H.E. Mr Nicos Anastasiades is the seventh President of the Republic of Cyprus. He served as member of the House of Representatives and was elected as Vice President of the House of Representatives (1996-2001).

Dan-Olof Riska is an Emeritus Professor of Physics at the University of Helsinki. He has served as Treasurer and as President of the Finnish Society of Science and Letters. He also served as Vice President of the CERN Council, as well as Director of the Helsinki Institute of Physics. His research experience covers a wide field of theoretical and applied physics, including geophysics. He is a fellow of the Royal Swedish Academy of Science, the Finnish Society of Science and Letters, the Finnish Academy of Technical Sciences, the Finnish Academy of Science, as well as of the American Physical Society. He has served as vice president of the European Academies Science Advisory Council and on scientific advisory committees in several countries and the editorial boards of several scientific journals.

Ruth Arnon, a prominent immunologist, served as President of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and Humanities and is currently The Paul Ehrlich Professor of Immunology at the Weizmann Institute of Science. Her scientific research has focused on the development of advanced vaccines, cancer research and parasitic diseases. She jointly developed Copaxone, a drug prescribed for the treatment of multiple sclerosis.

Michael Cates was previously Professor of Natural Philosophy and Royal Society Research Professor at the University of Edinburgh. He is renowned for his work over the past thirty years on problems on soft matter. He was rewarded the prestigious Dirac Medal and Prize of the Institute of Physics, the Pierre Gille de Gennes Lecture Prize of the European Physical Journal and the Weissenberg Award of the European Society of Rheology.

Günay Çerkez was the President of the Turkish Cypriot Chamber of Commerce and is currently an active member of the Chamber. He was the founder member and first Chairman of Turkish Cypriot Education Trust 1994-2004, founding member and first Chairman of Turkish Cypriot Engineer’s Association England 1985-1987 and member of the Turkish Cypriot Businessman Association.

Prof Daniel Cohen
Professor of Economics, École Normale Supérieure and the Université de Paris-I and at the École d'économie de Paris

Prof. Cohen is a French economist and a Professor of Economics at the École Normale Supérieure and the Université de Paris-I and at the École d'économie de Paris. He is a member of the Council of Economic Analysis of the French Prime Minister, as well as a senior advisor to the bank Lazard. He is the author of many widely translated books, including "The Wealth of the World and the Poverty of Nations", "Our Modern Times: The Nature of Capitalism in the Information Age", "Globalization and Its Enemies" and "Three Lectures on Post-Industrial Society".

Prof Massimo Inguscio
Professor, University of Florence, President of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy

Prof Massimo Inguscio is an Italian physicist, Professor at the University of Florence and since 2016 President of the Consiglio Nazionale delle Ricerche of Italy (National Research Council). He is a member of the Academia Europaea, the Istituto Lombardo and the Accademia dei Lincei (2008) and Fellow of the American Physical Society (2006) and the Optical Society of America (2002). In 2005 he received the Grand Prix Scientifique of the Académie des Sciences and the Institut de France (Fondation Simon e Cino del Duca), in 2004 the Premio Enrico Fermi, in 2004 a Humboldt Research Prize and in 1995 the Laser Optronics Prize of the Italian Physical Society. In 2009 he received an Advanced Grant from the European Research Council. For 2014 he was awarded the Herbert Walther Prize.

Ioli Kalavrezou is the Dumbarton Oaks Professor of Byzantine Art, Early Christian and Byzantine at the Department of History of Art and Architecture, Harvard University, where she also served as Chair for six years. She has held professorships at UCLA and the Humbold University, Munich. Her research and publications focus on the arts of the empire of Byzantium

Symeon Kassianides is the founder, CEO and Chairman of the Hyperion Systems Engineering Group. He has over 20 years of experience in project execution and management in the process and manufacturing industries. He also serves as the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Natural Gas Public Company, Cyprus and as director on the Board of the Employers and Industrialists Federation.

Erato Kozakou-Marcoullis served as Minister of Foreign Affairs and as Minister of Communications and Works of the Republic of Cyprus. She has served as Ambassador of Cyprus to the US and as Ambassador to Brazil, Lebanon, Jordan and Sweden. She was also accredited to the World Bank, the IMF, ICAO and the Organization of American States.

Prof Iain Mattaj
Honorary Professor, Heidelberg University, Germany

Prof Iain Mattaj FRS FRSE, is a British scientist and Honorary Professor at Heidelberg University in Germany. In 2018, he stepped down from Director General of the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL), a position he has held since 2005. He is currently the Director of the Human Technopole (Milano, Italy). Prof Mattaj was educated at the University of Edinburgh (BSc) and the University of Leeds (PhD) and was awarded an Honorary Doctor of Sciences from the University of Leeds in 2018. He serves on the Advisory Editorial Board of The EMBO Journal.

Wajih Owais served as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research and as Minister of Education. He was elected Vice President and then President of the Jordan University of Science and Technology. Prof. Owais chaired and shared several international committees, including the Arab Regional Secretary – Committee on Science and Technology in Developing Countries (COSTED-UNESCO)

Dr. George Pamboridis is a corporate lawyer dealing mostly with matters related to Mergers and acquisitions, corporate law, international tax planning, but also Energy law. His extensive shipping background ranks him as one of the leading lawyers in matters of International Shipping regulation. He has also taught International Shipping Law and Energy Law at the University of Cyprus. He was appointed by the President of the Republic of Cyprus on in July 2015 as the Minister of Health, a position he held until the completion of his term in February 2018. He is currently the Senior Partner of Pamboridis LLC.

Costas N. Papanicolas, the former President of CyI, is a nuclear physicist with over 35 years of experience as a researcher, an educator and a scientific administrator at the University of Illinois and the University of Athens. He is a Fellow of the American Physical Society, member of the European Academy of Sciences (Academia Europaea) and Founding member of the Cyprus Academy of Sciences Letters and Arts. He is also the Advisor to the President of the Republic of Cyprus and Special Envoy on Climate Change.

Phidias Pilides currently serves on the Board of Directors and Investment Advisory Committees of International Groups. He was previously the Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of PricewaterhouseCoopers in Cyprus. He has also served as the Chairman and Board Member of the University of Cyprus and as President of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Mr Pilides has been appointed by the Council of Ministers member of the Public Oversight Board for the Auditing Profession and the President of the Republic has also appointed him in charge of the Technical Committee for Economic and Entrepreneurial matters relating to the intercommunal negotiations.

Janez Potočnik was the Director of the Institute of Macroeconomic Analysis and Development, Ljubljana. He was the head of the Negotiating Team for Accession of Slovenia to the EU. He also served as Director of Government Office for European Affairs, Minister Councillor at the Office of the Prime Minister and Minister responsible for European Affairs.

Prof. Jeffrey Sachs
Director of the Center for Sustainable Development at Columbia University; Director of the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network

Professor Sachs served as the Director of the Earth Institute from 2002 to 2016. He was appointed University Professor at Columbia University in 2016, and also serves as Quetelet Professor of Sustainable Development, and Professor of Health Policy and Management at Columbia University. He is Special Advisor to United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on the Sustainable Development Goals, and previously advised both UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Sustainable Development Goals and Millennium Development Goals and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan on the Millennium Development Goals. He is a Distinguished Fellow of the International Institute of Applied Systems Analysis in Laxenburg, Austria. Sachs is Director of both the Center for Sustainable Development, and the UN Sustainable Development Solutions Network under the auspices of UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon.

Prof Stavros Thomadakis
Professor of Finance at the University of Athens

Prof Stavros Thomadakis is a Greek economist who served as chairman of the Hellenic Capital Market Commission, Professor of Finance at the University of Athens and chairman of the Public Interest Oversight Board. He was educated at Yale University, obtaining a B.A. in Economics, and at the MIT Sloan School of Management, where he obtained a master's degree and a Ph.D in Financial Economics. He served as a member of the Greek Council of Economic Advisers, Economic Counselor of the Hellenic Banks Association and Chairman of the Greek Center of Planning and Economic Research. He was chairman of the Capital Market Commission of Greece from 1996 to 2004.

Since April 2001 Mr Tsiolas has been a member of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales as well as a member of the Institute of Certified public Accountants of Cyprus. Since 2002 he served as the Treasury of the Republic and later on as the Acting Director at the Ministry of Health. As from March 2013, he was assigned the responsibilities of the Secretary of the Council of Ministers.
In October 2019 he was promoted to the position of Permanent Secretary, Council of Ministers and he was placed, by the Council of Ministers, to the position of Permanent Secretary of the Directorate General for European Programmes, Coordination and Development. In addition to his duties as Secretary of the Council of Ministers, the Council of Ministers decided his partial secondment to the Presidency, and Presidential Palace.

Harold Varmus, co-recipient of the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for studies of the genetic basis of cancer, is a Professor of Medicine, Cornel University. He served as Director of the US National Cancer Institute and of the National Institutes for Health. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences and the Institute of Medicine, and is involved with several initiatives to promote science and health in developing countries.

Mrs. Androulla Vassiliou served as European Commissioner for Education, Culture, Multilingualism and Youth and as Commissioner for Health. She was twice elected to the Cypriot House of Representatives and as a Parliamentarian she was an active member of the European Affairs Committee and represented the Cyprus Parliament as an alternate member at the Convention on the Future of Europe. 

She was involved in the United Nations Association of Cyprus, being elected as President of it for four consecutive terms. In 1991 she was elected President of the World Federation of United Nations Associations and re-elected for two terms before being made an honorary president.

In Cyprus she has held many important posts and is on the Board of many public and private companies.

Sotirios Zackheos serves as the Executive Director of the Russian Commercial Bank in Cyprus. He served as a Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He has been honored by the Greek Republic with the Grand Cross of the Order of the Phoenix and also honored by the Slovenian Republic with the Golden Order for Services in the Diplomatic and International Field.

Prof. Didier Roux - Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council
Delegate for Scientific Information and Communication of the French Academy of Sciences

Didier Roux currently serves as the Delegate for Scientific Information and Communication at the Académie des Sciences. Prof. Roux also served as the Vice President of Research & Development and Innovation and Director of Innovation of the Saint-Gobain Group in France and he is a member of the French Academy of Sciences.

A chemist by training, he has explored various facets of science and its interfaces (chemistry, physics, biology, industry, etc.) and has been awarded many prizes and distinctions including the Grand Prix IBM materials, the Grand Prix of the French Academy of Sciences Mergier Bourdeix and the Silver Medal of CNRS.

Edouard Brézin is currently an Emeritus Professor at the École Normale Supérieure, France and has previously served as President of the French National Academy of Sciences in numerous scientific administrative positions including the Presidency of the Administrative Council of CNRS. He is the recipient of many distinctions and international awards, including the Dirac Medal for his scientific contributions to theoretical physics. In 2012 he was presented with the Grand Cross of the order of Merit of Cyprus for his contribution in Sciences in the country and wider region and in 2013 he was named as "Commander of the French Legion of Honor", one of the highest distinctions of the French Republic.

Philippe Busquin served as the European Commissioner of Research (1999-2004) and as a Member of the European Parliament (2004-2009). He was the chairman of the Science and Technology Options Assessment Panel. He is minister of State since 1992 and now he is the chairman of the National Institute for Radioelements (IRE) in Belgium.

Richard N. Cooper is Maurits C. Boas Professor of International Economics at Harvard University and former Provost of Yale University. He has served on several occasions in the US Government, as chairman of the National Intelligence Council, Under-Secretary of State for Economic Affairs, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for International Monetary Affairs, and senior staff economist at the Council of Economic Advisers.

George Georghiou is the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Defense. He is the Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and Chairman of the Committee of the Cyprus Innovation Award of the Cyprus Employers and Industrialists Federation.

Anastasios Giannitsis is Professor Emeritus of the University of Athens and Chairman of LAMDA Development. He served as Chief Economic Advisor to the Prime Minister of Greece (1994-2000) and served different terms as Minister of Labour and Social Affairs, a Foreign Affairs Minister and Minister of Interior. He was Professor of Development and International Economics, University of Athens and Chairman of Hellenic Petroleum Co.

Susan Greenfield, CBE, is a prominent neuroscientist and member of the House of Lords in the UK. She heads a multi-disciplinary research group exploring novel brain mechanisms linked to neurodegenerative diseases such Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. She is a Senior Research Fellow at Lincoln College, Oxford. She is the recipient of numerous international awards and distinctions, including the Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur.

Hany Helal served as Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Egypt. He is a Professor of Engineering at Cairo University and served as the Head of Singor University in Alexandria, Egypt.

John Joannides is an economist and former Chief Executive Officer of the Cyprus Development Bank. Mr. Joannides played a leading part in the promotion of the scientific analysis, evaluation and survey of works and enterprises. Furthermore, he promoted the internationalization of the Cyprus economy.

Joshua Jortner is an Emeritus Professor of Chemistry and former Heinemann Professor of Chemistry at the Tel Aviv University. He is a member and former President of the Israeli Academy of Sciences and the Humanities, and has served in many administrative posts including the founding Chairmanship of the Israel National Science Foundation. He received numerous awards and honorary distinctions including the Wolf Prize in Chemistry.

Petros Kareklas was previously the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and Public Order of the Republic of Cyprus. Dr Kareklas also held this position in the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Education and Culture. He has served in a managerial position in the Employers and Industrialists Federation (OEB).

Linda Katehi served as the sixth Chancellor of the University of California, Davis. Professor Katehi is a member of the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) and has previously served as board member of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, as chair of the President’s Committee for the National Medal of Science and National Medal of Technology and Innovation, and as a member of the Kauffman National Panel for Entrepreneurship.

Anastasios Paul Leventis has been involved in international activities which encourage sustainable models of development. He is a Founder Trustee of the Nigerian Conservation Foundation; Honorary Vice-President of BirdLife International; a Fellow of the Royal Geographical Society; a member of the Board of Trustees of the International Institute of Tropical Agriculture; a Trustee of the Brazilian Atlantic Rainforest Trust; a Board Member of the Cambridge Conservation Initiative.

Edmee Leventis is a member of the Board of Directors of the A G Leventis Foundation and many other cultural, philanthropic and charity organizations in London and in Cyprus. She has served as the Ambassadress of Cyprus to UNESCO.

Ghislain de Marsily, Emeritus Professor at Sorbonne University, is a pioneer in the development of stochastic hydreology and inverse methods. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, Academy of Technologies, Foreign Associate of the US National Academy of Engineering, and member of the Academia Europaea.

Manthos Mavrommatis is the General Manager of Mavrommatis Pumps. He is currently the Chairman of the University of Cyprus Council, a Board member of the Cyprus International Institute of Management and has previously served at the Board of the Research Promotion Foundation. . He served as Chairman of the Cyprus Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

Dr Moleskis formerly served as Permanent Secretary of the Planning Bureau of Cyprus. He has also served as the Secretary of the Council of Ministers, as Chairman of the Cyprus Research Promotion Foundation and as member of the Board of Directors of the Cyprus Development Bank.

Prof. Moniz, a Nuclear Physicist, served as Secretary of Energy, USA under the administration of President Barack Obama. He currently holds the positions of 'Cecil and Ida Green Distinguished Professor of Physics and Engineering Systems' at MIT and has previously served as Director of MIT's Energy Initiative. He is the recipient of many prizes and awards including the Grand Cross Medal of the Archbishop Makarios III for his contribution in the development of Research and Education in Cyprus.

Andreas Pittas is the Founder and Executive Chairman of Medochemie Ltd. He is a member of a number of scientific committees and organizations overseas, such as the British Association of Pharmaceutical Physicians and he has been Vice President of the European Generic Medicines Association (Brussels).

Herwig Schopper is a Professor Emeritus of Physics at the University of Hamburg. He served as Director General of CERN, Geneva and as Director of the DESY Laboratory, Hamburg. He was the first President of the International Interim Council of the SESAME International Laboratory, Jordan. Prof. Schopper has received numerous distinctions and awards including the Tate Medal of the American Institute of Physics, the UNESCO Albert Einstein Gold Medal and the Grand Cross of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Cyprus.

Ismail Serageldin was the Founding Director of The Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria and is currently Emeritus Librarian and member of the Board of Trustees. He is the advisor to the Egyptian Prime Minister on matters related to culture, science and museums. Prof. Serageldin serves as Chair or Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions and civil society efforts.

Khaled Toukan is currently the Director General of the Synchrotron-light for Experimental Science and Applications in the Middle East - SESAME in Jordan. Prof. Toukan served as Minister of Energy and Mineral Resources of Jordan. He has also served as Chairman of the Department of Industrial Engineering at the University of Jordan and President of the Al-Balqa Applied University.

H.E. Dr Vassiliou, Doctor in Economics, was the third President of the Republic of Cyprus between 1988 and 1993. He also served as member of the House of Representatives. In 1998, he was appointed as Chief Negotiator for Cyprus' accession to the European Union, responsible for all the work of harmonization and the adoption and implementation of the acquis communautaire.