Introducing the Portal Advisory Board!
The Portal is run by ICTP for our scientists across the world, and listening to the community is crucial to mindfully developing the platform. We’re preparing the results of this month's Advisory Board meeting, but for now, let us introduce the 2026 ICTP Global Science Portal Advisory Board!
Imrana Ashraf was the first Pakistani woman to obtain a PhD in quantum optics and in 2004 she received the ICO/ICTP Gallieno Denaro Award. She is a senior member of Optica and the International Society for Optics and Photonics (SPIE), and the managing director of the International Commission for Optics (ICO) in Pakistan. In 2017 she was awarded the ICTP Spirit of Abdus Salam award for her dedication to mentoring students and young researchers and her tireless action to promote the education of young women.
Over the years, Imrana maintained a close association with ICTP as a tutor, as a fellow of the ICTP Training and Research in Italian Laboratories (TRIL) programme, an associate and a lecturer for the Winter College on Optics. In 2025, she was nominated ICTP Institute Associate, in recognition of her service and commitment to ICTP’s mission.
The Associates will be familiar with Francesca Prelazzi, who has been working in the Associates Office since 2009. She describes the things she loves most about the programme is its truly international character and meeting people from very diverse backgrounds. Francesca adds, “When we are all here together in this house of science, we are first and foremost human beings, regardless of our cultures, religions, or beliefs. We all speak the same language, English, and that is enough to create connections. Everything else is an enriching detail that makes our community so special. That’s why staying in touch and sharing information through the Global Portal is so important.”
Kate Shaw is an experimental particle physicist, working on the ATLAS experiment at CERN, and the Deep Underground Neutrino Experiment, Dune, at Fermilab. She is passionate about fundamental physics and data science, physics outreach and communication, and diversity and inclusion, and fostering physics worldwide. Kate is a scientist at ICTP, and a lecturer at the University of Sussex, UK. Kate is also one of the co-founders of ICTP's Physics Without Frontiers programme.
Luis Foà Torres is an Argentinian professor of physics at the University of Chile, working on condensed matter problems related to quantum transport, two-dimensional materials, topological insulators and the physics of driven systems.
After a postdoc at ICTP, Luis worked as a researcher in France and in Germany before returning to Argentina, then moving to Chile, where he has been a professor at the University of Chile since 2016. Over the years, he has returned to ICTP several times, first as a Junior Associate, then as a Simons Associate in the CMSP section. In 2018, he was awarded the ICTP Prize “for his important contributions to our understanding of topological insulators, graphene and two-dimensional materials and nanotubes, including quantum transport and optoelectronics.”
Abdulhafeez Abdulsalam is a mathematics graduate of the University of Ibadan and the ICTP postgraduate diploma, and a former research intern at the University of Vienna, with research interests in analysis, special functions, q-series, number theory, and mathematical animations. Author of peer-reviewed work in integral transforms and special functions. Founder of InvariantMath, a digital platform for mathematical learning, problem culture, and academic collaboration.”
Rachel Bray, is Head of Global Outreach for CERN, and manages CERN’s dynamic alumni programme. She served as its Community Manager from 2017 to 2020 and has led the programme since 2021. Previously, she worked for eight years in CERN’s Engineering Department in the field of product lifecycle management, as well as nine years in the IT section of CERN’s Procurement, Purchasing, and Logistics Department. In addition to her professional duties, Rachel is president of the Association of Sports Communities of European Research Institutes (ASCERI), founder and committee member of the CERN fitness club, and a certified Zumba instructor. She holds degrees from the University of Rennes II (1996) and the International University of Geneva (2020) and is currently pursuing doctoral research in Business Administration (DBA) at the University of Plymouth.
Farah Ben Hammouda is a medical physicist with a Master's degree from the ICTP Medical Physics program, and currently pursuing a PhD in radiotherapy with a focus on prediction models for left breast cancer. Driven by a commitment to both scientific advancement and community, Farah was one of the co-founders of the Master of Medical Physics Alumni Association in 2022 — an initiative dedicated to keeping the MMP community connected through regular webinars and events that unite medical physicists across the globe.
Hanan Sa'adeh is a Professor of Atomic and Molecular Physics (Accelerator-based) at the University of Jordan (UJ), Amman, Jordan, and is a principal researcher at the University of Jordan Van de Graaff Accelerator (JUVAC) facility. She received all her degrees of physics (B.Sc. in 2002 and Ph.D. in 2010) from UJ with the highest distinction. Besides teaching and supervising undergraduate and postgraduate students at UJ since 2013, Hanan has received several grants from international bodies such as ICTP (Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics), IAEA (International Atomic Energy Agency) and the Swedish Institute to carry out research in Jordan and abroad. Among her other achievements, she is the founding supervisor of the LAMBDA Physics Group at UJ.