Global Committee

Dr Nigel Healey is Professor of International Higher Education and Vice President (Global and Community Engagement) at the University of Limerick. He is currently serving as Interim Provost and Deputy President. Prior to his appointment at the University of Limerick in 2020, he held senior academic positions at Fiji National University, Nottingham Trent University, the University of Canterbury and Manchester Metropolitan University, as well as teaching and research positions at the University of Leicester and Leeds Beckett University.

Dr Healey has been an economic policy advisor to the prime minister of Belarus and the deputy minister of economy of the Russian Federation and managed a number of multinational research and economic development projects in Europe and Asia. His current research interests are in the internationalization of higher education, transnational education and higher education policy and management. Dr Healey has a PhD in Management and a DBA in Higher Education Management and is a Principal Fellow of the Higher Education Academy.

Professor Ghassan Aouad has been President of Applied Science University in Bahrain since November 2014. He has a BSc in Civil Engineering from Beirut Arab University and an MSc and a PhD in Construction Management from Loughborough University in the UK. Professor Aouad spent 20 years at the University of Salford in the UK and before he left he was Pro Vice Chancellor for Research and Innovation. During that time, he successfully supervised 24 PhD students, authored 3 major research books and co-authored one book, and delivered more than 50 keynote speeches in 42 countries. In January 2012, he became President of the University of Wollongong in Dubai (UOWD) and in May 2013, he became Vice President for Academic Affairs at Gulf University for Science & Technology (GUST) based in Kuwait. In July 2016, Professor Aouad received an Honorary Doctorate of Technology from Loughborough University in the UK.

Dr. Thurman, a multiple teaching and service award recipient, has extensive advisory and management experience helping a variety of global firms realize value from innovative business, operations, and technology strategies. He has held senior positions at Booz Allen Hamilton and American Express, and has served public and private sector clients on six continents. Paul’s consulting work focuses on facilitation and analytical modeling to support strategic planning and decision-making, cost management, and improved customer experiences. He has also developed solutions around customer segmentation, demand forecasting, and performance improvement. He currently runs his own management and education consultancy and is a frequent conference presenter. Professor Thurman currently teaches strategic management and data analysis courses at Columbia’s Mailman School of Public Health. He has also taught courses in decision, risk, and operations in the full-time and Executive MBA Programs at the Columbia, London, and University of California, Berkeley business schools, and at Columbia’s School of International and Public Affairs. Paul was also a Healthcare Research Fellow, Professor, and MBA Program Director at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO in Russia, and he has held visiting professorships in China, India, Brazil, Greece, Saudi Arabia, Chile, Australia, and Iceland. In addition to his faculty appointments, Paul serves as a clinical professor and affiliated researcher at the National Cancer Institute’s Center for Cancer Research at the National Institutes of Health. His recent peer-reviewed research has focused on scientific collaboration and its effect on research quality, and also on cancer drug patents, FDA approvals, and market pricing. He is the author of MBA Fundamentals Statistics, (Kaplan, 2008; CreateSpace 2016), Pocket Guide to Data Analysis (Kaplan, 2009), and co-author (with Thomas P. Ference) of MBA Fundamentals Strategy (Kaplan, 2009; CreateSpace 2016). Dr. Thurman is also lead editor and chapter author, with colleagues from around the world, of Female Immigrant Entrepreneurs, Father-Daughter Succession in Family Businesses, Entrepreneurship and Sustainability, and Leadership and Change Management: A Cross-Cultural Perspective, four research compendia published by Gower/Taylor and Rutledge (UK) from 2010-2016. In 2013, Paul completed a text for the SAS Institute, Propensity Scoring and Adjustment for Causal Inference, and presently, in addition to leading USAID-, CDC-, and HRSA-funded efforts to reform public health education in Mozambique, Sierra Leone, and Democratic Republic of Congo, Paul is working with the World Bank to develop a text and workshop on data analysis and decision-making in fragile states focused on the country of Sudan. He recently published his 10th book, a text on strategic planning and decision-making, for the SAS Institute. Finally, Paul has served on the boards of the Greenburgh (New York) Nature Center, the Scarsdale (New York) Teen Center, and currently sits on the advisory boards of a number of entrepreneurial ventures in healthcare, media and entertainment, and information technology security. Paul received his BS in mathematics from Stanford University and his MBA (valedictorian) from Columbia. He also completed doctoral work in health policy and management at the State University of New York and received his Doctor of Business Administration (DBA) degree from the Ecole des Ponts Business School in Paris, France.

Abdul Haris is a Geophysics Professor at Universitas Indonesia’s Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. Prof. Haris earned his Doctor rerum naturalium in Geophysics from the University of Kiel in Germany. He successfully defended his dissertation entitled “Amplitude Preserving Pre-stack Depth Migration and Its Application to Imaging of BSR in Marine Multichannel Seismic Reflection Data.”

Prof. Haris began his career at Universitas Indonesia in 1999 as a lecturer in the Department of Physics and a researcher in the Research Center for Marine Geosciences. He has extensive management experience at Universitas Indonesia, beginning as the Faculty Secretary in 2008, progressing to Chief Geoscientist in 2013, and Dean of the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences from 2014 to 2019. He was then appointed as the Vice-Rector Universitas Indonesia in Research and Innovation until 2020, and he is currently the Vice-Rector Universitas Indonesia in Academics and Student Affairs (2020-present).

Prof. Haris has vast professional experience as an Indonesian oil and gas exploration consultant. He is also active in several academic organizations, such as the Vice President of the Association of Indonesian Geophysicists (HAGI), the Association of Indonesian Geologists (IAGI), and the American Association of Petroleum Geologists (AAPG).

Prof. Haris is frequently assigned to lead transformational change in higher education in the managerial field. As Dean, he was successful in establishing multidisciplinary research laboratories in collaboration with Pertamina at the Faculty of Mathematics and Natural Sciences. He also established an independent natural and formal sciences accreditation agency (LAMSAMA) to improve the quality of mathematics and natural sciences education in Indonesia.

Prof. Haris specialized in hydrocarbon reservoirs, seismic analysis, and geostatistics. His research in the abovementioned fields has been published in the prestigious International Journal of Geoscience. In addition, he was named SINTA’s best researcher in Indonesia by the Minister of Research and Technology of the Republic of Indonesia and received an honorable mention in the Asia Pacific Regional Imperial Barrel Award in 2017.

Being a polymath, she strongly believes in lifelong learning and is currently pursuing her second PhD in Educational Technology and Learning Design at Simon Fraser University. Her current research is related to faculty professional development in blended learning. Prior to shifting her career and moving to Canada Dr. Shilibekova was the First ViceRector of the Atyrau State University and the Founding Director of the Center for International and Regional Studies at Gumilyov Eurasian National University in Kazakhstan.

Christine has worked with international companies, schools, and government agencies in the United States, Europe, India, Africa, and the United Arab Emirates to develop high-impact leadership, learning, and organizational transformation programs. Christine is the co-founder of Mirai, a strategic innovation consultancy, and a doctoral candidate at the University of Pennsylvania in organizational learning with a focus on leadership for innovation.

In her previous roles as the Vice President for the TELLAL Institute (GEMS Education) and Head of Innovation Strategy for GEMS Education, Christine was responsible for leading professional learning and development, educational research, and strategic partnerships for schools and corporate entities across the UAE. In this capacity, Christine developed Creating Communities of Innovation, a project run with Harvard University’s Project Zero focused on transforming schools through pedagogical, technological, and leadership innovation.

Christine served as the TELLAL Chair for the Learning Innovations Laboratory at Harvard University, was a Harvard University Project Zero Classroom faculty member, and is a member of the advisory board for the Dubai Silicon Oasis Authority and GEMS First Point School. She is also the board chair at Wellington International School. Christine writes on innovation, education, technology, and entrepreneurship for Forbes and the Huffington Post and is a regular contributor to Edutopia and on Dubai Eye.

Dr Diah Wihardini is the Director of BINUS Global of Bina Nusantara (BINUS) Universityin Jakarta, Indonesia. She tookher PhD in educational measurementat UC Berkeleyunder the Presidential Fulbright scholarship, a M.Ed at Flinders University, anda B.Sc (Hons) in Mathematics and Computer Science at the University of Adelaide. Her research interests include item response modelling and development, international assessments, teaching and learning, and educational policy analysis.At BINUS, she handles all activities related to internationalisations and collaborations, and teaches mathematics and statistics coursesat undergraduate level.

Hector G. Ceballos is Director of the Living Lab & Data Hub at the Tecnologico de Monterrey’s Institute for the Future of Education (IFE). He collaborates with the Research Group on Advanced Artificial Intelligence of the School of Science and Engineering at Tecnologico de Monterrey where he is also advisor of master and PhD students on Computer Science. He is also member of the Mexican Researcher System (SNI Level 1) and adherent member of the Mexican Society on Computing (AMEXCOMP). He has also worked as expert consultor for bank and IT companies, and promoted the adoption of Semantic Web technologies in academy, government and industry. Héctor has a masters and a PhD on Artificial Intelligence by Tecnológico de Monterrey. His research lines include the application of AI techniques on Scientometrics, Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics. He has (co)advised more than twenty master and one Phd thesis in these research lines at Tecnologico de Monterrey.

She has started her career in higher education in BINUS University, Jakarta, Indonesia in 2008 as a lecturer. During her 10years at BINUS University, she has been in charge of the first EPAS accreditation in Indonesia, head of an international business bachelor program, and finally the director of International and industry partnerships, international office, and QS ranking strategy.

She is French and graduated from ESG Paris (PGSM) with a master in international business Her previous european corporate experience was in international businessat Amore Pacific, Paris, France,and supply chain managementat Toyota Europe, Brussels, Belgium.

Prior to joining Loughborough, Martyn has held a number of senior recruitment and marketing roles across different organisations within the HE sector including the British Council, University of Nottingham and IDP Education. More recently he was Interim Director of Marketing, Recruitment and International at Swansea University.

Martyn is a graduate of Cardiff University with a bachelor degree in English and a Masters in Strategic Marketing, further to this he holds a postgraduate qualification from the University of Manchester. He is a former Vice-Chair of the British Universities International Liaison Association (BUILA) and of the Chartered Institute of Marketing (CIM) Higher Education Special Interest Group.In addition to his work with the QS Global Advisory Committee, Martyn is also a current member of the District Cabinet UK and Ireland for the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE).

Engr. Nestor Rubio Ong is a full-time faculty member and is presently the Deputy Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Office of QS/THE Rankings. Previously, he served as Assistant Director of the University of Santo Tomas’ Quality Management Office,chair of the IE Department and dean of the College of Engineering of Lyceum of the Philippines-Laguna, and as senior manager of INTEL Philippines.

Engr. Ong is a Professional Industrial Engineer and an ASEAN Engineer. He was the very first to join the ASEAN Engineer registry in 2012 from the UST Faculty of Engineering. The recognition is given to engineers in the Southeast Asian region who have achieved “operational excellence in the field of engineering.”

With his more than two decades of accomplishment-laden experience in several multinational manufacturing companies by assuming various senior and technical management positions, Engr. Ong successfully turned around every manufacturing arena into delivering the necessary factory systems to enable World Class Manufacturing. His excellent leadership efforts won for him several recognitions/awards. One of his notable achievements, when he was named as INTEL Key Employee in Year 2000 in recognition of his valuable services and contributions to INTEL’s operation. This is Intel’s highest recognition award given to a deserving and consistently rated outstanding employee. INTEL Philippines was the nation’s leading exporter for many years past.

With his strong background in various key areas of expertise, he is the prime mover in the successful ISO Certification of UST. He is being considered to be a high caliber consultant that can be tapped in both the industry and academia. Moreover, Engr. Ongcrafted a framework of the UST’s EQMS (Educational Quality Management System) for excellence which became his research paper as accepted in two international conferences in the same year entitled, “An Integrated Framework: Unifying Diverse Perspectives inEQMS” and turned out in reality when UST earned the distinction of being the first and only university in the Philippines with the four-star rating inQSStars Rating awardedin 2015 and 2017.Now, UST becomes firstand onlyPhilippineuniversity with five stars QS rating. Moreover, four of his research papers have been accepted into International Journal of Advanced Science and Technology, which is a Q3 Journal under SCIMAGO-SCOPUS Rankings.

Engr. Ong is currently the only Filipino sitting as a member of the International Academic Advisory Committee of Quacquarelli-Symonds (QS) since 2015.Simultaneously, he has been chosen as the chair of the parallel sessions committee under the different tracksin every QS International Conference and Exhibit annual events.Several international universities have invited him to sit as one of their advisoryboard membersat their international conferences.

Engr. Ong holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering degree from the University of the Philippines-Diliman where he was a consistent UPCE-PCIERD scholar and a BSIE degree from the MAPUA Institute of Technology.

Paul Mullally began his career as a chemist in science laboratories and moved to working in the Higher Education field in 2007. He has been directly involved with student recruitment from a range of different countries and regions, and he has worked for several institutions over the years including two in Ireland: Griffith College and Maynooth University. He was also a former Deputy Director of Griffith International at Griffith University in Australia. Over the last 7years, Paul has been an international education consultant and has worked with universities in Ireland, UK, US, Australia, and NZ to help with their internationalisation strategies. Paul and his team have contributed to the development of international education over the years by writing internationalisation strategies and implementing them for institutions as well as contributing to national and international discussions and forums relating to international education. His company, Education Lighthouse, has recruited students from many different regions for all his clients. He has attended, exhibited, and presented at many international conferences around the world.

Pei-Shan Tsai, PhD, RN, is a professor at Taipei Medical University College ofNursing. Her research focuses on the link between stress‐response systems and chronic illnesses and outcomes of nursing care of patients with stress‐related illnesses. Having published more than 180 peer-reviewed articles in medical, psychology, and nursing journals, Tsai is noted for bringing researchers from different fields together to collaborate on research projects that have important clinical and policymaking implications. In her capacity as Dean of TMU Office of Global Engagement, she leads a team of professionals and academics to assist international exchange of people and ideas, facilitate collaboration in education and research, and promote the institution’s achievements. Working closely with the University’s Senior Leadership Team, Tsai providesstrategic advice and practical solutions to the institution’s vision for international development. She is an active participant in international networks and a member of the QS Academic Committee.

Dr. Wafa El Garah is Professor of Management Information Systems (MIS), Project Director of the Center for Business Ethics at Al Akhawayn University in Ifrane(AUI), and Fellow, lifetime member of the European Foundation of Management Development (EFMD). She served as Vice President for Academic Affairs at AUI where she successfully led the university through the last stage of the NECHE Accreditation process. She served as Dean of the School of Business Administration for 5 years. During her deanship tenure, she led the school through EFMD reaccreditation of the BBA program leading to 5-year accreditation. Dr. ElGarah holds a Ph.D. in MIS from University of Central Florida and MBA in Marketing and Management from University of North Texas, USA. She is member of the board of the EFMD and the European Program Accreditation Committee. She is also member of the International Advisory board of University of Business and Technology, Jeddah.