Falling Walls Falling Walls Science Summit 2023

Research Funding: Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation with Rachel Kropa

Rachel Kropa, Engi Hassaan

2022 Breakthrough Conversations Science Breakthrough of the Year

In this Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversation, digital participants had the chance to engage in a live conversation with Rachel Kropa, Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year 2022 in the category of Science and Innovation Management. She talked about her role as co-founder and Managing Director of Nonprofit & Science at Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition and how the organization is disrupting research funding paradigms for environmental scientists.

The interview series provided an intimate personal atmosphere, in which high-level guests, speakers and panelists of the Falling Walls Science Summit 2022 talked about their individual research, career paths and experiences.

The Falling Walls Breakthrough Conversations are supported by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research and Springer Nature.

Rachel Kropa

FootPrint Coalition

Rachel Kropa is a founder and the Managing Director of Nonprofit + Science at Robert Downey Jr.’s FootPrint Coalition. She is also a founder and Managing Partner at Range Media Partners. She has 18 years of experience at the intersection of the entertainment and nonprofit spheres. Previously, Kropa was the Co-Director of the Foundation at Creative Artists Agency, a global entertainment and sports agency headquartered in Los Angeles, where she led social impact programs and environmental initiatives for the company and its clients. Kropa holds a BSc in Biochemistry from the University of Virginia and an Archaeology Certificate from UCLA, she chairs the Los Angeles board of Peer Health Exchange, she sits on the Board of Directors of the Environmental Media Association, and she is a member of Sierra Club’s Arts + Entertainment Council.

Engi Hassaan

Springer Nature

Engi Hassaan is an associate editor at Nature Communications handling submissions in structural biology, biophysics, and biochemistry. She earned her PhD at Phillips University in Marburg, focusing on comparative analysis of fragment binding to protein using X-ray Crystallography, SPR, and NMR. During her PhD she also worked at the Helmholtz Zentrum in Munich, AstraZeneca Gothenburg, and ETH Zurich. Prior to her PhD she worked at Procter & Gamble and Nawah Scientific. She studied Pharmacy and Biotechnology at the German University in Cairo, where she obtained her masters degree in Drug Design.

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