Keynote Speakers

Ruth Graham

Independent Higher Education Consultant, RH Graham Consulting 

Dr Ruth Graham has worked as an independent higher education consultant since 2008. Her work is focused on fostering change in higher education and helping to improve university teaching and learning worldwide.

With clients from across the world, Dr Graham's current and recent projects have included: (i) a global benchmarking study on the future of engineering education, on behalf of MIT; and (ii) a global initiative to improve the reward and recognition of teaching in higher education that is now supporting reform to academic career pathways at over 50 universities worldwide

In June 2018, Dr Graham was awarded an honorary doctorate from Chalmers University of Technology, Sweden, for distinguished efforts in developing engineering programmes. In September 2020, she was awarded the Leonardo da Vinci Medal by the European Society for Engineering Education for outstanding contributions to engineering education.

Dr Graham trained as a Mechanical Engineer, specialising in aeronautical fatigue and working with BAE SYSTEMS for a number of years. In 2002 she moved to Imperial College London and later became Director of the EnVision project, which sought to transform the undergraduate education across all nine departments in the Faculty of Engineering and improve its culture of support and reward for teaching excellence 

Professor Euan Lindsay

Professor of PBL and Digitalisation, UNESCO Centre for PBL, Department of Sustainability and Planning, Aalborg University

Professor Lindsay is the Professor of PBL and Digitalisation in Engineering Education at the Aalborg Centre for Problem Based Learning in Engineering Science and Sustainability (UCPBL).  Euan's academic career has been spent at the frontiers of the discipline of engineering education.  He is best known for his work in developing pioneering new models of engineering education that combine the authenticity of work- and problem-based learning with the flexibility of digitally enabled curricula.  He has two decades’ experience in the digitalisation of engineering education, exploring what and how student engineers learn in digitally supported environments. 

During his academic career, Euan has held a number of leadership roles in engineering education, serving as Dean, Head of School and Foundation Professor.  He has been invited to give keynote presentations around the world, ranging from the UK to China to Bahrain.  He is frequently invited to speak at panel sessions with themes like “Dangerous Ideas” or “Great Leaps Forward”.  He serves on a number of advisory boards related to innovation and quality assurance in Engineering education, and is a Fellow of both Engineers Australia and the UK Higher Education Academy.

Euan believes most major challenges facing society today can be solved by engineers, including providing clean drinking water, energy sustainability or communications technology to keep people connected. He is excited about developing new engineering programs with a focus on making a difference, not just solving problems and making things, and hopes to inspire students to move forward in their careers with passion.

Christian Lerminiaux

Director of Chimie ParisTech

University PSL

Christian Lerminiaux (PhD in atomic Physics, University Pierre et Marie Curie) is heading Chimie ParisTech, France's leading institute in chemistry since November 2014.

He is member of the board of PSL Research University, one of the world's top research universities and gathers prestigious and internationally respected academic and research institutions. Former president of Cdefi (2011/14), he is also President of ParisTech.

He managed the University of Technology of Troyes in France (2004/2014).

He has been working for the CEA-LETI (2003/2004) as Program Director for Optics and Microsystems, and for Corning from 1989 to 2003 where he hold multiple positions, e.g.: Director Amplifier Research and Technology, Core Director Optical Technologies and Device Physics.

Sirin Tekinay

Programme Director, United States National Science Foundation

Office of International Science and Engineering

Professor Sirin Tekinay is a SEFI Fellow. Her career spans engineering leadership in the industry, academe, and government sectors, as well as global professional organizations. She has recently joined the United States National Science Foundation as the Program Director for US-EU collaborations. This is the second time Dr. Tekinay is serving the US NSF. From 2005 to 2008, while faculty at NJIT, she was a rotating Program Director, where she served as the founding chair of a multidisciplinary program called “Cyber Enabled Discovery and Innovation,” in addition to managing her home program for computing and communications foundations. She was tenured as Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at the New Jersey Institute of Technology.

She spent a decade in Istanbul, 2009-2019, where she held offices of academic administration as a Dean of Engineering and Natural Sciences, Vice President for Research and Development, and University President.

2019-2021, she was the Dean of Engineering in American University of Sharjah, United Arab Emirates.

She holds the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering from George Mason University, Virginia, and M.S. and B.S. degrees in Electrical-Electronics Engineering from Bogazici University, Istanbul.

Prof. Tekinay has the inventor’s signature on nine patents of Bell Laboratories. She has authored numerous publications, and she has graduated six doctoral students. She serves as the Point of Contact for G7, G20, and EU multilaterals, in addition to relationships with most European countries.

Mr Dirk Bochar

Secretary General for Engineers Europe

Having acquired 30 years of professional experience in various European “umbrella” Organisations and for a variety of industrial sectors, since September 2010, Dirk holds the position of Secretary General of the “European Engineers Federation” (FEANI).

ENGINEERS EUROPE is the European Engineers Federation, based in Brussels, which represents the interests of some 6 million engineers from 33 countries of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). As Secretary General I have widened the network over the last 10 years from 27 to 33 National Members, designed a National Members Forum, co-organized the European Engineers Day, developed the European Engineering Education Database, established the European Engineering Skills Council as a formal consortium of stakeholders from academia, industry and engineering associations and represented the interests of the engineering profession to the EU Institutions with regard to the recognition of engineering qualifications. Since 2019 I ensured membership of ENGINEERS EUROPE in the Liaison Group of the European Economic and Social Committee (EESC).