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Board category: Aurora Research Council

Professor Konstanze Zwintz

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Academic discipline: Stellar Astrophysics Konstanze Zwintz is professor for stellar astrophysics at the Institute for Astro- and Particle Physics of Universität Innsbruck. Her research focuses on the topics of early stellar evolution and stellar oscillations and in the combination of both. She has expertise in working with data obtained from ground- and space-based telescopes, in the scientific development of international satellite missions, in chairing international consortia, in teaching and supervising students at all levels (from Bachelor to PhD) and in science communication. Since many years, Konstanze Zwintz is a mentor for students at all levels and for pupils interested in STEM fields. 

Professor Sigrid Neuhauser

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Academic discipline: Microbiology Dr. Sigrid Neuhauser is a scientist and deputy head of the Institute of Microbiology at the University of Innsbruck. Her current research focuses on understanding Phytomyxean plant parasites and their interactions with the environment, plants, marine algae and the role of phytomyxea and other protists involved in soil processes. Her current research is also including the abundance and prevalence of azole resistant fungi in the environement with a focus on human and plant pathogens, as well as more generally topics on fungal plant and algal pathogens and their disease mechanisms and control. She is also studying the interactions between the dry rot fungus Serpula lacrymans and its microbiota and the fate of microbes in antropogenically influenced habitats. Since 2020, Sigrid Neuhauser holds a endowed professorship through the Ingeborg Hochmair Professorship program. She has received several fellowships and awards, including the FWF START Prize and is currently part of an EU Marie Curie Doctoral Network PHABB, the Jena Experiment and the MYCOS programme. Prof. Neuhauser has also worked at the Natural History Museum London and as a researcher outside of academia for MYKON OG. 

Professor Morten Irgens

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Academic discipline: Computer Science/AI Dr Irgens is the Vice Dean of Innovation and Impact at Copenhagen Business School, an advisor to the senior management of Kristiania, and board member of CLAIRE (the Confederation of Laboratories of Artificial Intelligence Research in Europe), Adra (The Artificial Intelligence, Data and Robotics Association) and NORA (The Norwegian Artificial Intelligence Consortium), and sits on the Digital Advisory Board of Abelia, the Steering Board of National Defense Innovation Center, and Danish Universities’  Dr Irgens has a Computer Science MSc and PhD in Artificial Intelligence. He has served in a number of senior management positions in universities and university colleges in Norway, including three times as Vice-Rector and twice as Faculty Dean, where he has been responsible for establishing or acquiring a number of research labs, research centres, and research institutions. He has also been a CEO, CTO, and Research Scientist. He founded Actenum Corporation, a Canadian AI-based company with global sales, and has served on several boards in the technology and research sectors.   He is a co-founder of CLAIRE, Adra,  NORA, Simula Metropolitan Center for Digital Engineering, Center for Cyber and Information Technology, and has also been involved in establishing HousingLab (the Norwegian Center for Housing Market Economics), KAI (The Work Inclusion Competency Center). 

Associate Professor Sarju Sing Rai

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Academic discipline: Health

Dr. Sarju Sing Rai is an Assistant Professor in “Competencies Development for Societal Transformation through Public Engagement in Transdisciplinary Research and Education” with focus on the themes – Global Health, and Health and Wellbeing (SDG 3). He is member of the Broader mind – Community Service Learning (CSL) project of VU Amsterdam, wherein he is involved in teaching and designing transdisciplinary and transformative education with multistakeholder involvement to jointly address complex (global) health issues. He is also involved in local knowledge alliances with community-based organizations, citizen groups, and educational institutions operating within the city of Amsterdam, viz. Knowledge alliance – Loneliness & Mental Wellbeing, and Knowledge Alliance – Inclusive and accessible City.

Within the Netherlands, he is involved in NRO’s CONNECT project with other 10 Dutch Universities, where he is co-leading activities to elucidate design elements and develop framework(s) for Transdisciplinary Learning in Higher Education. Internationally, he is co-leading the AURORA European Universities Alliance project – workpackage focusing on Teaching and Learning for Societal Impact & Transformation. Sarju is involved in research on Education (competencies development through transdisciplinary education, critical service learning, internationalization and global citizenship) and Global Health topics (health-related stigma reduction and healing; intersectionality, health equity, social justice; loneliness and mental wellbeing; Inclusive living, access and mobility; and systemic transformations).

Associate Professor Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir

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Academic discipline: Theology Sigríður Guðmarsdóttir is a Professor at the Faculty of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Iceland. Her research interests are in constructive and practical theology from various interdisciplinary perspectives such as gender, environment and decolonisation. Among her scholarly works is the monograph Tillich and the Abyss:  Foundations, Feminism and Theology of Praxis (Palgrave Macmillan 2016) and the coedited volume Trading Justice for Peace? Reframing Reconciliation in TRC processes in South Africa, Canda and Nordic Countries (AOSIS, 2021). 

Professor Guðmundur Hálfdánarson

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Academic discipline: History Guðmundur Hálfdanarson has a BA in history and archaeology from the universities of Lund in Sweden and Iceland in Reykjavík, MA in history from the University of Iceland and PhD in history from Cornell University. He currently holds the title of Jón Sigurðsson professor of history at the University of Iceland. His main field of research is Icelandic and European cultural, political, and social history, with a primary focus on theories and practices of nationalism in the 19th and 20th centuries. 

Professor Daniela Montesarchio

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Academic discipline: Chemistry Full Professor in Organic Chemistry, Department of Chemical Sciences, Università Federico II of Naples, Professor Daniela Montesarchio’s scientific interests are devoted mainly to the chemical synthesis, characterization and applications of modified oligonucleotides and nucleosides with potential anticancer or antiviral activity and to studies on non-canonical DNA structures (e.g. G-quadruplexes) and G-quadruplex-based aptamers for cancer diagnostics and therapy. She is co-author of 167 scientific articles (h index = 35, Scopus source at March, 2024), published in international, peer-reviewed journals, 4 patents, 4 book chapters as well as of > 100 communications presented at international symposiums and conferences. She has been elected member of the Academic Senate of Università Federico II of Naples for the mandate 2017-2021 and is currently member for the mandate 2021-2025.

Professor Roberta Alfano

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Academic discipline: Law

Roberta Alfano is a Full Professor of Financial and Tax Law at the Law Department of the Università Federico II of Naples.

PhD in Institutions and environmental, financial and tax policies, she directs and participates in several competitive research projects. In particular, she is Coordinator of the Summer School in European Environmental Taxation  (2019/2023) and Summer School in European Environmental Taxation 2.0 (2023/202026) Jean Monnet Module co-financed by the European Commission.

She is the author of several books and publications addressing both substantive and procedural aspects of tax law, with a particular focus on European tax law.

Her core research areas are environmental taxation and European tax law. Her specific research interest includes all areas of environmental taxation, EU tax law, the protection of taxpayers’ rights, gender taxation , tourism taxation and policies, Italian tax law and administrative tax penalties and sports taxation.

Professor Jorge Boczkowski

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Academic discipline: Health

Jorge Boczkowski is Professor in Respiratory Medicine at the Université Paris Est Créteil (UPEC), and former Director of the Institut Mondor de Recherche Biomédicale (IMRB, UMR 955 Inserm – UPEC). His research examines the respiratory consequences of exposure to environmental contaminants, notably cigarette smoke and manufactured nanoparticles. Jorge Boczkowski has been coordinator of several research programs in environmental toxicology and has participated in various scientific and expert bodies (CSS 6 Inserm, IReSP “Nanomaterials” Working Group, Scientific Commission of the INERIS Chronic Risks Department, etc).

He was Visiting Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University (Japan) between 2015 and 2020 and member of the Ethics and Regulatoiry Committee of the “2D-Health” graphene research program at the University of Manchester (UK) between 2017 and 2023. He is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Ecole Nationale Vétérinaire d’Alfort and has served as an assessor on the Scientific Advisory Board of UPEC (biology and health field) and as a HCERES delegate. He has filed 3 patents and is the author of more 160 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Professor Robert Sala-Ramos

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Academic discipline: Archeoloogy Professor of Prehistory at the URV since 2000 Director of the Catalan Institute of Human Palaeoecology and Social Evolution from 2015 until 2023 PhD in History, URV 1997  Professor Robert Sala-Ramos was responsible for the Erasmus Mundus Master and Doctorate on Quaternary and Prehistory since 2004 until 2018. He is PI of the research project at the Ain Beni Mathar – Guefait (Eastern Morocco) where he lead archaeological excavations within international cooperation programs with the Université Mohammed Premier of Oujda (Eastern Morocco), as well as PI of the Research Project at Orce (Andalusia, Spain) from 2009 through 2015.  His research is devoted to the evolution of the behaviour and ways of life of the first settlers of Europe and Maghreb, especially regarding the technical system and the settlement in new territories. 

Professor Santiago Garcia Vallve

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Academic Discipline: Molecular Biology, Bioinformatics, Chemoinformatics

Dr. Santi Garcia-Vallvé is an Associate Professor in the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology at the Universitat Rovira i Virgili (URV). He is a member of the Chemoinformatics and Nutrition Research Group. His research focuses on cheminformatics and computational drug design. He has contributed to the development of several virtual screening procedures aimed at discovering new antidiabetic compounds (such as partial agonists of PPARγ and dipeptidyl peptidase-4 inhibitors), anti-inflammatory agents targeting IKK2, protein tyrosine phosphatase 1B (PTP1B) inhibitors, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) inhibitors. Since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, his research has focused on the development of novel SARS-CoV-2 main protease (M-pro) inhibitors and the analysis of SARS-CoV-2 mutations. He is the co-author of more than 80 scientific articles and has been included in the Stanford list (2020–2024) of the world’s top 2% most influential researchers.