Professor Husam Alshareef is a leader in materials science, with pioneering expertise in developing nanoscale materials for energy and electronics applications. He joined KAUST in 2009 as a founding member and currently serves as chair of the KAUST Center of Excellence for Renewable Energy and Storage Technologies (CREST) and principal investigator of the Functional Nanomaterials & Devices Laboratory.

Alshareef began his career as a postdoctoral researcher at Sandia National Laboratories in New Mexico, and subsequently held positions at Micron Technology and Texas Instruments, where he developed new materials and processes for integrated circuit fabrication. With more than 620 journal publications and 70,000 citations, he is recognized by the Web of Science and Clarivate Analytics as a highly cited researcher in materials science, placing him in the top 1% of researchers worldwide for research output.

Professor Alshareef is a fellow of multiple prestigious organizations, including the Materials Research Society, American Physical Society, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, U.S. National Academy of Inventors, UK Institute of Physics, Royal Society of Chemistry and Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining. He holds 80 issued patents, has received numerous awards, and is frequently invited to speak at conferences worldwide — accomplishments that reflect his extensive contributions to materials science.

Dr. Emad Alhseinat is an Associate Professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi, UAE. He received his Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Edinburgh, UK, in 2013. Since joining Khalifa University in 2016, he has established a leading research program in advanced water treatment, desalination, and electrochemical separation technologies, with a particular focus on capacitive deionization, novel membrane processes, and the application of advanced nanomaterials for sustainable water treatment.
Dr. Alhseinat has secured more than AED 10 million in competitive research funding as Principal Investigator and over AED 15 million in total research funding as Principal Investigator and Co-Principal Investigator. He leads a multidisciplinary research group and has supervised numerous undergraduate senior design projects, M.Sc. and Ph.D. students, postdoctoral researchers, and research staff. He is also a co-founding member of the Center for Membranes and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) at Khalifa University.
Dr. Alhseinat's research aims to develop innovative and sustainable technologies that address global water scarcity by improving the energy efficiency, sustainability, and cost-effectiveness of water treatment and desalination processes. His recent work focuses on advanced electrochemical desalination, graphene- and MXene-based materials, and the integration of electromagnetic fields with electrochemical processes for next-generation water treatment.
He is the inventor or co-inventor of several patents and has authored more than 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and five book chapters in leading journals, including Angewandte Chemie, Water Research, Separation and Purification Technology, Desalination, Electrochimica Acta, Journal of Physical Chemistry C, Chemical Engineering Journal, and Fluid Phase Equilibria.

Dr Hanene Ali-Boucetta is a lecturer in pharmaceutical nanoscience and part of the team developing the new Master of Pharmacy (MPharm) undergraduate degree programme within the College of Medicine and Health.
She teaches and researches in pharmaceutics, drug delivery and nanomedicine. Her primary research interests are in the development and engineering of drug delivery systems to efficaciously target diseased areas. She is also interested in the area of nanotoxicology which allows for the design of safe drug delivery systems.
Dr Hanene Ali-Boucetta has published numerous papers in scientific journals as well as reviews and book chapters in the fields of drug delivery and cancer therapy, nanotoxicology and the biomedical applications of carbon based nanomaterials.

Faisal Abdulla AlMarzooqi is an Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering at Khalifa University. He received his PhD degree in Interdisciplinary Engineering from the joint program at Masdar Institute and at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2015 for his research on the Interplay of Membrane Fabrication and Nanotechnology in Water Desalination. He obtained his Master's degree in Chemical Engineering from Imperial College London in 2009 for his research on the use of ionic liquids in the determination of surface energies, which led him to receive the Lonza award in the same year. He is the deputy director of the Center of Membrane and Advanced Water Technology (CMAT) at Khalifa University and an Editorial Board Member in the Desalination journal by Elsevier. Faisal’s research focuses on membranes and devices fabrication for solar water treatment and energy applications including, desalination, wastewater treatment, valuable metals recovery, hydrogen and batteries.

Dr. Babak Anasori is the Reilly Rising Star Associate Professor at Purdue University, with joint appointments in the Schools of Materials Engineering and Mechanical Engineering. He also serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Graphene and 2D Materials, a Springer-Nature journal. Dr. Anasori received his PhD from Drexel University in 2014 in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, the birthplace of MXenes. Dr. Anasori has authored over 210 refereed publications on MXenes and their precursors and has been recognized as a Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher since 2019. He has received several international awards, including the 2016 Materials Research Society (MRS) Postdoctoral Award, the 2021 Drexel University 40-under-40, the 2021 Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology (WIN) Rising Star Award in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, the 2024 Early Discovery Award by the American Ceramic Society (ACerS), the 2024 Kavli Foundation Early Career Lectureship in Materials Science by MRS, and the 2026 Purdue University Faculty Excellence Award for Early Career Research. Dr. Anasori’s research lab focuses on developing novel 2D carbide and carbonitride MXenes for various applications, including energy generation, electromagnetic interference shielding, and ultra-high temperature and extreme environments.

Prof. Cinzia Casiraghi is Professor of Nanoscience in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Manchester, where she serves as Head of Materials Chemistry and Chief Scientific Officer of the Graphene Engineering Innovation Centre (GEIC), a £60 million facility dedicated to translating graphene and advanced materials research into industrial applications. She obtained BSc and MSc degrees in Nuclear Engineering from Politecnico di Milano and a PhD in Electrical Engineering from the University of Cambridge. Her distinctions include an Humboldt Research Fellowship, the €1.5 million Sofia Kovalevskaja Award, the Leverhulme Prize in Engineering, the RSC Marlow Award for her contributions to Raman spectroscopy, and the RSC Gibson-Fawcett Award for pioneering water-based inks of 2D materials, the ERC Consolidator, Proof of Concept and Advanced Grants. She has participated in numerous UK and European research programmes, including the Graphene Flagship, and has authored over 100 publications in leading journals, including Nature Nanotechnology, Nature Communications, ACS Nano, and Advanced Materials, accumulating more than 46,000 citations.

Giulio Cerullo è Professore Ordinario di Fisica della Materia presso il Politecnico di Milano. La sua attività di ricerca si sviluppa secondo due linee complementari: (i) generazione di impulsi di luce ultrabrevi; (ii) studio di processi ultraveloci in molecole e solidi. Nell’ambito dell’ottica ultraveloce, il Prof. Cerullo ha inventato l’amplificatore ottico parametrico non-collineare (NOPA) che consente la generazione di impulsi di luce visibile con durata fino a 5 fs, corrispondenti a pochi cicli di oscillazione del campo elettromagnetico. Il NOPA visibile è uno strumento standard utilizzato in numerosi laboratori di ricerca in tutto il mondo. Successivamente, ha esteso la capacità di generazione di impulsi di durata inferiore a 10 fs all’infrarosso e all’ultravioletto. In parallelo, ha sviluppato un sistema di spettroscopia ottica ultraveloce con una combinazione unica al mondo fra breve durata degli impulsi laser e ampia accordabilità in frequenza. Tale sistema ha consentito lo studio di processi fotoindotti sulla scala temporale inferiore a 100 fs, prima sperimentalmente inaccessibile. I risultati più importanti di questa attività sono: osservazione in tempo reale dell’isomerizzazione del retinale nella rodopsina, evento primario della visione; studio dei meccanismi di fotoprotezione del DNA; studio di processi di rilassamento ultraveloce dei portatori in grafene.

Dr. Sanjiv Dhingra is a Professor and Associate Head Research of the Department of Physiology and Pathophysiology, University of Manitoba. He is also the Director of the Canada Italy Tissue Engineering Program at the St. Boniface Hospital Research Centre, Winnipeg, Canada. His research interests are focused on the post- myocardial infarction cardiac regeneration and tissue engineering using stem cells and biomaterials. The current research in Dhingra lab focuses on understanding the host immune response against transplanted stem cells. Another major area of interest in Dhingra lab is to develop MXene based immunomodulatory materials to prevent rejection of transplanted stem cells and solid organs. Dr. Dhingra has published several papers in this area in prominent journals. Dr. Dhingra has been actively involved in promoting the field of cardiac stem cell therapy and tissue engineering. He has organized several national and international conferences and symposia. He was the Chair of International Conferences on Future of Regenerative Medicine, which were held in different parts of Europe, in Tuscania (2017), Ostuni (2018), Rome (2023) and Bratislava (2025). Dr. Dhingra has been recognized nationally and internationally for his accomplishments in research. He received Outstanding Leadership Award in Cardiovascular Research from the Life Science Association of Manitoba. Previously he has been recognized by the American Heart Association (AHA) in 2012 and Canadian Cardiovascular Society in 2017 for his efforts in the field of cardiac regenerative medicine. Recently Dr. Dhingra received Dennis McNmara Oration (2025) and J. Mehta Oration Awards (2024) at the Annual Meeting of the International Academy of Cardiovascular Sciences (North and South American Sections), and Dr. Guido Tarone Lecture Award (2023) at the Annual Congress of the Italian Society of Cardiovascular Sciences. Dr. Dhingra’s laboratory is currently funded by multiple agencies including CIHR, NSERC and European Union. He continues to serve as committee member on several granting agency review panels such as CIHR, Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada, NSERC, NFRF, European Science Foundation, Italian Ministry of Health and Medical Research Council of England.

Prof. Dr. Xinliang Feng is the Director at the Max Planck Institute of Microstructure Physics and Chair Professor at Technische Universität Dresden. His research focuses on synthetic materials and functional devices, particularly organic two-dimensional crystals, graphene nanostructures, conductive metal–organic frameworks, and on-water surface chemistry. He is internationally recognized for pioneering contributions to bottom-up synthesis of graphene nanoribbons, 2D conjugated polymers, and organic quantum materials. Prof. Feng has published extensively in leading journals and has received numerous international honors, including multiple European Research Council grants.

Teresa Gatti is Full Professor of Chemistry for Applied Technologies at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. She was a previous Group Leader at the Center for Materials Research of the Justus Liebig University Giessen (Germany), where she maintains the permanent role of affiliated researcher. She is recipient of the 2021 European Research Council Starting Grant with a project on Janus 2D materials (JANUS BI) and of a 2025 ERC POC grant on piezoresistive sensors based on 2D materials (HYSENS). With her team, she works on the synthesis and characterization of novel low-dimensional systems for use in energy-related and (opto)electronic applications, with major focus on sustainability. She is associate editor of the Springer Nature journal npj 2D Materials and Applications.

Dr. Yury Gogotsi is Distinguished University Professor and Charles T. and Ruth M. Bach Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Drexel University. He also serves as Director of the A.J. Drexel Nanomaterials Institute. He received his MS (1984) and PhD (1986) from Kiev Polytechnic and a DSc degree from the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in 1995. His research group works on 2D carbides and nitrides (MXenes), nanostructured carbons, and other nanomaterials for energy, water and biomedical applications. He published more than 800 papers, which have been cited more than 170,000 times. He has been recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in Chemistry and Materials Science, and a Citations Laureate in Physics by Clarivate Analytics. He has received numerous awards for his research including a Chemistry of Materials Award from ACS, MRS Medal, S. Somiya Award from IUMRS, European Carbon Association Award, Materials Innovation Award from Materials Today, International Nanotechnology Prize (RUSNANOPrize), R&D 100 Awards from R&D Magazine and many other distinctions. He has been elected a Fellow of the European Academy of Sciences, World Academy of Ceramics, AAAS, MRS, ACerS, ECS, RSC and ISE. He holds honorary doctorates from several European universities

Silvia Gross is currently Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Padova and has a second affiliation as a DFG Mercator Fellow at the Karlsruher Institut für Technologie (KIT). She studied Chemistry (Master 1996, PhD 2000) at the University of Padova. In 2001 she got a Lise Meitner Postdoctoral Fellowship from the Austrian Science Foundation (FWF) and spent 18 months at the Technische Universität Wien. After a period (2001-2016) as senior research scientist at Italian CNR, she became in 2017 Full Professor of Inorganic Chemistry at the University of Padova. Since 2021 she coordinates the international Master degree "Sustainable Chemistry and Technologies for Circular Economy". Her current research activity, documented by about 200 scientific publications (h-index 43, June 2026), 5 patents, 6 books chapters and 1 book, is mainly focused on the green wet chemistry synthesis of crystalline inorganic colloids and nanoparticles and on sustainable mild approaches for metal recovery.

Dr Carlo Saverio Iorio – Is an adjunct professor at the York University in Toronto - Canada and director of the Centre for Research and Engineering in Space Technologies (CREST) of the University of Brussels - Belgium. He has more than 25 years of experience in Space-related science and technology programmes. His interests are mainly in heat and mass transfer phenomena, and material science for biomedical applications. He has coordinated more than 25 European Space Agency-supported experiments in microgravity taking advantage of the available Space platforms including sounding rockets, parabolic flights, satellite capsules and the International Space Station. Recently, he has been appointed as an expert on Space policy at the European Commission General Directorate on Defence, Space, and Industries. He is also a member of the European Space Agency strategic group for the design and implementation of future European Policies in Space. He has been recently appointed as part of the Belgian Delegation for Space at the European Defence Agency. The CREST has been recognized in 2025 as an official Ground-Based Facility of the European Space Agency.

Guglielmo Lanzani is full professor of physics at Politecnico di Milano and from 2010 he is principal investigator at Italian Institute of Technology. He studies photoresponsive materials able to induce light sensitivity and signaling in biological systems. The ultimate goal is to realize photo-driven human-machine interfaces for application in regenerative medicine, prosthetics and hybrid robotics. He has recently developed, in collaboration with neuroscientist and medical doctors, a new retina prosthesis. He is funding partner in three start-ups (NOVAVIDO, RIBES TECH and SAMS Technology).

Enzo Menna is Full Professor of Organic Chemistry at the University of Padova. His present activity concerns the synthesis of organic materials. In 1999 he started working, as Assistant Professor, on the functionalization of fullerenes. Since then, he developed a branch concerning the chemistry of Carbon Nanotubes, an almost unexplored topic at that time, then extended to other carbon nanostructures (CNSs), such as Graphene Based Materials.
Main goal of his research has been the realization of soluble and functional CNSs derivatives. The products that were obtained have allowed the study of physico-chemical properties of CNSs in solution and the incorporation in polymer matrices. His research activity is mainly focused on materials for energy conversion, biomedical applications and water treatments.
A major research activity concerns the development of electrospun nanofibrous membranes and conductive nanocomposite scaffolds for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, where the control of porosity, surface chemistry, wettability and transport properties is essential to regulate cell behaviour and tissue regeneration. His group also develops functional porous materials for water treatment, exploiting chemically modified carbon nanostructures for the adsorption and removal of organic pollutants. Combining expertise in organic synthesis, nanomaterials engineering and advanced physicochemical characterization, his research aims to establish structure–property relationships governing transport, mechanical, electrical and biological performance.
He is executive board member of the Centre for Mechanics of Biological Materials (CMBM) and of the Centre “Giorgio Levi Cases” for Energy Economics and Technology of the University of Padova.
He teaches Organic Chemistry and Chemistry of Organic Materials. Co-author of 106 scientific papers (91 in ISI journals, with average IF = 6.6, and 15 publications including book chapters and conference proceedings) and 1 patent.

Dr. Marko Mihajlovic earned his PhD in Supramolecular Polymer Chemistry from the Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e), the Netherlands, in 2018, where he worked on micellar supramolecular hydrogels. He continued his postdoctoral training in the field of hydrogels, first at Utrecht University (UU), the Netherlands, where he focused on biomaterials for the treatment of osteoarthritis and cartilage regeneration. He then moved to the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), where he developed novel 3D cellulose-based matrices for ovarian cell culture with the aim of advancing cell-based hormone replacement therapies.
In 2024, he was awarded a postdoctoral fellowship from the Umberto Veronesi Foundation to conduct research on peptide-based drug delivery systems at the University of Trieste (UniTS). He is currently a Marie Skłodowska-Curie Actions (MSCA) Postdoctoral Fellow at UniTS, working on peptide/carbon nanotube nanocomposites for cardiac tissue engineering.
His expertise spans carbon nanomaterials, polymer chemistry, synthetic and biopolymers, and hydrogels for applications in drug delivery, tissue engineering, and regenerative medicine.

Prof. Nicolosi received a BSc with honors in Industrial Chemistry from the University of Catania (Italy) in 2001. In 2006 she received a Ph.D. in Physics in 2006 from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, working under the supervision of Prof. W. J. Blau and Prof. J. N. Coleman. During her PhD she worked on the processing and characterisation of MoSI nanowires. After receiving her PhD she worked as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow in the group of Prof. J. N. Coleman until December 2007.

João Nuno Moreira is Associate Professor with Habilitation at the Faculty of Pharmacy, and Group Leader at Center for Neurosciences and Cell Biology (CNC)/ Center for Innovative Biomedicine and Biotechnology (CIBB), University of Coimbra, where he leads the Tumor Microenvironment and Targeted Therapies group. His research focuses on the design and validation of lipid-based nanosystems for targeted delivery of anticancer drugs and nucleic acids, integrating tumor biology with drug delivery strategies. His work has contributed to the development of nanomedicine platforms with demonstrated relevance, including a nanosystem achieving orphan drug designation awarded by both EMA and FDA.

Marco Orecchioni, Ph.D., is an Assistant Professor at the Immunology Center of Georgia, Augusta University. His research focuses on immune and inflammatory mechanisms in cardiovascular disease, with expertise in macrophage biology, atherosclerosis, tumor immunity, and olfactory receptor signaling. His scientific background also includes nanomedicine, particularly the application of nanomaterials to study how they modulate the immune responses in disease-relevant settings.
Dr. Orecchioni earned his Ph.D. from the University of Sassari in Italy and completed postdoctoral training at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology in San Diego. He has authored and co-authored several peer-reviewed publications including in Science, spanning immunology, inflammation, cardiovascular disease, and nanomedicine, and his work has been presented and recognized at national and international scientific meetings.

Valentina Palmieri received her degree in Medical Biotechnology from the Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore in Rome, where she developed a multidisciplinary scientific background. She is currently a Senior Researcher at the Institute of Complex Systems of the National Research Council of Italy (ISC-CNR), conducting interdisciplinary research at the interface of nanotechnology, regenerative medicine, microbiology, and biomedical engineering.
From 2020 to 2023, she served as a Researcher at ISC-CNR and contributed to several national and international research projects, including AIRC and FLAG-ERA JTC initiatives. She has also acted as Principal Investigator in projects funded by PRIN, Fondazione Umberto Veronesi, Ricerca Finalizzata, and the Lazio Region. Her research has primarily focused on graphene-based materials, antimicrobial coatings, tissue engineering, 3D bioprinting, and photothermal biomedical applications.
She has gained extensive international research experience through collaborations with Cardiff University, Scotland’s Rural College, the European Synchrotron Radiation Facility (ESRF) in Grenoble, and laboratories within the Paris-Saclay network, where she conducted advanced microscopy and scattering studies. These experiences have strengthened her expertise in biomaterials characterization and translational nanomedicine.
She is also co-founder of the ORIS Lab within the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Sciences at Sapienza University of Rome, established together with Prof. Umberto Romeo. The laboratory focuses on the development of graphene-based biomaterials and innovative regenerative strategies for oral and maxillofacial surgery.

Dr. Anna-Maria Pappa is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Khalifa University and a visiting scholar at Cambridge University. She was previously an Independent Oppenheimer research fellow at the Department of Chemical Engineering and Biotechnology at Cambridge University and the Maudslay-Butler Research Fellow in Engineering at Pembroke College, Cambridge.

She has a Diploma in Chemical Engineering and an MSc in Nanotechnology (Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece). She completed her PhD studies in 2017 (University of Lyon, France) working on bioelectronic devices for healthcare diagnostics. In 2017 she received the L’Oreal-UNESCO Women in Science award for developing an innovative platform that can be used to test the efficacy of newly synthesized antibiotics and in 2019 she was listed on the Innovators under 35 MIT technology review.

She is currently an associate editor of Scientific Report, Frontiers in Electronics and Applied Physics Letters, AIP. Her current research interests lie in bio-integrated electronics based on conducting polymers and 2D materials.

Prof. Piergiorgio Percipalle is a tenured biology faculty at New York University (NYU), Abu Dhabi campus. He received a degree in Chemistry (Laurea Cum Laude) from the University of Catania and a PhD in Molecular Genetics and Biotechnology from the International Higher School for Advanced Studies, Trieste, Italy. As PhD student he trained at the UNIDO International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), Trieste. For postdoctoral training he worked at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK, and at the Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, in the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology. As postdoc, he was awarded EMBO, Marie Curie and Blanceflor-Ludovisi long-term postdoctoral fellowships. In 2004, Prof. Percipalle joined the Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Karolinska Institute, as Group Leader and, later on, as tenured Associate Professor of Cell Biology with grants from the Swedish Research Council and Swedish Cancer Society. During this period, he was awarded tenure at the Karolinska Institute and the Svedberg Price for Biochemistry by the Swedish Academy of Science. In 2015 he moved to New York University (NYU) Abu Dhabi as Associate Professor of Biology, affiliated with the Department of Biology, NYU, New York. In 2019, he was awarded tenure at NYU. He is currently full professor and standing faculty at NYU Abu Dhabi and Global Network Professor of Biology at NYU. He serves as Chair of the Biology Program and Associate Dean of Science for Research and Graduate Programs at NYU Abu Dhabi. Prof Percipalle’s lab focuses on how cell identity is governed by the spatial and functional organization of the genome within the eukaryotic cell nucleus. The lab investigates how chromatin architecture, epigenetic regulation and nuclear mechanics collectively determine gene expression and cellular function. We are particularly interested in how perturbations of these systems reconfigure transcriptional and metabolic programs, contributing to the onset of cancer, metabolic disease and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Dr. Ahsan received his PhD from Jeonbuk National University in 2008 and completed postdoctoral training at Toyama University. He joined KFUPM as an Assistant Professor in 2010 and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2016 before joining Khalifa University in 2019.His research focuses on the development and advanced characterization of functional materials for clean energy applications, particularly electrochemical systems. His research focuses on the design of corrosion-resistant electrocatalysts for seawater electrolysis, advancing CO₂ conversion to C₂ products through insights into C–C coupling reaction, developing cost-effective electrocatalysts for nitrogen fixation, and understanding complex chemistries of thermally stable electrolytes for next-generation energy storage systems. He has also supervised and co-supervised numerous graduate students in these important research directions. Dr. Ahsan has authored over 155 peer-reviewed publications, presented more than 100 conference papers, contributed 7 book chapters, and holds 6 U.S. patents. His scholarly impact is reflected by a Scopus H-index of 50 and more than 8,300 citations. He served as the Founding Director of AMCC (2022–2024) and currently serves as Deputy Director of CeCaS and Associate Chair of Postgraduate Studies in Chemistry at Khalifa University. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry (FRSC), a member of MBRAS, and Chair of the ACerS UAE Chapter. He has held visiting appointments at EPFL, the University of Tokyo, Nagoya University, Caltech, and SIAT China, and serves on the editorial boards of several leading international journals such as Communications Engineering (Nature) Materials Research Bulletin, Energy Environmental Materials, and Ultrasonics Sonochemistry.

Prof. (HP) Dr. Almira Ramanaviciene is head of NanoTechnas - Center of Nanotechnology and Materials Science at the Faculty of Chemistry and Geosciences of Vilnius University, and Chief researcher at the Department of Immunology and Bioelectrochemistry of State Research Institute Centre for Innovative Medicine (Vilnius, Lithuania). She defended her PhD thesis in biomedicine in 2002 at the Institute of Immunology. In 2008, she completed her habilitation procedure in Physical Sciences at Vilnius University. She has extensive experience in developing optical, electrochemical, and piezoelectric immunosensors and biosensors, with a focus on nanostructures, surface modification techniques, biofunctionalization, and biomarker detection strategies. Prof. A. Ramanaviciene has been the Chair of the Lithuanian Chemical Society since 2022 and a member of the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences since 2025.

Christian Salvatori is a physicist engineer and business development professional with over 15 years of experience in advanced materials, high-performance polymers and technology-driven industrial applications. He has developed extensive expertise in identifying market opportunities, building strategic partnerships and translating complex technologies into application-specific solutions across industrial and energy-related sectors.
Currently serving as Chief Commercial Officer at ESANanoTech, he focuses on the development and commercialization of graphene-based technologies and advanced materials. His work combines technical knowledge, market intelligence and strategic business development to bridge the gap between scientific innovation and industrial applications.

Dr Yarjan Abdul Samad is an Assistant Professor of Aerospace Engineering at Khalifa University, UAE and a Senior Research Associate and Senior Teaching Fellow at The University of Cambridge. He has served as the Chief Technology Advisor to a climate change company called Levidian based out of Cambridge, UK, which is transforming waste gas resources to graphene and hydrogen. His research work is on bottom-up and top-down production of graphene & related materials crystals. He is interested in employing these materials for technologies for Space in particular and Aerospace in general. He was among the team of scientists on European Space Agency (ESA)’s Zero Gravity flights who were the first to test Graphene in microgravity. He has also tested graphene-based materials for applications in space using Sounding Rockets. He is a member of the Science Team of Rashid Rover, which is due for launch within 2026, by MBRSC, UAE. He is the recipient of several awards such as Young Leaders Award 2020 by the UK’s Young Professional Society, The Innovator of The Year by the technology development company, Pakistan foreign affairs award for twenty-five under the age of 40 talents of Pakistani origin abroad, Nano Today Best Scientific Presentation, and many other Best Scientific Talks awards at international conferences.

Dr. Faisal Shahzad brings a wealth of industrial and academic experience to his roles. He served as a senior NDT engineer at a Power Generating Station from 2008 to 2013. After completing his PhD at UST-KIST, South Korea, from 2013 to 2017, he began his academic career as an Assistant Professor at PIEAS. He served in the role of Associate Professor at PIEAS University before joining Khalifa University in October 2023 as a Senior Research Scientist.
Dr. Shahzad has received several prestigious awards, including the Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (T.I) from the Government of Pakistan in 2021, the Academic Excellence Award, and the International R&D Academy Award of Excellence from UST, South Korea. He was also honored with the Best Young Researcher Award from the Higher Education Commission of Pakistan in 2022. With over 70 research papers, 6 book chapters, and an international patent, his work has garnered over 8500 citations and a h-index of 30.

Dr. Lourdes F. Vega is Full Professor of Chemical Engineering, Senior Director of the Energy Institute at Khalifa University (UAE), and founder and former director of the Research and Innovation Center on CO₂ and Hydrogen (RICH). She has developed an international career spanning academia and industry in the United States, Spain, and the UAE.
An expert in nanotechnology, clean energy, and sustainable technologies, she is recognized for translating fundamental science into industrial solutions. Her work focuses on CO₂ capture and utilization, hydrogen and derivatives, sustainable fuels, and advanced cooling systems, integrating multiscale modeling, experiments, and AI-driven materials discovery to accelerate industrial deployment. Her contributions have received international recognition, including Global 50 Women in Hydrogen (2025), V60: 60 Impactful Women Driving Sustainability in the Middle East (2024), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Medal of Scientific Distinction (2020). She is a Fellow of the American Institute of Chemical Engineers, a member of the Spanish Royal Academy of Sciences and serves on multiple academic and industrial boards.

Valentyn S. Volkov, PhD, is an internationally renowned expert in the field of nanophotonics and advanced materials, with two decades of experience at leading universities and research centers. His contributions to the field have been substantial, with over 300 published papers and an impressive citation count exceeding 10000.
Valentyn’s research spans a wide range of topics in nanotechnology and materials science, including linear and nonlinear nano-optics, near-field optical microscopy and spectroscopy, plasmon-based nanophotonics, and integrated optics. He is particularly renowned for his pioneering work in nano-optics and the development of nanophotonic waveguide structures, including photonics integrated circuits based on low-dimensional and van der Waals materials. These results form the backbone for the development of XPANCEO smart lenses. His current research interests primarily focus on the field of graphene nanophotonics, 2D materials, sensing, biosensors, and functional 2D materials-based devices.

Dr. Acelya Yilmazer is working in the Biomedical Engineering Department of Ankara University – Turkey, as a full Professor. After she obtained her PhD in the Nanomedicine Lab based in the School of Pharmacy - University College London, she returned back to Turkey to establish her research laboratory. Her research group works on the preclinical evaluation of nanomaterials with specific focus on the anti-cancer and anti-viral development. She has pioneered the use of various novel 2D nanomaterials for photodynamic and photothermal therapy for cancer for the first time in literature. She has received the Best Young Investigator Award by the Turkish Society of Medical Biology and Genetics (2013), Young Investigator Award by the Turkish Academy of Sciences (2018), the Scientific Encouragement Award by the Ankara University (2019), the Young Women Scientist Award in 2023 by L'Oréal Turkey and UNESCO National Commission and the British Council Study UK Alumni Award in Science and Sustainability (2026).

Martina Zoccheddu is Director of the Integrated Genomics Core at Augusta University, where she oversees the adoption and application of advanced genomic technologies, including next-generation sequencing, single-cell genomics, multiomic profiling, and spatial transcriptomics. She works closely with investigators to translate complex biological questions into innovative experimental strategies, guide technology selection, develop pilot studies, and contribute to scientific publications. Before joining Augusta University, she was a Senior Research Associate at the UC San Diego School of Medicine and the Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, as well as an Affiliate Senior Research Associate at the La Jolla Institute for Immunology. Her research focused on T-cell biology, autoimmune arthritis, and immune–stromal interactions, contributing to publications in Science Immunology, Nature Immunology, Science Advances, and ACS Nano.