Ana Klimovic is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Computer Science, ETH Zürich, and Deputy Head of the Institute for Computing Platforms. She leads the Efficient Architectures and Systems Lab (EASL) and focuses on optimizing cloud computing performance and resource efficiency. Education: Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering (Stanford University), M.S. in Electrical Engineering (Stanford), B.A.Sc. in Engineering Science (University of Toronto) Previous Roles: Research Scientist at Google Brain Her research spans cloud computing, operating systems, distributed systems, and their intersection with machine learning. Key areas include cloud-native programming models, elastic storage, GPU sharing, and data pipeline optimization. The 2025-2024 articles highlight trends in serverless computing, large language model (LLM) serving, GPU optimization, and data-centric ML systems. Themes include elasticity, resource multiplexing, heterogeneous computing, and infrastructure for AI/ML workloads. Scientific Awards: Microsoft Research PhD Fellowship, Stanford Graduate Fellowship She has led research projects on ephemeral storage, distributed training automation, and cost-efficient ML preprocessing, with grants from Microsoft Research and Stanford.
Adèle Garnier is an Associate Professor at the Department of Geography, Université Laval's Faculty of Forestry, Geography and Geomatics. She serves as Director of undergraduate geography programs and the certificate in sustainable tourism. Her research focuses on political geography, migration dynamics, and humanitarian governance, particularly examining refugee labor market participation, temporary migration policies, and technological impacts on immigration systems. Education : PhD in Political Science (Macquarie University/Universität Leipzig, 2012), MA in Political Science (Universität Leipzig, 2006), Diploma in Political Science (Paris, 2002) Her research integrates political geography , migration studies , and geographies of inequality , analyzing power structures in migration governance. Recent work explores Canada's digitalization of immigration, multiscalar impacts of refugee policies, and settler-colonial migration frameworks. Current research trends focus on technological governance of migration , refugee resettlement , and marketization of humanitarian services , with interdisciplinary approaches bridging political science and geography. Research Units : Graduate School of International Studies (ESEI), Immigration Research Team (ERIQA), Cultures-Arts-Societies Center (CELAT) Collaborations : Study Group on Ethnic Relations (Flers), Center for Refugee Studies (York University), Peace Research Institute Oslo She supervises graduate students in geography and co-leads multiple funded projects, including Liberating Migrant Labour (2023-2030) and digital migration governance research (2023-2028).
Renaud Morieux is Professor of European History at the University of Cambridge and Fellow of Pembroke College. His research explores borders between Britain, France, and the wider world since the 18th century, with focus on migration, oceans, incarceration, and the social history of war. He holds editorial responsibilities for journals including Past & Present and Revue d'Histoire Moderne et Contemporaine . Research Interests: Morieux investigates maritime borders through interdisciplinary lenses combining legal history, family studies, and global perspectives. His projects examine political deportation in the Indian Ocean and a reflexive history of European statelessness. His award-winning publications analyze cross-Channel relations, war captivity, and oceanic governance. Article Analysis: Morieux's scholarship demonstrates consistent focus on transnational networks, legal pluralism, and subaltern agency. Recent work explores colonial knowledge systems, penal transportation, and epistolary communities, reflecting innovative methodological approaches to reconstructing marginalized histories across imperial spaces. Awards and Honors: Philip Leverhulme Prize for History (2014) Leo Gershoy Award for The Channel: England, France and the Construction of a Maritime Border (2017) Mémoires de la Mer book prize (2009) Advising and Grants: Morieux has supervised 10+ PhD students on topics ranging from naval mutinies to famine philanthropy. Current doctoral candidates explore Sir Joseph Banks' networks, WWI prisoner repatriation, and oral culture in the French Atlantic. His research receives international funding including EU and UK research council support.
Benedikt Bünz is an Assistant Professor of Computer Science at New York University's Courant Institute of Mathematical Sciences. He is also a co-founder and chief scientist of Espresso Systems, where he applies his research expertise to real-world blockchain solutions. His academic work bridges theoretical cryptography with practical blockchain implementations, focusing on enhancing privacy, security, and usability of decentralized systems. Dr. Bünz's research centers around applied cryptography, consensus mechanisms, and game theory as they relate to cryptocurrencies. His work spans zero-knowledge proofs, verifiable delay functions, secure multi-party computation, and privacy-preserving protocols. He has made significant contributions to Bulletproofs, a zero-knowledge proof system deployed on blockchains like Monero, and pioneered research in verifiable delay functions which are now part of Ethereum 2.0's design. His recent work focuses on recursive proof systems, accumulation schemes, and efficient verification techniques for blockchain scalability. His publication record shows a consistent progression from foundational cryptographic primitives to practical blockchain implementations. Recent work demonstrates increasing sophistication in recursive proof systems (ProtoStar, HyperPlonk), novel accumulation techniques (ARC, DewTwo), and foundational work on randomness generation (VDFs). His research consistently bridges theoretical cryptography with real-world blockchain applications, resulting in protocols that are both theoretically sound and practically implementable across multiple blockchain platforms. Dr. Bünz actively contributes to the academic community through teaching and mentorship. He teaches courses on cryptography of blockchains and computer security at NYU, providing students with hands-on experience in blockchain security and cryptographic protocols. His industry engagement through Espresso Systems demonstrates his commitment to translating academic research into practical solutions for the blockchain ecosystem.
Katia Bianchini is a Research Fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Social Anthropology in Halle, Germany, with a focus on the intersection of law and anthropology in refugee and immigration contexts. She holds a PhD in Law (University of York), an LLM in Comparative Laws (University of San Diego), and a Law degree (Università di Pavia). Her work bridges empirical legal analysis with anthropological methodologies to address issues such as statelessness, asylum adjudication, and the rule of law in migration policies. Education PhD in Law, University of York (2011–2016) LLM in Comparative Laws, University of San Diego (1999–2000) Law degree, Università di Pavia (1992–1998) Bianchini’s research interests include refugee law , immigration law , statelessness , EU law , and human rights law . Her current project examines legislation and responses to missing and deceased sea migrants in Italy , analyzing legal frameworks for search, identification, and burial practices, particularly along the Central Mediterranean Route. She emphasizes the importance of legal anthropology to understand gaps between abstract law and its real-world application. The trends in her publications reflect a focus on statelessness determination procedures , asylum law (notably witchcraft-based claims), humanitarian visas , and rule of law challenges in migration contexts. Her work spans journal articles , book chapters , and monographs , often combining legal analysis with empirical data from interviews and fieldwork. Scientific Awards Erasmus scholarship, University of Leuven, Belgium (1997–1998) Grants and Professional Activities include visiting researcher roles at Fordham University and the University of Oxford, as well as editorial work for the Statelessness and Citizenship Review and the CUREDI Database . She has presented extensively on topics like statelessness in the UK , cultural diversity in asylum adjudication , and NGO criminalization in Mediterranean rescue operations .
Peter J. Boettke is a Distinguished University Professor of Economics at George Mason University, holding the BB&T Professorship for the Study of Capitalism. He directs the F.A. Hayek Program at the Mercatus Center. His academic roles include editorships of the Review of Austrian Economics and Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization . Boettke earned his Ph.D., M.A., and B.A. in Economics from George Mason University and Grove City College. Research interests span Austrian economics, institutional economics, comparative political economy, and the history of economic thought. He emphasizes market process theory, emphasizing how institutions and entrepreneurship shape social outcomes. His work critiques socialist systems and advocates classical liberal principles, informed by Hayek’s insights on knowledge and spontaneous order. Awarded for teaching excellence and academic contributions, Boettke has supervised over 30 doctoral students. His publications include authored books like The Struggle for a Better World (2021), Money and the Rule of Law (2021), and edited volumes on Hayek, Buchanan, and Tocqueville. His recent articles address monetary policy, socialism, and pandemic governance. Boettke’s work bridges theory and policy, advocating for rule-of-law frameworks in economics and institutions that foster decentralized decision-making. His intellectual contributions span academic entrepreneurship, policy analysis, and interdisciplinary collaboration across economics, philosophy, and political science.
Fahad Ahmad Bishara is an Associate Professor at the University of Virginia , specializing in the economic and legal history of the Indian Ocean and Islamic world . His work bridges global capitalism, international law, and historical narratives of mobility. Key Books: A Sea of Debt (Cambridge, 2017) and Monsoon Voyagers (UC Press, forthcoming) Awards: Hurst Prize, Jerry Bentley Prize, Peter Gonville Stein Book Award Research Focus: Explores debt, legal systems, and trade through microhistories of ships and merchant families, with recent interests in narrative scales and conceptualizations of law in global history. Academic Collaborations: Co-authored works with Nandini Chatterjee, Hollian Wint, and others, emphasizing Persianate and Indian Ocean interconnections. Scientific Awards: J. Willard Hurst Prize (Law and Society Association) Jerry Bentley Prize (World History Association) Peter Gonville Stein Book Award (American Society for Legal History)
Professor Catherine Allerton is a faculty member in the Department of Anthropology at the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE). She specializes in the materialities and mobilities of everyday life, with a focus on place, kinship, childhood, migration, and temporalities in island Southeast Asia. Her fieldwork spans a two-placed village in Flores, Indonesia, and Kota Kinabalu, Sabah, East Malaysia. Her research emphasizes interdisciplinary ethnographic methods, particularly involving child participants to challenge adult-centric approaches. She launched the 'Childhood in the Migrant City' exhibition using child-taken photographs from her ESRC-sponsored research. Current projects include exploring discordant temporalities between migration systems and childhood development, as well as completing a book manuscript on moral economies of belonging. Key research interests include the social and political dimensions of landscapes, the anthropology of children, and the impacts of legal status on marginalized youth. She teaches an LSE course on 'Children and Youth in Contemporary Ethnography' and actively supervises PhD students focusing on childhood, migration, citizenship, and Southeast Asian studies. Her work addresses exclusionary practices tied to race, religion, and legal frameworks in Malaysia and Indonesia. Languages spoken include Bahasa Manggarai, English, Indonesian, and Malay. No part-time status is mentioned, indicating full-time faculty commitment.
Dr. Bahar Baser is a Professor in Politics and International Relations at Durham University's School of Government and International Affairs, where she joined in 2021. She is also a member of the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies. Previously, she served as Associate Professor at Coventry University's Centre for Trust, Peace and Social Relations, leading the "Peacebuilding and Conflict Transformation Research Group," and was a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of Warwick. Dr. Baser completed her PhD in Social and Political Sciences at the European University Institute in Florence, Italy. During her doctoral studies, she was a Visiting Research Fellow at multiple institutions including Humboldt University in Berlin, REMESO in Sweden, and the Instituto de Ciencias Sociais in Lisbon. Dr. Baser is an expert in diaspora studies, peacebuilding, and conflict transformation with a regional focus on the Middle East. Her research examines diaspora engagement in peace processes, post-conflict reconstruction, and state-building in the Global South. She has extensively studied stateless diaspora activism in Europe, particularly regarding host states' counterterrorism policies, radicalization of diaspora members, and transnationalization of homeland conflicts. Her recent publications demonstrate a strong focus on Kurdish diaspora studies, diaspora governance by authoritarian states, intergenerational trauma in diaspora communities, and peacebuilding processes. Her work spans multiple disciplines including political science, international relations, migration studies, and Middle Eastern studies, with particular attention to how diasporas interact with homeland conflicts and host state policies. Dr. Baser serves as editor of the Kurdish Studies Series published by Lexington Books and co-editor of the Diasporas and Transnationalism Series published by Edinburgh University Press. She is also a senior associate research fellow at the Security Institute for Governance and Leadership in Africa (SIGLA), Stellenbosch University, South Africa, and a visiting professor at Tampere Peace Research Institute, Tampere University, Finland. Dr. Baser has supervised multiple doctoral students including Abdullah Al-Khonaini, Mengqi Sun, Nannan Li, and Shorooq Al Zaabi. She has secured numerous research grants including projects funded by the British Academy, Academy of Finland, Allan and Nesta Ferguson Trust, and Horizon 2020 Marie Curie Fellowship. Her research projects span topics such as diaspora engagement in peace processes, youth violence and conflict transformation, and diasporic identity formation. Dr. Baser is actively involved with the Institute for Middle Eastern and Islamic Studies at Durham University, contributing to research initiatives focused on the Middle East and Islamic studies. Her multilingual capabilities (Turkish, English, Italian, Spanish, French, Portuguese, Azerbaijani) support her extensive fieldwork and collaborative research across multiple countries.
Cecilia Mascolo is a Professor of Mobile Systems at the University of Cambridge , specifically in the Department of Computer Science and Technology . She co-directs the Centre for Mobile, Wearable System and Augmented Intelligence and is a Fellow of Jesus College, Cambridge . Her research focuses on mobile systems , machine learning for mobile health , and earable technology . She has been awarded prestigious grants such as the ERC Advanced Research Grant (2019-2025) and the EPSRC Open Research Fellowship (2025-2030). Currently on sabbatical at Harvard University , her work bridges systems and machine learning for health applications. Education: PhD in Computer Science from the University of Bologna, Italy. Previous Affiliation: Faculty at University College London before 2008. Her research spans mobile and wearable systems for health and behavior monitoring, focusing on on-device machine learning , uncertainty-aware models , and audio-based diagnostics . Key areas include federated learning , edge computing , and respiratory disease progression analysis via wearables. She explores earable technology for physiological monitoring, gait analysis, and even toothbrushing tracking using in-ear sensors. Her recent publications highlight advancements in earable-based health monitoring , including heart rate estimation , respiratory rate detection , and ECG analysis using machine learning. She emphasizes longitudinal health data from consumer devices, advocating for scalable diagnostics beyond traditional clinical standards. Scientific Awards: ERC Advanced Research Grant EPSRC Open Research Fellowship Best Paper Award - IEEE Percom 10-Year Impact Award - ACM Ubicomp Computer Laboratory Ring Hall of Fame Best Paper Award Student: Andrea Ferlini - ACM SIGMOBILE Doctoral Dissertation Runner-up She leads the Mobile Systems Research Laboratory , mentoring a team of 15 researchers (postdocs and PhD students), and has graduated over 25 PhD students. Her teaching includes Mobile Health courses at the University of Cambridge, and she serves as Director of Studies for Computer Science at Jesus College.
Dr. Anna Bernard is a Senior Lecturer in Comparative Literature and English at King’s College London, part of the Faculty of Arts & Humanities. She holds a BA from UC Berkeley and a PhD from the University of Cambridge. Her research focuses on postcolonial and world literature, decolonization, and solidarity movements, particularly Palestinian activism and international solidarity campaigns. Bernard has held significant fellowships and grants, including the Leverhulme Research Fellowship and an AHRC Research Network Grant. Her recent works include Decolonizing Comparative Literature (2023) and Decolonizing Literature (2023), which explore decolonial methodologies in academia and literature. She currently researches solidarity movements in Nicaragua, South Africa, and Palestine (1975–1990), emphasizing archival activism and transnational cultural networks. Bernard supervises PhD students in anti-colonial literature and cultural activism, and her teaching spans postcolonial theory and solidarity movements in literature. Education: Bachelor of Arts (UC Berkeley) Doctor of Philosophy (University of Cambridge) Research Interests: Postcolonial and world literature Decolonization and cultural activism Palestinian national movement Solidarity movements and internationalism Literature and human rights Recent Articles: Bernard’s work critiques humanitarian frameworks and emphasizes solidarity-based political action. Her 2023 articles Decolonizing Comparative Literature and Decolonizing Literature challenge Eurocentric academic paradigms. Earlier works include analyses of Palestinian solidarity in 1980s literature and critiques of empathy-driven humanitarianism. Awards: Leverhulme Research Fellowship (2016–17) AHRC Research Network Grant (2013–16) University of York Anniversary Lectureship (2010–11) Grants and Projects: Bernard’s research includes collaborations with Algerian universities and involvement in the International Solidarity Action Research Network (ISARN). She organizes events on solidarity, such as Building Usable Pasts and Decolonizing Higher Education . Lab/Team: Bernard contributes to King’s Critical Economic and Political Thought research group, which examines politics and economics through cultural lenses.
Vazira Fazila-Yacoobali Zamindar serves as Associate Professor of History at Brown University, specializing in modern South Asia, decolonization, and visual archives. Her interdisciplinary work bridges historical scholarship with contemporary art and public engagement, notably through her acclaimed book The Long Partition and the Making of Modern South Asia (2007). Her educational background includes a PhD from Columbia University (2003), MA from the University of Michigan Ann Arbor (1997), and BA from Wellesley College (1992). As Director of Brown's South Asian Studies Program (2012-2016), she co-organized the Brown-Harvard Pakistani Film Festivals and founded the Theory from the South reading group. Zamindar's research critically examines decolonization, displacement, and statelessness through visual and oral histories. Current projects include a graphic novel collaboration with Sarnath Banerjee on Gandhi and Abdul Ghaffar Khan (supported by the Salomon Research Grant) and the Anticolonial solo exhibition at Karachi's Canvas Gallery (2023), exploring anticolonial resistance on the Indo-Afghan border. Her publications reveal evolving interdisciplinary trends: early works focus on Partition refugees and borders, while recent scholarship (2020-2023) emphasizes repair, statelessness architectures, and secularism in South Asian art. Recurring themes include border politics, visual culture, and decolonial methodologies across historical and contemporary contexts. Scientific recognition includes: National Endowment for the Humanities Fellowship (2009-10) Fulbright Research Scholar (2008-9) Richard B. Salomon Faculty Research Award (2022-23) Visiting Fellow at FU Berlin's Center for Affective Societies (2020-21) She actively engages public scholarship through collaborations with Primary Source, RISD Museum, Lahore Museum, and media appearances on BBC Radio's Museum of Lost Objects . Her teaching portfolio includes courses like Resisting Empire: Gandhi and the Making of Modern South Asia and Art History from the South , reflecting commitment to decolonial pedagogy. Zamindar co-leads the Decolonial Initiative on Migration of Objects and People and continues developing her graphic novel project while expanding the Art History from the South series through collaborations with scholars like Tapati Guha-Thakurta.
Yashar Ganjali is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Toronto , leading the Systems and Networking Group . His research spans computer networks , with a focus on data center networking , software-defined networking (SDN) , and congestion control . Education : Not explicitly detailed, but inferred from academic rank as a Professor. His work on flow consolidation , load migration in SDN controllers , and machine learning for network management has been influential. Recent projects include FORESIGHT (2025) for ML-driven scheduling and Meta-Migration (2023) to reduce switch migration latency. Scientific Awards include the IFIP Networking 2025 Best Paper Award . Collaborations with institutions like Google (2024) and Facebook (2019) highlight his industry impact. Advisees include Sepehr Abbasi Zadeh (PhD, 2024). Current projects integrate optical packet switching and eBPF-based network augmentation , aiming to address scalability, micro-bursts, and resource allocation efficiency in cloud environments.
Jane Anna Gordon is a Professor of Political Science at the University of Connecticut with cross-disciplinary affiliations in American Studies, El Instituto, Global Affairs, Philosophy, and Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality Studies. Her work bridges political theory with African diasporic, Caribbean, and decolonial frameworks. Research Focus: Specializing in modern and contemporary political theory, Gordon explores Africana political thought, theories of enslavement, political theories of education, and social science methodologies. Her scholarship emphasizes creolization, critical resistance, and interdisciplinary epistemologies. Recent Publications: Her recent works include Statelessness and Contemporary Enslavement (2020) and Creolizing Rosa Luxemburg (2021), alongside co-edited volumes on Caribbean thought and Richard Wright. These reflect her engagement with decolonial theory, radical democracy, and critical race studies. Leadership Roles: Former President (2014-2016) of the Caribbean Philosophical Association, she directs the CPA Summer School and co-edits the Creolizing the Canon and Global Critical Caribbean Thought book series. She also co-edits the open-access journal Philosophy and Global Affairs .
Sarah J. Zimmerman is a Professor in the Department of History at Western Washington University. Her research and teaching focus on African history, colonialism, and gender studies. She regularly teaches courses such as African History to 1800 , Women, Gender, and Sexuality in African History , and Africa since the 1960s , alongside specialized seminars like War and Militarization in Africa and African Migrations and Diasporas . African History Colonialism Gender Studies Trans-Saharan Trade Postcolonial Theory Her academic work explores intersections of militarization, citizenship, and gender in French colonial contexts. Recent publications analyze topics such as abolition on Gorée Island, colonial misappropriations of Trans-Saharan legacies, and the role of West African women in the French military. Her publications from 2011 to 2023 demonstrate a consistent focus on colonial militarism, gender dynamics, and postcolonial citizenship in African history, with particular emphasis on French imperial networks and West African communities.
