The IBSEN’s project is advised and reviewed by an International Oversight Board including eight members representing a broad geographic coverage.
Africa – Prof Halima Benbouza is currently a Director for Science and Technology at the National Council of Scientific Research and Technologies, Algeria. She received her doctorate in agronomic sciences and biological engineering from Agro Bio Tech Gembloux, Belgium studying Plant Breeding and Genetics and was offered a postdoctoral position to work with the ARS-US-DA. From 2010-2016, she served as inaugural Director of Algeria National Biotechnology Research Center. She is past President, for two mandates, of the Intersectoral Commission of Health and Life Sciences of Algeria’s. Pr. BENBOUZA served on the Algerian National Council for Research Evaluation and the Sectorial Permanent Board of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Between 2015-2019, she was appointed representative of Algeria to UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee, and she is a member of the Executive Committee of the Pan African Congress of Ethics and Bioethics (COPAB) since 2015. In 2017, she served on the Committee on Regional Workshops on Science and Technology Issues for the Biological Weapons Convention, convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine. In 2022, she served as representative of Scientific Research for Africa on the Group of Friends of the Co-chairs on Digital Sequence Information of Genetic Resources for the UN Convention on Biodiversity. In 2020-2022, Pr. BENBOUZA, served as independent expert for the development of WHO’ Global Guidance Framework for the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences. Recently, 2024, she was selected as a member of WHO Technical Advisory Group on the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences and Dual-Use Research. In addition, Pr. BENBOUZA consults for a number of international organizations on biosafety and biosecurity education. She was the recipient of the 2023 Elizabeth R Griffin Program Lecture Award.
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Dr Samira Senouci is the First Vice-President of the Moroccan Biosafety Association (MOBSA). She is a manager at LabSolutions and the former Head of the Department of Microbiology and Food Hygiene at the National Institutes of Health in Morocco.
Asia – Prof Zabta K. Shinwari, T.I., S.I., UNESCO Laureate, is a Distinguish Nat. Prof./Prof. Emeritus, Vice Chancellor Fed. Urdu University of Arts, S & T Islamabad-Pakistan. Former Vice Chairman: UNESCO-World Commission for Ethics of Scientific knowledge and Technology (COMEST); Vice President IAS; Fellow PAS, TWAS; Member WHO Tech. Adv. GroupHailing from Kohat (Tribal Area Pakistan). Prof Zabta Khan Shinwari got Ph.D. from Kyoto University (Japan) followed by several Post Doc. Fellowships in Japan. He served Pakistan Museum of Natural History, National Agricultural Research Centre, WWF-Pakistan, COMSTECH before his appointment as Vice Chancellor of Kohat University of Science & Technology. One of his major achievements is to extend higher education facilities to the neglected communities of Pakistan especially to female. He also established University of Science & Technology, Bannu. He is the founder of KUST Institute of Medical Sciences (KIMS). Dr. Shinwari also served private sector as CEO of Qarshi Research International and Vice Chancellor/PD Qarshi University-Lahore. He was tenured Professor of Biotechnology and Dean of Faculty of Biological Sciences in Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad and President, National Council of Tibb. Also served as Secretary General, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Islamabad. He was awarded the title of “Professor Emeritus” by the Quaid-i-Azam University, Islamabad in 2020 and Distinguish National Professor by HEC in 2022.
Prof Xue Yang is a Professor at Law School and a Senior Fellow at the Center for Biosafety Research and Strategy (CBRS), Tianjin University, China. He focuses on biosafety and biosecurity governance. Yang has already been honored with China’s top social science award for young people. He was involved in the drafting of the PRC Biosecurity Law and other related legislation. Additionally, Yang contributed to the writing of the “Proposal for the Development of a Model Code of Conduct for Biological Scientists” (BWC/CONF.VIII/WP.30), represented China at the 8th/9th BTWC Review Conference and the Meeting of Experts in 2017-2022. He played a key role as the main Chinese drafter of “The Tianjin Biosecurity Guidelines for Codes of Conduct for Scientists”.
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Europe – Prof Brian Balmer is a Professor of Science Policy Studies at University College London. His research focuses on the nature of scientific expertise, and the role of experts in science policy formation, particularly within the life sciences. He is the author of Britain and Biological Warfare: Expert Advice and Science Policy 1935-65 (Palgrave, 2001) and Secrecy and Science: A Historical Sociology of Biological and Chemical Warfare (Routledge 2012).
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Prof Kathryn Nixdorff is a retired Professor in the Department of Microbiology and Genetics at Darmstadt University of Technology, Germany. Her research involved the molecular aspects of the interaction of microorganisms with cells of the immune system, in particular the regulation of proinflammatory cytokine production in macrophages. She is a founding member of the interdisciplinary research group concerned with science, technology and security (IANUS) at Darmstadt University of Technology. In this group she has been working on issues involving the relevance of advances in the life sciences for the control of biological weapons. She has worked as an outside expert with the Working Group on Biosecurity for the German Ethics Council and the Joint Committee of the German Research Foundation and the German National Academy of Science for Handling Security-Relevant Research. She is currently working with the project CBWNet (Strengthening the norms against chemical and biological weapons).
North America – Dr Dana Perkins, PhD, former member of the Group of Experts supporting the United Nations Security Council 1540 Committee on Weapons of Mass Destruction Non-Proliferation. Throughout her career, Dr. Perkins worked for the U.S. Government as an Export Licensing Officer with the U.S. Department of Commerce, as a contractor supporting the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA)’s Biological Weapons Proliferation Prevention Program, and as a Senior Science Advisor with the Administration for Strategic Preparedness and Response, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. She is also a Microbiologist with the rank of Colonel in the U.S. Army Reserve.
South America – Dr Maria J. Espona, Biologist (1994), Master in Terrorism Studies (2013) and Doctor in Criminology (2019) is an expert in the WMD field, especially in the CBW arena and export control. She has several publications on those topics. She teaches in universities in Argentina, Georgia and Peru, on Information Quality, CBRN export control and dual-use and responsible use of data. Currently, she is the leader of the following project: TI CBRN Export Control on Dual-Use Materials and Intangible Technologies in Central Asia (ISTC). She also participates as SME in several Health Security Partners and Coalescion in projects on biorisk management and export control, among other topics, in Latin America and other regions. She is the EU P2P Regional Coordinator for South America and works with SCK-CEN on an export control-related project. In the past, she participated in EU-funded projects on CBRN and export control of dual-use goods and technologies. She is a member of the Technical Advisory Group on the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences and Dual-Use Research (TAG-RULS DUR) at the WHO. She holds several awards because of her work on Information Quality and her leadership. Since 2021, CDO Ambassador to Argentina from CDOIQ, isCDO and CDO Magazine. She is the Director ArgIQ, Argentina Information Quality.