Dr Rob Adam to be Keynote Speaker at IFLA WLIC 2015

IFLA is pleased to announce that the IFLA WLIC 2015 National Committee has selected Dr Rob Adam as Keynote Speaker at its Opening Session on 16 August.

Dr Adam is currently Director-designate of the Square Kilometre Array (SKA) South Africa Project and has a long distinguished history in academia, the policy arena and more recently the nuclear industry.  A prominent nuclear physicist, Dr Adam is known for his work on systems focusing on energy infrastructure building programmes and institutions of science, technology and innovation.  He spearheaded the SKA Project in its early days when he was the Director-General at the Department of Science and Technology (DST), and currently provides advice and leadership as the Chairperson of the South African SKA steering committee.

He has been actively involved in the anti-apartheid work through the African National Congress (ANC).  In 1982 Adam was sentenced to an effective 10 years imprisonment.  He continued to study further while in Pretoria Central Prison and later obtained his doctoral degree in Theoretical Nuclear Physics.  He was released in 1990 with other political prisoners, towards a democratic South Africa.

Dr Adam has contributed immensely to knowledge through his research work.  He has published over 30 refereed articles in Theoretical Physics, published widely on Science and Technology policy and co-authored a book on Science and Technology in the Republic of Chile. 

Dr Adam will speak at the IFLA WLIC 2015 Opening Session (10:30 – 12:00) on Sunday, 16 August 2015 in Exhibition Hall 1-2.