Speakers

Dr. Fritz Brugger is a renowned expert in the field of international cooperation and Executive Director of NADEL, ETH Zürich, where he leads research on natural resource governance and sustainable development. His work focuses on the intersection of resource extraction, economic development, and policy in developing countries, particularly examining how mining activities impact local communities. Dr. Brugger combines rigorous academic research with practical policy applications, collaborating with international organizations and governments to translate findings into effective strategies. 

Prof. Gilles Carbonnier is a Swiss development economist currently serving as the Vice-President of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). He is also a professor of development economics at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. His research focuses on international development with an emphasis on humanitarian economics, resource governance, and the political economy of war and peacebuilding. Throughout his career, Prof. Carbonnier has been instrumental in developing frameworks that bridge theoretical economic concepts with practical humanitarian interventions, particularly in fragile states and conflict-affected regions.

Prof. Günther Dissertori is a distinguished physicist and the Rector of ETH Zürich. Prior to assuming this role, he was a Professor of Particle Physics at ETH Zurich and made significant contributions to experimental high-energy physics at CERN. As a researcher, he focused particularly on the Compact Muon Solenoid (CMS) experiment, which contributed to the landmark discovery of the Higgs boson in 2012. His dedication to education is evident through his impressive collection of "Golden Owl" awards - he was honored four times by students in his department for excellence in teaching, showcasing his commitment to cultivating the next generation of scientific talent.

Prof. Isabel Günther is Professor of Development Economics and Academic Director of NADEL at ETH Zürich. She had previously been Assistant Professor for Development Economics at ETH Zürich, research associate at the Faculty of Economics of the University of Göttingen and at the Harvard School of Public Health. Her main research interest is in empirical microeconomics with a particular focus on measurement of poverty and inequality, population economics, technologies for poverty reduction, and evidence-based policy making. Isabel Günther has carried out most of her research in Benin, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Kenya, Uganda, and South Africa.

Prof. Mary-Anne “Annie” Hartley, leads the Laboratory for intelligent Global Health and Humanitarian Response Technologies (LiGHT). LiGHT is an international research group based jointly at Harvard (T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Ariadne Labs) and EPFL (School of Computer Science) with satellite presence at Ashoka University in India and the C4IR in Rwanda. Her team works with NGOs and humanitarian response organizations like Doctors Without Borders and the International Committee of the Red Cross to develop implementable AI-powered technology that provably improves healthcare in resource-limited settings and under-represented populations. In her free time, Annie is a passionate lover-of-street-dogs and medical doctor, and continues to work clinically in a volunteer capacity in her home country of South Africa.

Based in Nairobi, Dr. Karen Levy is the Founder and Director of Fit for Purpose and a serial social entrepreneur with over 25 years of experience in international development, primarily focused on Africa and Asia with extensive time living in Kenya. She has played a key role in building the global ecosystem for evidence and scale in international development and has an extensive track record of bringing evidence-based programs and organizations from early concept stages to national-level scale. A strategic thinker and creative problem-solver, she has extensive technical expertise in using evidence to design, implement, and monitor development interventions.

Dr. Solomzi Makohliso is a biomedical engineer and entrepreneur who serves as the Deputy Director of the EssentialTech Centre at EPFL. He specializes in developing medical technologies for resource-limited settings, with particular focus on sustainable innovations that address global health challenges. Dr. Makohliso has founded several biomedical startups and holds patents for innovations in medical diagnostics and materials science. His work bridges the gap between academic research and practical implementation, driving technologies that can make a meaningful impact in low and middle-income countries.

Jasmine Neve is a senior lecturer at NADEL, ETH Zürich. Before joining NADEL she worked for the UN Migration Agency (IOM) in Mongolia, Foundation BASE in Switzerland, and the Department of Environment in Victoria, Australia. Her focus areas are climate change, climate finance, disaster risk reduction and environmental migration. She has a background in Climate System Science, Political Science, and International Relations.

Prof. Charles B. Niwagaba is a Civil and Environmental Engineering expert with 25 years of experience in research, teaching, and consultancy. His research focuses on circular economy approaches to waste management, including solid waste recycling, biogas production, black soldier fly larvae applications, greywater treatment and reuse, and faecal sludge management technologies. Prof. Niwagaba specializes in developing innovative solutions, encompassing engineering, social marketing, and financing models. He has led numerous projects funded by both the Ugandan government and international multilateral agencies, contributing significantly to environmental engineering solutions across East Africa.

Prof. Amy J. Pickering is jointly appointed in Civil and Environmental Engineering and and Distinguished Chair in Global Poverty and Economics at the Blum Center at UC Berkeley. Prof. Pickering’s lab designs and evaluates novel water and sanitation technologies and interventions to reduce infectious disease, with a focus on scalable products that can raise the quality of service in underserved communities. She has held positions as a senior fellow at Stanford University, an environmental engineer at the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, and Fulbright Fellow in Malaysia. She is a Hellman Fellow, Chan Zuckerberg Biohub Investigator, and winner of the NSF early CAREER Award.

Dr. Adina Rom is a development economist and researcher leading innovative work on evidence-based policy implementation at ETH Zürich. Her research focuses on rigorous impact evaluation methodologies to assess development interventions in low and middle-income countries, particularly in areas of energy access and digital technologies. She directs the ETH for Development (ETH4D) initiative, bringing together technical expertise and social science perspectives to address global sustainability challenges. Through her collaborative work with implementing partners and policymakers, Dr. Rom helps bridge the gap between academic research and practical development solutions.

Dr. Bublu Thakur-Weigold helps humanitarian and commercial organizations to apply management science to improve performance. This expertise was built over 20 years working in industry, and 18 years at ETH where she co-founded the HumOSCM lab. She also advises governments on what economists refer to as Global Value Chains and Development. Her work focusies on creating more resilient and sustainable supply networks. Through her teaching and consulting activities, she prepares future leaders to implement responsible supply chain practices that balance economic, social, and environmental considerations.

Dr. Mareike Thiedeitz is a postdoctoral researcher specializing in rheology and supplementary cementitious materials, with a strong focus on multidisciplinary research and international collaborations. She co-organized several projects in the field of sustainable building, mainly in collaboration with research partners in Tanzania, Ghana and Turkey. In her postdoctoral fellowship, she investigates the performance assessment of agricultural waste ashes, emphasizing their application in emerging economies. Her approach combines physics-informed neural networks for performance prediction with a shift from capital-intensive material analysis to practical, decentralized methods, empowering local resource management.

Prof. Elizabeth Tilley is an environmental engineer who specializes in innovative solutions for sustainable sanitation and waste management in low-income contexts. She holds a position as Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical and Process Engineering and has conducted extensive research on ecological sanitation, resource recovery, and appropriate technologies for developing regions. Through her research, teaching, and collaborations with international organizations, Prof. Tilley develops practical interventions that improve public health outcomes while building local capacity to maintain sustainable sanitation systems in diverse global contexts.

Prof. Romildo Toledo Filho is a civil engineer, materials scientist and Executive Director of the UFRJ Science Park, where he leads research on sustainable construction materials. He specializes in cement-based composites, fiber-reinforced concrete, and innovative eco-friendly building technologies with a focus on reducing environmental impact. He has made significant contributions to developing high-performance sustainable materials using natural fibers and recycled components, particularly relevant for construction in tropical climates. His work creates solutions that address both technical performance and environmental sustainability in the construction industry.

Prof. Amos Winter's research focuses on machine and product design for developing and emerging markets. He is the director of the K. Lisa Yang Global Engineering and Research (GEAR) Center, which strategically identifies compelling challenges and associated scientific knowledge gaps in resource-constrained communities, then addresses them through academic innovation to create and translate transformative technologies. One of his most notable innovations is the Leveraged Freedom Chair (LFC), an all-terrain wheelchair specifically designed for use in developing countries with rough terrain and limited infrastructure.