South African FlagProfessor Julian Kinderlerer

Professor Julian KinderlererProfessor Julian Kinderlerer, (South African/British) is President of the European Group on Ethics in Science & New Technologies (EGE) reporting to the President of the European Commission: http://ec.europa.eu/bepa/european-group-ethics/index_en.htm

This statutory body is comprised of 15 members and carries out its mandate in complete independence with the power to convene anybody to give evidence. EGE submits its findings simultaneously to the European Commission and the European Parliament and all reports are made public. Professor Kinderlerer was elected by its members as President until 2016 when a new Group will be formed.

Professor Kinderlerer is also Professor of Intellectual Property Law at Cape Town University. He advises the South African Department of Science & Technology and remains an occasional adviser to the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), the UN Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) and The World Intellectual Property Organisation (WIDO). Previously, he held Director of Institute positions on Biotech Law, Ethics & Society at Delft and Sheffield Universities.

Professor Kinderlerer is currently incoming Senior Chairperson of SciCom's Annual High-Level Consultation Event which takes place every June in Brussels. He co-chaired the 2014 edition titled “Addiction: Ethics, Integrity & The Policy-Maker” alongside M.D. Michel Kazatchkine, UN Secretary-General Ban-ki Moon’s Special Envoy on HIV/Aids to Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He also chaired a series of SciCom organised scientific symposia on issues ranging from the ethics of drone warfare to the safety of ecigarettes at EuroScience Open Forum 2014 in Copenhagen (European City of Science) and will continue this partnership on further ‘science in the public interest’ platforms at the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) Annual Meeting in California in February, 2015 and the World Science Forum (WSF) taking place in Budapest in November, 2015.



UK FlagProfessor Gerry Stimson

Professor Gerry Stimson
A public health sociologist with over 40 years’ experience of public health research and advocacy in the field of psychoactive substance use, and with over 220 scientific publications and several books, Gerry Stimson is committed to working to reduce the harms from psychoactive substance use, improving public health through social and health policy and working internationally to reduce harms from drugs, alcohol and tobacco. He was one of the founders of harm reduction and instrumental in the development and evaluation of harm reduction in the UK as a response to HIV/AIDS. He has advised the UK Government, World Health Organization, UNAIDS, UNODC, World Bank and numerous working groups on issues relating to drugs, hepatitis, HIV infection and AIDS, alcohol and tobacco.

Professor Stimson is Honorary Professor at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Emeritus Professor at Imperial College London, and the Editor of the International Journal of Drug Policy. From 1990 to 2004, he was Director of the Centre for Research on Drugs and Health Behaviour. He founded the Department of Social Science and Medicine at Imperial College, delivering postgraduate courses in the UK and internationally, and a programme of social science and public health research. He was Executive Director of the International Harm Reduction Association from 2004 to 2010.

His current focus is promoting evidence-based policies and interventions for substance use and public health at Knowledge, Action, Change (KAC). It is in this context that Professor Stimson is working closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science. With different and complementary skills and each a track record of achievement, Professor Stimson and Aidan Gilligan are advancing the cause of evidence-based policy-making at the highest levels. Notably, Professor Stimson was a discussant at a SciCom organised symposia during ESOF 2012 Dublin, sharing a platform with Professor Anne Glover, Chief Scientific Adviser to President Barroso.

Website: http://www.kachange.eu/



UK FlagAndy Stonard

Andy Stonard
Andy is a director of esprit de Bois. Esprit de Bois (www.espritdebois.org) works across alcohol, drugs and tobacco/nicotine harm reduction and related health and criminal justice fields, designing and delivering conferences and events in partnership with a host of colleagues and companies. Esprit de Bois also works on a consultancy basis with developing new initiatives and services to vulnerable groups. A particular emphasis is on working within the vacuum that industry and public health create across addictions and between policy and regulation and the everyday consumer.

Prior to this, Andy worked in the alcohol and drug treatment sector in the UK for 30 years. For 22 years he ran Rugby House (which he founded in 1986) developing it into a £6.5 million charity (NGO).

Andy has worked across policy and has published articles with SciCom, European Journal of Risk Regulation, Drink and Drug News and has delivered talks and presentations across Europe. He has written a book on alcohol harm reduction – 'a glass half full'.
 
It is in this context that Andy Stonard is working closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science. Andy was amongst the chosen guest authors in SciCom's Volume 1, 2012 publication on Harm Reduction Science and Volume 2, 2013 publication on Addictions and their Brain Rewards Systems where he dealt with alcohol. Andy also participated as a presenter and panel chair at SciCom's 2013 High-Level Consultation Event co-organised with the United Nations and the US National Institutes of Health (NIDA) on Substance Addictions and their Brain Reward Systems: Drugs, Alcohol & Nicotine. These new thinking synergies complement SciCom's brand of science diplomacy as an active convener of practitioners, policymakers, industry representatives and leading academics working at the interface of science, law and public policy.
 
Website: www.espritdebois.org




Italian FlagProfessor Alberto Alemanno

Professor Alberto Alemanno
A Professor of Law & Risk Regulation at HEC Paris, Alberto Alemanno is an Adjunct Professor at Georgetown University Law Center and a scholar at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law. He is also guest lecturer at Harvard School of Public Health and Adjunct Professor of Global Food Law at Michigan State University.

Before entering academia, Professor Alemanno clerked at the Court of Justice of the European Union, qualifying as an attorney at law in New York in 2004. Alberto is the founder and editor of the European Journal of Risk Regulation; the Area Editor for Policy of Risk Analysis : an International Journal; and member of the editorial boards of the Revue du Droit de l’Union européenne and the European Food and Feed Law Review. He is also the founder and scientific director of the Summer Academy in Global Food Law & Policy.

Professor Alemanno’s current focus is EU and international economic law from the perspective of risk regulation, on which he has published extensively, also in mainstream media. It is in this context that Professor Alberto is working closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science having studied at the College of Europe, Bruges with its Founder and CEO, Aidan Gilligan. Alberto was amongst the chosen guest authors in SciCom's Volume 1, 2012 publication on Harm Reduction Science pertaining to drugs and alcohol, where he dealt with nudge theory. Professor Alberto also participated as a Guest Panelist at SciCom's 2013 High-Level Consultation Event co-organised with the United Nations and the US National Institutes of Health (NIDA) on Substance Addictions and their Brain Reward Systems: Drugs, Alcohol & Nicotine. These new thinking synergies complement SciCom's brand of science diplomacy as an active convener of practitioners, policymakers, industry representatives and leading academics working at the interface of science, law and public policy.




Danish FlagDr. David Budtz Pedersen

Dr. David Budtz PedersenDr. David Budtz Pedersen is Co-Director and Research Fellow at the Humanomics Research Center at Aarhus University. He is also a Special Advisor to the Danish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Higher Education. Dr. Pedersen received his doctorate in science policy studies at the University of Copenhagen and the University of Vienna, and has been a Visiting Scholar at New York University. His areas of expertise include policy analysis, public engagement in science, and responsible innovation in emerging technologies such as nanotech and biotech. David publishes regularly on issues around innovation and science policy-making, while organising workshops and conferences, most notably during the 2012 Danish presidency of the EU.

It is in the context of Euroscience’s flagship bi-annual event, Euroscience Open Forum (ESOF) that Dr. Pedersen is working closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science. David was the successful Bid Coordinator for Copenhagen 2014, whereas SciCom Founder & CEO, Aidan Gilligan, was equally the successful Bid Coordinator for, and one of the masterminds behind the delivery of, ESOF 2012 Dublin. Both are central members on the key working Committees of Euroscience and work together on an almost weekly basis.

Dr. Pedersen was amongst the three chosen ‘participant authors’ in SciCom's Volume 1, 2012 publication on Harm Reduction Science pertaining to the 2012 High-level Consultation Event on drugs and alcohol. His contribution dealt with the science of science policy-making. Dr. Pedersen also participated as Event Co-Rapporteur at SciCom's 2013 High-Level Consultation Event co-organised with the United Nations and the US National Institutes of Health (NIDA) on Substance Addictions and their Brain Reward Systems: Drugs, Alcohol & Nicotine. In 2014, Dr. Pederson will help co-produce scientific symposia proposed by SciCom at major international conferences. At Ministerial and Chief Science Adviser level, these involve some of the most pre-eminent minds right now on where science feeds into policy-making.




French FlagNathalie Moll

Nathalie MollAfter graduating with Honours in Biochemistry and Biotechnology from St Andrews University, Scotland, and a stage at the European Commission, Nathalie has spent the past 15 years working for the biotech industry at EU and national level.

Nathalie started working in the biotechnology and food policy area for the European Crop Protection Association in Brussels and then moved to Rome to work for Dompe’ Farmaceutici S.p.A and the Italian National Biotech Association, Assobiotec dealing with the implementation of EU biotech legislation at National level. 

Within EuropaBio, Nathalie has held the posts of External Relations Manager, Director for Strategic Policy, Director for Healthcare Biotech, Director for Agricultural Biotech sector and most recently Secretary General.

Ms. Moll’s current focus is on improving awareness of the importance and benefits of biotechnology for society. It is in this context that Nathalie is working closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science. Nathalie is a fan of SciCom's efforts in the field of science diplomacy. On behalf of EuropaBio’s 3,000 members, she participated in the 2012 High-Level Consultation Event on Harm Reduction Science which was Co-Chaired by EU Chief Science Adviser, Professor Anne Glover. Indeed, Ms. Moll participated as a Guest Panelist in SciCom's June 2013 High-Level Consultation Event co-organised with the United Nations and the US National Institutes of Health (NIDA). The theme was Substance Addictions and their Brain Reward Systems: Drugs, Alcohol & Nicotine. In this way, Nathalie is active in engaging with industry, regulators and stakeholders, towards developing a more supportive legislative framework for the industry and related sectors.




Ukraine FlagDr. Andriy Klepikov

Dr. Andriy KlepikovAndriy Klepikov is Executive director of the International HIV/AIDS Alliance in Ukraine, the largest HIV/AIDS-focused organisation in the country and one of the largest in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2014, he worked closely with SciCom – Making Sense of Science and a panel of global experts in raising awareness about the urgent need to introduce greater harm reduction measures in this region to save thousands of lives at ESOF 2014: Tackling the World’s Drug Problem as Splits Deepen Between Repressive & Health-Focused Countries & the EU Dithers.

This group of health diplomacy experts aims to nudge key public health officials and decision-makers to acknowledge the need for urgent action. The now fragile consensus around prohibition as a global framework for drug control is increasingly being put under pressure by reform-minded opinion leaders.

In view of the Special Session of the UN General Assembly (UNGASS) scheduled for 2016, their common aim is to force greater acceptance of the failure of decades of ‘War on Drugs’. Despite its declared aim to eliminate drug use from society, the international enforcement regime has never been further from attaining this goal: most studies show that illicit drug production and use continue to increase in most regions. This ‘War on Drugs’ has cost hundreds of billions of Euros and generated undesired negative social and public health effects such as mass incarceration and the emergence of a vast criminal trade, besides failing to reduce abuse and addiction.

Since joining the Alliance in 2000, Andriy now manages a complex and comprehensive HIV/AIDS prevention, treatment and care programme, also aimed at fighting TB, HCV and other deceases. With a team of over 100 staff and a budget of over $30 million annually (Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, USG / PEPFAR, EU and other donors), Andriy manages projects in 11 countries.

Further information: www.aidsalliance.org.ua




US FlagDr. Topher White

Dr Topher White
Topher White is CEO and founder of Rainforest Connection (RFCx), a non-profit Silicon Valley tech startup building scalable, open-source solutions to illegal logging & poaching. A physicist by training, and an engineer by nature, his 10+ years of experience include work at large, international science laboratories (ITER, SLAC/Stanford), universities (OUHK), publishing firms, and several venture-backed startup companies.

Rainforest Connection, which White founded in 2013 based on a collection of anti-deforestation technologies that he invented, aims to re-calibrate the ethical compass of the much-revered and generously-endowed Silicon Valley startup culture. By offering talented engineers and entrepreneurs an opportunity to work toward solving globally relevant problems—leveraging the unparalleled resources and expertise available in the area—Rainforest Connection works to provide an impact-driven focus for technical creativity, buoyed by the groundwork laid by open-source culture and modern global infrastructure.

Topher has now become an associate of SciCom – Making Sense of Science.

Link to
Rainforest Connection here: https://rfcx.org




UK FlagSimon Cox

Simon Cox
A former Reuters and BBC News reporter and presenter Simon Cox, runs the consultancy MediaWise, which has more than 15 years experience helping spokespeople get to the heart of often complex material and deliver their messsages with clarity and impact.

MediaWise provides tailored, specialist media training and presentation coaching services to clients from the worlds of academia, business, science, public administration, medicine, the law and non-profit organisations.

Within the scientific community, MediaWise has worked closely with SciCom to deliver high-level training and coaching on a regular basis at Director-General and CEO level, as well as for a range of other personnel from Board members down to lab-based scientists.

This training has been recognised by clients as an important asset, allowing them to take a clear lead in communicating what is often difficult, new or controversial science - and to establish that science firmly in its correct context, that of serving the public interest.

Key services: Media Training, Presentation Coaching, Crisis Communications, Message Development

Website: http://www.mediawiseconsulting.co.uk