Speakers – Page 3

Posted on March 11, 2021March 12, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. Etienne EHILE

Professor Etienne EHILE is the Executive Secretary of the Association of African Universities (AAU).

He graduated from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Abidjan in 1974, where he obtained his Master’s degree. He then joined the University of Aix Marseille III (France) and obtained his PhD in Neurophysiology with distinction in 1978. His research work is carried out at the Neurophysiology Laboratory of the Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), France.
He is the former Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Côte d’Ivoire and former President of the University Nangui Abrogoua, Côte d’Ivoire, where he spent two terms of 4 years each (2001-2010), before taking up his duties as Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU) in August 2011. Professor EHILE is not new to the AAU as he has been an active member of the AAU Board since 2005.

Professor EHILE has published over 50 scientific papers in various regional and international scientific journals from 1978 to 2019. From 1992 to date, Prof. EHILE has held numerous leadership and administrative positions.

Prof Etienne Ehouan Ehile is an Ivorian and a renowned physiologist. He graduated from the Faculty of Sciences of the University of Abidjan in 1974, where he obtained his Master’s degree. He then joined the University of Aix Marseille III (France) and obtained his Doctorate in Neurophysiology with honors in 1978. His research work was carried out at the Neurophysiology Laboratory of the National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), France.

He is the former Director of Cabinet of the Ministry of Health and Public Hygiene of Côte d’Ivoire and former President of Nangui Abrogoua University, Côte d’Ivoire, where he spent two terms of 4 years each ( 2001-2010), before assuming his duties as Secretary General of the Association of African Universities (AAU) in August 2011. Professor Ehile is not new to the AAU because he was an active member of the board of directors of the AAU since 2005.

Professor Ehile has published over 50 scientific articles in various regional and international scientific journals from 1978 to 2019. From 1992 to date, Professor Ehile has held numerous management and administrative positions. macos/deepLFree.translatedWithDeepL.text

Posted on March 11, 2021March 12, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. Simon Taylor

Simon J E Taylor is a Reader and leads the Modelling & Simulation Group in the Department of Computer Science. He is a founder and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Simulation and founded and chairs the COTS Simulation Package Interoperability Standards Group under the Simulation Interoperability Standards Organization (SISO). He chaired ACM SIGSIM between 2005-2008 and is a member of the ACM SIGSIM Steering Committee.

He is the series editor of the OR Essential Series published by Palgrave-Macmillan. He co-founded the UK ORS Simulation Workshop Series and is a member of the Steering Committee. According to Microsoft Academic, Dr Taylor is a top 100 scientist in Computer Science/Simulation (top 5 UK).

His work has led to major cost savings in industry. He reviews regularly for international conferences and journals. He is the Modeling Methodology Track Chair of the 2014 IEEE/ACM Winter Simulation Conference and Chair of the 2015 ACM Principles of Advanced Discrete Simulation. Recently he was keynote at the 2014 SCS SpringSim conference and the 2014 UK ORS Conference.

Posted on March 11, 2021March 12, 2021 by wacren2020

Dr Paschal Anosike

Dr Paschal Anosike is the Director for the Centre for African Entrepreneurship and Leadership (CAEL) at the University of Wolverhampton; he holds professorial appointments at prestigious Universities in Ethiopia and Nigeria. He researches how entrepreneurship and innovation can lead to inclusive growth in Africa with expertise in full-range systems of entrepreneurship education. He has guided over 30 organisations to build strategies for sustainable entrepreneurial ecosystems from curricula, innovation labs to start-up creation and scalability. He has also chaired international expert groups and spoken widely on these topics, including several keynotes. He is the Associate Editor of International Journal of Management Practice (IJMP).

A recipient of the African Union Excellence Award for Education Innovation and The Guardian University Awards 2014, the impact of Paschal’s work has led to his induction into the fellowships of the Higher Education Academy and the Royal Society of Arts. He advises the African Union Commission and the London-based think-tank Legatum Institute (LI) – through which he co-pioneered the publication of the authoritative Africa Prosperity Index (API) officially presented at the 2019 World Economic Forum on Africa (WEF), and formally launched February 2020 at the 33rd Ordinary Session of the Assembly of Heads of States and Governments of the African Union.

Previously, he advised The Commonwealth, UNCTAD, British Council and Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ). He is currently working on a £1.3m EU-funded academic mobility project with several African partners.

Posted on March 11, 2021March 17, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. El Hadji Bamba DIAW

Professor El Hadji Bamba DIAW is a full professor of exceptional class, specialised in water sciences and techniques since 2017.
Born on 20 April 1965, the academic career of this hydrogeologist was sanctioned by a Master’s degree in applied physical sciences, a DESS in water resources mobilisation, a DEA in mechanics and engineering and a unique PhD in Fluid Mechanics.

Previously Special Adviser to the Director of the Polytechnic School of Thiès and EFA Focal Point of the ASICIAO project (Appropriation of International Standards for the structuring of engineering training for West Africa), Professor DIAW has successively held the positions of:

Director of the Polytechnic School of Thies from October 2012 to February 2019;
Head of the research division of the University of Thiès from June 2007 to June 2009;
Director of the Laboratory of Water and Environmental Sciences and Techniques (LaSTEE), Polytechnic School of Thiès (EPT), Ministry of Higher Education, Research and Innovation of Senegal;
National coordinator of the IAEA project RAF/8/028 on leakage detection in dams and water reservoirs;
Associate Researcher at the Centre of Excellence of the National Geophysical Research Institute (NGRI) in HYDERABAD, INDIA.

He has twenty scientific productions from 2016 to 2019. In addition to numerous field experiences and study projects, Professor DIAW is a member of several Member of several associations including the International Association of Hydrological Sciences (IAHS), the International Association of Hydrogeologists (IAH), the Amicale des Etudiants et Stagiaires Sénégalais de Strasbourg (AESS) of which he was President from 1992-1993 and Secretary General from 1991-1992.

Posted on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. Mamadou Wele

Prof. Mamadou Wele is the Director for Institute of Applied Sciences (ISA) of the University of Sciences, Techniques and Technologies of Bamako (USTTB)

Posted on March 11, 2021March 17, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. Christian Happi

Prof. Christian Happi is a professor at the Redeemer’s University in Nigeria. He has the expertise and skills, leadership and motivation necessary to successfully conduct and oversee health research projects in West Africa. He has a broad background in molecular biology and genomics with application in infectious diseases, including malaria, Lassa fever, Ebola virus disease and HIV. According to him, the most meaningful accomplishments in his career was his use of genomics technologies for early diagnosis and confirmation (within 6 hours) of Ebola virus disease (EVD) in Nigeria. This singular action was major in containing EVD in Nigeria, and therefore saving millions of lives in Africa. This feat could only be achieved after he took the decision to go to Nigeria – the country in world with the highest burden of malaria, as well as a viral hemorrhagic disease called Lassa fever – to live and work in the midst of malaria and Lassa fever patients, after years of research and work at Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, USA. He sees this decision as the realization of a mission to apply the genomics knowledge and cutting-edge genomics skills he had acquired at Harvard University to improve health care in Africa, and to share these skills with young African researchers so that key genomics research questions can be addressed in the natural setting where the disease occurs.

Prof. Happi pioneered and rooted in Nigeria, North-South and South-South collaborations to make major breakthroughs in malaria, Lassa fever and Ebola Virus disease. With funding from the World Bank and the NIH, along with collaborators we established at Redeemer’s University, Nigeria, the African Center of Excellence for Genomics of Infectious Diseases (ACEGID, www.acegid.org) in 2013.

Posted on March 11, 2021March 17, 2021 by wacren2020

Lucas Yikimpa Chigabatia

Lucas Yikimpa Chigabatia is the Chief Information Technology Officer (CITO) of the University of Ghana. In this role he leads the delivery of the IT strategic objectives and operational support activities of the University of Ghana, providing leadership in the development and use of ICT to enhance Teaching, Learning, Research and Administrative activities in the University.

He has accountability for IT transformational agenda of the University for improving the overall efficiency and effectiveness, He made IT Service Delivery a priority on his assumption of the role in 2013 and has championed the documentation, upgrade and re-alignment of key business processes culminating in the automation and improvement of key business processes in the University of Ghana.

In addition to his role as Chief IT officer, he continues to play a coordinating role in the activities of the Ghanaian Academic and Research Network (GARNET) with a current membership of thirty-five tertiary institutions in Ghana.

Lucas has a long track record in the planning and management of large and complex Information Technology infrastructure and systems projects in the manufacturing, services, mining, and education industries.

He began his career at Unilever Ghana Limited in 1994 as the Information Technology Manager for the Lever Brothers Division, and quickly established a reputation for getting things done. After taking a two year break in 1996 to pursue an MBA Finance Degree at the University of Ghana, he joined the consultancy firm Conseil Gestion Assistance (CGA) in 1998 and consulted widely for organizations locally and internationally in Zimbabwe, the Ivory Coast and Burkina Faso. In October 2000, Lucas joined Ashanti Goldfields and led the successful integration of the ICT infrastructure following the merger between Ashanti Goldfields and AngloGold, which created the new global mining company, AngloGold Ashanti in 2004. Following the merger Lucas was promoted and appointed IT Manager for the West Africa Region of AngloGold Ashanti. In 2008 he was again promoted and appointed the Manager, Knowledge and Information Technology for the Continental Africa Region of the company with accountability for IT in seven African countries in West, East and Central Africa. He stayed in this role until he joined the University of Ghana in October 2013 as Chief Information Technology Officer.

Lucas has an Msc. in Computer Science from the Kharkov Institute of Engineering and Economics (Ukraine), a Master of Business Administration in Finance from the University of Ghana, and an Associate Degree in General Management with a focus on Transformational Leadership and Managerial Practice from the University of Cape Town (South Africa). He is a member of the Project Management Institute (PMI).

Posted on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 by wacren2020

Dr. Esther Wilkinson

Dr Esther Wilkinson is a specialist in higher education strategy and planning and the Head of International at Jisc. Her role includes developing Jisc’s international strategy and leading business development for Jisc’s transnational education support programme, enabling delivery of UK education overseas. A key part of Esther’s role is supporting the Global Research and Education Network CEO Forum. Esther has worked in various roles in higher education, previously as Assistant Director in the Universities UK International Unit delivering UK government and overseas programmes, e.g. HEGlobal and the Dikti Scholarship Scheme, in addition to managing operations for the Unit.

Prior to this, Esther delivered a number of projects in the UK Research Councils for over 13 years; these included £multi-million Government longitudinal studies in the medical and social sciences, and the setting up of the RCUK Strategy Unit. Other roles included a brief spell as a police officer, and as ‘Planetary Protection Officer’ on the Beagle2 programme at the Open University. Esther has a BSc Hons, DIC and PhD in Chemistry from Imperial College. Esther also is Director of Red Coaching and Development, a skills training consultancy to facilitate development of leadership, communication and teamwork for researchers in higher education.

Posted on March 11, 2021 by wacren2020

Victor Abu Sesay

Victor Abu Sesay is the Director of Technology and Innovation in the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education (MTHE).

He holds a Masters of Engineering Degree in Telecommunications and Information Systems; Bachelors of Engineering in Computer Science and Technology; Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) for Windows Servers 2003 and Microsoft Certified Systems Administrator (MCSA) for Windows Servers 2003.

Over the past several years, he has immensely contributed to the nation building in academia, technology and innovation.

He has accumulated a wealth of experience from the private sector; with Millicom SL as Switch Manager, and Millicom Chad as Technical Assistant to the Chief Technology Officer. Prior to his assignments with Tigo, he has worked with SportMark, an international hospitality company during the 2008 olypics games in Beijing as one of the lead ICT support staff. Mr. Sesay started his work career with DrangonNet Technologies in Beijing, where he was network administrator after one year of internship with the same company.

Prior to his current position, he was the Head of Information Communications Technology in the Ministry of Technical and Higher Education, Ministry of Social Welfare, Gender and Children’s Affairs, Ministry of Information and Communications, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Food Security, among others

Mr. Sesay is credited as the brain behind the online application portal for the University of Sierra Leone, Njala University, and other tertiary institutions in Sierra Leone.

Posted on March 11, 2021March 11, 2021 by wacren2020

Prof. Claude Lishou

Claude Lishou is Professor at the Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar (Senegal). He teaches several disciplines at the Ecole Supérieure Polytechnique ranging from industrial IT to NGN (Next Generation Networks).

As Director of the Virtual Platform at UCAD, he is responsible for the coordination of the IT system and steers the e-learning strategy for the entire university. He directs a research and development laboratory which is internationally-renowned (Laboratory for Information Processing) and dedicated to the use of ICTE in education and training, environment, energy, transport and e-governance.

On a scientific level, he is author and co-author of around 40 articles in scientific reviews which have an international circulation: Professor Lishou is member of several academic societies, a member of the editorial committees of scientific reviews, a member of Information and Communication Technology Networks for Teaching and Research and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal des Sciences Pour l’Ingénieur (Journal of Sciences for the Engineer). For more than two decades, he has supervised and given support to dozens of Engineers and Researchers preparing their theses in the sub-region.

A recognised expert in the development of ICTE applications and services, he divides his time between teaching, research and consultancy with international organisations (OIF, AUF, UNDP, UNESCO, UNCTAD, etc…)