Agenda

Amal Kasry is currently the Chief of Section for Basic Science, Research Innovation and Engineering, which is part of the Division of Science Policy and Basic Science, Natural Sciences Sector at UNESCO. Her major role is to Design, implement, monitor, and evaluate basic and engineering sciences programme in order to ensure the delivery of the expected results approved by UNESCO’s governing bodies in the field of basic and engineering sciences capacity development for research, education and innovation. She also delivers expert advice and comprehensive programmes to Member States.

Prior to joining UNESCO, Amal Kasry was an academic/scientist with a wide range of international experiences in Materials Science and nano-Biotechnology. She received a fellowship from the Max Planck Institute for Polymer Research (MPIP), and obtained her PhD from the Johannes Gutenberg University, Mainz, Germany in 2006, with her major work in biosensing applications. She has worked as an academic and researcher around the world in academic institutions including UConn Health Centre (USA), Cardiff University (UK), and Austrian Inst of Technology (Austria), and industrial corporates such as IBM (USA) and Nitto Denko (Singapore).

She joined the British University in Egypt on 2015 as an assistant professor in the faculty of Engineering for four years, before being appointed as the Director of the Nanotechnology Research Centre (NTRC) (April 2019-April 2021), where she designed and established a robust research services system for the university in addition to her research which was focusing on developing novel biosensing technologies and carbon nanomaterials. Dr. Amal Kasry is author of about 36 peer reviewed publications, 7 book chapters, and holds 4 patents. She is also a reviewer for several scientific publishing houses and funding agencies.

Karen Mulberry is Senior Manager of Public Affairs at the IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA) where she manages strategic public and government affairs programs and engagements within and across the organization. Karen has been involved in shaping policy development, identifying strategic initiatives, and providing technical standards through leadership at the intersection of technology, standards, regulation, and policy throughout her career. She holds a BS in Organizational Behavior from the University of San Francisco and an MBA from the University of Phoenix.