15th Biennial Meeting Symposium Speakers

Secretary General , DNVA

Marit Westergaard is Secretary General of The Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters. She is also Professor of Linguistics at the Department of Language and Culture at UiT The Arctic University of Norway, where she has built up an active and productive research community on language acquisiiton and multilingualism, currently housed in the Center for Language, Brain & Learning (C-LaBL). She has directed several research projects and centers, also supervising a number of students and postdocs. She has published widely on first, second and third language acquisition, heritage languages and language attrition, as well as comparative syntax, both modern and diachronic. She has also developed two theoretical models in the field: The Micro-Cue Model of first language acquisition and the Linguistic Proximity Model of multilingual language acquisition, models that increase our understanding of the immensely complex human ability of learning and speaking a language (or several).

Chair, The Young Academy of Norway

Guro Nore Fløgstad is the current President of the Young Academy of Norway and Professor of Linguistics and Norwegian at the University of South-Eastern Norway since 2022. She earned her PhD from the University of Oslo in 2015 with a dissertation on morphosyntactic and semantic change in Rioplatense Spanish, which was later published by Brill in the Studies in Historical Linguistics series. Her research focuses on three main areas: language variation and change–especially grammaticalization in Romance, Romani, and Nordic languages; historical language contact in Latin America; and cognitive and usage-based theory, particularly in educational contexts.

Executive Committee Member, IHRN

Abdallah S. Daar is Professor of Clinical Public Health, Global Health, and Surgery at the University of Toronto.  His work has encompassed surgery, organ transplantation, bioethics, and global health. His major research focus is on the use of life sciences to ameliorate global health inequities, with a particular focus on building scientific capacity and increasing innovation in developing countries, in addition to studying how life saving technologies and interventions can be rapidly taken from “lab to village.” He is a fellow of TWAS, the African Academy of Sciences, the Islamic World Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society (Canada), and the Stellenbosch Institute for Advanced Study. He is the holder of UNESCO's Avicenna Prize for Ethics of Science. 

Moderator
Chair, Human Rights Committee, DNVA

Hans Petter Graver received the degree of cand. jur in 1980, and was awarded a Doctorate of Laws (dr. juris) in 1986 - both degrees from the University of Oslo. In 1993, he was appointed Professor in Sociology of law with an obligation to teach administrative law. He was director of the Centre of European Studies (ARENA) 2001-2003 and Dean of the Law faculty 2008-2015. In 2012, he was visiting fellow at Heidelberg University and in 2016 he was visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University. He is presently a member of the advisory council of the IAS. He has authored numerous books and articles over a wide field of subjects, including administrative law, competition law, fundamental rights, sociology of law, legal history, legal theory, argumentation and rhetoric. Presently he is principal investigator of a research project on Judges under Stress - the Breaking Point of Judicial Institutions. Dr. Graver was president of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 2019-2021. He was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Helsinki in 2010, at the University of Heidelberg in 2017, at the University of Uppsala in 2020 and at the University of Bergen in 2022. He is an honorary member of the Law Society of Finland and a member of the Academia Europaea (2022).

Executive Committee Member, IHRN

Martin Chalfie is University Professor and former Chair of the Department of Biological Sciences at Columbia University. He is a member of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences and the U.S. National Academy of Medicine, where he chairs the Committee on Human Rights. He obtained both his AB and Ph.D. from Harvard University. He is a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and the Royal Society of Chemistry (Hon.). He has received numerous awards for his work, such as the 2006 Lewis S. Rosenstiel Award for Distinguished Work in Basic Medical Science from Brandeis University and the 2008 E. B. Wilson Medal from the American Society for Cell Biology, both of which he shared with Roger Tsien. In 2008, he shared the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his introduction of Green Fluorescent Protein (GFP) as a biological marker with Osamu Shimomura and Roger Tsien. He currently serves on the Executive Committee of the International Human Rights Network of Academies and Scholarly Societies (IHRN).

Director of Iran Human Rights, Professor at the University of Oslo

Mahmood Amiry-Moghaddam is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Oslo and Founder and Director of Iran Human Rights (IHRNGO), established in 2005. He received his MD and PhD from the University of Oslo. He is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters and has served on its Human Rights Committee, as well as the Scholars at Risk Committee of the University of Oslo. He has received several awards for both his scientific and human rights work, including the Amnesty International Norway Human Rights Prize (2007) and the Anders Jahre Award for Young Scientists in Biomedical Research (2008). As a the founder of a leading human rights organization, he has played a central role in documenting and advocating against the death penalty and other serious human rights violations in Iran.

President, Academy of Sciences of Nicaragua

María Luisa Acosta received her Juris Doctor and Masters in Comparative Law from the University of Iowa in the United States, receiving a Fulbright Scholarship (1988-1989) and an Iowa Law Foundation Scholarship (1990-1992). She also pursued legal studies at the Externado University of Colombia in Bogotá in 1984 and the National Autonomous University of Nicaragua in 1986. She also received a Master’s in Natural Resources and Environment from the University of Barcelona in 2001. Additionally, she pursued postgraduate studies in Management, Public Administration and Autonomous Regime at the Autonomous University of Barcelona in 2002. She has been a Fulbright-in-Residence Scholar at Shoreline Community College in Seattle, Washington and an Honorary Member of the International Consortium Territories and Areas Conserved by Indigenous Peoples and Local Communities (ICCA) in Mesoamerica since 2013.  She has also been a Representative before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, concerning Judgments: Mayangna (sumo) Community of Awas Tingni v. Nicaragua 2001; Acosta et al. v. Nicaragua 2017, and Rama and Kriol Peoples, Black Creole Indigenous Community of Bluefields et al. v. Nicaragua 2024. Additionally, she has been Coordinator of the Center for Legal Assistance to Indigenous Peoples (CALPI) since 1989 and President of the Nicaraguan Academy of Sciences since 2018.

Fellow, National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian Academy of Sciences; and Indian National Science Academy

Shahid Jameel is Sultan Qaboos bin Said Fellow at the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies, where he leads the project on “Science, Technology and Environment in Muslim Societies”. He is also a Research Fellow at Green Templeton College, Oxford. He was Group Leader of Virology at the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (New Delhi, India), where his research focussed on human viruses. He also served as Chief Executive Officer of the Wellcome Trust/DBT India Alliance and Founding Director of the Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University, India. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, and the National Academy of Sciences, India. His current work at Oxford deals with the impact of climate change on Muslim societies, and how faith can be a driver for change.

Moderator
Executive Director, The World Academy of Sciences (UNESCO-TWAS)

Marcelo Knobel serves as Executive Director of TWAS. A distinguished physicist and science advocate, Knobel brings more than three decades of experience in higher education leadership, scientific research, and science communication. He previously served as rector of the University of Campinas (Unicamp) in Brazil from 2017 to 2021, where he has been a faculty member for 30 years. With more than 300 scientific publications and numerous prestigious awards, Knobel is internationally recognized for his contributions to physics research, educational innovation, and science popularization. He has received prestigious awards, including the 2022 CBMM Prize on Science and Technology (Brazil's most prestigious science and technology award), the 2019 José Reis Science Popularization Prize, and the 2013 Peter Muranyí Prize in Education. He is a Commander of the Order of Scientific Merit (Brazil) and holds a Doctor Honoris Causa from Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, Plurinational State of Bolivia.

Executive Secretary, The Committee for Freedom and Responsibility in Science (CFRS), International Science Council

As Executive Secretary of CFRS, Vivi Stavrou leads on managing the CFRS portfolio of activities. She is a Clinical Psychologist and development worker with extensive international experience in humanitarian emergencies and post-conflict situations as a social development consultant, evaluator and researcher. She has worked with UN and development agencies, government ministries and services, and academic institutions in the areas of child protection, mental health and psychosocial support and health systems development, Health and Human Rights, and security sector reform.

Associate Professor, Western Norway University of Applied Sciences and Fellow, Scholars at Risk

Hafte Gebrihet holds a PhD in Public and Development Management from Stellenbosch University, awarded in 2022. His doctoral research focused on the political economy of land reform in Ethiopia, with particular attention to urban land governance, land markets, and policy challenges. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Pedagogy, Religion, and Social Studies at Western Norway University of Applied Sciences. His current research explores democratic governance and institutional resilience in Africa, with a specific emphasis on the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and the African Union’s Agenda 2063. His broader research interests include corruption and public trust, food security in conflict-affected settings, and land policy. His recent publications examine how institutional quality, citizen trust, and humanitarian crises influence development outcomes across African contexts. Hafte is a member of the South African Association of Public Administration and Management and the Ethiopian Economic Association.

Co-lead, At-Risk Scholars Initiative, Global Young Academy

Saja Al Zoubi is a development economist and expert in forced displacement, gender, and development. She is based in the International Development Studies Department at Dalhousie University, Canada, where she teaches courses on Conflict, Peace, and Development and Data for Development, integrating academic rigor with real-world experience. A strong advocate for academic freedom and at-risk scholars, she co-leads the Global Young Academy’s At-Risk Scholars Initiative and serves on the steering committee of the “Science in Exile” program. Over the past decade, Professor Al Zoubi has worked with leading institutions including the University of Oxford, the University of Glasgow, UN Women, and the EU Delegation to Syria. Her research centers on women’s empowerment and its role in rural development and post-conflict recovery. Since 2011, she has focused on improving the livelihoods and food security of displaced and refugee households, especially women-headed families, combining empirical research with a commitment to justice and locally grounded solutions.

Moderator
Chair, Human Rights Committee, Scientific and Literary Academies in Sweden

Stefan Svallfors serves is Chair of the Human Rights Committee of Sweden’s Scientific and Literary Academies, which consists of representatives from the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Letters, History and Antiquities, the Swedish Academy and the Young Academy of Sweden. He is a Professor of Sociology at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm, a member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, and the former Secretary General for the Humanities and Social Sciences at the Swedish Research Council. His research concerns different forms of expertise and their role in politics and public policies.

Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics, College of Science and Technology, Temple University

Xiaoxing Xi is Laura H. Carnell Professor of Physics at Temple University. Prior to 2009, he was Professor of Physics and Materials Science and Engineering at The Pennsylvania State University (Penn State). He received his PhD degree in physics from Peking University and the Institute of Physics at the Chinese Academy of Sciences, in1987. After several years of research at Karlsruhe Nuclear Research Center in Germany, Bell Communication Research/Rutgers University, and the University of Maryland, Professor Xi joined the physics faculty at Penn State in 1995. His research focuses on the materials physics of oxide and boride thin films. He is author of over 350 refereed journal articles and 3 U.S. patents. He is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and a Fellow of the American Physical Society. Since 2015, he has spoken out actively against the unfair treatment of Asian American scientists, for which he received the American Physical Society 2020 Andrei Sakharov Prize, the Unity & Resilience Award from Asian Pacific American Public Affairs (APAPA), and the American Courage Award from Asian Americans Advancing Justice–AAJC.

Principal Member, Bilim Akademisi (The Science Academy Society of Türkiye)

Bertil Emrah Oder is a Professor of Constitutional Law and UNESCO Chairholder at Koç University. She received her Ph.D. from the University of Cologne. Her research focuses on constitutionalism, human rights, and judicial review. She is a full member of the Science Academy of Turkey and the All European Academies of Sciences and Humanities (ALLEA), the Science and Ethics WG. She was selected as Henry Morris Lecturer of International and Comparative Law in 2012 (Chicago-Kent School of Law) and Distinguished Research Fellow in Constitutional Studies in 2023 (University of Texas at Austin). She holds the award of the Defender of Constitutional Democracy (Global Summit on Constitutionalism, 2020). She has served as a consultant for the UN Women and the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU). Her recent publications are The Turkish Constitutional Court and Turkey’s Democratic Breakdown, 18/1 ICL Journal, 2024; and The feminist struggle and the 1924 Constitution: feminists as constitutionalists, 61/4 DPCE Online, 2024.

Chair, Human Rights Committee, German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina

Jutta Gärtner is Chair of the Human Rights Committee, Secretary of the Class of Medicine, and a member of the Presidium of the German National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina. She obtained her medical license and doctorate at Catholic University of Leuven in Brussels and the University of Hamburg and conducted postdoctoral research at the Johns Hopkins Medical Institute in Baltimore, USA. She subsequently worked at the University Children’s Hospital of Heinrich Heine University Düsseldorf, Germany. Since 2002, she has served as Medical Director of the Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine at the University Medical Center Göttingen, Georg August University Göttingen. In 2024, she was appointed Chair of the German Center for Child and Adolescent Health. Her research focuses on neuroscience, with a particular emphasis on rare congenital neurometabolic disorders characterized by early-onset neurodegenerative and neuroinflammatory processes, often associated with childhood dementia. She has received numerous prestigious honors, including the Child Health Research Award of the National Institute of Health (U.S.A.), the Adalbert Czerny Prize of the German Society for Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, the Reinhart Koselleck Prize of the German Research Foundation and the Hamburg Science Award of the Academy of Sciences Hamburg.

Professor, Department of Media and Communication, University of Oslo

Taina Bucher is Professor and Head of Research at the Department of Media and Communication at the University of Oslo (UiO), Norway. Her current research centers on two main strands: 1) As the leader of HumAIn, a new research hub, she and her team are developing humanities-based perspectives on artificial intelligence (AI), reimagining AI through storytelling approaches and speculative methods. 2) As Principal Investigator of the project Democracy of Silence, she explores the democratic potentials of silence in societies that prioritize vocal expressions of citizenship. She has published widely on the power and politics of algorithms and digital platforms, most notably the books IF…THEN (Oxford University Press, 2018) and Facebook (Polity Press, 2021). She will also lead the newly established NORA-HS: Norwegian Graduate School for How AI Impacts Humanities and Society, launching in Fall 2025. In addition, she is a partner in two Norwegian Research Council-funded projects on AI.

Head of Department, Department of Informatics, University of Bergen

Inge Jonassen is Professor and Head of the Department of Informatics at the University of Bergen (UiB), Norway. He obtained his PhD from the same university in1996 and became a full professor in 2002. His research is focused on computational methods for extracting information and insights from molecular biological data, and he has developed a number of algorithms and tools targeting various data types. He also engages in collaborative projects encompassing basic biology, ecology, and medicine. Dr. Jonassen has been active in building and providing research infrastructures for biological data and led the establishment of the Norwegian node of ELIXIR, the pan-European research infrastructure for bio-data. He has also engaged with artificial intelligence and, in 2022-2023, led the board of NORA, the Norwegian consortium for AI research. He currently chairs the UiB AI steering group, as well as the EU-funded LEAD AI projects including 19 postdoctoral fellows across the UiB.

Moderator
President, Network of African Science Academies

Mahouton Norbert Hounkonnou is a full Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. He published over 200 main research papers in mathematics and mathematical physics. He has been a visiting professor at African, Asian, European and North American universities. He successfully trained, as supervisor, a considerable number of Masters and Ph.D. students. He was awarded several international prestigious prizes, the last being the American Institute of Physics 2023 Tate Medal, and the 2023 Yang Hui Prize for his seminal contributions to deformed quantum algebras. His membership extends to the African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences, the Academy of Science of South Africa, and Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Morocco. He served as President of the Benin National Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. He is the President of the Network of African Science Academies. He is a Knight of the Benin National Order.

Professor, University of Copenhagen; Author, Science as a Cultural Human Right

Helle Porsdam is Professor of History and Cultural Rights at the University of Copenhagen where she also holds a UNESCO Chair in the Right to Science. She divides her time between the History Department, Faculty of the Humanities, where she teaches American history, and the Faculty of Law where she teaches human rights and legal sociology and philosophy. Among her recent publications may be mentioned Science as a Cultural Human Right (University of Pennsylvania Studies in Human Rights, 2022) and The Transforming Power of Cultural Rights (CUP, 2019). She co-edited The Right to Science: Then and Now (CUP, 2021) and co-authored Scientific Freedom: The Heart of the Right to Science (Rowman & Littlefield Int., 2024).

Professor, University of Oslo

Ole Petter Ottersen was the University of Oslo’s elected President 2009 – 2017 and served as the President of Karolinska Institutet in Sweden 2017 -2023. Ole Petter Ottersen was Director of one of Norway’s Centres of Excellence (Centre for Molecular Biology and Neuroscience) 2002-2009 and chaired The Lancet-University of Oslo Commission on Global Governance for Health (2011-2014). He was Founding Chair (2016-2017) and Acting General Secretary (2023-2024) of the Guild of European Research-Intensive Universities – a European university network that is headquartered in Brussels and that aims to contribute to the EU research, health, and innovation agenda. Ottersen is cofounder of One Europe for Global Health (OEGH). He is currently Professor and Chair of the Sustainable Health Unit at the University of Oslo, Visiting Professor at Charité (Berlin), Vice President of Virchow Foundation, and co-chair of a new Lancet commission on Global Governance for Health.

Professor and Dean, Faculty of Food and Agriculture, The University of the West Indies and President, the Caribbean Academy of Sciences

Mark Wuddivira is Dean of the Faculty of Food and Agriculture at The University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, and a Professor of Agri-Environmental Soil Physics. He is a Fellow and the President of the Caribbean Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is a member of the International Science Council's (ISC) Small Island Developing States (SIDS) Liaison Committee. A recognized expert in agricultural and environmental sciences, his work has been widely published in reputable journals, and he is frequently invited to deliver keynote, expert and panel presentations at high-level meetings. A leading figure in the academic and scientific communities, he champions the amplification of the voice of science in enhancing resilient development in vulnerable regions. He chairs the Editorial Board of Tropical Agriculture Journal and is an Associate Editor of the Journal of Plant Nutrition and Soil Science (Wiley). He serves on various steering committees and advisory boards.

Moderator
Chair Emeritus, Human Rights Committee, DNVA

Jakob Lothe is Professor of English Literature at the University of Oslo. He has been an invited visiting scholar at St. John’s College, University of Oxford (1996–1997), Harvard University (2005), University of Cape Town (2010), and Regent’s Park College, University of Oxford (2017–2018). His books include Conrad’s Narrative Method (Oxford UP, 1989), Narrative in Fiction and Film (Oxford UP, 2000) and Memory and Narrative Ethics: Holocaust Testimony, Fiction, and Film (Oxford UP, 2025). He has also edited Time’s Witnesses: Women’s Voices from the Holocaust (Fledgling Press, 2017) and Research and Human Rights (Novus Press, 2020). Lothe is a member of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters (DNVA) and of the American Philosophical Society. He was the leader of the Norwegian Academy’s Human Rights Committee from 2013–2021. 

Fellow, Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences

RoseEmma Mamaa Entsua-Mensah holds a Ph.D. in Fisheries Science from the University of Ghana. She is a Fishery Scientist and an Aquatic Ecologist and served as Chief Research Scientist and Deputy-Director General at the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ghana from 2008-2018. She was one of the few African scientists involved with the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2004-2005), and she has to her credit over 100 publications. She was a member of the Fisheries Commission, Ghana from 2006-2008, of the Board of Trustees of the World Fish Centre (2012-2017), and of the African Women in Agricultural Research and Development International Steering Committee (2011-2017). She was awarded the Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award in 1978 and the Tonolli Memorial Award for Limnologists in 1994. In 2013, she was adjudged Africa’s Most Influential Woman in Agricultural Research for her work in fisheries by the NGO Group Creating Excellence in Organizations in South Africa. She is a Fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences and was the Chair of the University of Ghana College of Basic and Applied Sciences Advisory Board (2019-2022). She has gained national and international recognition for her work on coastal lagoons, traditional management of water bodies and the effect of illegal mining on the environment and society.

Fellow, Brazilian Academy of Sciences

Elisa Reis holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and is a full professor of Political Sociology at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRJ), where she coordinates the Interdisciplinary Center for Studies on Inequality (NIED). She is the author of an extensive academic production, published in specialized journals in Brazil, in the US, and in Europe. A full member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) she was awarded the Grand Cross of the National Order of Scientific Merit by the Ministry of Science and Technology, the Florestan Fernandes Prize from the Brazilian Society of Sociology, and the Pierucci Prize for Academic Excellence by ANPOCS (2021). Reis is also active in the International Panel on Social Progress (www.ipsp.org).

Member, Science Council of Japan

Minamino Kayo is a Professor at the Faculty of Law, Kyoto Women’s University and a Council Member of the Science Council of Japan (Section 1, Humanities and Social Sciences) since 2020. She graduated from Kyoto University, where she majored in Sociology of Law with a special interest in Feminist Legal Studies. She is a board member of the Japanese Association of Sociology of Law and the Japanese Association of Gender and Law. Her current interest is in gender education and training for the legal profession, with a focus on judicial education.

Chair, Human Rights Committee, DNVA

Hans Petter Graver received the degree of cand. jur in 1980, and was awarded a Doctorate of Laws (dr. juris) in 1986 - both degrees from the University of Oslo. In 1993, he was appointed Professor in Sociology of law with an obligation to teach administrative law. He was director of the Centre of European Studies (ARENA) 2001-2003 and Dean of the Law faculty 2008-2015. In 2012, he was visiting fellow at Heidelberg University and in 2016 he was visiting fellow at the Institute of Advanced Study, Durham University. He is presently a member of the advisory council of the IAS. He has authored numerous books and articles over a wide field of subjects, including administrative law, competition law, fundamental rights, sociology of law, legal history, legal theory, argumentation and rhetoric. Presently he is principal investigator of a research project on Judges under Stress - the Breaking Point of Judicial Institutions. Dr. Graver was president of the Norwegian Academy of Science and Letters from 2019-2021. He was awarded an honorary doctorate at the University of Helsinki in 2010, at the University of Heidelberg in 2017, at the University of Uppsala in 2020 and at the University of Bergen in 2022. He is an honorary member of the Law Society of Finland and a member of the Academia Europaea (2022).

Executive Director, IHRN

Rebecca Everly serves as Executive Director of the IHRN in her capacity as Director of the Committee on Human Rights of the U.S. National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, which serves as the IHRN’s Secretariat. Dr. Everly is an international lawyer with more than two decades of experience in the areas of human rights and access to justice. Her current work focuses on global challenges at the intersection of human rights and science, technology, and health. From 2007-2014, Everly worked with non-governmental organizations in India and Malaysia to help promote the rights of women and children on issues such as health, education, and labor. She has extensive research and professional experience on rule of law and human rights in post-conflict societies, including as a legal advisor in Bosnia and Herzegovina.