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Connect. Empower. Transform.
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The Hub, Issue No. 8, 24 November 2021
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Global Talent Mentoring Says, “Hello, World!”
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Last month, our team had the privilege of formally introducing Global Talent Mentoring to the greater international community at Expo 2020 in Dubai. The successful program we were able to share with the world was thanks in part to the commitment and hard work of our supportive partners, as well as our outstanding mentees and mentors, who have helped make Global Talent Mentoring what it is today. We thank our generous host and program owner, the Hamdan Foundation, whose team worked closely with ours to create a first-class event in which we were honored to take part. I would also like to highlight the excellent work of the foundation’s video production team. The Dubai and Regensburg teams were able to create a wonderful video compilation of mentees and mentor testimonials that we proudly premiered at the event.
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I invite you to meet two of our current participants in our Spotlight section below. Mariam from Saudi Arabia is a highly motivated mentee in computer science, and mentor Dr. Aphrodite Sbiraki from Greece is a veterinary scientist specializing in zoonosis. I would also like to share about my time at the Budapest Talent Summit, where I was part of a live panel of talent development experts.
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Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger
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Calling All Interested STEMM Experts!
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As we prepare to invite a new batch of students to participate as mentees, we are actively seeking mentors to match with the new mentees. Do you know an astrophysicist, a biomedical engineer, an artificial intelligence developer, or some other expert in a specific STEMM field who would be interested in mentoring a talented young person? If so, please refer them to our Mentor Volunteer Form and ask them to register as a mentor. Mentors should be doing advanced work in a specific field of STEMM (as evidenced through, for example, a PhD, publications or patents, or other R&D accomplishments). We accept mentor volunteers year-round, but are especially seeking new mentors right now who are excited to mentor the new batch of mentees. We appreciate your support and look forward to increasing our online talent pool!
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On the World’s Biggest Stage at Expo 2020 in Dubai
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From 18–21 October, the First World Giftedness Center International Conference was held in Dubai, UAE, as part of Expo 2020, where Global Talent Mentoring and its participants were also featured. The hybrid conference brought researchers and practitioners together from all over the world, where they presented research findings and best practices in gifted education, mentoring, and talent development.
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The conference’s opening ceremony was attended by several notable individuals, including UAE Minister of Education Hussain bin Ibrahim Al Hammadi, who shared his vision of creating more opportunities to form a deeper understanding of our collective responsibility towards educating gifted individuals and the future of talent in general. Minister Al Hammadi also highlighted the collaboration between the Hamdan Foundation and the University of Regensburg on building a global platform for the gifted that brings together top scientists, students, experts, and researchers in order to provide tools, methodologies, and scientific developments for the global community.
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Global Talent Mentoring is a flagship offering of the World Giftedness Center (WGC), which celebrated its official launch during the conference. Initiated and owned by the Hamdan Foundation, the WGC is a global hub for talent development designed to create a mindset of cultivation of excellence to support fundamental educational needs around the world.
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As program director of Global Talent Mentoring, Prof. Dr. Stoeger was invited to participate at the conference opening ceremony, where she officially presented Global Talent Mentoring to the world. The presentation included interview testimonials from participating mentees and mentors and was very well received by those in attendance, including national news stations.
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Throughout the four-day conference, Global Talent Mentoring team members from different core program areas were on hand to explain key concepts and objectives about the program. Prof. Dr. Stoeger, along with research team members, presented findings on topics including gifted learners, mentoring for talent development, and best-practice mentoring programs. The engagement and IT teams were also in attendance to present strategies and future concepts.
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The conference was part of Expo 2020, a world expo currently taking place in Dubai. Postponed by one year due to the pandemic, Expo 2020 is a multinational, collaborative event running from 1 October 2021 through 31 March 2022 showcasing the latest concepts in technology, mobility, and sustainability from 192 countries. Global Talent Mentoring is proud to have participated in an event of this scale.
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Get to Know Some of Our Outstanding Participants
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During Expo 2020, we proudly premiered a video compilation showcasing some of our exceptional mentees and mentors. We invite you to watch the video, viewable on the landing page of our website, to hear first-hand what our participants are saying about their Global Talent Mentoring experience!
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We are proud to introduce two of our outstanding participants: Mariam, a student living in Saudi Arabia pursuing studies in computer science, and Dr. Aphrodite Sbiraki, a veterinary science researcher from Greece specializing in zoonosis.
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A Passion for Programming
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Mariam, a Young Talent in Computer Science, Helps Show Us Why Supporting Girls in STEMM is So Important
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Meet Mariam, a 17-year-old student in Saudi Arabia who would like to pursue a career in computer science and artificial intelligence. Originally from Egypt, Mariam has been passionate about programming since a young age. For the past several years, she has had a desire to create things that she saw on the internet, whether it be a game or a website. Mariam’s skill level has since advanced and she is now focusing on how she can use her programming skills to help others.
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Like many of our mentees, Mariam is a great example of a student who is actively engaged in her STEMM passion both at school and during her free time. Mariam prioritizes learning about computer science not only through classes, but also self-education. She has participated in several extracurricular activities in her STEMM area, including national and international robotics competitions, and has worked on projects such as programming an application to help improve mental health.
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Mariam has greatly enjoyed and benefitted from her time in the Global Talent Mentoring community thus far. She is especially appreciative of her mentor, a professor of computer science from Greece, who shares her passion for the field. Mariam regularly communicates with her mentor on our online mentoring platform, where she has also been able to meet other mentees from around the world. Mariam has been impressed by the seriousness and dedication of other mentees to follow their own STEMM goals. In the future, Mariam hopes to use artificial intelligence to improve the distribution and administration of medication, especially for the elderly and disabled.
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Using Animal Science to Help Eradicate Disease
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Dr. Aphrodite Sbiraki Uses her Love of Animals to Help Improve Human Lives
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Dr. Aprodite Sbiraki, one of our many amazing mentors, is an expert in the laboratory diagnosis of zoonosis, which is any disease or infection that can be transmitted from vertebrate animals to humans. It is a topic of particular relevance during this time of COVID-19. A true scientist at heart, Dr. Sbiraki spends many hours of her time performing microbiological analyses on animal and food samples at the Veterinary Laboratory of Chalkis, Greece. As head of the Hellenic Veterinary Laboratory for Salmonellosis and Antimicrobial Resistance, Dr. Sbiraki uses her expertise to collect samples from national and regional authorities in Greece to help fulfill disease control and eradication initiatives for the European Union.
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The doctor of veterinary medicine also represents Greece as an expert in the field by working closely with the European Food Safety Authority and other European agencies, such as the European Union Reference Laboratory (EURL) for Salmonella based in The Netherlands and the EURL for Antimicrobial Resistance based in Denmark.
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Dr. Sbiraki is just as passionate about her role as a mentor as she is about her profession. She meets on the mentoring platform regularly with her mentee from Denmark who has her own aspirations about becoming a veterinary scientist. Dr. Sbiraki takes her responsibility as a role model for a young scientist seriously by working with her mentee to help her see what options exist in the field, motivate her to stay focused on her long-term goals, and provide her with insights into the field that would be impossible to gain from a textbook alone.
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An active and engaged member of our online mentoring community, Dr. Sbiraki continues to be impressed by the willingness of so many professionals and academics who dedicate their time and expertise to help mentor young, motivated people. Dr. Sbiraki feels she has benefitted not only from using platform resources such as free online training, but also by participating in the mentoring process, which can be just as educational and insightful for mentors as mentees.
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Prof. Dr. Heidrun Stoeger at the Budapest Talent Summit
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From 7–8 October, Prof. Dr. Stoeger was invited as a keynote and panel speaker at the Budapest Talent Summit, a biennial event hosted by the Hungarian National Talent Program that centers around talent development and its future potential in the Hungarian and international communities.
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Prof. Dr. Stoeger gave a keynote speech focusing on Global Talent Mentoring and CyberMentor, the Germany-wide online mentoring program for girls in STEM. She also participated in a panel discussion about talent development for women in STEM, which included Csilla Fuszek (Hungary), director of the European Talent Centre, Dr. Zoltán Szalai (Hungary), director of the Mathias Corvinus Collegium, Dr. Orsolya Ildikó Ferencz (Hungary), Ministerial Commissioner for Space Research, Anna Korzeniewska (Poland), founder and CEO of the Talent Development Foundation, and Ambassador Bogyay Katalin (Hungary), president of the United Nations Association of Hungary.
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Comments and questions about The Hub and Global Talent Mentoring can be addressed to Newsletter Editor Ms. Christin Graml.
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