News of the Global Young Academy

Muhammad Saif Ur Rehman (Pakistan)

Biochemical + environmental engineer
His research activities encompass bioenergy production from crop residue,
as well as monitoring and risk assessment of pharmaceuticals in
the environment and wastewater treatment. He has received various
awards for his contributions to promoting environmental conservation,
and is the General Secretary of Environmental Society of Pakistan.

Mohammad Reza Salimpour (Iran)

Mechanical engineer + thermal design
As a professor of thermal science at the Department of Mechanical Engineering
at Isfahan University of Technology, Iran, he has contributed
to the field of thermal design and optimisation of systems involving
energy transfer and conversion. His research focuses on the design and
optimisation of conventional and renewable energy systems to improve
their efficiency and reduce their cost and environmental side effects.

Ruodan Shao (Canada)

Associate professor + corporate social responsibility
She received her PhD in Organizational Behavior from the University
of British Columbia and has worked in the Department of Management
of College of Business at the City University of Hong Kong. Her
research interests lie in corporate social responsibility, cross-cultural
management and business ethics/ethical decision-making.

Yoko Shimpuku (Japan)

Midwifery researcher + Africanist
She is committed to reducing maternal and neonatal mortality in
resource-poor settings, especially in Africa, working closely with
the World Health Organization. Based on her research on childbirth
experiences and cultural understanding of Tanzanian women, she has
developed educational materials for pregnant women and families.

Marie-Eve Sylvestre (Canada)

Professor of law + poverty and social exclusion
She is a full professor at the Faculty of Law of the University of Ottawa.
Building upon several fields of knowledge (including law, criminology
and geography), her work explores how law and legal actors regulate
poor and marginalised populations and thus contribute to the creation
and reproduction of inequalities, poverty and social exclusion.

Shima Taheri (Australia)

Advanced manufacturing + materials scientist
She is a strong research and development professional in the field of
adhesives and coatings as well as advanced manufacturing for automotive
and construction industries. She has worked in both industrial R&D
and academic roles, and is currently working on the design, fabrication,
and commercialisation of smart self-healing concrete.

Soracha Thamphiwatana (Thailand)

Nano-biomedical scientist + engineer
Her passion is to make better therapeutics to cure any disease using
engineering approaches. As a professor at the Institute of Biomedical
Engineering, Faculty of Medicine at Prince of Songkla University, her
research focuses on the development of biomimetic nanomaterials and
multifunctional nanoparticles for several therapeutic applications, including
the diagnosis and treatment of infectious disease and cancer.

Xuan Bach Tran (Vietnam)

Health economist + decision analytic modeling
He is an associate professor and vice head of the Health Economics Department
at Hanoi Medical University, and adjunct associate professor
at Johns Hopkins University. His research interests primarily focus on
applying decision analytic modeling to inform the development and
evaluation of health technologies and policies.

Stéfanie von Hlatky (Canada)

Associate professor + military cooperation
Her research interests focus on military cooperation, NATO and gender
dynamics in the armed forces. She is also the founder and Chair
of the Board of Women in International Security – Canada, a not-forprofit
organisation that has organised mentorship activities for over 600
young women and junior scholars across the country.

Liya Wassie Dubale (Ethiopia)

Senior researcher + immunologist
Her main research involves understanding the host immune response
to different stages of tuberculosis (TB) infection and/or disease and
identification of possible biomarkers that have potential application in
TB diagnostics and/or vaccines using immunological approaches. She
also actively supervises and mentors postgraduate students.

Amanda Weltman (South Africa)

Researcher + theoretical physicist
She was awarded a prestigious Centre for Theoretical Cosmology postdoc
at the Department of Applied Mathematics and Theoretical Physics
at Cambridge University, and has made path-breaking contributions to
the field of theoretical cosmology, most notably the discovery of chameleon
gravity. She is an inaugural Next Einstein Fellow.

Karin Carmit Yefet (Israel)

Associate professor + women’s rights
Both her scholarship and her public interest work are dedicated to employing
law in the service of women’s rights and gender equality. Her
award-winning scholarship focuses on the impact of religion on various
dimensions of women’s lives. She has also written extensively on issues
pertaining to the family, the military and female sexuality.