Pedro Alonso feels privileged to be able to do something he loves as a career –research– and to have the opportunity to develop a vaccine against malaria after dedicating more than three decades to research.
Full professor and Director of the Barcelona Institute for Global Health (ISGlobal) - CRESIB (Barcelona Centre for International Health Research developed by Hospital Clínic and the University of Barcelona), and President of the Board of Governors of the Manhiça Foundation, the Manhiça Health Research Centre (CISM, Mozambique). The RTS, S vaccine against malaria (which could be available in 2014) has been chosen by the prestigious scientific journalScience and by Time Magazine as one of the top ten medical breakthroughs of 2011. Winner of the Prince of Asturias Award for International Cooperation 2008, with his work Alonso hopes to "make his small contribution towards creating a world in which the place where a person is born no longer decides their chances of survival."
When he was six years old, Ryan Hreljac was shocked to discover that millions of children in Africa had to walk several kilometres to collect drinking water. A year later, he managed to gather enough support to build a well in a school in Uganda. Today, at the age of 21, he is a passionate and committed campaigner for water management and sanitation. Since it was founded, Ryan’s Well Foundation has helped to build more than 700 wells and 900 latrines which have improved the sanitary conditions of close to 745,000 people. Ryan also gets local schools and communities involved in correct water management through educational programmes. His message is that if everybody works together, whether children or adults, we can help to improve society and make a difference.
Kadija James is Deputy General Director of Nos Quartiers ont des Talents, an association founded in 2005 in the Parisian banlieue of Seine-Saint-Denis to showcase the talent of the young residents of these outskirts and to accompany them in the transition process between their higher education and finding their first job. This association has turned almost 3,000 company directors from all sectors in France into mentors, who have sponsored more than 12,400 young people, 75% of whom have found work in their field of study after completing the mentoring programme.
Passionate about radio and technology, Paco Ragageles is the co-founder ofCampus Party, the most important Internet event in the world in the areas of innovation, creativity, science and digital entertainment. His aim is to create the largest geek innovation community on the planet and encourage them to use their talent and experience to create. Campus Party was launched in 1997 in Mollina (Málaga) as a meeting point for dozens of young people with a passion for technology; the 2011 edition, held in Valencia, brought together over 6,500 participants. Currently the ‘campus community’ is made up of more than 180,000 young people from all over the world. Since 2008, Campus Party events have also been held in Brazil and Colombia, and in August 2012, an event will be held for the first time in the USA.
Restless journalist, cinema lover and documentary fan, Ester Bertran is author of reports and short films that have won awards in various contests, and an amateur actress, Ester Bertran has a passion for the world of clowns and humour. She is a member of the Marrecs de Salt human castle team. In October 2010, she filmed the video Ho portem dins(‘We carry it inside us’), that captures the team carrying a four-person tower up the steps of Girona cathedral, and which transmits the message that ‘when facing adversity, the most important thing is for everybody to work together to get back up and move forward with optimism and confidence’.
