Panel discussion Growth: Goals & Achievements – Hazards & Disadvantages



Wednesday, 15. October 2008 | 15:00 Uhr

Speaker

Kuno Rüst / Gerd Folkers / Paul Embrechts

Organisation

Monastery of Engelberg / ETH Zurich / ETH Zurich

Kuno Rüst / Gerd Folkers / Paul Embrechts

Kuno Rüst was born in Thal, Canton of St. Gallen, on the 6th of April 1948.
After successful completion of the general qualification for university entrance, he studied economics and mathematics at the University of St. Gallen.
In 1983, he entered the Benedictine Monastery of Engelberg where he serves as Sub-Prior.
He teaches mathematics and economics at the boarding school of the Monastery of Engelberg.

Gerd Folkers has been Full Professor of Pharmaceutical Chemistry at ETH Zurich since 1994 and Associate Professor since 1991. He took the Chair of the Collegium Helveticum on the first of October 2004.

Born in Andernach/Rhein (Germany) in 1953, Folkers studied Pharmacy at the University of Bonn where he earned his doctorate subsequently. With his doctoral advisor he relocated to the University of Tübingen in 1983 and completed his habilitation there in 1989. During a stay with H.-D. Höltje in Berne in 1984/85, he studied new research methods in computer-aided molecular design. He expanded his knowledge during other stays abroad, especially at the Birkbeck College in London and at the Texas A&M University in College Station.

His research focus lies on the molecular interaction between drugs and its binding sites in vivo. Folkers is particularly interested in the strong integration of computer-aided modelling and relevant biochemical/biophysical experiments. Besides the research on molecular mechanism of «conventional» nucleoside therapeutics against virus infection and cancer, his special interest has shifted to immuno therapeutics.

He is editor of the journals «QSAR» and «Pharmaceutica Acta Helvetiae», author and editor of diverse scientific books, Vice President of the «Schweizerische Gesellschaft der Pharmazeutischen Wissenschaften», member of the executive board of the «Schweizerische Akademie der Technischen Wissenschaften» as well as a member of the board of many international scientific societies.

Born 1953 in Schoten, Belgium.

Paul Embrechts is Professor of Mathematics at the ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology, Zürich) where he teaches insurance and financial mathematics.

He received his mathematics diploma from the University of Antwerp, his doctorate from the Catholic University of Leuven and, prior to joining the ETH Zurich in 1989, taught at the Universities of London (Imperial College) and Limburg at Diepenbeek (Belgium). He has published extensively in the areas of applied probability, insurance and finance, and co-authored a standard book on the modelling of extremal events for insurance and finance.

His current research interests include integrated risk management, securitisation of insurance risk (alternative risk transfer) and extreme value analysis. He is editor of the Astin BULLETIN, associate editor for (among others) Finance and Stochastics and Insurance: Mathematics and Economics. He is a regular invited speaker at international scientific conferences, as well as in industry. He holds numerous academic and industrial positions. A detailed biography is to be found under his personal Web-Site.

Donators and Partners

The ETH Board is responsible for the strategic leadership of the ETH domain and assumes the supervision of its institutions. Its close relationship with the ETH Council has contributed to the successful continuation of Academia Engelberg Foundation since 2000.

The Foundation promotes research into the connecting human fundamentals of science. Academia Engelberg Foundation and the Foundation for Basic Research in Human Sciences have entered into a cooperation agreement for the period 2011 to 2015.

Helvetia is a quality-oriented comprehensive insurance company with over 150 years of experience. Academia Engelberg Foundation is convinced it will be able to use important synergies from the partnership starting in 2015.

A partnership with the University of Lucerne has existed since summer 2013. Since 2016 we have also a parthership with the Faculty of Economics and Management of the University of Lucerne. Through these partnerships, synergies are used and joint projects are tested and realized. The University of Lucerne currently consists of three faculties: the faculties for Theology, Culture and Social Sciences, and Law.