Dancer & Choreographer
Alizée Sourbé is a dancer & choreographer. She creates Bleue, a feminist and multidisciplinary dance company. Her artistic work comes from a desire to denounce harassment and gender discrimination. The ambitions of her company are to allow all people who consider themselves as women to express themselves and to raise awareness of the female cause. It is through representation, visual, auditory and sensitive expression that she communicates her message of militancy.
Barbara Barandun
Soprano
Barbara Barandun is an opera singing student at Geneva Conservatory of Music (Conservatoire de musique de Genève).
Medical Doctor, specialist in Public Health, Medicines Unit, Antenna Foundation
Dr Bertrand Graz, MD, MPH, has a doctorate in Medicine (with a thesis on traditional medicines for trachoma in the Sultanate of Oman), a master in public health/international health (John Hopkins University, Baltimore), and a certificate in tropical medicine (SwissTPH, Basel). He has practiced in public health and clinical medicine in Switzerland, India, China, Laos, Mauritania, Haïti, Guinea, Senegal and Mali. He now works for the Antenna Foundation in Geneva and studies whether some underused locally available therapeutic resources are effective and safe for the treatment of common diseases (in cooperation with universities, clinics and research Institutes in Geneva, Zurich, Saint-Louis, Southampton, …).
Chidiebere Ibe
Medical Illustrator & Medical Student
Chidiebere Ibe is a Nigerian Medical Illustrator and aspiring Paediatric Neurosurgeon. He is known for the famous illustration of a black pregnant woman with a black fetus and is acknowledged as one of the few globally recognized medical illustrators from Africa.
Chidiebere is passionate about medicine and art, and a combination of both passions have led him to focus on contemporary illustrations of black people. He has worked assiduously to promote the use of black skin medical illustrations in medical textbooks and public health materials, which has brought him global affirmations and recognitions. He remains an advocate for equal representation, inclusion, and diversity in healthcare practice.
Presently a medical student at Kyiv Medical University, Ukraine, Chidi hopes to build a career in Pediatric Neurosurgery and work with others to establish an association for black medical illustrators.
Author
Former Irish Times journalist Clare O’Dea worked for ten years at the Swiss Broadcasting Corporation (swissinfo.ch) before publishing two non-fiction books – The Naked Swiss: A Nation Behind 10 Myths (2016) and The Naked Irish: Portrait of a Nation Beyond the Clichés (2019). Originally from Dublin, she is now a dual Swiss-Irish national. Her first novel, Voting Day (2022), is set in Switzerland in 1959 on the day male voters said no to granting women the vote.
David Hoffman
Drummer
David Hoffmann is a Luxembourgish jazz drummer and vibraphonist, who currently lives and studies in Geneva, Switzerland. He was born and raised in Luxembourg and had the chance to study (since the age of 5) and play with some of the finest musicians there. With numerous projects and bands, he became one of the country's most promising young jazz artist. However, in August 2017, David left Luxembourg and embarked on a journey to Chile, where he worked as a volunteer teacher in the "Escuela Popular de Artes". For 12 months he taught the drums, marimba, ensemble and music theory. Before his move to Geneva, David studied "Development Studies and Economics" at the University of Manchester while continuing to play at a high level in various bands such as ENKI Quartet, the Manchester University Big Band and Ivory Forest. He has released two EPs with ENKI Quartet and one with Ivory Forest, available on all streaming platforms.
Professor of Computational Social Science at the Department of Humanities, Social & Political Sciences at ETH Zurich
Dirk Helbing is Professor of Computational Social Science at the Department of Humanities, Social and Political Sciences at ETH Zurich and affiliate of its Computer Science Department. Furthermore, he is member of the external faculty of the Complexity Science Hub Vienna.
The work of Prof. Helbing is documented by hundreds of media reports and publications, among them more than 10 papers in Nature, Science, and PNAS. He won various prizes, including the Idee Suisse Award. He co-founded the Competence Center for Coping with Crises in Complex Socio-Economic Systems (CCSS), the Risk Center, the Institute for Science, Technology and Policy (ISTP), and the Decision Science Laboratory (DeSciL). While coordinating the FuturICT initiative (www.futurict.eu), he helped to establish data science and computational social science in Europe, as well as global systems science.
Edwin Jacot
Violinist
Edwin is a violinist who likes napping and teaches violin.
Flavian Mèche
Cellist
Flavian is a cellist and Master in International Affairs student at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID).
Executive Director, Biovision
Frank Eyhorn is an established expert in sustainable agriculture and food systems with more than 20 years of experience in international cooperation. He is passionate about transforming food systems through innovative practices, supportive policy frameworks and increased investment in agroecological solutions. With a PhD in environmental science, he has conducted extensive research and published various educational materials and scientific articles. In 2020, he became the CEO of Biovision, a Swiss foundation promoting and supporting ecological development in Africa, Switzerland and globally.
Lara Twerenbold
Mezzo-soprano
Lara Twerenbold is a Master in International Affairs student at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID).
Lucy Nightingale
Born in London, she now lives in Geneva Switzerland with her family. Trained as a gymnast until the age of 14, she decided to divert her talent to dancing, and was then accepted at the Royal Ballet School in London.
Lucy Nightingale started her career in 1987 with Jorge Donn and Kevin Haigen at the Ballet de Vichy, which then led to a contract in 1989 with the Ballet Bejart Lausanne where she danced many of the choreographer’s main roles and creations.
She then participated in many performances with the company Linga before joining the Stadtheatre of Berne as a soloist in 1993. Her career continued at the Grand Theatre of Geneva in 1996, where she danced ballets from William Forsythe, Ohad Naharin, Twyla Tharp, Amanda Miller, Lionel Hoche, Pascal Riout and Michel Keleminis. Deciding to evolve in her art form as an independent artist, she then worked with Etienne Frey, Phillipe Olza, Carlotta Sagna, Guy Bothello and Laura Tanner. Her statute led to teaching for Dance Area, the Grand Theatre (Geneva), Alias Company, Nomades Company, Ballet Junior in Geneva and for the Young Ballet of Jean Martinelli in Nyon.
Lucy is now a teacher with the Conservatoire Populaire of Music, Dance and Theater in Geneva and the International School. She received the certificate as an expert in the CFC examinations in contemporary dance. Complete in her passion for dance, as an artist and pedagogue, Lucy explores the chorographic world and has discovered a love for pushing her limits in her own creations.
She mixes different artists together, different ages and universes, especially in her work with the visually impaired: Lucy created a selection of performances with students and blind people. She regularly dances with various musicians, mixing live music and dance, such as Jean Marc Aeschimann, Thierry Hochsatter, Pierre Mancinellli, Lucille Chaubard & Frederic Folmer.
Lydia Chen
Pianist
Lydia is a pianist who often forgets to water her basil, sometimes isn’t sleep deprived, and occasionally does her readings for class.
Manuel León
IHEID Student
Manuel León is an economist from Venezuela with over three years of experience in Public Policy consulting and development. Passionate about governance, peacebuilding, and development in Latin America and the Caribbean, Manuel came to the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID) as a Master’s in Development Studies student, specialised in Power, Conflict, Development, Trade and Finance.
Science Diplomat
Dr. Marga Gual Soler is a science diplomat bridging the world through science. She is the founder of SciDipGLOBAL, a purpose-driven advisory, strategy, research and training firm helping governments, universities, international organizations and scientific institutions strengthen the role of science in global policy for a renewed multilateralism. She supported the science diplomacy strategies of several Latin American countries, Spain and the European Union and promoted scientific cooperation between countries under political strain. She is most passionate about developing the next generation of science and diplomacy leaders to tackle global challenges. In 2019 she participated in the largest-ever women in STEM expedition to Antarctica, and in 2020 was recognized as a ‘Young Global Leader’ of the World Economic Forum. Currently, she is the Senior Science Diplomacy Advisor to the GESDA and Program Director of the inaugural Science Diplomacy Week 2022.
Margot Plantevin
Harpist
Margot is an opera singing student at the Geneva Conservatory of Music (Conservatoire de musique de Genève) and a Master's student in Harp Pedagogy at the HEMU (Haute Ecole de Musique) in Lausanne.
Head of New Technologies Unit, Antenna Foundation
Mariana Veauvy is French and Brazilian. She holds a Master's degree in Marine Biotechnology from the University of Nantes, France. After working with a start-up on micro-algae, she did technology transfers from research institutions to projects in countries in Asia, Africa, and South America. Mariana joined the Antenna Foundation in 2016. Initially, she was in charge of the New Technologies Unit and supervised water and nutrition projects in India, Ghana, Morocco, and Brazil. She is currently in charge of coordinating the foundation's Executive Committee.
Head of PeaceTech Division, EPFL EssentialTech Centre
Mariazel Maqueda López pursued her bachelor and master studies in telecommunications and nanotechnologies, and she achieved her PhD in Microsystems and Microelectronics. Her experience as a volunteer in Nairobi made her decide to professionally put her skills at the service of the most vulnerable people. After this experience, she worked for three years for international non-profit organisations in the field of sustainable development in Geneva. She joined the EPFL EssentialTech Centre to kick start its newly created PeaceTech Division, where she leads its activities to leverage in-house digital and physical tech-driven innovation to prevent violence and conflict and promote peace in the online and offline realms, with a special focus in fighting against technology-facilitated gender-based violence. She is driven by a deep will of bridging solutions based on multi-disciplinary approaches to the existing needs of the developing contexts.
Full Professor at EPFL & Head of the LIPID Laboratory
Marilyne Andersen is Full Professor at EPFL and Head of the LIPID Laboratory. With a background in physics, she conducts research on performance as a driver for design, with an emphasis on daylight and a focus on questions of comfort, perception and health, thereby reaching out to other fields of science, from chronobiology and neuroscience to psychophysics and computer graphics.
She was a tenure-track professor at MIT from 2004 to 2010, was Dean of the ENAC School at EPFL from 2013 to 2018, is Academic Director of the Smart Living Lab and co-founder of the consulting startup OCULIGHT dynamics. Author of over 200 refereed scientific papers with several distinctions, she was the inaugural laureate of the global Daylight Research Award in 2016 and led the winning Swiss team for the US Solar Decathlon 2017 competition.
Executive Director of the Academic Forum, GESDA
Martin Müller is Executive Director of the Academic Forum at GESDA – the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator. As such, he acts as the interface with the global science community and leads the rolling development of the Science Breakthrough Radar, GESDA’s tool for science anticipation. Prior to joining GESDA, Martin was heading SwissCore in Brussels, working at the interface of science, science policy and diplomacy. In this role, he helped shape the involvement and safeguard the influence of Swiss ERI organisations with respect to the European Union, its institutional bodies and related organisations, at a critical time in Swiss-EU relations. In addition, he held leadership roles in pan-European science organisations, such as chair of the Science Europe working group on Horizon Europe, the EU’s €80 billion research and innovation programme, and coordinator of a pan-European initiative on strategic planning and funding for large research infrastructures.
Maxime Calvete
Violist
Maxime is a viola player who studies Primary Education.
Film Director & Producer
Since 2011, Mei Fa has worked as a freelance film director and producer in Switzerland. She has directed several short films, including Time Machinery (2019), which toured festivals around the globe.
Mei Fa imagines critically acclaimed narrative and creative films for the music video industry. With her music video “PTTFLR” (2018) for Fabe Gryphin, she was awarded in 2019 at the Solothurner Filmtage and in 2021, “Power” for Muthoni Drummer Queen was named Best Swiss Video Clip of the year at the M4Music Festival.
In 2016, she joined the team of the prestigious Montreux Jazz Festival, directing a diversity of films for live music.
Naturally curious, Mei Fa has shot projects all over the world, from Switzerland, Canada, Kenya and the United Arab Emirates.
Between music, fiction and narration, Mei Fa explores humanity through personal and inspired film creations.
Shefali Nandhra
IHEID Student
Shefali Nandhra is from the UK and is a first-year Master in Development Studies student, in the environment track, at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID). Her background is in politics and international studies, but she’s recently found a real interest in sustainability.
Sustainability Research Analyst, World Benchmarking Alliance
Victoria de Castro is a sustainable finance expert helping to build a non-financial ranking of 400 keystone financial institutions worldwide at the World Benchmarking Alliance. She works towards building benchmarks for the sustainable transition, and believes a systemic view is essential to solve problems without creating new ones.
She has assessed pension and sovereign wealth funds’ sustainability reports for the United Nations Conference for Trade and Development, written monthly articles on public budgets and public finance for the Federal Economics Council of Rio de Janeiro, optimised processes for a real estate company, and sold real estate at another. Victoria holds a MSc in Innovation, Human Development and Sustainability from the University of Geneva, an MPA for the SDGs from Tsinghua University in Beijing, and a BSc in Economics from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.
Yannik Gräf
IHEID Student
Yannik Gräf is from Germany. Following a Bachelors in Politics, Administration & International Relations at Zeppelin University, Yannik came to the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID) as a Master in International Affairs student, specialised in Global Security and Global Health. To complement his academic training, Yannik has worked at the German Red Cross in the Medical Intelligence Department, with the Mediation Team of the German Federal Foreign Office. He was also a COVID-19 Liaison Officer for the German Press at the Tokyo 2021 Summer Olympics and Paralympics.
Yung-Hsuan Wu
Violinist
Yung-Hsuan is a violinist and Master in International Affairs student at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID) and enjoys composing in his free time.
Zachariah Jambo
IHEID Student
Zachariah Jambo is a first-year Master’s candidate in Development Studies: Power, Conflict, and Development specialisation at the Geneva Graduate Institute (IHEID). He hails from South Sudan and as a former refugee, Zachariah is passionate about “improving the experiences and policies that affect” urban refugee rights and migration issues.