Dr. Ibtesam Sayedalameen Mohamad Almami is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biology at Qassim University in Buraydah, Saudi Arabia. She earned her Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Nottingham Trent University in the United Kingdom with emphasis on molecular biotechnology, cell biology, and proteomics. A significant focus of her work involves the study of transglutaminases (TGs), a family of Ca²⁺-dependent

enzymes that catalyze post-translational modifications of proteins. She has investigated the role of TG2 in cytoprotection, particularly its mediation by PKA and PKC signaling pathways in cardiomyocyte-like H9c2 cells. Her work continues to enhance the understanding of enzyme functions in various biological contexts, including their roles in disease mechanisms and potential therapeutic applications. Dr. Ibtesam Sayedalameen Mohamad Almami has also been actively involved in delivering subjects in the department of Biology, supervising MSc and PhD students, publishing, and conducting collaborative local and international research.

Dr. Amit Krishna Dwivedi is currently working as an Assistant Professor in Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the School of Engineering, University of Warwick, Coventry, UK.

Before joining the University of Warwick, Dr. Dwivedi was with the Department of Engineering as a Lecturer/Assistant Professor in Electronic and Electrical Engineering at the Manchester Metropolitan University, Manchester, UK, and as a researcher with the Diagnostic Imaging Center, Kuopio University Hospital in Finland. From 2015 to 2016, he was a Research Scholar with the Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Delhi, India.

Dr. Dwivedi has received several awards, such as the Certificate of Academic Excellence and the Certificate of Merit for his top academic performances; and scholarships, including the Imperial College President’s PhD Scholarship and the GATE Scholarship from All India Council for Technical Education (AICTE), Government of India. He has contributed to 44 peer-reviewed research papers in journals and international conferences, 4 book chapters, 2 edited books and 1 patent (under review). Dr Dwivedi has supervised/supervising 15 UG/PG dissertations, 2 PhD theses and 1 research assistant.  His research interests include medical devices, low power electronics, biomedical signal processing, machine learning algorithms and low power wearable systems for long-term continuous monitoring of physiological signals for early-stage detection of various diseases. Dr. Dwivedi received the “Best Paper Award” for his work at the CCPSAT 2022 and ICFAiSE-2025 conferences. Dr. Dwivedi is a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy, UK; and a Member of IEEE and IET. 

Prof Neville Calleja is the Head of Department for Public Health at the University of Malta Medical School, which is affiliated with the Association of Schools of Public Health in the European Region (ASPHER).  He is also Director for Health Information & Research within the Ministry for Health in Malta, Europe.    This is the national health data repository for the country of Malta and also the designated Health Data Access Body for the newly setup European Health Data Space (EHDS) within the EU.  He also served as Chief Medical Officer for Malta a few years ago.  During the COVID-19 emergency period, he has been a senior member of Malta's COVID-19 Response Team and has also been involved in discussions on COVID-19 monitoring and other public health policy at EU level.   He has also been supporting WHO (Europe) and WHO Global (Geneva) on several areas, mainly however on assessment of national health information systems since 2016.

Dr. Bhuvan Unhelkar is an accomplished IT professional and Professor at the Muma College of Business, University of South Florida. Dr. Unhelkar is the founding consultant of MethodScience and is widely recognized for his expertise in Business Analysis, Software Engineering (UML), Big Data Strategies, Artificial Intelligence, Agile Methodologies, Mobile Business, and Green IT. He is the author of 29 books, including Artificial Intelligence & Business Optimization, Big Data Strategies for Agile Business, and The Art of Agile Practice, published by Taylor and Francis/CRC Press, USA. He is a Fellow of the Australian Computer Society, a Senior Member of the IEEE, and an Associate Editor of IT Professional. Additionally, he is a life member of the Computer Society of India and the Baroda Management Association, a certified Professional Scrum Master, and a SAFe Agile Leader. He is also the Past President of Rotary Sarasota Sunrise (Florida), a Paul Harris Fellow, and a past volunteer as a Discovery Guide at NSW Parks and Wildlife, Australia.

Dr Radmila Juric is an SDPS fellow, with 30+ years of experience as an academic, working in the UK Higher Education, in various capacities: from lecturing, course development and management, and academic quality assurance, to research management, supervision, and editorial jobs.  Dr Juric has published extensively, contributed towards academic events in various roles, delivered talks in academia and in industry and encouraged young scholars to undertake interdisciplinary research, which she has been passionately promoting for decades.  Her research interest is wide and spans decades of publishing on software interoperability, semantic technologies, software architectures, pervasive computational environments, translational bioinformatics and generative AI.  Over the last five years Dr Juric has focused on research trends which range from intelligent computational edge, computing continuum and human machine augmentation to addressing problems of obscurity, explainability and bias of AI algorithms and the way we evaluate AI models.  The synergy of logic and predictive inference, has triggered her research on transdiagnostic dimension of mental health disorders in computational psychiatry, semantics of prompting mechanisms in generative AI and the impact of logic reasoning in knowledge augmented generation when using GenAI.

Dr. Eiman Sayedalamin Almami is an independent UK researcher, holding a Ph.D. in Computing from Plymouth University, United Kingdom.  Dr Almami’s long term research interest is in assistive technologies and educational improvements, with technology enhanced learning.  She is particularly interested in creating computational models for software solutions which generate inclusive and adaptive learning environments, with emphasis on differences in learning and individual neurodevelopments.  Dr Almami also specialises in exploiting the first order logic and semantic web technologies for creating dynamic, adaptable and context aware  software solutions based on reasoning, which address a range of problems related to knowledge generation, discoveries and dissemination across healthcare deliveries, biomedicine, pharmacology, medical diagnostics and education.  Currently, dr Eiman Sayedalamin Almami works on the possibilities of enhancing GenAI technologies for knowledge discovery, by looking at the type of inference triggered by the existence of LLM and their shortcomings knowledge generation.

Dr. Karm Veer Arya achieved the Integrated Master of Engineering (B.E. + M. E.) degree in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Science (I.I.Sc.), Bengaluru, India and earned Ph. D. degree in Computer Science & Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology (I.I.T. Kanpur), Kanpur, India.

Presently he is working as a Professor at ABV-Indian Institute of Information Technology & Management (IIITM), Gwalior, Bharat. He also served Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology Allahabad, Prayagraj, India, and worked as Dean (PG Studies & Research) at Dr. APJ Abdul Kalam Technical University Lucknow, India, Dean (Research and Development) at IET Lucknow, India. He was Summer Visiting Faculty at San Diego State University, San Diego, California, USA in June-July 2013 and adjunct Professor at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Ratmalana, Colombo, Sri Lanka in 2019-2020.

He has more than 33 years of experience to teach the undergraduate and postgraduate classes. He has guided 13 Ph.D. and 100 M. Tech. dissertations and presently guiding 07 Ph.D.  and 02 M. Tech. students. He has published 07 patents, 31 book Chapters, and more than 200 journal and conference papers in the area of image processing, biometrics, soft computing, and Reliability analysis. He also evaluated approx. 75 Ph.D.  thesis from IITs, NITs, IIITs, central, state and private universities in India.

Prof. Arya has co-authored a book titled “Security in Mobile Ad-hoc Networks” and edited 06 books with the leading publishing houses such as Taylor & Fransis, IET, Elsevier, Springer and Willey.

He has successfully completed the couple of funded projects on image analysis. Prof. Arya has delivered many invited talks/keynotes in India, and abroad. He is on the Editorial board of many International journals. He has visited more than 15 countries for his research presentations and collaborations.

He has edited the Proceedings of many international conferences held in India and abroad  and currently is the member of organizing committee and programme committee for various national and international conferences and workshops.

He is Senior Member of IEEE, Fellow of IETE, Fellow Institution of Engineers (India), and life member of ISTE.

Professor Stephen Ekwaro-Osire is a founding member and a Fellow of the Society for Design and Process Science (SDPS). For the last 22 years, he has served as honorary editor, senior advisory board member, managing editor, and director of the editorial board of SPDS’s Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science. He has reviewed and published extensively in the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science. He has also served as plenary presenter, paper presenter, program committee member, session developer, session organizer, and session chair at least 17 annual SDPS conferences. Professor Ekwaro-Osire is a Fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME). He has held various leadership positions at ASME. Most recently, he was the chair of the executive committee of the Safety Engineering and Risk Analysis Division. He has also served for the last several years as a member of the editorial board of ASCE-ASME Journal of Risk and Uncertainty in Engineering Systems, Part A: Civil Engineering & Part B: Mechanical Engineering. Professor Ekwaro-Osire is the associate dean for undergraduate studies at the Whitacre College of Engineering at Texas Tech University (TTU). He is a full professor of mechanical engineering and a licensed professional engineer in the State of Texas. While at TTU, he has held honorary professorships at four universities in four countries. His research interests include uncertainty quantification, structural health diagnosis and prognosis, engineering design, and orthopedic biomechanics. Recently, he has become keen on quantifying the risk and uncertainty when applying artificial intelligence and generative artificial intelligence to address compelling questions in these areas. He has published 83 refereed archival papers in scientific journals, 151 refereed papers in conference proceedings, 14 book chapters, and two books. He has also delivered 41 invited talks in eight countries. As a primary advisor, he has supervised and graduated 20 PhD students and 31 MS students, and currently supervises three PhD students. Besides being a primary advisor, he has also served on 91 PhD and 60 MS committees. He has mentored and trained eight post-doctoral research associates. Also, as the founder and director of the Product Design & Development Laboratory, he supervised and mentored over 250 undergraduate students. State agencies, federal agencies, international funding agencies, and industry have funded his research. 

Dr Akşit graduated with honours in electrical engineering and obtained a master's degree from Eindhoven University of Technology, Netherlands, in 1980. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Twente, Netherlands, in 1989. From November 2000 to October 2019, he worked as a Professor at the University of Twente, where he also served as the Head of the Software Engineering Department. Additionally, he has been a visiting professor and researcher at IBM Research Center (USA), New Jersey Institute of Technology (USA), the University of Tokyo (Japan), and the University of Malaya (Malaysia).

Dr. Akşit has conducted pioneering research in various areas of computer science  including Aspect-Oriented Programming, Model-Driven Engineering, Software Architectures, and Multi-Objective Software Optimization techniques. Under TÜBİTAK’s International Leading Researchers Return Program, he worked as a professor at TOBB University of Economics and Technology in Ankara from January 2020 to June 2022, focusing on Digital Disaster Management Systems. Since June 2022, he has been conducting research on "Digital Disaster Management" at the AFAD Presidency. Through his work under the TÜBİTAK return program, he has developed pioneering digital techniques and founded the international organization World Alliance for Digital Disaster and Emergency Management (WADDEM.COM). Currently, researchers from 16 countries are members of this alliance, with more expected to join.

He has collaborated with several organizations and companies on industrial technology applications, including AFAD Presidency, Softtech, the European Union (as a technological and strategic consultant), Capgemini, TAI/TUSAŞ, Aselsan, Havelsan, STM, Arçelik-Beko, the Dutch Tax Authority, the Dutch Ministry of Traffic Systems, ASML, Philips Healthcare, NXP, Canon, Siemens, Origin, ICT, and Ericsson.  In 2017, Mehmet Akşit was awarded the Priscilla and Raymond T. Yeh Lifetime Achievement Award in Software Research, Technology Innovation, or Engineering Education by SDPS in the United States.

Prof. Carl James Debono, obtained his B.Eng.(Hons.) degree in Electrical Engineering from the University of Malta, Malta in 1997 and Ph.D. degree in Electronics and Computer Engineering from the University of Pavia, Italy in 2001. In 1997 he was employed as a Research Engineer with the Department of Microelectronics at the University of Malta. In 2001 he was appointed Lecturer in Communications and Computer Engineering at the University of Malta and was promoted to Senior Lecturer in 2006, to Associate Professor in 2011 and to Professor in 2017. Prof. Debono has served as Deputy Dean of the Faculty of ICT between November 2009 and September 2015. He also served as Head of the Department of Communications and Computer Engineering between October 2015 and September 2019. He is currently the Dean of the Faculty of ICT. Prof. Debono has participated in a number of local and European research projects in the area of communication systems and image/video processing. His research interests are in Resilient Multimedia Transmission, Multi-view Video Coding, and Computer Vision.

Professor Tanik joined the University of Alabama at Birmingham School of Engineering in 1998 as a full professor. Prior to joining the UAB faculty, he was an associate professor and the director of Electronic Enterprise Engineering at NJIT and the director of Software Systems Engineering Institute (SSEI) at The University of Texas at Austin. He is also the director and chief scientist of Process Sciences Laboratory, a think-tank of process-centered knowledge integration. Dr. Tanik has worked on related projects for NASA, Arthur A. Collins (developer of Apollo moon missions' tracking and communications systems), and ISSI. He was an associate professor and the director of the Software Systems Engineering Technology (SEK) research group at SMU. Dr. Tanik is co-founder of the interdisciplinary and international society, Society for Design and Process Science. His publications include co-authoring six books, co-editing eight collected works, and more than 100 journal papers, conference papers, book chapters, and reports funded by various government agencies and corporations. Under his direction, 15 Ph.D. dissertations and 20 M.S. theses have been completed.

Dr. Tanik's research interests include software systems engineering, embedded and intelligent software systems, wireless and time-critical software support, collaborative computing for domain specific applications, and integrated systems design and process engineering.

Current sponsored research projects include E-Business application design for Sports-Medicine, Multi-lifecycle Engineering software systems for environmental protection, Time-critical systems for Super Conducting Super Collider,Intelligent cost-estimation systems software, Intelligent time-and-space critical systems, Intelligent digital switch maintenance systems, Intelligent user-interfaces for factory and laboratory automation.

Current and recent sponsors include DoD, Army, NATO, Texas Instruments, AT&T, E-Systems, Lockheed, CTI-Brazil, EMBRAPA-Brazil, Super Conducting SuperCollider, State of New Jersey, Northern Telecom, IRS, DEC, Abbott Laboratories, Merle-Collins foundation, and Texacone Inc.

Dr. Mey Goh is a Reader in Transdisciplinary Digital Manufacturing at the Wolfson School of Mechanical, Electrical, and Manufacturing Engineering, Loughborough University, UK. She received her BEng (Hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Universiti Tenaga Nasional, Malaysia, in 2001, and completed her Ph.D. at the University of Bristol, UK, in 2005. Her transdisciplinary research aligns with the human-centricity pillar of Industry 5, focusing on advancing knowledge, processes, and methods for designing effective and inclusive industrial systems and technologies. This includes pioneering work on digital twin interfaces, human-robot interaction, human factors and user-centric explainable AI (XAI). Dr. Goh is an Associate Director at the Intelligent Automation Centre and Co-Director of the Made Smarter Innovation Research Centre on People-Led Digitalisation (P-LD). In this role, she collaborates with the Universities of Bath and Nottingham, along with various industry partners, to enhance the adoption of digital technologies through a people-led approach. She serves on the Committee of the Consortium of UK University Manufacturing and Engineering (COMEH) and is a member of the editorial board for the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science (JIDPS).

Dr. Ying-Chyi Chou served as a distinguished professor in Department of Business Administration, Tunghai University, Taiwan. She received a Ph.D. in Business and Management from National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan. She was a visiting scholar at Rhode Island University, 2014 and at Florida State University, 2008. Dr. Chou has won numerous best-paper awards. Her publications have appeared in International Journal of Business & Economics, International Journal of Production Research, Science Education International, Management and Applied Economics, Energy Efficiency, Quality & Quantity, among others. She has received the International Collaboration Research Award in Service Science presented by the Service Science Society of Taiwan and The Sayling Wen Cultural & Educational Foundation in 2014, and the Lu Feng Zhang Memorial Award for contribution in management practice by the Chinese Management Association in 2015. Dr. Chou served as the Vice Dean for the Office of Academic Affairs and the Chair of Department of Business Administration at Tunghai University. Dr. Chou’s research focuses on Human Resource Management, Decision Science, Healing/Friendly Environment, and Performance Management, Service Management. She was received external funding from nonprofit organization, governments, and industries, including Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI), Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology, Taichung Veterans General Hospital. Currently, Dr. Chou is a director of Center for Healing Environment Administration and Research (HEAR), Tunghai University. She is a reviewer for several professional journals.

Vincent J. Lopez is the visionary Founder and CEO of Parker Health, Inc, a progressive biotechnology organization at the forefront of healthcare innovation for the next century. He spearheads strategic initiatives, product development, and governmental affairs, collaborating closely with key figures in the U.S. Congress and various government agencies, including HHS, NIH, CDC, and the Office of the National Coordinator for Health Information Technology(ONC); Mr. Lopez focuses on establishing industry standards, optimizing spending, reducing legacy technology costs, improving inefficiencies, elevating patient care and outcomes, and implementing Parker Health’s cutting-edge healthcare technology.

Beyond his role at Parker Health, he's commitment to advancing public health research is paramount. He holds a prominent appointment to the Dean's Council at the New York University, School of Global Public Health, and is the founder and Chair of the Lopez Clinical Innovation Studio(LCIS) @ NYU, School of Global Public Health. He serves as an External Advisory Council, Center for Decision Support Systems & Informatics, University of Central Florida, and the Vice Chair, IEEE Data Quality Standards for Medical Records Workgroup.  Additionally, he holds memberships in esteemed organizations such as the Royal Society of Medicine, and the Sequoia Project. Mr. Lopez's research interest includes health disparities in minority communities, Social Determinants of Health (SDOH) outcomes, regulatory frameworks & standards for Electronic Health Records (EHRs) & clinical decision support (CDS) solutions, and the research and development of artificial intelligence & machine learning algorithms for EHRs and CDS.

Mr. Lopez was named to the Forbes 30 Under 30 Class of 2023. He is a mentor who advises aspiring and current entrepreneurs at the NASDAQ Entrepreneurial Center, as well as for a health equity accelerator program sponsored by the Johnson & Johnson Venture Impact Fund. He contributes his expertise to various boards, including the Family Childcare Alliance of Maryland.

In 2015, Mr. Lopez was nominated by Governor Tom Wolf to the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education Board of Governors. He was student body president at the Indiana University of Pennsylvania, where he majored in English and political science. He also completed a fellowship furthering STEM education in minority communities with Organizing for Action, a nonprofit founded to support the agenda of President Barack Obama, and he has worked on programs for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and the U.S. Department of Defense.

A native of Sacramento, CA, Mr. Lopez was raised in Arlington, VA and resides in Washington, DC where he created the Lopez Foundation, a nonprofit working to advance education and health access in disadvantaged communities. When not shaping the future of healthcare, he indulges his passion for playing golf, fishing, and enjoys spectating basketball, Formula 1, and horse racing.

Prof. Lalit Garg is an associate professor of computer information systems at the University of Malta, Malta, and an honorary lecturer at the University of Liverpool, UK. He has been a researcher at the Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, and Ulster University, UK. Prof Garg has supervised 200+ Master's dissertations, 2 DBA and 5 PhD theses and published 200+ high-impact publications in refereed journals/conferences/books, 22 edited books and 24 patents. He has delivered numerous keynote speeches, organised/chaired international conferences, and consulted countless public and private organisations for information systems implementation and management. His research interests are business intelligence, machine learning, data science, deep learning, cloud computing, mobile computing, the Internet of Things (IoT), information systems, management science and their applications, mainly in healthcare and medical domains. He participates in many EU and locally funded projects, including a one million euro Erasmus+ Capacity-Building project in Higher Education (CBHE), titled Training for Medical Education via Innovative eTechnology (MediTec) and Malta Council of Science and Technology's Space Research Funds. The University of Malta has awarded him the 2021-22 Research Excellence Award for exploring Novel Intelligent Computing Methods for healthcare requirements forecasting, allocation and management (NICE-Healthcare). 

Purva Rajkotia is the Director of Global Business Strategy & Intelligence (GBSI) and the Connectivity and Telecom Practice Lead at IEEE Standards Association (IEEE SA). Prior to IEEE, Purva held leadership positions with Qualcomm, Samsung, and Disney in various capacities. Purva also held leadership positions in various standards organizations such as IEEE, ITU, 3GPP, 3GPP2, CENELEC, etc. He has authored more than 100 patents granted by the USPTO (US Patent Office) and other worldwide patent organizations. He is one of the co-authors of the chapter on Powerline Communications in the book "MIMO Power Line Communications Narrow and Broadband Standards, EMC, and Advanced Processing" by CRC Press. He obtained his MSEE degree from the Georgia Institute of Technology and his MBA from CSU.

Prof. Patrick Then assumed the Chief Executive Officer of state-owned Sarawak Artificial Intelligence Centre (SAIC) since March 2025. SAIC aims to accelerate Sarawak economic growth by leveraging AI technologies. SAIC conducts high-impact research and development for Sarawak’s needs, and advises policymakers on AI governance, policy, audit, and talent development.

Before that, he led School of ICT as Head of School, Centre for Digital Futures as Director, Swinburne University of Technology Sarawak. As SAIC CEO, he continues mentoring researchers and academics in academia. He has been recognized as eminent researcher in health informatics in the region collaborating with prominent cardiologists and clinicians in Clinical Research Centre Sarawak General Hospital in Malaysia and the National Institutes of Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia. He has published papers in high impact journals and proceedings. He is a strong advocate of transdisciplinary research where he translated artificial intelligence techniques into healthcare, manufacturing and other applications. He is a sought-after keynote speaker in IT and cardiology conferences in Europe, India, Indonesia and South Korea. He is the holder of multiple patents and software copyrights that have been translated into commercial product. He is a highly recognised digital health Key Opinion Leader by Ministry of Health Malaysia.

He is an elected fellow of the European Society of Cardiology, fellow of the Society for Design and Process Science USA, Senior member of Australian Computer Society, Senior member of IEEE, and Board member of Sarawak Development Institute.

Dr. John N. Carbone has served the defense industry for ~36 years. Dr. Carbone currently serves as Senior Technical Director/Chief Solutions Architect and science advisor to Everfox (Formerly Forcepoint, LLC), within their Global Governments and Critical Infrastructure division. Prior to Everfox, he has served as Raytheon Engineering Fellow, Chief Science Advisor, Product Area Technology Director, Chief Engineer for Innovation, and Chief Data Architect & Scientist for globally distributed Big Data, High Performance Compute, and Cloud programs. Dr. Carbone received his undergraduate degree in Computer Science from Baylor University, MSE from Texas Tech University, Software and Systems Engineering from University of Texas at Austin, and Mechanical Engineering PhD from Texas Tech University where his research focus was enhancing information theory by combining cognition-based frameworks, processes, and adaptations of space-time relationship mechanics. Dr. Carbone began his career developing real-time embedded voice, cyber, and data communications solutions for satellite tracking and secure switching systems. Subsequently, he forged bridges between High Performance Computing environments and Cloud architectures for distributed enterprises. Dr. Carbone was instrumental in providing architecture, design, implementation, security, and fielding of software systems which led to the development of strategic analysis focused information sharing automation programs considered paradigm shifts for US government organizations.

Dr. Justin Dauwels is an Associate Professor at the TU Delft (Signal Processing Systems, Department of Microelectronics), and serves as co-Director of the Safety and Security Institute at the TU Delft. He was an Associate Professor of the School of Electrical and Electronic Engineering at the Nanyang Technological University (NTU) in Singapore till the end of 2020. At the TU Delft, he serves as scientific lead of the Model-Driven Decisions Lab (MoDDL), a first lab for the Knowledge Building program between the police and the TU Delft. He also serves as Chair of the EE Board of Studies at the TU Delft, and is a board member of the Co van Ledden Hulsebosch Center (Netherlands Center for Forensic Science and Medicine). His research interests are in data analytics with applications to intelligent transportation systems, autonomous systems, and analysis of human behaviour and physiology. He obtained his PhD degree in electrical engineering at the Swiss Polytechnical Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zurich in December 2005. Moreover, he was a postdoctoral fellow at the RIKEN Brain Science Institute (2006-2007) and a research scientist at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (2008-2010).

Dr. Yen-Han Lee holds an MPH in Global Health from the Boston University School of Public Health and a PhD in Health Behavior from the Indiana University-Bloomington School of Public Health. His research focuses on the application of quantitative methods to explore social determinants of health, particularly racial and ethnic inequities, socioeconomic status, and rural-urban disparities. He pursues two main tracks: the first examines lifestyle factors and geriatric health in the Asian population, such as healthcare access and chronic conditions like cognitive impairment and sleep issues; the second addresses substance use behaviors in adult and older populations globally, including illicit drugs and traditional substances like cigarettes and alcohol. His overarching aim is to integrate substance use and geriatric health research, as most studies on substance use focus on adolescents and young adults. By identifying the connection between substance use behaviors and health outcomes in older adults, his work seeks to inform the development of more effective cessation interventions, ultimately guiding public health practitioners in their efforts to improve health outcomes in this population.

Yong Zeng, PhD is a Full Professor at the Concordia Institute for Information Systems Engineering, Concordia University, Montreal, Canada. His research has focused on design theory and its applications to transdisciplinary design problems. Using the Environment-Based Design (EBD) methodology he has proposed, he and his colleagues have designed many algorithms including human vision-based non-parametric curve reconstruction algorithms DISCUR and VICUR, Gauging series non-parametric clustering algorithms, and a reinforcement learning-enabled automatic 2D quadrilateral mesh generation algorithm. He has pioneered EEG-based neurocognitive studies of human design, particularly creative design, founded on his work on formalizing conceptual and creative design activities. His work has been applied to behavior modeling and design in aerospace engineering, healthcare, learning and training, the construction industry, and sustainability, all supported by major grants funded by industry and government. He was Canada Research Chair (Tier II) in Design Science (2004-2014) and NSERC Chair in Aerospace Design Engineering (2015-2020). He is a member of the Board of Directors of the Society for Design and Process Science after having served as its president from 2019 to 2023.

Dr. Ali Akgunduz is a Professor in the Department of Mechanical, Industrial, and Aerospace Engineering at the Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, Concordia University. He also serves as the Associate Dean responsible for academic programs. Before joining the Gina Cody School in 2003, Dr. Akgunduz worked at United Airlines headquarters in Chicago, IL, as an R&D Engineer in Revenue Management, where he developed optimization and simulation tools for the company. His research primarily focuses on applying operations research to complex systems, with a particular emphasis on the aviation industry. In recent years, he has been exploring AI and optimization techniques to enhance academic program design and establish evidence-based continual improvement processes in higher education. His team has developed a decision-support tool to effectively implement and monitor the continual improvement process at the Gina Cody School. Dr. Akgunduz’s research has been published in leading journals, including IEEE Transactions, Computers in Industry, Transportation Research, JIDPS, and many others.

Professor Sandeep Reddy brings exceptional expertise in artificial intelligence implementation in healthcare settings, with strength in developing and evaluating AI-driven healthcare solutions. As the current Professor and Head of Discipline for Healthcare Management and Health Information Management at Queensland University of Technology, he has led numerous significant projects in AI application and healthcare technology integration. His extensive experience includes serving on the WHO Digital Health Roster of Experts and Focus Group on AI for Health, demonstrating his global influence in digital health implementation. Prof. Reddy's research portfolio showcases a strong foundation in developing predictive models and implementing AI systems in healthcare, as evidenced by his recent work developing foundational model-based systems for clinical communication and medical education. His expertise in handling complex healthcare data and creating evaluation frameworks is demonstrated through multiple high-impact publications, including seminal works on AI implementation frameworks. As the author and editor of several authoritative books on AI in healthcare, he brings deep knowledge of both theoretical and practical aspects of AI implementation. His experience in leading projects across diverse geographical and healthcare settings, combined with his work on clinical integration and governance frameworks for AI systems, positions him ideally to lead the development of AI systems.

Sally McClean received her first degree in Mathematics from Oxford University, and then obtained a MSc in Mathematical Statistics and Operational Research from Cardiff University, followed by a PhD on Markov and semi-Markov models at Ulster University. She is currently Professor of Mathematics at Ulster University. Her main research interests are in Stochastic Modelling and Optimisation, particularly for Healthcare Planning, and Computer Science, specifically Process Mining, Databases, Internet of Things, Sensor Technology and Telecommunications. She has been grant holder on over £13 million worth of funding, mainly from the EPSRC, Industry, the EU and charities. Sally is a Fellow of the Royal Statistical Society, Fellow of the Operational Research Society, Fellow of the IMA, past President of the Irish Statistical Association and Member of the IEEE. She has published over four hundred research papers and was previously a recipient of Ulster University’s Senior Distinguished Research Fellowship. 

Dr. Rytis Maskeliunas currently works as a full professor and as a chief researcher at the Faculty of Informatics in Kaunas University of Technology, Lithuania, as well as an invited professor at the Faculty of Applied Mathematics in Silesian University of Technology, Poland and Faculty of Informatics at Vytautas Magnus University. His primary area of scientific research is the application of contemporary artificial intelligence technologies for medical multimodal signal processing, with a particular focus on the analysis, screening and diagnosis of neurological impairments, where he was awarded “Innovation of the year award” for his studies in the classification of neurological diseases in 2023 and 2021. He is an author /co-author of over 200 refereed research publications (WOS H=32, ORCID 0000-0002-2809-2213). Rytis served as the National Expert @ European Horizon-ICT Committee with experience in multiple International research organizations, as well as an editor/reviewer/committee member for various International journals. He has coordinated / participated in multiple research projects in the Computer Science domain and was involved in the EU COST actions 278, 2102, IC1002, CA15122, CA16101 and currently is an MC member in CA19136 and 22136. In his field Rytis has an experience of supervising 8 Ph.D. students.

Dr. Dipanwita Thakur is currently an Assistant Professor (Research) in Computer Engineering at the University of Calabria, Italy, since July 2023. Additionally, she is a Visiting Research Scholar at the Missouri University of Science and Technology, USA, concentrating on energy-efficient optimization within federated learning systems. Her areas of expertise include federated learning, green artificial intelligence, and smart healthcare systems using machine learning, where she has made notable contributions through her research on sustainable AI practices and privacy-preserving smart healthcare systems. 

Dr. Thakur possesses a robust academic and research background and has published extensively in esteemed journals and conferences, including those organized by IEEE and Elsevier.  Previously, she held a long-term teaching and research position at Banasthali University, Rajasthan, India, where she successfully guided numerous student projects and theses.

Her accolades include a patent for smartphone-based human activity recognition and the authorship of a book on intelligent activity monitoring. As an active member of IEEE and ACM, Dr. Thakur contributes significantly to the research community by participating on editorial boards (IEEE Sensors Journal, Scientific Reports Springer Nature), technical committees, and workshop organizing teams. Her research strategically integrates advanced AI techniques with practical applications, underscoring her commitment to sustainability and innovative impact

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