Chairman of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation (MBRF)
Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award

Under directives from His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai, the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award has, since its inception, sought to bring a message of appreciation to those who have dedicated time and effort to the production and dissemination of knowledge, reflecting the UAE Government’s commitment to supporting knowledge and creativity.

The Award identifies the production and dissemination of knowledge as the foundation that societies are built upon, and the optimal path towards sustainable development. It provides a strong incentive for people to exert more efforts and get involved in knowledge-centric programmes and initiatives. This, in turn, allows them to serve and develop their communities.

We express our gratitude to our wise leaders for their unwavering support for any initiative that stands to produce, disseminate, and localise knowledge in our region. This is the cornerstone of our excellence, achievements, and status among nations.

Message from His Highness Sheikh Ahmed bin Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Chairman of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation, Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award.

His Excellency Jamal bin Huwaireb serves as Cultural Advisor to the Government of Dubai. Since 2013, he has been managing the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation (MBRF), and in 2016, he was appointed as Secretary General of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award. H.E. bin Huwaireb also heads MBRF’s board of advisors.

In 2017, a law was issued to adopt the current name of the Foundation – it was previously known as the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Foundation. Under his leadership, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Foundation launched a host of ambitious knowledge-related projects in the UAE and the region. The most
notable of these projects were the Knowledge Summit, the Knowledge Index, the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award, the Arab Reading Index, Knowledge4All, and the Nobel Museum. Led by H.E. bin Huwaireb, the Foundation also founded Qindeel Printing,
Publishing and Distribution, and Qindeel Educational, in addition to the Dubai Digital Library,Audio Book, Esteraht Sayedat, the Dubai International Program for Writing, and other ground- breaking projects that aim to spread knowledge in the region and the world.

Locally, H.E. strengthened partnerships with the ministries, government and public and private institutions, such as the Roads and Transport Authority, Dubai Municipality, Dubai Electricity and Water Authority, the Ministry of Education, the Department of Economic
Development, Aramex, the Red Crescent, and AMIDEAST. He also worked to expand the Foundation's activities globally through partnerships with leading knowledge institutions such as Oxford University, the Goethe Institute, Japanese Culture and Arts Foundation, Frankfurt Book Fair, the Nobel Foundation, and LinkedIn.
Bin Huwaireb is a board member at the Dubai Media Incorporated, and a member of the Executive Committee of the Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum Global Initiatives. He also serves as vice-chairman of the National Curriculum Development Committee. He is a member
of the advisory board of the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences at Sharjah University, and also a member of the advisory board of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at the UAE University. He was appointed as a member of the Global
Leadership Council of the Said Business School, University of Oxford.

Member of the Board of Trustees

Leora Hanser is the Senior Vice President, Partnerships at the National Geographic Society, where she is responsible for fostering alliances with individuals, organizations, foundations and corporations to increase and diversify funding for the nonprofit Society.

Prior to assuming her current role, Hanser served as chief of staff in the Mayor’s Office of Strategic Partnerships for the City of New York. In this capacity, she led and coordinated private sector engagement and philanthropic activities across 75 city agencies and 12 city-affiliated nonprofit organizations in support of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s administration.

Additionally, as chief of staff, she identified and crafted partnerships between major corporations, foundations and individual philanthropists for public-private initiatives, including Unilever, Inc., Scholastic, Inc., the U.S. Soccer Foundation and Sesame Workshop.

Previously, Hanser was interim CEO for the Women’s Sports and Fitness Foundation (WSFF), director of campaigns and advocacy at Save the Children UK and a director of development and external affairs at the Hansard Society.

Hanser began her career working for the office of U.S. Senator Charles Schumer. She received an A.B. in political science from Barnard College, Columbia University, and a M.S. in social policy research from the London School of Economics and Political Science.

Member of the Board of Trustees of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum Knowledge Award

Nick Rawlins is Professor of Behavioural Neuroscience at the University of Oxford and was appointed Pro-Vice-Chancellor for Development and External Affairs in October 2010.  Professor Rawlins completed both his BA and DPhil at Oxford. His research spans areas including the neural basis of memory, brain degeneration, pain and anxiety, and he has published widely in these fields. He was elected Fellow of the Academy of Medical Sciences in 2006 and Fellow of the British Psychological Society in 2010. Professor Rawlins was Associate Head of Oxford’s Medical Sciences Division from 2008 until taking up his present post. He was a Junior Research Fellow at University College and then a Senior Research Fellow there before taking up a tutorial Fellowship which he held for more than 20 years, as University Lecturer and Sir Jules Thorne Tutorial Fellow.  He moved to Wolfson College as the Watts Professor of Psychology and a Professorial Fellow in 2007.  He stood down from the Watts Chair on accepting the appointment as Pro-Vice-Chancellor but he remains at Wolfson College.

Member of the Board of Trustees

DR. Ali Ahmed Alghafli is Vice Dean for Social Sciences at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences, UAE University (UAEU). He holds Ph.D. from Michigan State University, in International Relations and Comparative Politics; M.A. from Ohio State University, in Comparative Politics (Western Democracies); and B.A. from the United Arab Emirates University, in Political Science and Public Administration.

Dr. Alghafli is Faculty member in the Political Science Department, at the UAE University where he was Associate Dean, College of Humanities and Social Sciences from 2003 to 2007, and chaired the Political Science Department from 2002 to 2012.

Member of the Board of Trustees

Professor Zehnder member of the Board of Trustees of Nanyang
Technological University (NTU), Singapore, Scientific Director of Water
Resources of Alberta Innovates in Edmonton, Canada, founder and director of triple Z Ltd., former president of the ETH Board and Professor emeritus of ETH Zurich, Switzerland.

He heads NTU’s Sustainable Earth Office which coordinates NTU’s
sustainability activities, organizes the Singapore Sustainability Symposium (S3) and chairs the Scientific Advisory Board of SCELSE, one of Singapore’s Research Centre of Excellence.

He is a member of the Council STS (Science and Technology in Society)
forum Kyoto and Nestlé’s Advisory Board on Creating Shared Value.
He completed his studies in Natural Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) and did his PhD at ETH and the Swiss Water Research Institute. Prof Zehnder holds an honorary doctoral degree from the University in Nancy, France.

His scientific work focuses on water policy, the nexus between water, energy and food security, water safety and infrastructures, as well as innovative solutions in industrial water treatment, particularly in the oil and gas industry.