Halima Benbouza

Dr Halima BENBOUZA is currently a Director at the National Council of Scientific Research and Technologies, Algeria. She received her doctorate in agronomic sciences and biological engineering from Agro Bio Tech Gembloux, Belgium studying Plant Breeding and Genetics and was offered a postdoctoral position to work with the ARS-US-DA. From 2010-2016, Prof. Benbouza served as inaugural Director of Algeria National Biotechnology Research Center. She is past President of the Intersectoral Commission of Health and Life Sciences of Algeria’s Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research. Pr. BENBOUZA served on the Algerian National Council for Research Evaluation and the Sectorial Permanent Board of the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research.

In 2014, she was honored by the US Embassy, Algiers, as one of the “Women in Science Hall of Fame”, and was chosen as one of the 6 best African Women Scientists by the "Next Einstein Forum”. From 2015-2019 she was the representative of Algeria to UNESCO’s Intergovernmental Bioethics Committee. In 2017, she served on the Committee on Regional Workshops on Science and Technology Issues for the Biological Weapons Convention, convened by the US National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine.  In 2022, she served as representative of Scientific Research for Africa on the Group of Friends of the Co-chairs on Digital Sequence Information of Genetic Resources for the UN Convention on Biodiversity. Dr. BENBOUZA was member of working groups for the development of WHO’ a Global Guidance Framework for the Responsible Use of the Life Sciences.

Prof. BENBOUZA consults for a number of international organizations on biosafety and biosecurity education and serves as research reviewer on various international scientific panels. She is a member of the Executive Committee of the Pan African Congress of Ethics and Bioethics (COPAB) since 2015. She is also, a member of DSI scientific Network, since 2021, and the recipient of the 2023 Elizabeth R Griffin Program Lecture Award.