Dr. Orlando Auciello earned his master's and doctoral degrees in physics from the Balseiro Institute at the National University of Cuyo in Argentina. Auciello has expertise in fusion energy, ferroelectric thin films found in non-volatile memories used in smart cards, and oxide films for supercapacitors. He led the team that developed the ultrananocrystalline diamond (UNCD) thin film technology when he was a senior scientist and later a distinguished fellow at Argonne National Laboratory from 1996 to 2012. Industrial applications of UNCD coatings include mechanical water pump seals used in cars, coatings for bearings in machines that produce drugs for the pharmaceutical industry, and creating corrosion-resistant electrically conductive metals for electrodes in new-generation water purification systems. UNCD films are also used as a scaffold surface to grow stem cells. Auciello has won numerous awards for developing UNCD technology, including the R&D 100 Award in 2003, 2008, 2009 and 2011. The Argus II device that Auciello was involved in developing uses UNCD technology and was recognized by Time magazine as one of the best inventions of 2013. Another career highlight was a term served in 2013 as president of the Materials Research Society, the largest international organization of materials researchers from academia, industry and government. Auciello is co-founder, investor and advisor of Advanced Diamond Technologies Inc., which commercializes UNCD-based industrial products, and Original Biomedical Implants, which will be housed in the University's Venture Development Center.

Distinguished Professor Zhengyi Jiang is an internationally recognised expert in innovative composite materials, advanced manufacturing and tribology. His research has advanced understanding of the mechanisms and fabrication technologies underlying new metallic composites and related materials. Since 2001, Dist. Prof. Jiang has established an independent research program spanning advanced manufacturing, innovative composites and tribology. He has attracted more than AUD 28 million in competitive and industry funding and published over 720 research outputs, with an h-index of 45 as of November 2024. He currently leads the ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Innovative Composites for the Future of Sustainable Mining Equipment at the University of Wollongong, as well as the Rolling Mechanics Group within the School of Mechanical, Materials, Mechatronic and Biomedical Engineering. For more than 25 years, Dist. Prof. Jiang has collaborated with Australian and international mining and manufacturing partners to translate research into advanced materials and production technologies. His work has supported applications in mining, automotive, transportation and biomedical industries, including bimetal wear-resistant steel plates, titanium carbide–graphene self-lubricating composites, and lightweight corrosion-resistant roll-bonded clad steels. One of his low-carbon steel manufacturing methods generated annual savings of approximately AUD 5 million for an Australian steel manufacturer and more than AUD 30 million for overseas industry partners. Dist. Prof. Jiang also played a central role in establishing the Baosteel-Australia Joint Research and Development Centre. The collaboration, involving UOW, UQ, Monash, UNSW and Deakin, has generated approximately AUD 7 million in funding for UOW through 18 projects and trained more than 30 industry-ready PhD graduates. His contribution was recognised with a Highly Commended distinction in the 2019 UOW Vice-Chancellor's Award for Outstanding Achievement in Research Partnership and Impact. He has received more than 45 Australian and international awards, including the 2024 New Gold Owl Honorary Award, a 2023 Leverhulme Trust Visiting Professorship, the 2022 Ausinan Science & Technology Society President Award, the 2022 Best Editor Award from the International Journal of Extreme Manufacturing, and the 2016 UOW Vice-Chancellor's Researcher of the Year Award. Dist. Prof. Jiang has delivered more than 60 plenary and keynote presentations, chaired or co-chaired over 16 international conferences, serves on the editorial boards of nine international journals, and regularly reviews for more than 80 leading journals, including Acta Materialia, Advanced Materials, Carbon and Wear.

Raul D. S. G. Campilho is an Assistant Professor at ISEP – School of Engineering, Polytechnic Institute of Porto, Portugal. He obtained his Habilitation in Mechanical Engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto in 2020, his Ph.D. in Mechanical Engineering from the same institution in 2009, his M.Sc. in Mechanical Engineering, with a specialization in Mechanical Constructions, in 2006, and his degree in Mechanical Engineering, Transport Branch, from ISEP in 2003. He is also affiliated with the Associated Laboratory for Energy, Transports and Aeronautics as a researcher. He has published more than 320 journal articles, contributed to 136 book sections, and authored or edited 23 books. He has participated in over 110 academic events and has supervised 5 Ph.D. theses, 167 M.Sc. dissertations, and co-supervised 73 M.Sc. dissertations. He has received 16 awards and honors, and has participated in several research projects, including one as Principal Investigator and six as a researcher. His research interests include material joining, adhesive joints, material characterization, polymers, composite materials, sandwich structures, advanced manufacturing systems, automation and robotics, industrial design, numerical modelling, the finite element method, and cohesive zone models.

Dr. Jun Ni is the Shien-Ming (Sam) Wu Collegiate Professor of Manufacturing Science and Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Michigan, USA. He served as the founding Dean of the University of Michigan – Shanghai Jiao Tong University Joint Institute located in Shanghai, China since 2006. He is also the director of the Wu Manufacturing Research Center and the co-director of a National Science Foundation sponsored Industry/University Cooperative Research Center for Intelligent Maintenance Systems at the University of Michigan. Professor Ni has published over 500 technical papers, and supervised 96 PhD graduates and 65 MS graduates. Selected honors and awards include 2015 Stephen Attwood Award from the University of Michigan, 2014 Alexander Schwarzkopf Award for Technology Innovation by NSF-IUCRC Association, 2013 International Science and Technology Cooperation Award from the People's Republic of China, 2013 Gold Medal from Society of Manufacturing Engineers, 2013 S. M. Wu Research Implementation Award from North American Manufacturing Research Institute, 2009 Ennor Manufacturing Technology Award from American Society of Mechanical Engineering, and 1994 Presidential Faculty Fellows Award. He is an elected Fellow of International Society of Engineering Asset Management, International Society for Nanomanufacturing, American Society of Mechanical Engineers, and Society of Manufacturing Engineers. Professor Ni has been invited to serve as a guest/advisory professor at many institutions, including Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Tsinghua University, Xi'an Jiao Tong University, Huazhong University of Science and Technology, Dalian University of Technology, and 10 other institutions. He served in the International Expert Advisory Board of the Ministry of Science and Technology of PRC to consult for the strategic planning in advanced manufacturing. He served as a consultant for Korea Institution of Materials and Machinery, and South African's Department of Science and Technology's Advanced Production Roadmap. He served as a member of the External Advisory Board at Taiwan's Industrial Technology Research Institute and as a member of the International Advisory Board of the State of Michigan. He has been very active in the Global Council on Advanced Manufacturing at the World Economic Forum since 2010 and is currently serving on the Global Future Council on Advanced Manufacturing and Production. He is active in various national and international studies of policy recommendations for advancing manufacturing competitiveness globally.

Duc Truong Pham's research covers the fields of mechanical, manufacturing, computer and systems engineering. His academic output includes more than 600 technical papers and 17 books. He has supervised over 100 PhD theses to completion. He has won in excess of £30M in external research grants and contracts. In addition to pursuing and leading research, he has acted as a consultant to several major companies and has been active with knowledge transfer to industry, applying the results of his work to help multinational companies and SMEs generate wealth and create and safeguard jobs. He has lectured extensively abroad on his research and has delivered more than fifty keynote presentations at international conferences.  He was Professeur Invité at École Centrale de Paris, Consulting Professor at HUST (China), Erskine Visiting Fellow at the University of Canterbury (New Zealand), Visiting Professor at the Université Paul Verlaine (France), Visiting Professor at King Saud University (Saudi Arabia), Strategic Scientist at Wuhan University of Technology and Honorary Professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University (China). He has received several prizes including the Sir Joseph Whitworth prize from the Institution of Mechanical Engineers in 1996 and 2000 and the Institution's Thomas Stephens Group Prize in 2001 and 2003 and Donald Julius Groen Prize in 2004, and the 5th ICMR Best Paper Prize in 2007. He is also a recipient of a Lifetime Achievement Award (2016, World Automation Congress) and a Distinguished International Academic Contribution Award (IEEE SMC Society TC on Enterprise Info Sys and IFIP TC8 WG8.9, 2017) He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Learned Society of Wales, Society of Manufacturing Engineers, Institution of Engineering and Technology, and Institution of Mechanical Engineers. He was made an OBE in the 2003 New Year's Honours List for his services to Engineering.

Professor Vladimir G. Chigrinov is Professor of Hong Kong University of Science and Technology since 1999. He is an Expert in Flat Panel Technology in Russia, recognized by the World Technology Evaluation Centre, 1994, and SID Fellow since 2008. He is an author of 6 books, 31 reviews and book chapters, about 333 journal papers, more than 718 Conference presentations, and 121 patents and patent applications including 50 US patents in the field of liquid crystals since 1974. He got Excellent Research Award of HKUST School of Engineering in 2012. He obtained Gold Medal and The Best Award in the Invention & Innovation Awards 2014 held at the Malaysia Technology Expo (MTE) 2014, which was hosted in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, on 20-22 Feb 2014. He is a Member of EU Academy of Sciences (EUAS) since July 2017. He got A Slottow Owaki Prize of SID in 2018. He is 2019 Distinguished Fellow of IETI (International Engineering and Technology Institute). Since 2018 until 2020 he works as Professor in the School of Physics and Optoelectronics Engineering in Foshan University, Foshan, China. 2020-2024 Vice President of Fellow of Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence (IDSAI) Since 2021 distinguished Fellow of Institute of Data Science and Artificial Intelligence. He is IETI Fellow since 2019. Since March 2022 he is A Fellow of National Academy of Technology for his contributions to Information Electrical and Electronic Research. He is a Editor in Chief of Liquid Crystal section in Crystals journal since 2023.

Paulo C. DE MORAIS (H-60), PhD, was Full Professor of Physics at the University of Brasilia (UnB) – Brazil up to 2013, Appointed as UnB's Emeritus Professor (2014), Appointed as Guest Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology– China (2011), Visiting Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) – China (2012-2015), Appointed as Distinguished Professor at Anhui University (AHU) – China (2016-2019), Appointed as Full Professor at Catholic University of Brasília (UCB) – Brazil (2018), Appointed as CNPq-1A Research Fellowship since 2010. 2007 Master Research Prize from UnB, 2008-member of the European ERA NET Nanoscience Committee, Member of the IEEE-Magnetic Society Technical Committee, Senior Member of the IEEE Society, 2012 China's 1000 Foreign Expert Recipient, and 2012 Academic Excellence Award from Brazilian Professor's Union. He held two-years (1987-1988) post-doc position with Bell Communications Research – New Jersey, USA and received his Doctoral degree in Solid State Physics (1986) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais – Brazil. He graduated in both Chemistry (1976) and Physics (1977) at UnB. Professor Morais is member of the Brazilian Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – IEEE. He has served as referee for more than 50 technical journals, takes part of the Editorial Board of more than 15 technical journals and has conducted research on nanomaterials for over 40 years.He is known for his research in preparation, characterization and applications of nanosized materials (magnetic fluid, magnetoliposome, magnetic nanoemulsion, magnetic nanocapsule, magnetic nanofilm, magnetic nanocomposite, nanosized semiconductors, polymeric dots, carbon dots, and graphene quantum dots). With more than500 published papers in peer reviewed journals, more than13,500 citations, more than 200 international invited talks (35 countries), and 16 filed patents. He has appeared in recent World ranking of top scientists, such as 2020-Stanford, 2022-Research.com, 2023-AD Scientific Index, 2023-Research.com, 2024-Elsevier, 2025-AD Scientific Index, and 2025-Research.com.

Dr. Osman Adiguzel earned his BSc in Physics from Ankara University (Turkey) in 1974 and completed his PhD at Dicle University in Diyarbakir. He served as a research assistant at Dicle University from 1975 to 1980, then joined Firat University in 1980. In 1986 to 1987 he worked at the University of Surrey in Guildford, UK, as a postdoctoral research scientist, focusing on shape memory alloys. He was promoted to full professor in 1996 and retired at age 67 after a 45 year academic career. From 1999 to 2004, Dr. Adiguzel served as Director of the Graduate School of Natural and Applied Sciences at Firat University. He supervised 5 PhD dissertations and 3 MSc theses and has served on the technical committees of many conferences. He and his experimental group received recognition from the International Centre for Diffraction Data (ICDD) for contributing two patterns to the Powder Diffraction File (Release 2000). His research interests include the shape memory effect and displacive phase transformations in shape memory and related alloys, molecular dynamics simulations and alloy modeling, and materials characterization using electron microscopy, electron and X ray diffraction, and crystallography.