Speakers
Expert speakers from leading universities, government, and industry worldwide.
Full speakers list will be available soon
Featured Speakers
Professor Kevin Downing
Professor Kevin Downing is Director of Knowledge, Enterprise and Analysis at City University of Hong Kong. His portfolios have included strategic and academic planning, institutional research, quality assurance and liaison with the Universities Grants Committee. Professor Downing is a Chartered Psychologist and Chartered Scientist with a current Licence to Practice, and Associate Fellow of the British Psychological Society with wide international experience, including senior academic posts in Europe and Asia. His published work centres on psychology, education and metacognitive development and he is Editor-in-Chief of the SSCI and SCOPUS listed journal Educational Studies.
Professor Dr Maurits van Rooijen
Professor van Rooijen has held visiting and honorary appointments at universities globally in his academic field (sustainable urbanisation) and has published widely on international education and university management. He is actively involved in various international organisations. He is the long serving co-chairman of the World Association for Co-operative and work Integrated learning (https://waceinc.org/) and the former President of the Compostela Group of Universities from 2008-2016. (https://web.gcompostela.org/). He holds various international awards including the Constance Meldrum prize for Vision and Leadership (EAIE 2012) and the Emblema Ouro or Golden Insignia of the Universidad Santiago de Compostela (2014). Since the mid-90s Prof dr Maurits van Rooijen has served on the executive of the European Access Network (EAN), which is currently based in Belgium and is the only global organisation wholly dedicated to advancing access and widening participation to higher education. Professor Maurits van Rooijen is Group Rector and Chief Academic Officer of Global University Systems (GUS). In addition to this role, on 1st September 2019, Professor van Rooijen was appointed as Rector of the University of Europe for Applied Sciences. He is also Chairman of IBAT College Dublin and GISMA Germany.
Mandy Mok
Pieter E Stek
Pieter E Stek is Chief Analyst and Editor at AppliedHE. He previously worked for QS Quacquarelli Symonds’ Singapore office. Prior to that he worked in higher education, both as an administrator and a lecturer, at universities in the Netherlands and South Korea. He is currently pursuing his doctorate in the economics of technology and innovation at Delft University of Technology.
- President and Vice-Chancellor
Professor Sibrandes Poppema
Professor Sibrandes Poppema is ºìÐÓÊÓÆµ University's President and Vice-chancellor. He came to ºìÐÓÊÓÆµ in 2019 as a Tan Sri Jeffrey Cheah Distinguished Professor and Advisor to the Chancellor on the establishment of a Medical School at ºìÐÓÊÓÆµ University. Professor Poppema is a Dutch Canadian Citizen and studied Medicine at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands. He trained as a pathologist and holds a doctorate in Immunopathology from the University of Groningen. He held postdoc positions at the University of Kiel in Germany and Harvard University in the USA. He has widely published on subjects in immunology, haematology, oncology and transplantation, his papers have been cited more than 21,000 times for an H-factor of 84 in Google Scholar, and he is among the top 2% highly cited authors in the world in the field of immunology. He is an expert in lymphoma pathology, especially in Hodgkin Lymphoma, and he has contributed to several Hematopathology textbooks.
He has held several academic leadership positions, most recently from 2008-2018 as President of the University of Groningen, a global top 100 university established in 1614, and as Dean and Vice President of the University Medical Center Groningen from 2009 to 2018. As president of the University of Groningen, he oversaw the rise of the university to place 59 in the Academic Ranking of World Universities, as well as strong increases in student success and student satisfaction. Professor Poppema was the initiator of the Healthy Ageing focus at the University of Groningen and established the Biobank and Cohort study Lifelines. He also was one of the initiators of the New Energy Coalition and the zero-emission Energy Academy building. Finally, he was instrumental in establishing the University Campus Fryslan and the European Medical School Oldenburg Groningen. From 1995-1999, he was the chair and head of the Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine of the Academic Hospital Groningen. From 1987-1995 he was a Professor of Pathology and Oncology at the University of Alberta, Director of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine and Vice-President Research at the Cross Cancer Institute in Alberta, Canada.
On April 27, 2007, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands awarded Poppema a Knighthood in the Order of the Netherlands Lion for his scientific achievements. In 2020, Frank-Walter Steinmeier, the President of the Federal Republic of Germany awarded Poppema the Officer’s Cross of the Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany, for his achievements in strengthening scientific and educational ties between Germany and the Netherlands. Poppema has been a member of the Netherlands Academy of Technology and Innovation (ACTI). He also was a recipient of the Medal of Honor of the City of Groningen, and of the Medal of Honor of the Carl von Ossietzky University Oldenburg. From October 2011 till October 2022 he was the Honorary Consul General in the Northern Netherlands for the Republic of Korea.