Idriss Aberkane
Idriss Aberkane of his full name Idrīs El-Kāmīl Ibn Yūnās Abārkān, is a French teacher, lecturer and essayist of Algerian origin. Known for his writings and lectures on the knowledge economy and neuroscience, he published a successful essay in 2016, entitled Free up your mind!.
Lauded by some as a science educator, he has also been criticised for his lack of rigor and for exaggerating on his resume. For neurology researcher Sebastian Dieguez, Free up your Mind is "an uninterrupted succession of isolated facts, of pointless detours, anecdotes and personal opinions, elementary mistakes, debunked "theories", truisms, hyperboles and aphorisms, which do not make for good science education."
His parents taught mathematics at a teachers' college, and as a boy he participated in the Muslim Scouts of France, of which his father was one of the first leaders; he has cited his participation in the scouts as an inspiration for his life's work.
By the time he was thirty years old, he had three doctorate degrees: in management science from Paris Saclay, in comparative literature from University of Strasbourg, and in diplomacy from Centre d'Études Diplomatiques et Stratégiques. He became well known in France for his lectures and essays about neuroscience and gamification and their applications in education and business. A profile in the French newspaper Le Monde described his advocacy for these applications as "a bit North American, where science, popularization, morality, personal narrative and advice intertwine".Works
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