“Plenty more fish in the sea? Solutions to a global food crisis”
Watch the video of Robin Davies’ 2010 talk here.
Born in 1972, Robin Davies grew up with a fascination of all things aquatic, but a family move in 1982 to the beautiful coastline of south-west England heralded his formative years. From that moment on, he spent all his spare time by the sea, often for days on end, learning about marine biology, the rhythms of the tides, how to catch his dinner, and surfing the Atlantic swells. These experiences galvanised his love of all things marine and served as the bedrock for his studies that culminated in 2001 with a PhD in Marine Biology from the National University of Ireland.
After graduating, Robin conducted research on fishing vessels off the south and west coast of Ireland, learning about the migratory patterns of commercially exploited fish stocks, and researching the effectiveness of conservation oriented fishing gear. Then, in an unexpected twist for a man with a love of the ocean, he turned his back on academia and moved to a landlocked country. Switzerland beckoned because of the opportunity to work for WWF International managing a global marine conservation initiative – a move that, ironically, only deepened his connection with the sea. Now working as the Deputy Leader of WWFs Smart Fishing global initiative, his work is dedicated to finding solutions to ensure the ocean are harvested in a more sustainable way.
Do you have a question for Robin Davies? Ask it in the comments below.
“Social Media For Social Change”
Watch the video of Claudia Gonzalez’s 2010 talk here.
Head of Marketing of The Global Fund to fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria, where she manages the Born HIV Free campaign that aims to eliminate the transmission of HIV from mother to children by 2015.
One of the world’s most acknowledged non-profit marketers having had top position in United Nations Refugee Agency and the World Economic Forum, she is a strategist with 15 year experience in integrated communications specialized in social media, celebrities and branding. Claudia was previously a Diplomat for her home country Mexico and was a press correspondent for a number of years in different countries. Claudia’s academic background includes a Masters from LSE on Media and Communications. She has two kids and enjoys sports, travel and social change.
More at The Global Fund and Born HIV Free websites.
Do you have a question for Claudia Gonzalez? Ask it in the comments below.
“First Solar Boat Expedition Around The Globe”
PlanetSolar’s founder is a man of conviction. At the age of 37, Raphaël Domjan conceived the PlanetSolar concept, and he has done everything possible since to turn his dream into reality. Someone who genuinely “dabbles in everything”, Raphaël Domjan wears several hats and increases activities he takes part in that are closely connected to man and nature: an ambulance driver, high mountain guide, rescue specialist in perilous environments etc. Passion is what drives him on!
The PlanetSolar project, an extraordinary technological and human challenge, is also an expression of the world-view of Raphaël Domjan and of the team he has built around him: our planet deserves a better, brighter and less polluted future. Future technologies must be keenly investigated and solutions must be found. The project will help to motivate engineers and scientists to develop innovative technologies, inspire people around the world, and show that the impossible can become possible.
More on PlanetSolar official website.
Do you have a question for Raphaël Domjan? Ask it in the comments below.
“Innovation And Aesthetics In Sports Filmmaking”
Watch the video of Nicolas et Loris Falquet’s 2010 talk here.
Nicolas and Loris Falquet have been professional freeriders for twelve years. Apart from some participation in the Verbier Xtreme by Loris, the brothers focused their activity on ski filmmaking.
Since 2002, the year of their first short film, they have made over 7 ski films always with the same desire to promote their passion in the most innovative and aesthetically way possible.
In 2006, they were chosen by Swiss magazine l’Hebdo to be among the 100 people who “make” Switzerland, the prestigious “Forum des 100“.
Since then, their activity has slightly expanded with other film productions, mostly sports related.
More on Nicolas and Loris Falquet’s website.
Do you have a question for Nicolas et Loris Falquet? Ask it in the comments below.
“The Book Who Would Like To Be A Video Game”
Watch the video of Étienne Mineur’s 2010 talk here.
Born in 1968, Graphic designer, Co-Founder and Artistic Director of the design studio Incandescence in 2000, Co-Founder and Creative Director of les éditions volumiques, and Professor at ENSAD in Paris, at la HEAD in Geneva, and at e-Artsup in Paris.
What’s a book to become in the 21st century post internet and network media revolution? In particular with video games, Interactivity sheds a new light as to what the potential of a story can be, and what the role of the reader is.
How does one introduce the connected and computational user experience of digital media into the paper book, to actualize it, widen its scope, and engage the reader in new ways?
We do not consider the e-book as the replacement of the paper book, but we wish to enrich the tangible, emotional and intimate connection that paper brings, with all the new dimensions of the digital world. Each of our projects explores a different face of this union of paper and computation.
More on www.volumique.com and on Étienne Mineur’s blog (French version).
Do you have a question for Étienne Mineur? Ask it in the comments below.
“A Local Food Solution For A General Eating Problem”
Watch the video of Raymond De Morawitz’s 2010 talk here.
Attorney at Law in Geneva, Raymond De Morawitz is the President of “Association des juristes progressistes (AJP)” (Association of progressiv jurists) of Geneva, a section of the democratics jurists of Switzerland (JDS / DJS).
He is also a Member of the Direction of the cooperative society “Les Jardins de Cocagne” (The Gardens of Cocagne), dedicated to the production of local organic vegetables (“coopérative maraîchère”) for the benefit of the 230 members and familiy (in all, about 800 people in Geneva). This co-op creates consciousness and goodwill, a pleasure to grow your own biological vegetable, and then to know what you eat, sharing the responsability in a non-profit organisation, in contact with all people who know that little agriculture is the base of tomorrow’s world.
Do you have a question for Raymond De Morawitz? Ask it in the comments below.
“Visualisation Of Rarity”
Watch the video of Demian Conrad’s 2010 talk here.
Demian Conrad is the founder and creative director of the studio DEMIAN CONRAD DESIGN. Born in Ticino in 1974, he studied at the University of Lugano under the guidance of Bruno Monguzzi, whose teaching centred on the psychology of the forms (Gestalt theory) and typography. Extremely focused on the question of the creative process, he then followed lectures given by Professor Edward de Bono, the creator of the term “lateral thinking”, at the University of Malta.
Multi-disciplinary, Demian Conrad favors an approach with the aim of finding creative, destabilising solutions and forms of avant-garde, cutting-edge communication. Fundamentally influenced by 1960s Italian design, the English Arts & Crafts Movement and the early Modernism.
As the graphic designer and publisher behind the successful series of calendar-games, “Gregory” and “Gaia”, in 2007 he co-founded the publishing house DADADUM. Since 2009, he has led workshops for some of Switzerland’s most prestigious higher education institutions, such as ERACOM, HEIG-VD, CEPV and CREA.
More on Demian Conrad’s website.
Do you have a question for Demian Conrad? Ask it in the comments below.
“Biodiversity: Where Are We Going?”
Watch the video of Ivan Löbl’s 2010 talk here.
Born in Bratislava in 1937, moved to England, then to Praha after the war ended. With both parents imprisoned by the communist regime, and considered by the system an “undesirable element”, he was not allowed to enter secondary school, and worked as a labourer. After finally graduating from secondary school in 1957, he was not allowed to continue his education, nor to take an official job, but was eventually hired in 1959 by the museum in Trnava as a “technical worker” and had a free hand to establish entomological collections.
In 1962, he got a position as an assistant at the Slovak National Museum in Bratislava, and could enter the University in Bratislava, from which he obtained a Ph.D. in the summer of 1968.
In 1966 he married Dana. They emigrated to Switzerland in 1968, where he obtained a position at the Natural History Museum in Geneva. Named curator and head of the Department of Entomology in 1992, he held this position until retiring in 1999. His studies focused on poorly known soil and mycophagous faunas and led to the discovery of several thousand previously unknown species. Löbl has published some 250 scientific papers.
Since then, he pursues taxonomic research and, together with A. Smetana, edit the Catalogue of Palaearctic Coleoptera. The project has been called as a “unvergleichbare Monumentalwerk”, or “the most used reference work on beetles of the 21st century,” and for which the two Editors received a medal of outstanding achievement by the Symposium Internationale Entomofaunisticum Europae Centralis, in 2007.
Do you have a question for Ivan Löbl? Ask it in the comments below.
“The Only Victory Is Life”
Watch the video of Jean Troillet’s 2010 talk here.
Jean Troillet was born 10 March 1948 at Orsieres and lives at La Fouly in Valais. Of Swiss and Canadian nationality he obtained his mountain guide qualifications in 1969. He has conquered ten peaks of more than 8000 metres, all climbed in the Alpine style, and without oxygen. Jean Troillet climbed Everest in 1986. In 1997 he was the first man to descend from the roof of the world on a snowboard.
Mountain guide, and seafarer, he was the shipmate of Laurent Bourgnon onboard Primagaz. Jean is a photographer for Animan and heli-skiing guide.
More on Jean Troillet’s official website.
Do you have a question for Jean Troillet? Ask it in the comments below.
“The Messenger Is The Message”
Watch the video of Xavier Comtesse’s 2010 talk here.
Born in 1949, married, 3 sons.
License in Mathematics and PHD in computer science at the University of Geneva, Xavier Comtesse worked for 10 years in Academia, 10 years as a start-up CEO and 10 years with the Federal Administration, including 7 years as a diplomat in the US. Xavier Comtesse was the first swiss scientific Consul in Boston where he founded the Swiss House. Since the beginning of 2002, Xavier Comtesse is the head of the Geneva Office of Avenir Suisse, the first Think Tank in Switzerland in charge for the development of economic and social issues.
Do you have a question for Xavier Comtesse? Ask it in the comments below.
“Digital Disasters – How new technologies are transforming humanitarian aid for the better”
Watch the video of Paul Conneally’s 2010 talk here.
Paul Conneally has worked as a journalist since 1988 in the print and broadcast media, primarily in the area of news reportage and documentaries that focus on socio-economic development and international politics. His first assignment with the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) was as an information delegate in Azerbaijan in 1995. In December 1996 Paul moved to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) where he stayed for 11 years working primarily in communications but also in fund raising and operations. Contexts where Paul has worked and lived with the ICRC include the North Caucasus, Central Asia, the Balkans, Afghanistan, Somalia, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Sudan, and Israel & the Occupied Territories. He has also spent two and a half years as head of ICRC’s donor reporting in Geneva.
Paul assumed his current function as head of Media and Public Communication with the IFRC in Geneva in August 2008. He oversees all aspects of public communication including audio visual production, advocacy initiatives, and online and social media. He has a BA degree in Communications and a Masters degree in International Development and Cooperation and holds a Post-Graduate certificate in Advanced Studies in International Humanitarian Law. He is married to Linda with three young sons aged from three to eight years.
Paul’s online activity includes a blog; Twitter profile; and LinkedIn.
Do you have a question for Paul Conneally? Ask it in the comments below.
Watch the video of Michael Doser’s 2010 talk here.
Watch the video of Michael Doser’s 2009 talk here.
2010: “The Return Of Antimatter”
2009: “If Apples Fall Down, Do Anti-Apples Fall Up?”
Michael Doser is a particle physicist working at CERN. He has been working with antimatter since 1983, using it both as a tool and as an object of study, with the goal of understanding the first moments of the Universe. In 2002, he was part of the team that made cold atoms of antihydrogen for the first time, and – after bringing together its international and interdisciplinary team – currently leads the AEGIS experiment that will measure how antimatter falls.
More about Michael Doser at aegis.web.cern.ch and cern.ch
Have a question for Michael Doser? Ask it in the comments below.
