Keynote Speakers

Ruth Graham
Higher Education Consultant

Reward and Recognition of University Teaching

Abstract available later.

The Speaker

A Mechanical Engineer by training, Dr Ruth Graham specialised in aeronautical fatigue, 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.

Ruth has worked as an independent consultant since 2008. Her work is focused on fostering change in higher education across the world; helping to improve teaching and learning worldwide and supporting the emergence of technology-driven entrepreneurship within universities. Ruth’s recent projects have included:

• a global benchmarking study on the future of engineering education, conducted on behalf of MIT;
• a multi-year initiative to improve the reward and recognition of teaching in higher education that is now supporting reform to the tenure and promotion systems of over 50 universities worldwide;
• a cross-institutional survey to capture and track the culture and status of teaching amongst faculty, in which 21 universities from 10 countries are participating.

Further details can be found on Ruth’s website – www.rhgraham.org – which provides an outline of recent projects as well as copies of her published reports.

Hanno Hortsch
President of IGIP, Dresden, Germany

The Speaker

Professional Leadership Services

Since the 1990s, he has been involved with a multitude of professional research service projects in 28 countries and presently involved with programs in China, Chile, Germany, Czech Republic, Thailand and Kenya. He is Honorary Professor at different international universities.

Educational Qualifications

Academic Positions (since 1990)

Tarmo Soomere
Mathematician, Marine Scientist, President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences

The Speaker

Tarmo Soomere is mathematician and marine scientist, PhD in oceanology (1984), Doctor of Mathematics (1992); Professor of Coastal Engineering in Tallinn University of Technology (2005); member of Academia Europaea (2009); since 2007 elected member and since 2014 the President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences. In this capacity, he is de facto acting as Chief Science Advisor in the country.

His scientific interests are concentrated on the analysis of wave climate, wave-driven coastal processes, mitigation of marine hazards, and preventive methods of coastal protection. He has published >200 research papers and dozens of science policy essays.

He has received twice the national science award (2002, 2013) and state decoration of 3rd class White Star order for developing coastal science in Estonia (2014). International recognitions include foreign membership of Latvian Academy of Sciences and Lithuanian Academy of Sciences, and Doctor honoris causa by Klaipeda University. Several highly unusual distinctions for a scientist came from society: he was declared the Person of the Year in Estonia 2005 by daily newspaper The Postman for his contribution to the forecast of a devastating storm and received The Friend of Press award by the Estonian Society of Newspapers (2017).

Currently he is the member of Research and Development Council in Estonia, representative of Estonia in European Marine Board, and chairman of the European Science Advisors’ Forum ESAF.