Senior Research Fellow, STI Policy, African Centre for Technology Studies, Kenya

Dr. Ann Kingiri is a Senior Research Fellow at African Centre for Technology Studies (ACTS)-a knowledge think tank based in Nairobi Kenya, and is responsible for the leadership of research to support the Science and Technology policy oriented capacity building, policy outreach and advocacy. She has been providing results oriented research and scientific leadership across the different programmes and projects being implemented by ACTS as well as STI mentorship. Before joining ACTS in 2011, she worked with the Ministry of Agriculture as an agricultural officer, with Kenya Plant Health Inspectorate Service (KEPHIS) as a phytosanitary and biosafety/biosecurity expert. While at KEPHIS, she was extensively involved in development of biotechnology and biosafety regulatory policies in Kenya. Dr. Kingiri has ample experience in networking and advocacy in a multicultural setting involving diverse development and policy actors in the public and private sector. Her previous involvement as a research fellow in the Research into Use (RIU) programme implemented in both Africa an d Asia exposed her to the institutional and organizational orientation of agricultural entrepreneurship including the role of the private sector in stimulating innovation.

Ann is also a visiting researcher at the Development Policy and Practice (DPP) unit, Department of Engineering and Innovation, Open University, UK. An is currently the Secretary General of The African network for Research Training on Innovation and Competence Building Systems (AfricaLics) which is network of scholars in Africa and beyond who are interested in innovation and development focused on Africa’s development. AfricaLics is part the worldwide research network, The Global Network for the Economics of Learning, Innovation, and Competence Building Systems (Globelics). Ann holds a Bsc degree in Agriculture and Msc degree in Plant Pathology both from University of Nairobi, Kenya; A Master’s degree in Biosafety in Plant Biotechnology from Mache Polytechnic Univ ersity, Ancona, Italy and a PhD degree from UK in Development Policy and Practice discipline focusing on new biosciences policy.

Global Sustainable Technology and Innovation Conference (G-STIC), and Managing Director VITO, Brussels, Belgium

Dirk Fransaer is managing director of VITO, the Flemish Institute for Technological Research, the largest research institute in Belgium in the field of sustainable production and cleantech. Prior to joining VITO, he worked as an assistance professor at the university of Ghent in the field of hydraulics research, at Baxter, a large US pharmaceutical company, on artificial organs and for 13 years in the field of aerial and satellite remote sensing. He is author and co-author of more than 30 scientific papers published in national and international journals. Dirk Fransaer is president of LIBOVITO, a joint venture between VITO and Antipollution in China, also vice-chairman of i-Cleantech, an initiative by the Flemish government to promote cleantech and the transition towards a sustainable society, president of the Audit Committee of the University of Antwerp and member of the Royal Flemish Academy of Belgium for Science and Arts.

Named Executive Director of Policy and Global Affairs, USA

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine are pleased to announce the appointment of Dr. Vaughan C. Turekian to be the Executive Director of the Policy and Global Affairs Division (PGA), effective May 12, 2018.

Dr. Turekian is currently serving a joint appointment as Senior Director of the Program on Science and Technology for Sustainability (STS), a program within PGA for which he was hired August of 2017. Prior to joining the STS program, Dr. Turekian served as the fifth Science and Technology Advisor to the U.S. Secretary of State. In this capacity, he advised the Secretary of State and other senior State Department officials on international environment, science, technology, and health matters affecting the foreign policy of the United States. From 2016 to 2017, he served as a country co-chair, along with the Kenyan Ambassador to the United Nations, for the Multi-stakeholder Forum on Science, Technology, and Innovation for the Sustainable Development Goals, a high-level discussion at the United Nations designed to accelerate progress toward globally agreed upon development targets. In 2018, Dr. Turekian was appointed by the U.N. Secretary General as one of the ten international members to promote the role of science, technology, and innovation for achieving for the 17 SDGs.

Dr. Turekian drew upon his background in atmospheric chemistry and extensive policy experience to promote science, technology, and engineering as integral components of U.S. diplomacy. Previously, he was Chief International Officer for the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) and the Director of AAAS's Center for Science Diplomacy (2006 - 2015). In this capacity, he worked to build bridges between nations based on shared scientific goals, placing special emphasis on regions where traditional political relationships are strained or do not exist. As Editor-in-Chief of Science & Diplomacy, an online quarterly publication, he published original policy pieces that have served to inform international science policy recommendations. In addition, Dr. Turekian worked at the State Department as a Special Assistant and Advisor to the Under Secretary for Global Affairs (2002 - 2006) on issues related to sustainable development, climate change, environment, energy, science, technology, and health. He also served as Program Director for the Committee on Global Change Research at the National Research Council (2000 - 2002), where he was study director for a White House report on climate change science.

Dr. Turekian holds a B.S. in Geology and Geophysics and International Studies from Yale University and a M.S. and Ph.D. from the University of Virginia where he focused on the transport and chemistry of atmospheric aerosols in marine environments. Dr. Turekian not only brings both technical expertise and over 15 years of policy experience to the position, but also a decorated track-record and steadfast commitment to utilizing our nation's capital science and technology innovation to advance the long-term sustainability and U.S. diplomacy.

US Managing Editor, Financial Times, UK

Gillian Tett serves as US managing editor of the Financial Times, where she writes weekly columns covering a range of economic, financial, political and social issues.

In 2014, she was named Columnist of the Year in the British Press Awards and was the first recipient of the Royal Anthropological Institute Marsh Award. In June 2009 her book Fool’s Gold won Financial Book of the Year at the inaugural Spear’s Book Awards.

Tett’s past roles at the FT have included US managing editor (2010-2012), assistant editor, capital markets editor, deputy editor of the Lex column, Tokyo bureau chief, and a reporter in Russia and Brussels.

Executive Director, International Women's Rights Action watch, Asia Pacific in Malaysia

Ms. Priyanthi Fernando is the Executive Director of the International Women's Rights Action Watch-Asia Pacific (IWRAW-AP) - the only regional/international NGO working with the CEDAW Convention as a main tool for change in the Asia Pacific. IWRAW Asia Pacific aims to make the promise of CEDAW a lived reality for the world’s women and children. Ms Fernando is a feminist, social development and communications professional, who has worked in the areas of technology, infrastructure and poverty, and whose skills include gender analysis, strategic communications, networking, organizational development and project evaluation She has worked in Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Kenya, Nigeria, Pakistan, Sierra Leone, Yemen, the UK and Australia.

In (2005-2015), she served as Executive Director for the Center for Poverty Analysis (CEPA), an independent, Sri Lankan think tank specializing in research on poverty in Sri Lanka and the region. She has also served as the Executive Secretary of the International Forum for Rural Transport and Development (1995-2005) and the Country Director Sri Lanka of ITDG (now Practical Action). Ms Fernando holds many voluntary positions in various social organizations: she is on the Advisory Group of ENERGIA: the gender and sustainable Energy Network, is a Board Member of Janathakshan GTE Ltd Sri Lanka, and of the Gamani Corea Foundation, also in Sri Lanka and until recently a Board Member of the Women and Media Collective in Sri Lanka.

A year ago she completed for the ILO office (International Labour Office) in Sri Lanka: A study of Freedom of Association and Collective Bargaining in the Ready Made Garment Sector in Sri Lanka. She has authored several articles, and was the co-editor of Balancing the Load: Gender, women and transport (ZED books). She represented environmental NGOs for two terms in UNFCCC’s Advisory Board of the Climate Technology Centre and Network (CTCN). Currently, she is in the 10-Member Group appointed by the UN Secretary-General to support the UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism (TFM).