became Full Professor of Applied Mechanics. Since 2017, he has been at the helm of the top technical university in Italy and one of the top twenty in Europe in its three areas of study and research: architecture, design and engineering. In 2019, he was elected Secretary-General of the CRUI, before being appointed President the following year. Resta is a Commander of the Italian Republic, a title bestowed upon him by President Sergio Mattarella.

Rik Van de Walle

Rector, Ghent University & President of CESAER

Professor Rik Van de Walle is rector of Ghent University since 1 October 2017 and President of CESAER since 1 January 2020.

He was born in 1970 and obtained the degrees of Master of Science in Engineering Physics and Doctor of Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture at Ghent University.

After a visiting post-doctoral fellowship at the University of Arizona (Tucson, USA) he returned to Ghent, became a full-time assistant professor in 2001 and set up the Multimedia Lab, one of the founding research groups of iMinds (since 2016: imec).

In 2004 he became full professor, and in 2010 senior full professor. After a merger with two other research groups (across departmental and even university boundaries), the Multimedia Lab was renamed in 2016 as Internet and Data Lab (IDLab). IDLab is a very large group, encompassing about 300 members.

From 2012 until 2017 he was dean of the Faculty of Engineering and Architecture of Ghent University.

Nouria Hernandez

Rector, University of Lausanne

After a first degree in Biology obtained at the University of Geneva, Switzerland, Nouria Hernandez performed her thesis research on mRNA splicing with Dr. Walter Keller at the University of Heidelberg in Germany and received her PhD in 1983. She did her postdoctoral studies with Dr. Alan M. Weiner at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut, USA, working on 3’ end formation of the U1 small nuclear RNA. She then joined Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory at Cold Spring Harbor, New York, in 1986 as an Assistant Professor. She became a Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Professor in 1993 and joined the Howard Hughes Medical Institute as an Associate Investigator in 1994. She became a full Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator in 1999. In 2005, she joined the Faculty of Biology and Medicine of the UNIL as a Professor and as the Director of the Center for Integrative Genomics (CIG). As of August 2016, she is the Rector of the University of Lausanne (UNIL). UNIL was founded in 1537 and is situated in the heart of the FrenchB speaking region of Switzerland. Approximately 17,000 students and 2,700 researchers work and study in its seven faculties, specialized in Medicine, Life Sciences, Geosciences and Environment, Humanities, and Social Sciences.

Sonia I. Seneviratne

Climate scientist, ETH Zurich

Sonia Seneviratne is Full Professor for Land-Climate Dynamics at ETH Zurich. She did her PhD thesis in 2003 at ETH Zurich and was a Postdoctoral scientist at NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center. Since 2007, she is professor at ETH Zurich. Her research addresses climate change and extreme events, land-climate interactions, and terrestrial water processes. She was a Coordinating Lead Author of the IPCC Special Report on Extreme events (SREX), a lead author on the IPCC Special Report on 1.5°C Global warming. She is now a Coordinating Lead Author on the IPCC 6th Assessment report.

Sonia Seneviratne belongs to the most cited scientists in her field (https://usys.ethz.ch/en/news-events/news/archive/2020/11/highly-cited-researchers2020.html; ranked 9th on Reuters “hot list” of climate scientists: https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/climate-change-scientists-list/). She received several awards for her research, including a Consolidator Grant from the European Research Council (2014), the Macelwane Medal from the American Geophysical Union (2013), and the Hans Oeschger Medal from the European Geosciences Union (2021: https://www.egu.eu/news/701/egu-announces-its-2021- awards-and-medals/).

Alia El-Yassir

UN WOMEN Regional Director for the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office

Ms. Alia El-Yassir UN WOMEN Regional Director , Representative to Turkey; Europe and Central Asia Regional Office
 

Ms. Alia El-Yassir (Canada) has been working with UN Women since 1997. Prior to assuming her role as Regional Director for the Europe and Central Asia Regional Office, she was the Deputy Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia Regional Office and UN Women Special Representative in the occupied Palestinian territory (oPt), managing a complex portfolio of programmes and projects, as well as supporting the UNCT and HCT on establishing coordination mechanisms for tackling gender equality and women’s empowerment issues. She is part of the UNDG roster of gender experts and has supported other UNCTs in this capacity. Before joining UN Women, she briefly worked with UNDP and was engaged in the education field. In addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights NGOs, she has worked on educational media for children. Alia El-Yassir graduated from McGill University in Montreal and pursued post-graduate studies in Education and Anthropology, with a specialization on Gender Studies at Ben Gurion University of the Negev.

Christina Ullenius

Former Rector, Karlstad University

Christina Ullenius was recruited in 1994 to lead the development of the former polytechnic institution Högskolan Karlstad to a full university in 1999. Under her leadership Karlstad University developed into a strong academic institution of international standing in strategic areas for regional development, life-long learning, flexible and distance education. She left Karlstad after 12 years.
 

Ullenius is a chemical engineer by training and has had a long research and teaching career in organic chemistry at Chalmers University of Technology. She was vice rector at Chalmers University of Technology in Gothenburg 1989 – 1994. She has also spent periods of research in the United States, eg at Princeton University. She is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy for Engineering Sciences.

Presently Christina Ullenius is working as an expert for the KK-foundation Stockholm and the University Skövde.

She has previously served as

• President of the board of the Swedish Research Council for Engineering Sciences, 1996 - 2000
• President of the Swedish Association of Higher Education, 2001 – 2004.
• Vice president of the European University Association, 2005 – 2009.
• University of Stavanger, Stavanger, Norway, member of the board, 2003 - 2011
• President of the board, the Swedish Defence Research Agency, 2004 – 2009
• President of the board for the KK-foundation
• President of the board for Luleå Technical university
• Member of the board for the Hasselblad Foundation

She has also been a member of various expert groups in the European commission.

Special interest

Promoting equal opportunities for women and men in an academic career and leadership.

She has been chairing two program committees for the Swedish research agency Vinnova.
The programs have been designed to identify and support women in their research careers.

Liu Jinan

President, World Women University Presidents Forum

Professor Liu Jinan is the president of Organizing Committee of World Women University Presidents Forum, president of Women Leadership Academy, honorary president of Communication University of China (CUC), honorary president of Nanguang College of CUC and the member of National Committee of CinemaReview.

In February 1939, Professor Liu Jinan was born in Xiaogan city of Hubei province in China. Graduated from Peking University in 1965,she hasworked as a teacherand then professor, doctoral supervisor in CUC (former Beijing Broadcasting Institute)sincethen.From 1990to 2006, she had beenthe president of CUC (former Beijing Broadcasting Institute). In 2004, Prof. Liu Jinan founded a modern college named Nanguang College of CUCandshe was the president of Nanguang College of CUC from 2004 to 2010.
 

Since 2001 when launching the World Women University Presidents Forum, Professor Liu Jinan has successfully heldeightmain forums and tensub-forums.She took the lead in filming the first TV series of World Women University Presidents (15 episodes) and publishing the “World Women’s Universities and Women University Presidents” book series (50 books) which is another achievement of WWUPF. 

In October 2004, she was awarded the "2004 Outstanding Achievement Award" by the International Association of University Presidents (IAUP).