Dr. Birhanu Mekuaninte Kinfu

Birhanu is currently a Scientist in the field of mRNA process development in the Biotech industry in Germany. He earned his PhD from Universität Hamburg specializing in microbial enzymes and processes for industrial and medical applications. Birhanu was awarded with DAAD’s “Research Grant for Doctoral Candidates and Young Academics and Scientists” for his PhD research. He worked as post-doctoral researcher at Universität Hamburg and later at Christian-Albrechts-Universität zu Kiel in metagenomic mining of microbial and phage RNA polymerases for cell-free technologies, as well as screening probiotic functions from animal microbiome.

Birhanu has been keen in facilitating research and academic links between experts and institutes in Germany and Ethiopia with the goal of setting innovative platforms where solutions can meet challenges with the ultimate goal of building capacity in Ethiopia. For instance, he was part of a team from Universität Hamburg that coordinated and conducted hands-on laboratory training in molecular and microbial techniques for emerging researchers at the University of Gondar.

Formerly, Birhanu served as a lecturer at the University of Gondar and as adjunct assistant professor at Addis Ababa University teaching enzyme technology, microbial secondary metabolites and bio-prospecting. He holds a BSc in Applied Microbiology and an MSc in Biotechnology from the University of Gondar and Addis Ababa University, respectively. Furthermore, Birhanu has built a rich network within multiple academic, research, and health institutions across Ethiopia.

Dr. Aderajew Waka Wassie

Medical Research Scientist: Immunologist, Infection Medicine, Global One Health, Global Public Health, Biomedicine & Biotechnology as well as Medical Advisor, Certified Drug Safety Officer for Pharmacovigilance, Clinical Trials Specialist, Monitoring and as well as ICH/GCP expert.

Since the year 2000, Dr. Aderajew Waka has been a pivotal figure in the realms of clinical immunology, autoimmunology, and rheumatology at Charité-University Hospital and German Rheumatology Research Centre (DRFZ), Berlin. Here, he not only honed his skills but also achieved his doctorate. His research primarily focuses on immunology, autoimmune diseases, rheumatology, infection medicine, tropical medicine, global public health, global one health and zoonosis contributing significantly to the renowned Charité-University of Medicine, FU Berlin and the German Rheumatism Research Centre Berlin. Additionally, he is certified for drug safety and monitoring as well as medical products and medical devices. He is honorary lecturer and trainer for Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Assistants, for medical doctors and other health professionals as well as biomedical manpower in Germany. Beyond his clinical and research endeavors, Dr. Waka is passionately committed to the dissemination of knowledge. Since completing his training in Berlin, he has been actively involved in facilitating knowledge exchange between Germany and Ethiopia as well as networking the universities for bilateral cooperation/collaboration of two countries. In Ethiopia, he serves as a lecturer, seminar and course leader, capacity building and consultant at various universities. His efforts are aimed at bridging the gap in medical education, research and practices between different regions, nurturing the next generation of medical professionals in Ethiopia and beyond. He is actively involved to improve environmental health, climate change and community services cooperating with the universities in Ethiopia. Dr. Waka is also an ambassador of Brain City Berlin for Science and Technology. An Ambassador of Tedda Health Science College in Tedda-Gonder Ethiopia. Diaspora Expert for Developing Countries in relation to Health, Education, Research, Capacity Building and Consultation. Since 02/2024 International Diaspora Advisory Board Member of MEG at GIZ & BMZ (Federal Minster of Cooperation and Development). Co-advisor and lecturer for Master and PhD students & lecturer of undergraduate students in different Ethiopian Universities at Medical Colleges and Faculties. Founder and Manager of Kess Waka Meskelo International Medical Center (KWMIMC) in Gonder Ethiopia. Organizing Committee Member and Keynote Speaker of Global Webinar Conference on Public Health. Board Member, Founder & Co-Founder of two Diaspora Organizations in Germany. Member of different International and National Academic Societies in German and beyond. Technical Advisory Board Member of TOG/VSF (Veterinaires Sans Frontieres) in Germany. A Representative Committee member for Ruminant Animals by the Federal Veterinary Chamber in Germany. Member of Global Health Hub Germany, Member of WHO Hub in Germany, Member of One Health Platform in Germany and etc.
Currently, actively focusing on Infection Medicine, Immunology & Vaccinology, Global Public Health, Global One Health, Zoonosis & Food Borne Diseases, Ethiopian Medicinal Plants, Global Health Protection against Infection Diseases, Climate & Environmental Health and Capacity Building via Knowledge Transfer to Developing Countries.

Abiyot Geneme Gebre

Abiyot Geneme Gebre is a Ph.D. Candidate at Chair of Comparative Politics, Interdependence and Globalization, University of Kiel, Research Group ``The Future of Democracy``.

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Abiyot Geneme Gebre earned his Bachelor’s Degree in Economics from Arba Minch University, Ethiopia, graduating with very great distinction, and Diploma in Banking and Finance from Bahir Dar University. He received a DAAD scholarship under the “Public Policy and Good Governance Program” and completed his Master’s Degree in Public Economics, Law, and Politics at Leuphana University, Germany.
Currently as a Ph.D. Candidate at Kiel University, he holds the prestigious Konrad-Adenauer-Foundation (KAS) scholarship for his doctoral research. His current research focuses on political and economic transformation in sub-Saharan Africa, with a particular focus on issues related to democratic transition and economic development. He also works part-time at Umbrella City Lines GmbH.
Previously, he worked with Ethiopia’s Ministry of Finance and Economic Development as a Development Planning and Research Assistant roles first and next as an Economist. Prior to joining the Ministry, he also served as the HIV/AIDS Prevention and Control Coordinator at the Woreda Health Office in the Southwest Region of Ethiopia.

Dr. Seid Muhie Yimam

Dr. Seid Muhie Yimam is currently a Technical Lead at HCDS and a Research Associate at the Language Technology Group at the University of Hamburg.

At HCDS, he leads and consults on research projects focused on digital humanities, primarily involving big data processing of textual content. His current activities include key aspects such as computing and data science research, industry collaboration, HCDS-related technical consultation, and the advancement of digitalization and data science for developing and emerging nations. He also continues to train and teach in areas related to machine learning (ML), artificial intelligence (AI), natural language processing (NLP), and data science.

He is involved in a research data and knowledge management project, an intersectional initiative combining knowledge management, AI, and library science. This project aims to automatically ingest metadata from diverse research reports and projects, presenting the outcomes with appealing visualizations.

Since January 2020, he has been a postdoctoral researcher at the Language Technology Group at the University of Hamburg. He earned his Ph.D. from Universität Hamburg, specializing in integrating adaptive machine learning models into annotation tools and NLP applications. From January 2020 to March 2022, he worked on various research topics, including social media NLP (such as hate speech detection, fake news identification, and sentiment analysis) and low-resource language NLP research, particularly for Amharic, the Ethiopian language. His work has included named entity recognition, semantic models, hate speech detection, and sentiment analysis. He also teaches NLP courses and supervises Master’s projects and theses within the group.

Msc. Ayenew Desalegn

(CAU) Kiel University, Germany

Ayenew Desalegn is a doctoral researcher at the Department of Hydrology and Water Resources Management at CAU Kiel since 2020. He has more than 12 years of development and research experiences in hydrology, water resources, climate change, systems modeling, and climate adaptation.

Mr. Ayenew has extensively participated in the development, application and research of decision support systems for integrated water resources planning and management. He has also developed practical skills of applying analytical tools, global datasets, GIS and Remote sensing products for research and development of natural resources from landscape to river basin scales. His working experience includes data compilation; water resources and hydrological modeling; climate downscaling; spatial analysis of natural resources; study in climate and environment sector.

Dr. Yohannis Birhanu Tadesse

Yohannis Birhanu Tadesse is currently working as a research assistant at the Institute of River and Coastal Engineering, Hamburg University of Technology, under the supervision of Prof. Fröhle. His research focuses on hydrodynamic numerical modelling of environmental flows for flood delineation, analysis of the impacts of sea level rise in coastal and estuarine areas, and promotion of sustainable solutions for flood protection in riverine, estuarine and coastal systems.
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Yohannis began his academic journey at Arba Minch University in Ethiopia, where he graduated with a B.Sc. in Hydraulic Engineering in 2006. After graduation, Yohannis joined Arba Minch University and worked as an Assistant Lecturer, where he contributed to teaching and research from 2006 to 2008.
In pursuit of advanced knowledge, he moved to Europe to attend the Joint European Master in Environmental Studies at the Hamburg University of Technology (TUHH) and Aalborg University with a prestigious Erasmus Mundus scholarship, graduating in 2010. From 2011 to 2014, Yohannis worked on his PhD at TUHH, supported by the prestigious IPSWaT scholarship from the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Since 2014, Yohannis has been working as a research assistant at the Institute of River and Coastal Engineering at TUHH, where he has been involved in various projects specialising in hydrodynamic numerical modelling, hydrology and GIS for environmental applications.

Dr. Biruhalem Taye Beyene

Biruhalem is a Research Fellow in the Department of Molecular Medicine at Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN, USA. His primary research focuses on virus-host interactions to understand disease pathogenesis and to identify diagnostic biomarkers and therapeutic targets. His work combines bioinformatics, computational biology, and big data analytics for target identification, followed by experimental wet lab validation.

Biruhalem earned his Ph.D. from Nanyang Technological University in Singapore, funded by the prestigious SINGA scholarship at the Bioinformatics Institute, A*STAR. He later completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory (EMBL) in Hamburg, Germany, specializing in computational pathway modeling and antiviral discovery. Previously, he served as an Assistant Professor and Lecturer at the Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, and as a clinical laboratory professional at ALERT Hospital in Ethiopia.