Björn Weigelt

Nominated by: Matthias Hölling, Technopark Zurich Foundation Presented by: Alexander Schueller

Nominated by: University of Alberta Presented by: Prof. Jana Rieger

Roman Fasel obtained his PhD in Physics in 1996 from the University of Fribourg (Switzerland) and joined Empa, the Swiss Federal Laboratories for Materials Science and Technology, after post-doctoral research fellowships at La Trobe University (Melbourne) and the Fritz-Haber-Institute (Berlin). He is the head of the nanotech@surfaces Laboratory of Empa,…

Institutional Discrimination in Science Falling Walls Circle Tables are lending the spotlight to world-leading scientists, science strategists and policy-makers from academia, business and politics discuss how we can apply science, research and innovation to get the world moving again. The killing of George Floyd has triggered global protests challenging institutional…

The Nairobi Ideas platform is comprised of free events including the Nairobi Ideas Night, a recurring informal public event for local researchers, scholars and other nerds to present their ideas to the public, and the Nairobi Ideas Exchange, which gathers participants to deep dive into issues in their unique fields…

The nominating institution EPFL on the breakthrough: Safe and affordable housing and infrastructure are key to sustainable global development and rely on construction materials such as cement. Cement production is responsible for ~8% of global CO2 emission. Limestone calcined clay cement (LC3) allows up to 50% reduction of CO2 emission…

I have been developing a self-regenerating system of symbiotic microbe-based malaria control. My team recently demonstrated that a Microsporidian symbiont completely blocks the transmission of the malaria parasite by Anopheles mosquitoes. This symbiotic microbe can be disseminated through insect populations and by virtue of sexual and vertical transmission (mother to…

Emma-Anne Karlsen is researching ways to enhance the effectiveness of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) in cancer treatment, addressing the issue of low response rates (below 35%) in certain cancers, costing Australia an estimated $355 million annually for non-responders. Her solution involves repurposing prochlorperazine (PCZ), a low-cost hospital medication, to transform non-responders…

The nominating institute Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory on the breakthrough: Mouncey’s Joint Genome Institute has partners worldwide to facilitate access to groundbreaking genomic technologies. These characterise plants and microbes and their environmental interactions, and ultimately address grand challenges in bioenergy, nutrient cycling, and biogeochemistry. Through community collaborations, the JGI team…

Anne van Aaken initiated a breakthrough in how we think about international law. Focusing on the psychology/behavioral economics of international law and legal theory, she offers a new understanding of compliance, of how cooperation comes about and on the behavior of relevant actors in international law (eg arbitrators and humanitarian…