Author: Activities Chair

Affiliation: Institute of State and Law and Institute of Computer Science, Czech Academy of Sciences

Keywords: Ethics, Philosophy, Artificial Intelligence, Biomedicine

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David is a philosopher who works at the Czech Academy of Sciences and lectures on applied ethics (medical ethics, bioethics, ethics of artificial intelligence) at several Czech universities. He is the author of several monographs on the ethics of stem cell research, animal rights, death and dying, allocation of scarce resources in times of pandemics, euthanasia, and the ethics of modern technologies. He is also the author of Cerny, D. The Principle of Double Effect. A History and Philosophical Defense (New York: Routledge, 2020, 2022) and co-author of Jenkins, R., Černý, D., Hříbek, T. (eds.). Autonomous Vehicle Ethics. The Trolley Problem and Beyond (New York: Oxford University Press, 2022).

David is currently working on just war theory, particularly the use of autonomous military robots.

In the Czech Republic, David frequently appears in the media (TV, radio) and has written many articles in newspapers. He is also involved in science popularization.

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/david.p.cerny

Twitter: @DavidPCerny

Affiliation: Faculty of Food Technology and Biotechnology, University of Zagreb

Keywords: Nonthermal processing, advanced thermal processing, sustainability, food processing, Industry 4.0, digitalization, food chemistry, food physics

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Full profile: She is at position of full professor (from 2018.) and scientific advisor (permanent title) from 2017, in food engineering (biotechnical sciences). From 2019, she is head of Laboratory for sustainable development. She obtained PhD, in 2008.

Thesis: Ultrasonic effect on physical and functional properties of whey proteins. She was trained abroad at Coventry University, UK and at the University of Avignon, France. Her field of research is nonthermal processing, advanced thermal processing, sustainability, food processing, Industry 4.0, digitalization, food chemistry, food physics etc. In the period from 2007.

Anet Režek Jambrak has published over 110 significant scientific papers with citation more than 4650, (h-index 35) and author of book chapters in recognized scientific publishers like Wiley, Elsevier, Springer etc. She received many prizes and awards: In 2021. she received Emerging Sustainability Leader Award from MDPI Sustainability Foundation; 2019. she was titled Highly Cited Researcher, among 0.1% world scientists (powered by Web of Science https://publons.com/awards/highly-cited/2019). In 2019. she received national award for Science, Parliament of the Republic of Croatia, Ministry of Science and Education, Government of the Republic of Croatia; in 2016. was awarded Young Scientist Award – International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFOST) etc.

Professor Anet Režek Jambrak was appointed Editor in Trends in Food Science and Technology, Elsevier; Assistant Editor, Journal of Food Processing and Preservation, Hindawi; Editor, Food Engineering Reviews, Springer Nature; Section Editor-in-chief (2020-2022), Processes, MDPI; and Editor-in-Chief, Journal of Food Quality, Hindawi. She is teaching courses related to nonthermal and advanced thermal processing, food engineering, physical properties of foods, sustainability, Industry 4.0 in biotechnical sciences etc. She is member of Global Young Academy (GYA), European Union of Food Science and Technology (EFFoST) and International Academy of Food Science and Technology (IAFoST).

Affiliation: TIB, Hannover

Keywords: Knowledge management, Artificial Intelligence in Education, Technology Enhanced Learning, Learning Analytics, Researcher Mental Health and Wellbeing

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Since I obtained my summa cum laude PhD in management sciences (information management) in 2012, I have been concentrating my research efforts on the multi-disciplinary area of matching processes between education, labour market, and individuals. Within this field I have been carrying out research on 1) Artificial Intelligence (AI) and (in)formal learning 2), Utilising Open Educational Resources (OERs) for upskilling and re-skilling of individuals, 3) changing nature of work and its impact on education, 4) role of knowledge and the assessment of knowledge in bridging the education – labour market divide. Usually my work has both strong technical and social components. A major output of these research efforts is an open, AI driven learning platform, called eDoer. 

Currently, I work on the above mentioned research topics as the head of the Learning and Skill Analytics Research Group at the TIB – Leibniz Information Centre for Science and Technology in Hannover, Germany. Previously, together with Dr. Stefan Mol, I founded the Center of Job Knowledge Research at the Amsterdam Business School, University of Amsterdam (UvA). Since then I have supervised nine doctoral researchers in four different organisations, in the intersection of Knowledge Management, Learning Analytics, Data Science and Organisational Behaviour. 

During the past 18 years most of my research was funded by EU and national (German, Dutch and Hungarian) research and innovation grants (e.g. COST, Horizon2020, Horizon Europe (HE), FP7, Erasmus+, BMBF). I participated in 29 research projects with a total value of €19,5M. From these 29 projects I was coordinating 9, and the funding which was directly fed into my research was €4,3M. I have been successfully shaping up and managing large scale innovation networks (e.g. Eduworks with a budget of €3,6M and a working staff of 25-30 people), smaller scale innovation projects (e.g. oscar-ai.eu with a budget of €500k and a working staff of 10-15 people), and research project proposals. In addition, I am a member of expert panels reviewing proposals for EU funding (HE, COST).

When it comes to academic life, I put strong emphasis on the improvement of the academic environment. Therefore I’m an initiator and member of bottom-up, researcher led initiatives. I was elected as the chair of the Researcher Mental Health Observatory (ReMO) COST Action (250+ members from 41 countries). Previously, I chaired the Career Development and the Research Funding Working Groups of the Marie Curie Alumni Association (MCAA). I’m the first author of two signature publications, the Declaration on Sustainable Researcher Careers by the MCAA and Eurodoc, and the Researcher Mental Health and Well-being Manifesto of ReMO. 

As the coordinator and lead investigator of the Eduworks EU FP7 MSCA ITN project, I have developed a multi-disciplinary training programme for doctoral researchers. This includes the development of a transversal (e.g. writing and communication skills) and a personalised, research specific training programme covering methodological (advanced statistical methods, research design) and technical (data science, basic coding skills) courses for social scientists. Utilising the above-mentioned training, I co-organized a number of summer and winter schools. Further, I worked out a complex quality management system to monitor the training progress of a multi-disciplinary group of graduate students. These efforts led to a non-profit, social startup called SciLink Foundation, which I led during its incubation period.

Affiliation: Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary.

Keywords: Neurovascular unit, blood-brain barrier, neuroinflammation, aging,
brain metastasis

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Full profile: Imola Wilhelm is a senior research associate in the Biological Research Centre, Szeged, Hungary. Her research interest is focused on cerebral
circulation, the neurovascular unit and the blood-brain barrier. She is a leading scholar of the neurovascular unit, especially pericytes, in brain metastases, neuroinflammation and aging.

She is the author of numerous peer-reviewed articles in the field and is the principal investigator of several scientific grants. As a recognition of her work, she received several prizes including the Junior Award and the Bolyai János Research Fellowship of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science national scholarship.

She has mentored and supervised several BSc, MSc, MD and PhD students. Since 2020, she has been a Szent-Györgyi mentor of the National Academy of Scientist Education. She joined the Hungarian Young Academy in 2021, presently serving as an executive board member. She is active in science communication as a lecturer at Researchers’ Night (since 2014) and Brain Awareness Week (since 2018). In addition, she appeared in multiple news outlets to popularize science. She is married and a
mother of one daughter.

Affiliation: Developmental Psychology Department of the University of Amsterdam

Keywords: Computational modeling, decision-making, reinforcement learning, adolescence, development, social learning, social networks, teenagers.

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Wouter van den Bos has a broad background in both neuroscience and developmental psychology and his research broadly investigates the relation between the developing brain and changes in behavior. More specifically his research is focused on how changes in brain function and structure relate to typical and atypical development of learning and decision-making.

To approach these questions he uses computational models, social network analyses and methods form experimental economics. Computational models are used to quantify behavior and the complex processes underlying learning and decision-making. The parameters from these models support spanning the bridge between developmental theories and neurobiology and enable to identify more specific processes that underlie developmental change.

Using these techniques he has have investigated the neurocognitive development of risky & intertemporal choice, basic learning mechanisms, social decision-making and social learning. Currently Wouter is an Associate Professor at the Developmental Psychology Department of the University of Amsterdam & Director of the Connected Minds Lab and an adjunct Research Scientist at the Max Planck Institute for Human Development Center for Adaptive Rationality. His work is funded by national (NWO, DFG, NSF) and international (ERC) funding agencies.

Affiliation: Department of Earth and Environmental Sciences DISAT, University of Milano-Bicocca

Keywords: Climate-Tectonics interactions, Geodynamics, Geophysics, Numerical Modeling

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Pietro Sternai graduated in Geology at the University of Milano (Italy) and obtained his Ph.D. at ETH Zurich (Switzerland) in 2012. Two subsequent Postdocs brought him at the University of Orléans (France), Caltech (USA) and the University of Cambridge (UK).

He then moved to the University of Geneva (Switzerland) as an ‘Ambizione’ Fellow funded by the SNSF. In 2019, he became Assistant Professor of Structural Geology at the University of Milano-Bicocca (Italy) and in 2022 he was promoted to Associate Professor in the same Department.

Pietro Sternai currently leads the Coupled System (CoSy) research group, whose main target is to unravel the climate-tectonics interactions and the role of magmatic-volcanic activity in affecting the geological carbon cycle using geodynamic and landscape evolution numerical modeling constrained by all sorts of geological observables. This multidisciplinary research is, and has been, supported by prestigious grants such as the Ambizione (SNSF) and Levi Montalcini (Italian Ministry of Education) fellowships and the Progetto Dipartimenti di Eccellenza 2018-2022 (Italian Ministry of Education).

In 2019, 2020 and 2021, Pietro Sernai was awarded with three Young Talent Prizes by the University of Milano-Bicocca and Accademia Nazionale dei Lincei (the most prestigious Italian Scientific Academy) and, in 2022, he won the Flinn-Hart award of the International Lithosphere Program. Pietro Sternai is Associate Editor of Journal of Geophysical Research – Solid Earth since 2020 and has been invited to become a member of the Young Academy of Europe in 2022.

Affiliation: Institute of Experimental Medicine, HU

Keywords: Microglia-neuron interactions, intercellular communication, quantitative immunohistochemistry, high-resolution optical microscopy, 3D electron microscopy

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Csaba Cserép studied Medicine and received his PhD in theoretical medicine from the Semmelweis University, Budapest, Hungary. After working in the Laboratory of Cerebral Cortex Research he moved to the Laboratory of Neuroimmunology (Institute of Experimental Medicine), where he is responsible for high resolution 3D anatomical and functional studies. His research concentrates on understanding how microglia communicate with other brain cells in health and disease, with a special emphasis on direct cell-cell interactions. He played a leading role in the discovery of microglia-neuron somatic junctions, substantially influencing future research directions of the field. His current focus is to understand the role of mitochondrial signaling processes in intercellular communication. The ultimate goal of these directions is to understand the detailed structural-functional correlates of the brain’s immune system, which is indispensable for the development of future therapeutic strategies.

He contributed actively to the introduction of cutting-edge imaging methods in Hungary, as he pioneered STORM superresolution imaging and transmission electron tomography. The methodological repertoire also includes STED superresolution imaging and 3D scanning electron microscopy. He is also board member of the Hungarian Microscopy Society.

He published 20+ scientific papers mainly for neuroscience and neuroimmunology focused journals. His scientific activity was supported and recognized nationally and internationally with various scholarships and prizes (János Bolyai Research Fellowship, Hungarian National Excellence Program, Outstanding Paper Award of the European Microscopy Society, Award from the Hungarian Society for Microscopy, Young Investigator Award of IEM HAS). His students received 10+ prizes at various national and international scientific competitions.

He is active in competitive sailing as an athlete himself (competed at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games), and also at the organizational level, being Vice President of the International 29er Class Association, board member of Balatonfüredi Yacht Club and president of the Hungarian 9er Class Association.