Public Lecture by Dr Ismail Serageldin

ISMAIL SERAGELDIN, The Emeritus Founding Director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina (BA), the new Library of Alexandria, inaugurated in 2002, is currently, and member of the Board of Trustees of the Library of Alexandria. He is advisor to the Egyptian Prime Minister in matters concerning culture, science, and museums, and Advisor to the Shaikh Al-Azhar on the design of the new Library of al-Azhar. He serves as Chair and Member of a number of advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and international institutions, including as co-Chair of the Nizami Ganjavi International Center (NGIC), and serves on the Board of the Science and Technology for Society (STS) Forum in Japan, and is a member of the Council of the World Food Prize, and the Steering Committee of the Innovation for a Cool Earth (ICEF) in Tokyo.

He has lectured widely all over the world including delivering the Mandela Lecture (Johannesburg, 2011), the Nexus Lecture (Netherlands, 2011), the Keynote Address to the First International Summit of the Book (Washington DC, 2012). He was distinguished professor at Wageningen University and at the College de France. He has published over 100 books and monographs and over 500 papers on a variety of topics including biotechnology, rural development, sustainability, and the value of science to society. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering from Cairo University and Master’s degree and a PhD from Harvard University and has received over 35 honorary doctorates.