Agenda

Dafna Feinholz is the Director of the Research, Ethics and Inclusion Division a.i. and Chief of Section for Bioethics and Ethics of Science and Technology, at the Social and Human Science Sector of UNESCO. 

Dafna Feinholz has a PhD in Research Psychology (UIA Mexico) and a Master in Bioethics (Universidad Complutense, Madrid, Spain). She was the Head of the Reproductive Epidemiology Department at the Mexican National Institute of Perinatology, and the Director for Research and Planning of the Women and Health Programme, at the Ministry of Health (Mexico). She successively occupied the posts of Academic Coordinator of the National Commission of Human Genome at the Ministry of Health and Executive Director of the National Commission of Bioethics.

Among her achievements, she ensured a more independent legal status for the National Bioethics Committees (NBC); contributed to define their mission as promoters of a bioethics culture; encouraged them to provide the society and decision-makers with the necessary elements to understand and tackle ethical issues. She drafted the first national guidelines for Research Ethics Committees and Clinical Bioethics Committees and promoted the law that established and differentiated both types of committees (law approved and currently in vigour).

She is the founder of FLACEIS (Latin American Forum of Ethics Committees in Health Research) and was the Chairperson (2000-2006). She was a member of the international expert group, TDR-WHO: drafting and translating Operational Guidelines for Ethics Committees. She was Mexico´s representative at the meetings of the Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee to discuss UNESCO’s Universal Declaration on Bioethics and Human Rights.

Dafna Feinholz is the Chief of the Bioethics and Ethics of Science Section since September 2009. In this capacity, she leads different activities aiming at reinforcing capacities of Member States to manage bioethical challenges and to identify the ethical, legal and social implications of cutting-edge science, emerging technologies and their application for sustainable development, and promoting awareness-raising and public debate.

Dr. Mira L. Wolf-Bauwens leads the development of new science diplomacy initiatives at GESDA (Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator). Previously, she led Responsible Quantum Computing research IBM Research and served as IBM Quantum Technical Ambassador. Her work focuses on the socio-ethical and geopolitical questions that arise with the development of useful Quantum Computing and Quantum-safe technologies. Mira holds a PhD in Political Philosophy on institutional recognition and normative evaluation of emerging technologies from University of Zurich with Visiting Research Fellowships at Columbia University and University of Oxford.

She is an Associate Member of the University of Oxford’s Computer Science Department, sits on the Advisory Board of the UK’s Responsible Quantum Industry Forum and is a member of the Advisory Committee of the Open Quantum Institute. Among others, Mira has co-authored the first Quantum Computing Governance Principles, published by the WEF in 2022, has addressed UNESCO’s comest on questions of the ethical implications of quantum computing and was a speaker at the opening ceremony of the UNESCO International Year of Quantum.​

Dr. Chaichana Mitrpant, Executive Director (CEO) at the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (ETDA), Ministry of Digital Economy & Society, Thailand, is an engineer by practice and a technologist by training. He was overseeing ThaiCERT, digital-forensics operations, and international policy engagement; launching the ASEAN-Japan Cybersecurity Capacity-Building Center (AJCCBC); and heading several research and infrastructure units.

As ETDA’s chief, he champions a “Co-Creation Regulator" model focused on emphasizing collaboration with various stakeholders to develop the digital landscape, crafting Thailand’s electronic‑transaction strategic and standards plans, and 
strengthening digital ID and Digital Platform Service , trust services and cybersecurity capacity. 

Dr. Chaichana promotes responsible innovation through initiatives like the AI Governance Clinic (AIGC) and the upcoming Gen-AI risk guidelines for organizations. His combination of technical expertise, international perspective, and policy knowledge places him at the forefront of Thailand's efforts to build a secure, trusted, and inclusive digital economy. gvb                 

Founder & CEO of Araya, Inc. After graduating from the Faculty of Science at Kyoto University in 2000, he received his PhD (Cum Laude) in 2005 from Utrecht University in the Netherlands, where he studied visual information processing in the human brain. After working as a researcher at California Institute of Technology in the U.S. and University College London in the U.K., and as a JST PRESTO researcher and Associate Professor of Cognitive Neuroscience at the University of Sussex in the U.K., he founded Araya, Inc. and worked full time there since 2015.