Aurora
Annual Conference 2025

Dugan O’Neil was born in Miramichi, New Brunswick, obtained a BSc. at the University of New Brunswick, an MSc. at the University of Alberta and PhD in physics at the University of Victoria. As a professor of physics at Simon Fraser University, his research has focused on the search for new particles and interactions at high energy particle colliders at Fermilab and CERN. From single top quarks to Higgs bosons, his contributions have tended to focus on the “big data” problem of extraction of small signals from large backgrounds. 

In addition to his work as a particle physicist, O’Neil has played a leadership role in building Canada’s Digital Research Infrastructure, through work with WestGrid and Compute Canada. This includes spending three years (2014-2017) as Compute Canada’s Chief Science Officer. At SFU, he has served as principal investigator of the institution’s advanced research computing efforts since 2010. SFU has recently built Supercomputer Cedar, one of Canada’s most powerful academic supercomputers. O’Neil served as SFU’s Associate Vice-President, Research (AVPR) from 2017-2020. 

As SFU’s Vice-President, Research and Innovation (VPRI), O’Neil leads SFU’s strategic research initiatives and champions SFU’s innovation strategy and the many initiatives within its innovation ecosystem. His work focuses on facilitating excellence in research and innovation and helping the university respond to new opportunities. He works with members of SFU’s 10 faculties to ensure they have the support and resources required to conduct excellent cutting-edge research in all its forms. Building on his long-standing leadership and research experience, he works with faculty, students and staff to secure research and innovation partnerships within the community and industry. 

A key element of O’Neil’s role focuses on knowledge mobilization by facilitating opportunities to transfer the results of SFU research to society. This collaborative role allows for SFU research and innovation create a positive social, economic and environmental impact on the world stage. 

Together with the AVPR and the AVP Knowledge Mobilization and Innovation, O’Neil works to increase the reach and awareness of SFU’s internationally competitive research enterprise. 

Prof. Dr. Simone Moser holds a degree in Chemistry from the University of Innsbruck, where she completed her PhD focusing on the isolation and structural characterization of natural compounds. Her postdoctoral research at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) centered on elucidating the modes of action of small molecules. 

Following her postdoctoral studies, Dr. Moser joined the Analytical Development team at Novartis in Austria. She later returned to academia, establishing her research group within the Chair of Pharmaceutical Biology at the Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich (LMU), where she completed her habilitation in 2022. 

In September 2023, Dr. Moser was appointed Head of the Department of Pharmacognosy at the University of Innsbruck, Austria. Her research on the pharmaceutical properties of newly discovered natural products has earned her several prestigious awards, including the Blair-Curtius-Pfleiderer-Wachter Prize for Pteridinology (2020) and the Dr. Willmar Schwabe Prize from the Society for Medicinal Plant and Natural Product Research (2022). 

Barbara Buchenau is Professor of North American Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Her most recent publications include Narrative in Urban Planning: A Practical Field Guide (co-authored with Lieven Ameel and Jens Martin Gurr, 2023) and City Scripts: Narratives of Postindustrial Urban Futures (OSUP, 2023). She served as UDE’s Vice-Rector of Social Responsibility, Diversity and International Affairs (2018 – 2022), and has directed the inter-university graduate research group Scripts for Postindustrial Urban Futures: American Models, Transatlantic Interventions funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (2018 – 2023). She is a member of the Aurora European University Alliance, has been the lead of work package 3 on Learning for Societal Impact and is currently leading work package 2 on Transdisciplinary European Research-Driven Educational Hubs. 

 Buchenau is Professor of North American Studies at the University of Duisburg-Essen in Germany. Her most recent publications include three co-authored chapters on religious conversion and racial ambiguation (in Ambiguität und Unterscheidung: Kaleidoskopische Betrachtungen, edited by Benjamin Scheller and Marcel Müllerburg, 2024), the co-edited book City Scripts: Narratives of Postindustrial Urban Futures (OSUP, 2023) and Narrative in Urban Planning: A Practical Field Guide (co-authored with Lieven Ameel and Jens Martin Gurr, 2023). She served as Vice-Rector of Social Responsibility, Diversity and International Affairs at her institution (2018 – 2022), and has directed the inter-university graduate research group Scripts for Postindustrial Urban Futures: American Models, Transatlantic Interventions funded by the Volkswagen Foundation (2018 – 2024). 

Dr. Hafdís Hanna Ægisdóttir is the Director of the Sustainability Institute at the University of Iceland. She holds over 25 years of international experience in sustainability, environmental education and leadership. She earned her PhD in Plant Ecology from the University of Basel in Switzerland. Passionate about sustainable leadership, she has inspired change through education, collaboration and a deep commitment to a better future.