SCIAS Fellows

Dr. Toby Bell (Monash University in Melbourne) is a chemist. He received his doctorate from the University of Melbourne in 2002. The subsequent postdoctoral phase brought him to the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (Mülheim) and the Catholic University of Leuven (Belgium). In 2009, he was appointed Lecturer in Physical Chemistry at Monash University and in 2014 he was appointed to a Tenure Track at Monash University. At Monash he heads an interdisciplinary research group using fluorescence techniques to study molecules and cells.

Peter Fineran is a professor at the University of Otago in New Zealand in the Department of Microbiology and Immunology. As the head of the phage-host laboratory, he is investigating mechanisms by which bacteria defend themselves against bacteriophages - viruses that infect bacteria. In particular, his group is studying bacterial CRISPR-Cas, toxin-antitoxin and other defence systems, and how phages can overcome these defences. He aims to exploit these research findings to apply phages as new anti-infectives and use defence systems for biotechnological purposes.

Prof. Fineran started his academic career at the University of Canterbury, New Zealand, where he obtained a bachelor's degree in biochemistry. He completed his doctorate at Cambridge University, UK, where he also worked as a postdoctoral researcher before he started his own group in New Zealand in 2008. He has received numerous awards for his scientific achievements, including the Fleming Prize of the Microbiology Society (UK), and he was recently elected as a Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand.

Prof. Dr. Stefan Hofman (Boston University) is a leading expert in the research of anxiety and anxiety disorders. Since 2008, he is Professor of Psychology at the Department of Psychology of Boston University. He directs the Psychotherapy and Emotion Research Laboratory where he examines anxiety disorders with regard to treatment mechanisms, translational research, culture and mental health, motion research and psychopathology and nosology.

The research focus of Dr. Zhenguo Huang (University of Technology Sydney) is in the field of new boron-containing compounds for potential applications in hydrogen storage and batteries as well as the growth of large and few-layered h-BN nanosheets and borophene, and their novel applications. He currently is a Senior Researcher at the School of Civil and Environmental Engineering of the University of Technology Sydney.

Prof. Dr. Hiroshi Kumigashira (Tohoku University) is one of the leading experts in the field of oxide nanostructures, photoemission spectroscopy and x-ray absorption spectroscopy. He has a Ph.D. in Physics and holds the chair of the Institute of Multidisciplinary Research for Advanced Materials (IMRAM) at Tohoku University and of the Photon Factory, Institute of Materials Structure Science (IMSS) from the High Energy Accelerator Research Organization (KEK).

Mikhail Lopatin received his B.A, M.A (with distincition) and PhD in Musicology from the P.I. Tchaikovsky Conservatory in Moscow (Title of the PhD-Thesis: "Franco-Flemish Masses of the Fiftheenth Century: Issues of Stylistic Development"). His main research focus have been in canons and canonic techniques of Trecento and early Quattrocento music. After his dissertation Mikhail Lopatin initially worked as a lecturer at the Tchaikovsky Convervatory. Lopatin then held positions at internationally renowned institutions: He received a "Swiss Federal Government Scholarship", was Visiting Fellow at the Villa I Tatti at Harvard University (Center for Italien Renaissance Studies, Florence), and Newton Intrerantional Fellow at the University of Oxford (St. Hugh's College). From 2018 to 2020 he is a Humboldt Fellow at the JMU.

During his research stay at the University of Würzburg, Mikhail Lopatin received the renowned "Westrup Prize" for his article "Metapoesis in Trecento Song: 'Divisio' at the Intersection of Love, Poetic Form, and Music" in the journal "Music and Letters" (Vol. 99, 2018).

Prof. Dr. José Hernán Muriel Ciceri (Tecnológico de Monterrey, Mexico) is a legal scholar. After studying at the Santo Tomás University in Bogotá (Colombia), he obtained an LL. M. at the University of Konstanz. He then completed his doctorate there under the supervision of Prof. em. Dr. Dr. h. c. Dieter Lorenz with the thesis "Die Übertragung der Abfallentsorgung auf Dritte" (2006). After several years of practical and academic work in Colombia, he has held a professorship at the University Tecnológico de Monterrey in Puebla (Mexico) since 2021.

In addition to law and technology, Prof. Muriel's research focuses primarily on financial market law, private international law, and environmental and energy law. The cooperation with his Würzburg colleague Prof. Dr. Markus Ludwigs has resulted in a jointly published international conference volume on the topic of "Administrative Law and Sustainable Development (Derecho administrativo y desarrollo sostenible)" (https://www.wup.uni-wuerzburg.de/aktuelles/meldungen/single/news/derecho-administrativo-y-desarrollo-sostenible-verwaltungsrecht-und-nachhaltige-entwicklung/). Another anthology on "Digitalisation as a Challenge for Justice and Administration (La digitalización como reto para la justicia y la administración)" will be published shortly.

Prof. Peter Arnt Nielsen (Copenhagen Business School) is a legal scholar. After graduating in law from the University of Copenhagen, he received his doctorate there in 1999. After holding judicial positions, he has been a professor at the Copenhagen Business School since 2007 and heads the legal department there. Prof. Nielsen has been a member of numerous legislative committees and working groups in the European Union. He is also a member of the Groupe européen de droit international privé and the International Academy of Comparative Law.

His research focuses on international arbitration, mediation, litigation, Danish and international contract law and European private law.

Prof. Dr. Alicia Ponte-Sucre (Central University of Venezuela, UCV) is one of the leading experts regarding the themes Leishmania and Trypanosoma. Prof. Dr. Alicia Ponte-Sucre holds a Magister Scientiarum in Biology (Physiology and Biophysics) and a Doctor of Sciences (Pharmacology). She is Full Professor in Human Physiology at the Faculty of Medicine, UCV. She has several scientific affiliations in her field and acts as external advisor of diverse national and international institutions for projects and scholarships and referee for national and international journals. She is member of the Directorate of the Venezuelan-German cultural organization, named Humboldt Cultural Association. This corporation was founded in Caracas in 1949, with the special task of deepening the ties between Venezuela and Germany, and to promote cultural scientific exchanges between the two countries.

Professor Subhabrata Sen, since July 2019 Professor Designate of Chemistry at Shiv Nadar University, Greater Noida, near New Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, India. He will join this position from July 2019, was the head of the Department of Chemistry at Shiv Nadar University until July 2018. From 2002 to 2012, he gained experience in pharmaceutical industry in companies like Chemocentryx Inc., USA, BASF-India, Pfizer-VMPS before joining academia in 2013. So far, he has mentored seven Ph.D. students. He is an editorial board member of Wiley Journals (Drug Development Research). So far, he has more than fifty peer-reviewed publications in internationally reputed journals and holds several world and US patents. Among the numerous awards he received is the Siebold Collegium Fellowship from University of Würzburg in 2017.

Prof. Dr. Horacio Vanegas-Fischbach (formerly Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research, IVIC) is a Neurobiology scientist. He holds a Bachelor in Medicine and Surgery, a Doctor of Philosophy from Yale University, and has been a full professor at the department of Biophysics and Biochemistry at the IVIC for several years.