Participants

A rich diversity of distinguished intellects

The following is a list of confirmed participants for Festival of Thinkers 2011:

Nobel Laureates

Dr. Eric Maskin

Economics 2007

Professor Dr. Ferid Murad

Physiology/Medicine 1998

Dr. Erwin Neher

Physiology/Medicine 1991

Betty Williams

Peace 1976


World Thinkers

Dr. Gunter Thielen

Chairman and CEO, Bertelsmann Stiftung,
Germany

Liz Mohn

Vice-Chair, Bertelsmann Stiftung Board,
Germany

Friedrich P. Joussen

Chief Executive Officer Vodafone Germany

Sir John Madejski

Chancellor, University of Reading, UK

Professor Nasser D. Khalili

Founder, The Khalili Collections, Nour Foundation, UK

Professor Malcolm Grant CBE

President and Provost,
University College London, UK

Dr. Talal Abu-Ghazaleh

Founder, Chairman/CEO,
Talal Abu-Ghazaleh Organization, Jordan

Dr. Marye Anne Fox

Chancellor,
University of California San Diego, USA

Professor Sung Ki Baik

President, Pohang University of Science and Technology, South Korea

Dr. Feridun Hamdullahpur

President University of Waterloo, Canada

Lynn A. Dugle

President, Raytheon Intelligence & Information Systems, USA

Professor Brian MacCraith

President, Dublin City University, Ireland

Professor Anton Muscatelli

Principal & Vice-Chancellor,
University of Glasgow, UK

Professor Dr. Laszlo Ungvari

President, Technical University of Applied Sciences Wildau, Germany

Dr. Fidel Castro Diaz-Balart

Scientific Advisor to the State Council, Republic of Cuba

Shiv Khemka

Vice Chairman, SUN Group, India

John Y. Brown Jr

Former Governor of Kentucky,
USA

Professor Richard Gibb

Pro Vice-Chancellor & Dean, Faculty of Science and Technology, University of Plymouth, UK

Jeffrey Johnson

President, Boeing - Middle East, UAE

Dr. J. Michael Ortiz

President, California State Polytechnic University,
USA

Kamel Lazaar

Founder, Maghreb Economic Forum & Chairman of the Lazaar Foundation, Tunisia/Switzerland

Professor Umran S. Inan

President Koc University,
Turkey

Dr. Abderrahmane Lahlou

Founder,
Mundiapolis University,
Morocco

Jonathan Ortmans

President, Global Entrepreneurship Week,
Senior Fellow, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, USA

Dr. Svante Lindqvist

President, Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences, Sweden

Professor John Board

Dean, Henley Business School, UK

Jehan-Eric Blumereau

Vice-President
Total Professeurs Associes, France

Ersin Takla

Chairman, TML Construction Company

Professor Sami Solanki

Director, Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany

Charlie Duke

Apollo Astronaut,
USA

Professor Brian Greene

Professor of Physics & Mathematics Columbia University, USA

Tom Henricks

Space Shuttle Astronaut,
USA

Stephen Oswald

Space Shuttle Astronaut, USA

Judith Cox

President, Science Festival Foundation,
USA

Dr. Wijaya Godakumbura

Rolex Laureate,
President, Safe Bottle Lamp Foundation, Sri Lanka

Michael Brosowski

CNN Hero
Founder, Blue Dragon Children’s Foundation, Vietnam

Swami Parthasarathy

Philosopher & Author,
India

Paul Kronenberg

Co-Founder of Braille Without Borders (BWB), India

Sabriye Tenberken

Co-Founder of Braille Without Borders (BWB), India

Dr David Lewis-Hodgson

Founder & Chairman, Mindlab International, UK

Professor Monte Cassim

Vice-Chancellor, The Ritsumeikan Trust, Japan

Professor Richard Barnett

Vice Chancellor, University of Ulster,
Northern Ireland

John Heyman

Film and TV Producer, USA

Amy Stokes

Founder Infinite Family & 2011 Top Ten CNN Hero
South Africa

Professor Robert Williams

Astrophysicist & President, International Astronomical Union, USA

Dr. Bala V. Balachandran

Distinguished Professor, Accounting and Information Management Northwestern University, USA

Mícheál Ó Súilleabháin

Chair of Music; Founder/Director, Irish World Academy of Music and Dance University of Limerick, Ireland

Jorge Fernandes

CEO MobiBucks, USA

Dr. Mazahir T. Hasan

Neuroscientist & Founder of ‘The Science Bridge’, Germany

Professor Nick Rawlins

Pro Vice-Chancellor, Development & External Affairs, University of Oxford Development Office

Dr. Richard Burt

Chief, Division of Immunotherapy, Northwestern University, USA

Professor Mark Balnaves

Co-director, Centre for Culture and Technology Curtin University, Australia

Dr Khaled Azzam

Director, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts,
UK

Professor Jeremy Johns

Director, Khalili Research Centre for the Art and Material Culture of the Middle East, University of Oxford

Rebecca Stromeyer

Founder of eLearning Africa, Kenya

Professor Bulent Gultekin

Associate Professor of Finance, Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, USA

Dr. Munther Aldoori

Consultant General & Vascular Surgeon, UK

Adrian M. Fenty

Former Mayor,
District of Columbia, USA

Dr. Michael McNamara

Founder, Monaco LifeCheck Center, Monaco

Major General Tim Toyne Sewell

Chair, United World Colleges, UK

Dr. Abdul Hamid Hallab

Special Advisor to President of American University of Beirut, Lebanon

David Ignatius

Journalist & Writer,
USA

Dr. Gurpreet Dhillon

Professor, Virginia Commonwealth University,
USA

Professor Garik Israelian

Astrophysicist, Institute of Astrophysics of Canary Islands, Spain

Jeffrey Baxter

Grammy-winning musician, Music Producer & Defence consultant, USA

James R. Lee

Founder & Managing Partner, Lee & Partners,
USA

Diane Latiker

Founder & President Kids Off The Block,
USA

Dr. Marwan Al-Jamal

Chief Technology Officer, National Defense University “iCollege”, USA

Ed Grier

Dean, School of Business, Virginia Commonwealth University, USA

Dr. Nanda Rangan

Professor Virginia Commonwealth University,
USA

Kathleen Martinez-Berry

Archaeologist,
Dominican Republic

CJ Vanston

Music Producer & Film Composer, USA

Reza Derakshani

Painter, Musician & Performance Artist,
USA/UAE

Ann Mroz

Editor, Times Higher Education,
UK

Laura Kiss

Executive Director External Relations, WCCC International, Italy

Dr. Jürgen Werner

Managing Director, Institute of Technology Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia

Joël H. Vallat

Principal, Lycée Louis le Grand,
France

Julie Cart

Pulitzer Prize winning journalist,
USA

Annie Vigneron

Mathematics Department Head, LLG Abu Dhabi,
France

Dr. Nicolas Schlosser

Physics Professor, Lycée Louis le Grand,
France

Lina Lazaar

Sotheby’s Middle East Art Specialist

Professor Pier Luisi

Professor, University of Roma Tre,
Italy

Luke Purser

Head of Development - Humanities, University of Oxford Development Office, UK

Aqeel Anwar

Chairman AGP Inc. & NiagaraLive,
Canada

Riz Khan

TV News Reporter & Presenter, UK

Gavin Esler

Broadcast Journalist & Presenter, UK

Kenneth P Pasternak

Management Consultant and Author, Finland

Judith Hornok

Author & Communications expert,
Austria

Sara Kempe

Recording artist/performer,
UK

Victoria Aitken

Singer & writer,
UK

Delfina Bottesini

Artist & Project Manager, The Prince’s School of Traditional Arts,
UK

Rima Keating

Artist/designer,
UK

Dr. Mohamed Baka

Technology Advisor,
ADWEA, UAE

Prakash Bhojwani

Vice Chairman & President, Time Machine Group, UAE

Sean Evers

Managing Partner/Founder Gulf Intelligence,
UAE

Camilla Hall

Journalist,
UAE

Ranajit Sengupta

Sarode Artist,
India

Wolfgang Netzer

Composer/musician,
Germany