Director, Bibliotheca Alexandria, Egypt

Ismail Serageldin is director of the Bibliotheca Alexandrina and chairman of the board of its affiliated seven research institutes and three museums. He is also a member of the Shura Council, co-chair of the African Biotechnology Panel, vice president of the Academy of Sciences of the Developing World (TWAS), a Member of the Board of the Suzanne Mubarak Woman`s International Peace Movement, the Shura Council and a chair or member of various boards and advisory committees for academic, research, scientific and civil society institutions.

Dr. Serageldin worked in a number of capacities at the World Bank between 1972 and 2000, including vice president for environmentally and socially sustainable development (1993-98). He was active in promoting NGO-World Bank relations and served as co-chair of the NGO-Bank Committee from 1997 to 1999. Prior to the World Bank, he worked as a consultant in city and regional planning, and taught at Cairo and Harvard universities.

Dr. Serageldin has also served as a member of the high-level group of the UN secretary-general’s Alliance of Civilizations initiative (2005-06); chairman of the Youth Employment Summit (YES) campaign (1998-2002) and the Global Water Partnership (1996-2000); and co-chair of the Inter-Academy Council Panel on Capacity Building in Science and Technology (2002-04). He has edited or authored over 50 books and monographs and written around 200 articles, book chapters and technical papers on various topics.