Dr. Jagdish Chand Bansal is an Associate Professor (Senior Grade) at South Asian University New Delhi and a Visiting Professor at Maths and Computer Science, Liverpool Hope University UK. He also holds a visiting professorship at NIT Goa, India. Dr. Bansal obtained his Ph.D. in Mathematics from IIT Roorkee. Before joining SAU New Delhi, he worked as an Assistant Professor at ABV- Indian Institute of Information Technology and Management Gwalior and BITS Pilani. His primary areas of interest are swarm intelligence and nature-inspired optimization techniques. Recently, he proposed a fission-fusion social structure based optimization algorithm, Spider Monkey Optimization (SMO), which is being applied to various problems in the engineering domain. He has published over 70 research papers in various international journals/conferences. He is the Section Editor (editor-in-chief) of the journal MethodsX published by Elsevier. He is the series editor of the four Springer book series AIS, SADIC, ISTC and SST published by Springer. He is also the Associate Editor of Engineering Applications of Artificial Intelligence (EAAI) and  ARRAY published by Elsevier. He is also the Associate Editor of the Soft Computing journal published by Springer. He is the general secretary of the Soft Computing Research Society (SCRS). He has also received Gold Medal at UG and PG levels.

Dr. Ananth Prabhu G is a renowned Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering and serves as the Principal Investigator at the Digital Forensics and Cyber Security Centre of Excellence at Sahyadri College of Engineering and Management. He holds a B.E. in Computer Science and Engineering, an MTech in Computer Science, and an MBA in Information Science from Manipal University, along with a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering from VTU. Dr. Prabhu has also completed two Post-Doctoral Research Fellowships at the University of Leicester, UK, and the University of Houston Downtown, Texas, and holds a diploma in Cyber Law from the Government Law College, Mumbai. Under his guidance, four research scholars have completed their PhDs, and five are currently pursuing their doctoral studies.

Dr. Prabhu is the Director of TorSecure Cyber LLP and SurePass Academy. He has authored 17 books, contributed to 32 international journals, and holds three patents. A dynamic speaker, he has delivered over 3,000 lectures, becoming a leading voice in cyber law and forensics. His acclaimed book Cyber Safe Girl v6.1 has been downloaded 4.5 crore times, and a free online certification course, developed in partnership with ISEA and the Ministry of Electronics and IT, has empowered citizens across India, especially in rural areas, with cyber literacy. The book has been translated into multiple regional languages, furthering its reach and impact.

Ram Bilas Pachori received B.E. degree with honours in Electronics and Communication Engineering from Rajiv Gandhi Proudyogiki Vishwavidyalaya, Bhopal, India, in 2001, M.Tech. and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, Kanpur, India, in 2003 and 2008, respectively.

Before joining Indian Institute of Technology Indore (IIT Indore), Indore, India, he was Post-Doctoral Fellow at Charles Delaunay Institute, University of Technology of Troyes, Troyes, France (2007-2008) and Assistant Professor at Communication Research Center, International Institute of Information Technology, Hyderabad, India (2008-2009). He was Assistant Professor (2009-2013), Associate Professor (2013-2017), and Professor (2017-2023) at Department of Electrical Engineering, IIT Indore, where he has been Professor (HAG) since 2023. He was Visiting Professor at Department of Computer Engineering, Modeling, Electronics and Systems Engineering, University of Calabria, Rende, Italy, in July 2023; Faculty of Information & Communication Technology, University of Malta, Msida, Malta, from June 2023 to July 2023; Neural Dynamics of Visual Cognition Lab, Free University of Berlin, Berlin, Germany, from July 2022 to September 2022; School of Medicine, Taylor’s University, Subang Jaya, Malaysia, from 2018 to 2019. He was Visiting Scholar at Intelligent Systems Research Center, Ulster University, Londonderry, UK, in December 2014.

His research interests include signal and image processing, biomedical signal processing, non-stationary signal processing, speech signal processing, brain-computer interface, machine learning, and artificial intelligence and internet of things in healthcare. He has supervised 25 Ph.D. theses and is currently supervising 09 Ph.D. theses. He has delivered more than 300 talks and lectures in conferences, workshops, short term courses, and academic events organized by various institutes. He has authored the textbook titled “Time-Frequency Analysis Techniques and their Applications” (CRC Press, 2023). He has 376 publications, which include journal articles (239), conference papers (96), books (11), and book chapters (30). He has also eleven patents, including three granted (01 Australian patent and 02 Indian patents), five published (Indian patents), and three filed (Indian patents). His publications have been cited more than 19500 times with h-index of 76 according to Google Scholar.

He is Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Institution of Engineering and Technology (IET), Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), Institution of Electronics and Telecommunication Engineers (IETE), and Institution of Engineers (India) (IEI). He has been appointed as IEEE EMBS Distinguished Lecturer (2025-2026). He was Associate Editor of IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering (2021-2024). Currently, he is Associate Editor of Electronics Letters, IEEE Open Journal of Engineering in Medicine and Biology, Computers and Electrical Engineering, and Biomedical Signal Processing and Control. He is also serving as Handling Editor of Signal Processing and Editor of IETE Technical Review journal.

Director and Founder, Dystonia Research Center, Department of Neruology, Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, P. R. China

Dr. Nian Xiong (Chief Professor, Chief Physician) is the Director and Founder of the Sleep Medicine Center at Union Hospital, Tongji Medical College, Huazhong University of Science and Technology (TMJ&HUST), P. R. China. He holds an M.D. in Medicine from TMJ&HUST (2006) and a Ph.D. in Neuroscience from McLean Hospital/Harvard Medical School, USA (2011). A distinguished fellow of the Harvard NeuroDiscovery Center, the International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society, and the Hubei Medical Association, Dr. Xiong has made significant contributions to Parkinson's Disease and sleep disorders research. He has authored several books and published over 130 peer-reviewed articles.

His work has been recognized with numerous awards, including the First Prize of the Science and Technology Progress Award from the Chinese Rehabilitation Medicine Association (2023) and multiple Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Progress Awards (2017, 2019, 2016). In 2022, he was honored as a candidate for the "Most Beautiful Scientist in China" in Hubei Province and named "Most Beautiful Scientist in Wuhan." Dr. Xiong has been an Attending Neurologist since 2011 and has been invited to speak at prestigious institutions, including Harvard Medical School and the BIT's 11th Annual Congress of International Drug Discovery Science & Technology.

Dr. Nian Xiong’s research utilizes molecular and cell biology technologies to understand the etiology and pathogenesis of Parkinson's Disease (PD) and dystonia, and develop potential treatment alternatives for PD and dytonia  in cellular, Caenorhabditis elegans, mice and rats models. There are eight areas of focus: 
1) identify enviomental risk factors for PD based on case-control studies via designed questionnaire for PD patients;  

2) identify genetic risk factors for central Chinese PD population and use Caenorhabditis elegans and animal models to confirm the risk factors; 

3) explore the pathogenesis of PD, such as GAPDH overexpression and aggragation, neuronal cell cycle re-entry and autophagy block; 
4) develop neuroprotective medications based on risk factors and potential pathogenesis; 
5) devise novel genetic approaches to helping understand environment-gene interaction; 
6) transplant stem cells to treat PD animal models; 
7) use the olfactory function assessment and functional magnetic resonance (DTI, MRS and SWI) to early diagnose PD or dystonia patients; 
8) translational medicine for clinical PD patients. 

Professor Frank Bezzina is Pro-Rector for International Development and Quality Assurance at the University of Malta (UM), having previously served as Dean of the Faculty of Economics, Management & Accountancy (2016-2021), Deputy Dean (2012-2016) and Head of the Department of Management (2013-2021). He lectures in Management Science, Applied Business Statistics, Evidence-based Management and Business Research Methods.

Frank's research focuses on investigating phenomena in the Organisational Sciences. He has published papers in various international journals of repute which include the European Management Journal, The International Journal of Human Resource Management and Expert Systems with Applications. He also co-edited book series such as Emerald's Contemporary Studies in Economic and Financial Analysis (Volumes 97 & 98) and Springer's Public Administration, Governance and Globalization (Volume 22). In 2012, his research paper entitled "Investigating the determinants of recycling behaviour in Malta" (co-authored with Stephen Dimech) published in 'Management of Environmental Quality: An International Journal' (Vol. 22 No. 4, pp. 463-485) was awarded the Emerald Literati Network Highly Commended Paper Award for Excellence. Apart from this, he regularly reviews papers for a number of international peer-reviewed journals and conferences.

Professor Bezzina is currently the UM Ambassador of Commonwealth Universities, and Chairperson of the University of Malta's Island and Small States Institute (ISSI) and the Quality Assurance Committee. He holds visiting professor positions at the University of Zagreb (Croatia), the Wroclaw University of Economics (Poland), LM Thapar School of Management (India) and the University of Peja (Kosovo) and is an Honorary Board Member of the European Marketing and Management Association (EUMMAS).

Beyond his academic role, Frank has been engaged in various consultancy assignments and projects for private and public organisations. Most notably, he holds positions as non-executive Director of the Central Bank of Malta and non-executive Chairperson of WasteServ Malta Ltd. Between June 2022 and March 2024, he served 21 times as Acting President of the Republic of Malta.

Vikas Malhotra is a seasoned executive, technologist and entrepreneur with 25+ years of international experience. He considers himself an artist, an innovator who works with technologies to build art. Vikas is interested in 'human experience' and specifically, in creating safe, fair and trusted experiences; whether it be in context of human- human; human-org; human-machine, machine-machine; human- environment. He is specifically focused on decentralized, distributed & personal models (identity, compute) that lead to formation of inferred intelligence networks - Trust Fabric; that are closer to how we are as humans, instead of our data and beings getting centralized.

Vikas is the founder of WOPLLI that is the next-generation experiences company, making our experiences [as we Work, Play, Learn, Live] safe, fair, trusted. Vikas is also the founder of Navandine, which is the next generation hospitality experiences startup.

Previously, Vikas worked for 20+ years for various firms, with 14+ years at Microsoft (2006-2020), where he helped create, form and grow service & markets for Office 365 and cloud, from within engineering division. In prior companies (Microline, CyberTech, CIBER and INS (now British Telecom)); Vikas worked in system integration space enhancing the value and implementation of digital systems and framework for many clients across various verticals; with focus on networking and messaging. He helped pioneer Application Service Provider (ASP) service in early 2000s for one of his employers; a service delivered from remote datacenters which was at least 5 years prior to the term ‘cloud’ being recognized.

Vikas is a contributor to standards, where he contributes to many projects within Linux Foundation and International web level & is the chair of IEEE IC program on Cyber Security for Next Generation Connectivity Systems along with contributing to many IEEE standards workgroups.

Vikas has always been interested in new technologies and how to fix stuff as he grew up in a family of engineers and entrepreneurs. Vikas holds Master of Science (MS) in Telecom Management from Stevens Institute of Technology, USA and Bachelor of Engineering (BE) in Electronics & Telecommunication from University of Pune, India. Vikas resides in New Jersey, USA with his wife and 2 daughters.

Dr. Yanfang Yang is an Associate Professor in the School of Transportation and Logistics Engineering at Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan, China. She received her doctoral degree in Mechanical Engineering from Wuhan University of Technology, China, in 2007. Her research focuses on the application of workshop digital twin technology, data-driven assembly quality analysis, machine learning, and virtual reality technology with system development. With over 80 published papers and more than 20 authorized patents and software copyrights, she has also contributed to academic works such as China Mechanical Design Canon and Virtual Design. Her related research achievements have earned her over 10 academic awards, including the First Prize of Hubei Provincial Science and Technology Progress Award, the First Prize of Wuhan Municipal Science and Technology Progress Award, the Second Prize of China Machinery Industry Science and Technology Award, the Second Prize of China Ports & Harbours Association Science and Technology Progress Award, and the First and Third Prizes of Hubei Mechanical Engineering Society Academic Paper Award.

Prof. Yohannes Kurniawan who currently serves as Professor in Management Information System and Vice-Rector for Student Affairs at BINUS University. With more than 15 years of experience in academics and industry, he has helped many organizations accelerate their digital transformation. Yohannes' expertise in Business Process Analysis, Digital Business, and UI/UX research, he also actively contributes to the academic and professional community. He also holds the prestigious position of Indonesian Chair for the ACM Special Interest Group on Human-Computer Interaction (SIGCHI) and Vice Chair for Meetings & Conferences at ASII.

Dr. Kyoung-Yun Kim is a professor in the Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering at Wayne State University, where he directs the Computational Intelligence and Design Informatics (CInDI) Laboratory. Dr. Kim’s research focuses on Design Science; Design Informatics; Semantic Assembly Design; Welding and Joining; and Smart Manufacturing. Dr. Kim is a leading researcher in assembly modeling with formal ontology theory and data-driven weldability prediction that improves product design efficiency. Dr. Kim’s research has been strongly supported by external funding (over $10M) from several U.S. federal agencies including NSF, MxD (DMDII), NIST, NIDRR, VA-CASE, DOD, and DOE, and industries including Ford, GM, ESTECO, GDLS, Wenzel, and other e-Design Center members. Also, to advance innovation in engineering design education, Dr. Kim implemented advanced design and manufacturing educational innovation curricula with support from NSF IUSE, CI-TEAM, CCLI Stage II, and DOD grants. Currently, Dr. Kim is the Director of the Smart Manufacturing Demonstration Center (SMDC) and he was a Site Director for the NSF Industry and University Cooperative Research Center (I/UCRC) for e-Design. Dr. Kim was a technical lead and executive board member of DMDII (now MxD). Dr. Kim was a member of the steering committee to integrate the GM PACE infrastructure into Wayne State’s engineering curriculum and Electric Drive Vehicle Engineering program with funding from DOE. Dr. Kim is a Fellow of the Society for Design and Process Science. He currently serves as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science. Dr. Kim has served as multiple guest editorships including Journal Advanced Engineering Informatics special issue on "modeling, extraction, and transformation of semantics in computer aided engineering systems," Journal of Integrated Design and Process Science special issue on “design education and engineering design,” and Journal of Engineering Design special issue on “ontological engineering for supporting semantic reasoning in design”. Dr. Kim has published over 100 top journal papers and conference papers in proceedings, and numerous technical reports and presentations. Dr. Kim received the top cited article award (2005-2010) from Journal CAD and the 2003 IIE Transactions Best Paper Award. One of his articles was selected as Classics in Manufacturing and Machinery by Google Scholar. Dr. Kim served as the General Chair of FAIM 2022 (31st International Conference on Flexible Automation and Intelligent Manufacturing) and the conference theme was Human-Data-Technology Nexus in Intelligent Manufacturing and Next Generation Automation. Dr. Kim was an invited professor at Université de Technologie de Belfort-Montbéliard (UTBM), France, 2017 and was a visiting professor at Kyung Hee University, South Korea, 2014. Dr. Kim provided multiple invited talks and seminars nationally and internationally. Dr. Kim’s education includes a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from the University of Pittsburgh, and a B.S. and M.S. in Industrial Engineering from Chonbuk National University, South Korea. 

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.

Dr. Ali Doğru is currently a professor at the University of Texas at San Antonio (UTSA).  Previously he has been in the Middle Eas Technical University (METU) and has visited New Jersey Institute of Technology and National University of Singapore.  He founded the Software Engineering Laboratory, the Master of Science Program in Software Engineering, and the Center for Verification and Validation for the Modeling and simulation, all in METU.  Dr. Doğru has supervised 16 PhD dissertations and over 50 Master of Sicence theses studies.  He published 3 books, 9 book chapters,  24 Journal publications, and more than 95 conference papers.  He obtained his Ph.D. degree from the Southern Methodist University in Computer Science and his previous degrees in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Arlington and Istanbul Technical University. His long term research fields are related with Software Engineering, covering Component Orientation, Specifications, Methodologies, and Real-time critical software.  Dr. Doğru has been active within the Society for Design and Process Science since its beginning, as a founding member where he served as the president and vice president for the Software Engineering Society.  

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 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). 

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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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).

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.

Varadraj Gurupur, PhD is currently working as an Associate Professor with the School of Health Management and Informatics and has a joint appointment with the Department of Computer Science, and Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering with the University of Central Florida (UCF). He is also the founding member and Director of the Center for Decision Support Systems and Informatics at UCF. Dr. Gurupur received his Doctoral degree in Computer Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham in 2010. Dr. Gurupur is a recipient of two international awards, two national awards, and several regional and institutional awards. This includes the prestigious AHIMA Research Award in the year 2017, and the AHIMA Triumph Award for Innovation in 2021. Additionally, he is also the recipient of the prestigious Joseph M. Biedenbach Outstanding Engineering Educator Award from IEEE Region 3 and the recipient of FHIMA Literary Award in 2016. His core research is focused on software engineering decision support systems for healthcare and education. Dr. Gurupur is also someone who has worked in the healthcare industry for several years. Based on this work experience and academic training he is involved in discovering innovative solutions to difficult problems associated with Electronic Health Records. Dr. Gurupur has more than 100 publications which include: edited book, book chapters, journal articles, conference papers, abstracts, and published reviews. Additionally, he has been involved in many research projects funded by the United States Federal government agencies such as National Science Foundation, and National Institutes of Health.