Nawal Kinany and the art of stepping sideways

Portrait: Kalina Anguelova

Some paths follow a straight line. Nawal Kinany's is not one of them. As she said from the outset, "My career seems a little chaotic to me." Kinany is the speaker of the Swiss Young Academy, responsible for international scientific collaboration at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO). She co-founded a scientific communication agency, conducted research in neuroimaging and, before all that, studied graphic design. That's where it all began. When she was 15, she enrolled at the School of Applied Arts (now CFP Arts) in Geneva to train as a graphic designer. However, success in one field isn't something that could pin her down. "I love exploring and learning new things. I'm incredibly curious," she says. So, at age 20, she changed direction. Nawal Kinany has a Franco-Moroccan background. She grew up in a family in which nobody had ever gone to university. "It was quite a new world for me," she confides.

A one-year bridging course opened the door to the Swiss Federal Technology Institute of Lausanne (EPFL) in 2010. Hesitating between several subjects, she attended one open day after another before finally settling on bioengineering. "I really like transdisciplinarity and the course was pretty comprehensive: IT, biology and maths," Kinany says. A bachelor's degree in life sciences and technologies was followed by a master's in bioengineering – as part of which she won an award for the best academic result – writing her thesis at Imperial College London, and then a PhD in neuroengineering. Her dissertation, begun in 2016 and involving polycentric clinical trials run in Italy and Switzerland, explored technology-assisted rehabilitation. Using robots, signals from the muscles and brain, and movement data, she sought to understand how stroke victims recover. "I was missing the link in the middle of this chain, which was the spinal cord," she says. Kinany therefore developed IRM imaging techniques to observe the workings of the spinal cord; this was a seminal contribution that led to publications in leading scientific journals. Invited to conduct research at McGill University in Canada in 2019, she spent five years commuting between Switzerland and Montreal, collaborating with one of the few laboratories worldwide that can image the spinal cord and brain simultaneously. "It's a real feat. Very few research groups have been able to master this technique," she points out.

Opting for transversality 

In 2024, Kinany took an unusual decision for someone who had spent a decade as a researcher: she switched directions. She felt that her research was forcing her to move in ever-decreasing circles. Data analysis, which constituted the core of her daily work, no longer interested her as much as it used to. It seemed to her that the things she loved about research – questioning, building and creating – could also be found elsewhere and in other ways.

This sideways step led her almost accidentally to the University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland (HES-SO), where she accepted the post of Head of International Scientific Cooperation in late 2024. Together with her small team, she mainly manages programmes providing funding for bilateral research between Switzerland and countries in the Middle East, North Africa and sub-Saharan Africa. The job combines several dimensions that are especially close to her heart: applied research, sustainable development and the recognition of situated knowledge. She spends three days a week at the HES-SO, which leaves her enough time for the Unframe Agency, a scientific communication agency which she co-founded; for her involvement in Figure 1A, an initiative that brings together science and art through events and exhibitions; and for her role as speaker of the Swiss Young Academy. It's certainly a busy schedule. "You need to juggle somewhat and be flexible," Kinany admits. "That isn't always easy." But it's the diversity that keeps her going. 

The SYA: A collective voice 

Having joined the SYA in 2023, she subsequently became involved in a podcast project called "Spark – Stories from Advocates for Global Change". This project enables secondary school and university students to interview scientists and field workers on current problem areas, such as the climate, artificial intelligence and human rights. The approach is transdisciplinary, the stance deliberately horizontal. For Nawal Kinany, scientific communication has to be two-directional: "It's not just about explaining to people how things work, but also about listening to their questions and concerns."

Elected to the Executive Committee of the Swiss Young Academy in June 2024, she first took on the role of vice-speaker. A year later, in June 2025, she became its speaker. As such, she represents the SYA both internally and externally at meetings of the SYA members or between academic institutions, and at European gatherings. In her eyes, the SYA occupies a unique position in the Swiss scientific landscape. "It's an organisation with a somewhat bolder voice than that of more established academies," she says. Kinany notes that the SYA is gaining in stature, its projects are impressive and its role as a collective voice for young researchers working in difficult conditions is being appreciated more and more. Even so, she knows it still has a long way to go to become well known both within academia and beyond.


What's noteworthy about Nawal Kinany is that, at heart, she has the internal freedom to dare to explore new avenues and the coherence of a career that she herself describes as "chaotic". The common thread isn't a particular field, but rather movement itself: diving headlong into a field, excelling at it, then using it as a trampoline to leap to the next one, from graphic design to neuroimaging, from research to the management of international programmes, etc. 

It's precisely this path that causes her to defend today what she considers essential: "overcoming this silo culture", encouraging dialogue between disciplines and recognising that science – even hard science – is shaped by society. She gladly provides an example of what she means: while researching post-stroke rehabilitation, her team never raised the issue of gender. "And yet, while talking to colleagues in the social sciences, I discovered that a patient's mental load, living conditions and social background have a direct impact on their recovery," Kinany says. "Men and women simply don't recover in the same way." Comparing perspectives, she assures us, makes us more effective.

Things fell into place rather organically, she adds, with "lots of luck and opportunities here and there". Perhaps. But looking at this 36-year-old woman who boxes three or four times a week and is learning German and Spanish at the same time as wearing four different professional hats, you realise that a path like hers is also based on a desire for freedom; not opting for a single direction when you can take several, and never closing yourself off.