Organized by SESAME and sponsored by the American Physical Society (APS), the Global Satellite Session “Women Leading the Future: Decision-Makers in Science and Technology” was held on 19 March as part of the 2026 APS Global Physics Summit. The virtual session brought together five inspiring women scientists and science policy leaders to discuss how women are shaping the future of scientific leadership.
The APS Global Physics Summit is the largest physics research conference in the world, uniting 14,000 scientific community members across all disciplines of physics. For the fourth consecutive year, SESAME has collaborated with APS with a session organized and chaired by Dr Gihan Kamel, the BM02-IR Beamline Principal Scientist and Team Supervisor at SESAME. The speakers in the order of presentation were Dr Gihan Kamel, Dr Amy Flatten, the APS Director of International Affairs, Professor Petra Rudolf, the University of Groningen (Netherlands), Dr Marie Chantal Cyulinyana, the Science and Technology Foresight Analyst at Rwanda’s National Council for Science and Technology (NCST), and Dr Amal Kasry, the Chief of Section for Basic Science, Research, Innovation and Engineering at UNESCO.
A message emerged clearly from the discussion: inclusive leadership in science is essential for advancing excellence, innovation, and global collaboration. Empowering women in decision-making roles strengthens science systems and enhances their societal impact.
With APS and SESAME at the forefront, women leaders are not only participating in scientific progress. APS is a leading scientific society, championing diversity and inclusion and providing platforms for women scientists to amplify their voices and shape the future of physics and beyond. SESAME, based in Jordan, is a pioneering synchrotron light source fostering scientific collaboration among regional countries. Its outreach programs, especially in Africa and the Middle East, demonstrate science's power as a unifying force.
