Professor of Industrial Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology Valerie Thomas, Ph.D., is the Anderson-Interface Chair of Natural Systems and Professor in the H. Milton School of Industrial and Systems Engineering, with a joint appointment in the School of Public Policy. Dr. Thomas's research interests are energy and materials efficiency, sustainability, industrial ecology, technology assessment, international security, and science and technology policy. Current research projects include low carbon transportation fuels, carbon capture, building construction, and electricity system development. Dr. Thomas is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and of the American Physical Society. She has been an American Physical Society Congressional Science Fellow, a Member of the U.S. EPA Science Advisory Board, and a Member of the USDA/DOE Biomass Research and Development Technical Advisory Committee. She has worked at Princeton University in the Princeton Environmental Institute and in the Center for Energy and Environmental Studies, and at Carnegie Mellon University in the Department of Engineering and Public Policy. Dr. Thomas received a B. A. in physics from Swarthmore College and a Ph.D. in theoretical physics from Cornell University.
Research Associate, Biosecurity Program, Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney Dr Costantino is a Research Associate for the Biosecurity Program (BSP) at the Kirby Institute for the faculty of Medicine at UNSW Sydney. She has a Mathematics background and holds an Mphil from School of Population Health, UNSW, Sydney, in modelling of infectious diseases. She completed her PhD candidature in January 2022 at the Kirby Institute, UNSW Sydney. Her work focusses on the use of mathematical modelling for the optimization of pharmaceutical and not pharmaceutical interventions in an outbreak response. She uses mathematical modelling for epidemic forecasting, preparedness and control. She contributed to the policy control for COVID-19 in Australia, with the first study showing the effectiveness of Australia international borders closure on cases control. She investigated the effectiveness of influenza vaccination uptake with immunity waning. Her research field expended on preparedness and response for bioterror attacks, with a particular focus on smallpox and bacillus anthracis release. Her research fields include modelling of infectious diseases, estimation of intervention effectiveness, risks and data analyses, using statistical methods (SPSS, SAS) and analytical methods (Matlab, R).
Senior Lecturer, Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde Research within my lab (Natural Products Research Laboratory) is focused on the discovery of small molecules from natural sources with pharmaceutical and cosmeceutical applications. The natural sources investigated include plants and products from the beehive such as honey/ propolis originating from various geographical locations worldwide. My interests are centered on the discovery of natural molecules with antitubercular, anti-inflammatory, antibiofilm, and antivirulence activity. I am a member of the Scientific Committee of the Francophone Apitherapy Association and of the European Science Foundation College of Expert Reviewers. I am a Scientific Advisor for the Natural Products and the Food Science & Nutrition programmes of the International Foundation for Science. I am a recipient of the Life Sciences Prize and the Parke-Davis Natural Products Chemistry Prize from the French Academy of Pharmacy. I serve on the editorial board of Journal of Pharmaceutical Microbiology, Phytochemistry Letters, Scientific Reports, Journal of Alternative Medicine & Complementary Therapies Plants, Records in Agriculture & Food Chemistry, and Evidence-based Complementary & Alternative Medicine. I am the Associate Editor of Archives of Natural Biological Research. I am the lead Guest Editor for two special issues in Plants, one special issue in JoVE, and two research topics in Frontiers in Pharmacology. I have served as the Honorary Treasurer of the Phytochemical Society of Europe (2014-2019).
Indigenous Research Midwife, Stillbirth Centre of Research Excellence, The University of Queensland Valerie is a proud Bindjareb woman from the Nyoongar Nation in the South West of Western Australia with family connections to the Palkyu people of the Pilbara, a mother of six and grandmother of five beautiful grandchildren with another soon. Through her husband, Valerie's children also identify as Nyikina and Yawaru from the Kimberley. Valerie graduated as a Registered Midwife in 2015 and has worked clinically in Perth at the Armadale Health Service, in Midland at St John of God Public Hospital and in Adelaide at the Women’s and Children’s Hospital. Her dive into research started as an Indigenous Project Officer at Ngangk Yira Institute for Change on Baby Coming You Ready? Project: a comprehensive and culturally safe way to assess the social and emotional health and wellbeing of Aboriginal women in the perinatal period, with a focus on strength and resilience. As an Aboriginal woman and midwife, Valerie's own experiences birthing in the system generated her interest to improve outcomes in Aboriginal maternal and infant health, more specifically, embedding cultural safety in the pregnancy and birth space and improving the health of Aboriginal women from a strength-based, cultural perspective. Valerie is now an Indigenous Research Midwife at the Stillbirth CRE, working on the cultural adaptation of the Safer Baby Bundle and developing a Healthy Yarning Guide for non-Indigenous health care professionals to talk about stillbirth and stillbirth prevention.
Professor of Economics, Université Clermont Auvergne (UCA) Vianney Dequiedt est Professeur d’Economie à l’Université Clermont Auvergne, chercheur au Centre d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Développement International (CERDI, UMR CNRS 6587) et directeur scientifique de la Fondation pour les Etudes et Recherches sur le Développement International. Ses intérêts de recherche couvrent l’économie du développement, l’économie publique et la théorie des jeux. Il a publié ses travaux dans des revues académiques telles que l’American Economic Review, le Journal of Economic Theory ou le Journal of Development Economics. Il est ingénieur diplômé de l’Ecole Polytechnique, promotion 95, et a obtenu son doctorat à l’Université de Toulouse en 2002. Il a été directeur du CERDI de 2013 à 2016, puis successivement vice-président recherche de l’Université d’Auvergne (2016-2017) et vice-président en charge des collegiums de l’Université Clermont Auvergne (2017-2021). Il est actuellement responsable scientifique et technique du Labex IDGM+ (Initiative pour le Développement et la Gouvernance Mondiale). Vianney Dequiedt is Professor of Economics at Université Clermont Auvergne, a researcher at CERDI (UMR CNRS 6587) and scientific director of FERDI (Foundation for studies and research on international development). His research interests include development economics, public economics and game theory. He published his work in leading academic journals such as the American Economic Review, the Journal of Economic Theory or the Journal of Development Economics. He graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique (MSc) in 1998 and obtained his PhD from Toulouse University in 2002. He served as director of CERDI from 2013 to 2016 and subsequently as research vice-president of Université d’Auvergne (2016-2017) and as vice-president in charge of Collegiums of Université Clermont Auvergne (2017-2021). He is currently scientific leader of Labex IDGM+ (Initiative for development and global governance).
