Max PlanBernhard Schölkopf is one of Europe’s top researchers in Artificial Intelligence and represents ELLIS at the European level. He is Director at the Max Planck Institute for Intelligent Systems, Honorary Professor TU Berlin and co-founder and President of ELLIS. He studied physics, mathematics and philosophy in Tübingen and London, and obtained his doctorate in computer science from the Technical University of Berlin. He has been a researcher at German National Research Center for Computer Science, industrial research at AT&T Bell Laboratories, Microsoft Research, and Biowulf Technologie. He was also Director and Scientific Member at the Max Planck Institute for Biological Cybernetics. His research contributions to the machine learning field have received extensive international recognition, including being a Fellow of the ACM, winner of the FBBVA Frontiers of Knowledge Award (2019), the Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz Prize (2018), Körber European Science Prize (2019) and the German AI Award (2020). ck Institute for Intelligent Systems
Chief Conservation Officer, Project Seagrass & Postdoctoral Associate, Florida International University Ben is an interdisciplinary marine scientist, bridging social and ecological research with communication to help conserve seagrass meadows for people and planet. He is currently President of the World Seagrass Association and has over 10 years of experience working with seagrass ecosystems and has conducted collaborative research and conservation projects in Europe, across the Indo-Pacific and the Caribbean. Ben is also Chief Conservation Officer of Project Seagrass. Ben is interested in working to enhance societal understanding and appreciation of the importance of seagrass, particularly as a source of food-security, and regularly utilises design and other creative mediums to communicate information on seagrass and scientific research. Ben takes a people-centric approach to conservation and is passionate about using his position of privilege to champion and amplify underrepresented voices within the seagrass science and conservation community.
Director, Centre for African Studies, University of Cambridge Bronwen Everill is a writer and historian. She teaches history at Cambridge University and is a lecturer and fellow at Gonville & Caius College. She holds a PhD from King's College London; MSt from Oxford; and a Bachelor of Arts from Harvard University. Bronwen is the author of Not Made by Slaves and Abolition and Empire in Sierra Leone and Liberia. She also co-edited The History and Practice of Humanitarian Intervention and Aid in Africa and is the reviews editor of The Historical Journal. She is interested in the global history of humanitarianism and its relationship to political and economic liberalism. Her research looks at developments in modern history ranging widely from capitalism to imperialism, from national sovereignty to economic development, from political revolution to the culture of business. Bronwen is particularly interested in examining these questions in the ways that they connect West African, US, and British imperial political, economic, and cultural history from the eighteenth century through the twentieth.
Professor of Philosophy and Environmental Studies, Gonzaga University Dr. Brian G. Henning is the inaugural Director and founder of the Gonzaga Center for Climate, Society, and the Environment. Originally from Boise, Idaho, Dr. Henning joined Gonzaga’s faculty in 2008 and is Professor of Philosophy and Professor of Environmental Studies. He earned a B.A. from Seattle University and an M.A., M.Phil., and Ph.D. from Fordham University. An award-winning author, Dr. Henning has written or edited 14 books and more than 35 articles and chapters, including Riders in the Storm: Ethics in an Age of Climate Change (Anselm 2015) and Climate Change Ethics and the Non-human World (Routledge 2020). His latest book, Value, Beauty, and Nature: The Philosophy of Organism and the Metaphysical Foundations of Environmental Ethics is forthcoming from SUNY press. He has delivered more than 150 talks to general and academic audiences in North America, Europe, and Asia.
Adjunct Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School Bruce Schneier is an internationally renowned security technologist, called a "security guru" by The Economist. He is the author of 14 books -- including the New York Times best-seller Data and Goliath: The Hidden Battles to Collect Your Data and Control Your World -- as well as hundreds of articles, essays, and academic papers. His influential newsletter "Crypto-Gram" and blog "Schneier on Security" are read by over 250,000 people. Schneier is a fellow at the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, a fellow at the Belfer Center at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government, and a board member of the Electronic Frontier Foundation. He is also a special advisor to IBM Security and the Chief Technology Officer of Resilient.
Astrophysicist/Cosmologist, Australian National University I am an Astrophysicist/Cosmologist, and currently a Fellow at the Research School of Astronomy and Astrophysics, Mt Stromlo Observatory and Senior Lecturer at the National Centre for the Public Awareness of Science at the Australian National University. I have my hand in a variety of things, but the majority of my work involves exploding stars called supernova, and cosmology, the study of the universe. A certain type of supernova, called a type Ia, can be used as a standard candle that can trace our universe's history. For this work, I am involved with a number of supernova surveys. I have been working on the ESSENCE Project, The CfA Supernova Search, The Carnegie Supernova Project and also using Mt Stromlo's new SkyMapper telescope. I am one of the leads of the Kepler Extra-Galactic Survey, KEGS, a Kepler Space Telescope Key Program, to understand why and how stars blow. I am leading a project to build a network of ultraviolet telescopes in the upper atmosphere which are being built at Mt Stromlo. In addition to research, I frequently give talks to school groups and the general public about astronomy and have regular segments on various radio stations talking about astronomy news and events. Among other things, I have developed a series of astronomy coins in conjunction with the Royal Australian Mint, consulted on science fiction movies, advised on astronomy-themed art projects, and have been featured in specials on the National Geographic Channel. I am currently in the process of writing my first popular book and producing a Massive Open Online Course.
