JD Santillana-Ortiz
Student, Bioinformatics, and Consultant in Düsseldorf, Germany
Juan-Diego is a doctoral student in bioinformatics and plant science at the Institute for Population Genetics at the Heinrich Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany. His research deals with dynamical complex systems and their evolution.
His interests are in the Arts & Sciences (e.g. STEAM), and he is also very much involved in entrepreneurial projects that combine food and tech for a sustainable, healthy and secure world. Through his three years experience as PhD student representative he has helped organized symposiums and career fairs, and counseled and mentored students.
In 2015, he was selected to be part of The Chicago Council on Global Affairs' Next Generation Delegation Social Media Ambassador team during their annual Global Food Security Symposium. In 2016, he was invited to propose a solution to address a challenge in the biotechnology sector as part of the Voices of Tomorrow competition and he participated at the GapSummit forum in Cambridge, UK. Currently, he volunteers as Global Plant Council media translator as well as ambassador for Thought for Food.
JD's research has been supported by a Max-Planck Society scholarship, a DFG grant and a HHU-D/E-Norm fellowship. He grew up Ecuador, Peru, Australia and the United States. Additionally, he has been stagiaire for the superb Drink Factory in London.