Conference speaker 1: Pr Ezzeddine ZAGROUBA (Tunis ELMANAR University-Tunisia)

Biography:
Ezzeddine Zagrouba received his HDR at the FST/University of Tunis ElManar and his PhD and engineering degree from the Polytechnic National Institute of Toulouse (ENSEEIHT/INPT) in France.
He is a full Professor of computer Science at the Higher Institute of Computer Science – University of Tunis El Manar (ISI-UTM). He was the director of ISD-UMA (2009-2011), the director of ISI-UTM (2011-2014) and then the vice president of the Virtual University of Tunis “UVT” (2014 – 2020).
He was also the General Director of the National Center of Technologies in Education (CNTE) (2021-22).
Actually, he is the director of the research laboratory LIMTIC “Informatique, Modélisation et traitement de l’Information et de la Connaissance”. He serves also as an expert specially in the field of digitalisation, smart education and technologies.
His main research activity is focused on artificial intelligence, imaging, computer vision and knowledge discovery.
His academic mission concerns :
       – Teaching graduate courses for License, Master & Engineer levels.
       – Supervising Research  activity : Internships, Masters, PhD. and HDR.
       – Leading, expertising and contributing on R&DI international and national projects
Conference speaker 2: Dr Mejdi AYARI (AUF ( Maghreb Direction))

Biography:

Mejdi Ayari, PhD in education and training sciences. Senior project manager at the AUF (Maghreb Directorate), specialist in the deployment of distance learning devices as well as the design of training devices for trainers in the field of digital technology and university governance in the Maghreb region. He is the national focal point in Tunisia for the SALEEM project which deploys a student-entrepreneur scheme thanks to funding from the European Union (Erasmus+). Mejdi Ayari is a columnist for RTCI on the theme of education sciences.

Conference speaker 3: Pr Colin de la Higuera (Nantes University-France)

Biography:

Colin de la Higuera is a professor in computer science at Nantes University. His research interests are in machine learning and in particular grammatical inference. He was the founding president of the Société informatique de France (SIF) and, in 2015, he helped launch the Class’Code project, which aims to train teachers and educators in France in code and computer thinking. Today, he is one of the directors of the Knowledge for All foundation, responsible for the Education axis at IRCAI. Since 2017, he is the holder of the Unesco Chair which has been renewed in 2021 with the name “Free Educational Resources and Artificial Intelligence”.

Conference speaker 4: Pr Marc Landry (Bordeaux University-France)

Biography:

Marc Landry is Professor of Neuroscience at the University of Bordeaux. He leads the research team “Purinergic signalling, neuroinflammation and neurological diseases” within the Institute of Neurodegenerative Diseases, CNRS UMR 5293. He coordinates the Euro-Mediterranean Master of Neurosciences-online (EMN-online), in partnership with 11 universities from 8 countries of the Euro-Mediterranean region. He is the co-founder of the Practeex company which aims to develop digital pedagogical tools for practical work.

Conference speaker 5: Pr Khalid BERRADA  ( University Mohammed V-Moroccro)

Biography:

Dr. Khalid Berrada is currently professor of physics and researcher at Mohammed V University – Faculty of Science. He was prof of physics in charge of pedagogical innovation and Director of the Centre for Pedagogical Innovation at Cadi Ayyad University in Marrakech 1996-2021. He is actively involved in basic research and education development for many years. He is UNESCO Chairholder on “Teaching physics by doing” since 2010. He was the founder and president of the Moroccan Society of Applied Physics 2006-2011. He has been member of many commissions and councils and has coordinated modules of physics at the faculty from 1999 to 2015. He has authored (or co-authored) around 80 research papers and has been member of many national and international conference and meeting committees. He is involved or coordinating many international projects at international levels “OpenMed”, “EXPERES”, “MericNET”, “InSide”, “EduBioMed” and other national projects “MicroLab ExAO PPRII”, MUN MOOCs on OER, Neurosciences and Optics, FORMA-REL, .. He has coordinated a Group of research on Educative innovation at UCA (Trans ERIE) and is now leading the Morocco Declaration on Open Education since 2016. He is consultant with UNESCO Abuja Office to develop capacity building in Distance and Open Education and LMS Platform project for teachers in Sierra Leone Universities and Expert with AUF for APPRENDRE FORMA-REL project on Open Educational Resources supported and also for UNIV-OUVERTE@MAROC 2020-2021 with the HE Ministry in Morocco. He is now coordinating a large training program on Open Education Skills Development for ICESCO-FUIW state members.

Conference speaker 6: Pr Daniel BURGOS  ( University UNIR-Spain)

Biography:

Daniel Burgos is Vice-Rector for International Research Projects at the Universidad Internacional de La Rioja (UNIR, Spain). He is also Director of the UNESCO Chair in eLearning and of the Institute for Research, Innovation and Technology in Education (UNIR iTED). He is a professor at An-Najah National University (Palestine, on learning and teaching), an assistant professor at the National University of Colombia (on digital transformation and artificial intelligence), an extraordinary professor at the North West University (South Africa, on self-directed learning) and a visiting professor at Coventry University (UK, on global learning). He has been involved in over 68 public research projects and 100 private development contracts. He is a consultant to the UN, the European Commission, the Russian Academy of Sciences and various national governments. He has published over 200 scientific papers, 30 books and 15 monographs in indexed scientific journals. He holds nine PhDs, including one in computer engineering and education.”

Conference speaker 7: Pr Manuel CASTRO  ( University UNED-Spain)

Biography:

Manuel Castro, Electrical and Computer Engineering Professor in the Spanish University for Distance Education (UNED), is expert in Applications of Simulation and Electronics and in Technology Enhanced Learning. He co-chaired the conferences LWMOOCS 2018, REV 2016, FIE 2014. Is IEEE Fellow, IEEE HKN (Eta Kappa Nu) Professional member, President Emeritus of the IEEE Education Society and Past Director of the IEEE Division VI. He has been awarded among others with: IEEE EdSoc WilliamE. Sayle Award for Achievement in Education, TAEE Tomás Pollán to Discipline Merit, and IGIP Nicola Tesla Chain. Is Honour Ambassador of Madrid Convention Bureau and co-editor of IEEE-RITA.

Conference speaker 8: Pr Barbara CLASS  ( University Geneva)

Biography

Barbara Class has been trained in educational technologies at TECFA, Faculty of Psychology and Education Sciences, University of Geneva, more than 20 years ago. She teaches research methods and leads several projects on Open Education. With colleagues, she is in the process of creating a multilingual scientific journal in Education, Education Libre et Ouverte – Open Education https://oap.unige.ch/journals/eol-oe , to increase freedom and transparency in the scientific process and from the perspective of education and science as common goods. More from: https://tecfa.unige.ch/perso/class/

Conference speaker 9: Dr Nabil El KADHI  ( Khawarizmi International College UA EMIRATES )

Biography

Dr Nabil EL KADHI is the President of Khawarizmi International College (KIC). He has almost 30 years of experience in the academe, and more than 18 years of experience in the management of higher education institutions with an exposure to European and Middle East and North Africa academic systems. He started his professional career in the early 90s; assumed positions ranging from Project Manager and Department Head to Lab Director, Master Programs Director, Dean, Provost, and Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Academic Affairs; Vice Chancellor and President where he remarkably contributed to institutional excellence, and several applied research and industrial projects related mainly  to Data  and Cloud Security and Privacy, Smart Cities and Internet of Things, Digital Transformation and Artificial Intelligence, Secure Payment, Smart Card Use and various Cloud – based applications.

EL KADHI is today a recognized Futurist in both education and innovation side. He was selected among the 50 most Impactful International Leaders in Smart Cities and Smart Applications. He is also the Managing Director and Partner at Innovative Solution and Management Consultancy, President/ Vice-President of various think-tank and associations such as Smart Cities Council, Future University and the Tunisian Association of Future Foresight. EL KADHI is a confirmed Higher Education Quality Expert and an external reviewer in several accreditation bodies.