Mr. Declan Kirrane
Declan Kirrane is Managing Director of ISC Intelligence in Science, a
specialised science, technology and R&D public affairs firm based in
Brussels. ISC develops and implements Strategic Research Agendas for
science and technology-based organisations in the EU and US. His
practice area covers IP, R&D consortia development, management
and dissemination and his specialities are in themes of ICT, health,
security, defence, space and related policies, legislation, programmes and funding
mechanisms. Mr. Kirrane has a background in analysing the relationship between public
and private R&D funding and the impact on R&D performance: he has worked
extensively on science and technology policy evaluation methodologies and technology
options for policy- and decision-makers. The EU’s Digital Agenda, emerging European
space, security and defence policies are part of his remit. He launched the CORDIS
Science News Service for the EU, has edited CORDIS Focus and the Innovation and
Technology Transfer (ITT) Newsletter, both published by the European Commission.
Declan is a graduate of University College, Dublin and the Dublin Institute of
Technology.
Mrs. Avril Doyle
Avril Doyle is a former Member of the European Parliament (MEP)
where she represented Leinster, Ireland from 1999 to 2009. In her early
career, Mrs Doyle graduated with a B.Sc in Biochemistry from
University College Dublin (UCD) in 1971. Following a period in regional
politics, where she served as Mayor of Wexford, Mrs Doyle served as a
member of both lower and upper legislative houses in Ireland from 1982 to 2002 (where
she was Minister for State on two occasions: 1986-1987, 1995-1997). During the 5th and
6th parliamentary terms in the European Parliament, she was a member of the
Committee on the Environment, Public Health and Food Safety (ENVI) and of the
Industry, Research and Energy Committee (ITRE). Also during these two terms, Mrs.
Doyle served as a Member of the Temporary Committee on Climate Change (CLIM);
Vice-President of the Delegation for relations with the Gulf States and Yemen; and
Member of the Delegation for relations with China.
Prof. Dr. Kurt Zatloukal
Kurt Zatloukal is the Deputy Head of the Institute of Pathology at the
Medical University of Graz and the Coordinator of BBMRI. Born in 1959,
he studied medicine in Graz (Austria) and became a Professor in
molecular pathology in 1992. His research work focuses on molecular
pathology of metabolic liver diseases and cancer. He coordinated the
preparatory phase of the European biobanking and biomolecular research infrastructure
(BBMRI) within the 7th EU framework programme. Furthermore, he leads the
development of new European standards and norms for tissue-based biomarkers in the
FP7-funded large integrated project SPIDIA, and leads the medical platform of the FET
Flagship project IT Future of Medicine (ITFoM). He was a member of the OECD task force
on biological resource centres and the Roadmap Working Group of the European
Strategy Forum on Research Infrastructures. He contributed to the OECD best practice
guidelines for biological resource centres, the regulations for genetic testing of the
Austrian Gene Technology Law, and the opinion on Biobanks for research of the
Bioethics Commission at the Austrian Federal Chancellery.
Prof. Dr. Hans Lehrach
Hans Lehrach is a director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular
Genetics in Berlin since 1994 and the Coordinator of IT Future of
Medicine (ITFoM). Born in 1946, he studied chemistry in Vienna and
became a Research fellow at the Department of Biochemistry and
Molecular Biology at Harvard University. After his post-doctoral work he
led a research group at the EMBL in Heidelberg, Germany. Prior to his appointment as
Director at the Max Planck Institute for Molecular Genetics, Dr. Lehrach was Head of the
Genome Analysis Department at the Imperial Cancer Research Fund in London, UK. His
research interests encompass the fields of neurobiology, genome analysis and systems
biology with focus on cellular and molecular mechanisms of neurodegenerative
disorders; the complex networks of processes which transform the genomic information
into the phenotype and prediction of this phenotype from molecular data. In 1987 he
began managing the Genome Analysis Department at the Imperial Cancer Research
Fund in London, and from 1997 until 2001 he was the Speaker for the German Human
Genome Project. Dr. Lehrach is a member of the editorial boards of Human Genetics,
Physiological Genomics, Genome Biology, the Journal of Molecular Medicine and
Neurodegenerative Diseases.
Prof. Dr. Peter Boyle
Peter Boyle was born in Glasgow, Scotland, and graduated BSc, PhD and
DSc (Med) from the University of Glasgow, Faculty of Medicine. He is a
Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians and Surgeons of Glasgow, Fellow of the Royal College of
Physicians of Edinburgh, Fellow of the Faculty of Public Health and
Fellow of the Academy of Medical Science. He was elected Honorary
Member of the Academy of Science of Hungary and a Member of the European Cancer
Academy. He was awarded the Knight's Cross of Order of Merit of Republic of Poland for
services to Public Health (2000) and has been awarded with Honorary Membership of
several scientific societies 9and holds Honorary Professorships at several prestigious
Universities). He has contributed significantly to the fields of tobacco and lung cancer,
breast cancer and prostate cancer research. Peter Boyle is an internationally well-known
cancer prevention advocate (The European Code against Cancer, or the Globalisation of
Cancer) and has published widely in the scientific and medical literature, including
textbooks and cancer atlases. He is President of the International Prevention Research
Institute (IPRI).
Mr. Markus Pasterk
Markus Pasterk was born in Klagenfurt, Austria and studied Molecular
Biology at the University of Vienna, where he received a M.Sc. degree in
1994. Early in his career he decided to change from practicing research to
research management. In 2001 Markus Pasterk was promoted Director of
the newly created Division “Life Sciences” within the Austrian Ministry of
Science, with responsibilities for Life Sciences research, in particular genomics,
biotechnology and medical research. He became the Austrian delegate to the
committee of the “Life Sciences, Genomics and Biotechnology for Health” Initiative of
the 6th EU-Framework Programme. He was also responsible for Austria’s international
research infrastructure memberships like EMBL and EMBC. He progressed to become
the first full-time Deputy Director General for Research in the Ministry of Science in
Austria and then to be Scientific Coordinator at the International Agency for Research
on Cancer. He is currently Chief Operating Officer and Vice President, Science, at the
International Prevention Research Institute.
Dr. Husam Sultan Al-Ulama
Hussam Sultan Al-Ulama is director of the UAE’s National Research
Foundation (NRF) since October 2011. In his early career, he worked as
a teacher at Al Maktoum School in Dubai for three years. In 1989, he
was appointed as a teaching Assistant at the College of Humanities and
Social Sciences. Following, in 1990, Dr Al-Ulama registered at Durham
University in the UK to commence his postgraduate studies. In 1994, he obtained a PhD
in Political Geography and started teaching at AUE University. In 1996, he was appointed
as Assistant to the Dean of Faculty of Humanities and Social Sciences, with a focus on
Student Affairs. He continued to do so until 2000, when he became Dean of Libraries of
UAE University (a position he maintained until mid-2010). By mid-2010, Dr Al-Ulama was
appointed as the Cultural Attaché of the UAE Embassy in Washington, D.C. (a position
he maintained for one year).
Prof. Dr. Sehamuddin Galadari
Sehamuddin Galadari is the Vice Provost for Research and Graduate
Studies, and Professor of Biochemistry & Molecular Cell Biology, at the
United Arab Emirates University. Prior to his current position, he was the
Assistant Dean for Research and Graduate Studies at the UAE University
Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences. Prof. Galadari obtained his PhD
in 1991 from Imperial College, London and his BSc. in 1987 from University of
Southampton, UK. He joined the Faculty of Medicine & Health Sciences (FMHS) at the
United Arab Emirates University (UAEU) in 1991 and helped in building the Department
of Biochemistry. He has contributed significantly to the development of the FMHS in
Research and Education, and has established the Cell Signaling Laboratory. He has
served on many important committees including UAE University Council (Board of
Trustees), UAE University Academic Council, UAEU Research Council, UAEU Graduate
Studies Council as the Chairman, and the UAEU Doctoral Board. Additionally, he is
currently the Chairman of the Medical Research Grant Committee of the Sheikh Hamdan
Award for Medical Sciences and a member of the Research Advisory Board of the Dubai
Harvard Foundation for Medical Research (Boston, USA). He was also a figure on the
Science & Technology Advisory Board of the Emirates Foundation and has published
over 35 papers in peer-reviewed international journals. He has served on the editorial
board of Current Trends in Biotechnology and Pharmacy, the Arab Gulf Journal of
Scientific Research, and the Journal of Medical Sciences.