Beng Chin Ooi is a Lee Kong Chian Centennial Professor at the National University of Singapore (NUS), School of Computing (SoC). He holds a B.Sc. (1st Class Honors) and Ph.D. in Computer Science from Monash University. His research focuses on database systems, large-scale analytics, and distributed computing. He has held leadership roles including Dean of School of Computing (2007–2013) and Director of Smart Systems Institute (2011–2021). Key achievements include the Singapore President’s Science Award (2011), ACM Fellow (2011), IEEE Fellow (2009), and multiple best paper awards. His work emphasizes scalable data management, blockchain systems, and healthcare data analytics. Education: Monash University (B.Sc., Ph.D.) Leadership: Dean (SoC), Director (Smart Systems Institute) Awards: Over 15 major honors including ACM SIGMOD E.F. Codd Innovations Award (2020) His research spans distributed databases, big data systems, and innovative applications of blockchain technology. Recent work includes NASI (neural architecture search) and Rafiki (ML-as-a-service).
Christoph Koch is a Full Professor in the School of Computer and Communication Sciences at EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne) , Switzerland. He has held academic positions at Cornell University (2007-2010, 2006), Saarland University (2005-2007), and TU Vienna (2001-2005). His research focuses on database systems, logic, programming languages, and data management.
Katja Hose is a Full Professor of Data Management at TU Wien's DBAI research unit, heading the Data Management and Knowledge-Driven AI Lab. She previously held a Poul Due Jensen Foundation Professorship at Aalborg University. Her research focuses on data and knowledge engineering, including graph databases, knowledge graphs, querying, analytics, and machine learning, with interdisciplinary applications in bioscience, healthcare, and environmental assessment. Education: PhD in Computer Science (Ilmenau University of Technology, 2009), Postdoc at Max Planck Institute for Informatics (2009–2012). Academic roles include Program Co-Chair for ISWC 2024 and EDBT 2023, and editorial board membership at VLDBJ and TGDK. She leads projects like TARGET (health virtual twins) and ARMADA (data management). Research Interests: Knowledge Graphs, Semantic Web, Big Data, Machine Learning, Data Integration, and Provenance Systems. Key contributions include SHACL shape extraction, conversational data analytics, and environmental knowledge graphs. Awards include the 2025 Distinguished Meta-Reviewer Award and 2024 Manfred Paul Award. Advising and Grants: Supervised students including E. Pürmayr (Diploma Thesis 2025). Active in EU projects (TARGET, ARMADA) and grant coordination. Labs/Teams: DMKI Lab at TU Wien, collaborating with interdisciplinary teams in healthcare and environmental science.
Maria Chudnovsky is a Professor of Mathematics at Princeton University and a former Professor of IEOR and Mathematics at Columbia University (2006-2014). Her research focuses on graph theory and combinatorics, with significant contributions to structural graph theory, perfect graphs, and algorithmic applications. Education: B.A. Summa Cum Laude (1996) and M.Sc. (1999) from Technion, Ph.D. (2003) from Princeton University Her work addresses fundamental problems in graph coloring, forbidden induced subgraphs, and combinatorial optimization, including the proof of the Strong Perfect Graph Theorem and development of algorithms for detecting graph structures. Notable awards include the MacArthur Foundation Fellowship (2013-2017), D.R. Fulkerson Prize (2009), and Henry Burchard Fine Professor of Mathematics (2022). She has held prestigious fellowships such as the Clay Mathematics Institute Research Fellowship (2003-2008). Grants: NSF DMS-EPSRC Grant DMS-2120644 (2021-2024), US Army Research Office Grant W911NF-16-1-0404 (2016-2020), and multiple NSF grants She has advised numerous PhD/MSc students and postdocs, including Sophie Spirkl, Mingxian Zhong, and Tara Abrishami. Her outreach includes popular science communication on YouTube's Numberphile and participation in initiatives promoting women in STEM.
Huamin Qu is a Chair Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST). He serves as the Founding Dean of the Academy of Interdisciplinary Studies (AIS), Founding Head of the Division of Emerging Interdisciplinary Areas (EMIA), and was the Founding Acting Head of Computational Media and Arts (CMA) at HKUST(GZ). Qu directs the VisLab and coordinates the Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) group. He obtained his BS in Mathematics from Xi'an Jiaotong University and MS/PhD in Computer Science from Stony Brook University. Qu's research integrates Data Visualization , Human-Computer Interaction , and Human-Centered AI , with applications in urban informatics, social networks, and explainable AI. His work focuses on developing interactive systems for big data analytics, visual storytelling, and AI-driven decision support. Research extends to multimodal communication, fintech, and augmented reality applications. His publications emphasize visual analytics for complex datasets (mobility, social media, financial), interaction techniques for immersive environments, and AI-enhanced visualization tools. Recent works explore explainable AI interfaces and large-scale data communication frameworks. IEEE Visualization Academy (2020) IEEE VGTC Technical Achievement Award AI 2000 Most Influential Scholar (2019, 2023, 2024) 21 Best Paper/Honorable Mention awards IBM Faculty Award (2009) APICTA Merit Award (2015) Yelp Dataset Grand Prize (2018) Qu has advised 48 PhD graduates (21 now faculty at institutions like UC Davis, University of Minnesota, Texas A&M) and 30 MPhil students. He secured major grants including RGC theme-based projects (digital citizenship, air pollution), UGC AoE (slope safety), and China's 973 Program. As VisLab director, he leads 20+ researchers in visualization/HCI projects adopted by Microsoft, IBM, Huawei, and Tencent.
Lam James is a Chair Professor of Control Engineering at the University of Hong Kong (HKU), affiliated with the Faculty of Engineering. He holds a BSc (1st Hons.) in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Manchester, and MPhil/PhD degrees from the University of Cambridge. His academic journey includes roles as a Croucher Fellow, Lecturer at the University of Melbourne, and faculty member at City University of Hong Kong before joining HKU in 1993. Professor Lam serves as Editor-in-Chief for four international journals including IET Control Theory and Applications and Journal of The Franklin Institute . His research focuses on networked control systems, vibration control, control theory, and multi-agent systems. With 600+ peer-reviewed publications, he maintains an H-index of 102 (Web of Science) and 108 (Scopus), recognized as a Highly Cited Researcher in multiple fields. Education: BSc Manchester (Mechanical Engineering), MPhil/PhD Cambridge Editorial Roles: 20+ journals, including leadership roles since 2012 His awards include Foreign Membership of Academia Europaea (2024), National Academy of Artificial Intelligence membership (2025), and two State Natural Science Awards (2015, 2019). He is a Fellow of multiple institutions including IEEE, IMechE, and HKIE.
Dr. Yunjie Yang is an Associate Professor at the University of Edinburgh's School of Engineering, with affiliations at the Edinburgh Futures Institute (EFI), the Edinburgh Generative AI Laboratory (GAIL), and the Edinburgh Centre for Robotics. He previously held the Chancellor's Fellow in Data Driven Innovation (2018-2023) and Bayes Innovation Fellow (2023-2024) positions. His research focuses on AI-powered sensing and imaging, machine learning, and soft sensors & electronics for robotics. Yang received his PhD in Engineering Electronics from the University of Edinburgh, MSc in Control Science & Engineering from Tsinghua University, and BEng in Measurement & Control Engineering from Anhui University. After his PhD, he worked as a Postdoctoral Research Associate in Chemical Species Tomography before securing his lectureship. His research interests center on developing intelligent sensing systems that replicate human perception capabilities for robotics and intelligent systems. He pioneers flexible sensing and imaging technologies across various scales through innovative multi-modal sensors, soft electronics, and their modeling using machine learning approaches. His work aims to enable autonomous physical artificial intelligence by bridging the gap between robotic systems and human-like perception. Analysis of his recent publications reveals a strong focus on soft robotics perception, particularly through electrical impedance tomography (EIT) and transformer-based architectures. His research spans medical imaging applications, digital twin modeling for industrial processes, and machine learning approaches for sensor data interpretation. The trend shows increasing integration of physics-informed deep learning with traditional tomographic techniques to achieve higher accuracy and efficiency. European Research Council (ERC) Starting Grant (2024) IEEE J. Barry Oakes Advancement Award (2024) IEEE I&M Society Graduate Fellowship Award (2015) Multiple Best Paper Awards Senior Member of IEEE Fellow of the International Society for Industrial Process Tomography Fellow of the Higher Education Academy ESI highly cited papers Dr. Yang serves as Associate Editor for IEEE Transactions on Instrumentation and Measurement and holds editorial positions with Scientific Reports and IEEE Sensors Journal. His research has been licensed to overseas research institutes and industry partners and received wide media coverage including BBC, EFE, USA Today, and STV. He has secured significant grant funding including the prestigious ERC Starting Grant. He leads the Edinburgh SMART Lab (Sensing/imaging + Machine Learning + Robotics), which aims to replicate human perception capabilities for robotics and advance flexible sensing technologies through innovative multi-modal sensors and machine learning approaches. The lab focuses on enabling autonomous physical artificial intelligence with applications spanning medical diagnostics, industrial monitoring, and advanced robotics systems.
Wolfgang Kunz is a Full Professor (C4, W3) and Chair of Electronic Design Automation at the Technische Universität Kaiserslautern since 2001. His academic career spans multiple prestigious institutions, including Goethe-University Frankfurt/Main and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. He has held leadership roles such as Dean (2005-2007) and Vice-Dean (2007-2009) at TU Kaiserslautern. Habilitation (Dr. rer. nat. habil.), Computer Science, University of Potsdam (1996) Doctoral degree (Dr.-Ing.), Electrical Engineering, University of Hannover (1992) Dipl.-Ing. degree, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (1989) His research focuses on hardware verification, security, and optimization, particularly in embedded systems and processors. His work on formal verification methods has been commercialized by companies like Synopsys, Mentor Graphics, and Siemens EDA. His 2016-2021 publications address critical security issues such as Spectre/Meltdown and introduce innovative verification frameworks adopted by industry leaders like Infineon and OneSpin Solutions. Scientific awards include the IEEE Fellow (2006), German IT Society Award (2005), and TU Kaiserslautern Distinguished Teaching Award (2016). He has served on editorial boards of major journals and coordinated the Erasmus Mundus European Master Program in Embedded Computing Systems since 2010. Key students: Jörg Bormann, Raik Brinkmann, Tobias Ludwig Collaborations: Siemens EDA, Infineon, AbsInt, Intel SCAP Spin-offs: LUBIS EDA, OneSpin Solutions
Univ.-Prof. Torsten Möller, PhD is a Professor at the University of Vienna and serves as Head of the Research Group Visualization and Data Analysis and Head of the Research Network Data Science. His work spans data visualization, visual analytics, and human-computer interaction, with a focus on biomedical, environmental, and societal data applications. Academic rank: Professor Research group: Visualization and Data Analysis Network: Data Science Email: torsten.moeller@univie.ac.at Research interests include: Visual data analysis for complex systems Interdisciplinary applications in climate science and medicine Human-computer interaction in data exploration Image processing and computer graphics Recent publication trends show expertise in: Visualizing climate change and pandemic data Multi-volumetric and network analysis Algorithmic transparency and user-centered design Interdisciplinary collaborations (e.g., astrophysics, medical imaging) Statistical and uncertainty visualization Design frameworks for visualization recommendation Teaching includes courses in: Computer graphics and visualization Image processing and analysis Human-computer interaction Data analysis projects Doctoral research seminars
Professor Marta Zofia Kwiatkowska is Professor of Computing Systems and Fellow of Trinity College at the University of Oxford, where she has held a faculty position since 2007. She previously served as Professor of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham (2001–2007), Reader and Lecturer at the University of Birmingham (1994–2001), and Lecturer at the University of Leicester (1986–1994). Her academic career began as Assistant Professor at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland (1980–1988). Education: BSc/MSc in Computer Science, Jagiellonian University, Kraków MA, University of Oxford PhD, University of Leicester Research Interests: Professor Kwiatkowska spearheaded the development of probabilistic and quantitative verification methods on the international stage. Her work bridges theory and practice through the PRISM model checker—the leading software tool in probabilistic model checking—used worldwide for research and teaching. Application domains include communication and security protocols , nanotechnology designs , power management , ubiquitous computing and systems biology . She investigates automated verification , temporal logics , semantic models for concurrency , real-time systems , and biological process modelling . Current grant funding exceeds £3.7 million from EPSRC, EU and ERC, including the prestigious ERC Advanced Grant VERIWARE. Scientific Awards & Honours: Fellow of the Royal Society Fellow of the ACM Fellow of the European Association for Theoretical Computer Science (EATCS) Fellow of the British Computer Society (BCS) Fellow of the Polish Society of Arts & Sciences Abroad ERC Advanced Grant VERIWARE (€2.046 M, 2010–2015) Top Cited Article Award, Theoretical Computer Science (2005–2010) Best Paper Award, QEST 2006 Doctoral Supervision & Grants: Professor Kwiatkowska actively supervises doctoral students (D.Phil. at Oxford) and post-doctoral researchers. She welcomes applications in areas aligned with her research interests, detailed here . Current students include Charlie Griffin, Daqian Shao, Matthew Yuan and Minghao Liu; past students and researchers number over twenty, many now in faculty or industry leadership roles. Laboratory & Teams: She leads the Oxford Quantitative Verification group within the Department of Computer Science. Ongoing projects include FUN2MODEL, ELSA, FAIR and the flagship PRISM probabilistic model checker. The group maintains strong collaborations with biological, robotics and engineering teams worldwide.
Dominik Schörkhuber is a PreDoc Researcher at the Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien) in the Computer Vision department. With a background in Informatics (BSc, Dipl.-Ing.), he focuses on computer vision applications for autonomous driving, robotics, and human-machine interaction. His work spans driver action recognition, pedestrian prediction, and adaptive lighting systems. Current projects: Empathic Vehicle (2024–2026), SyntheticCabin (2021–2025), SmartProtect (2020–2025) Research themes: Video transformers, synthetic data transfer learning, multi-task learning, and sensor-lighting integration Specializes in 3D sensing, nighttime driving analysis, and mobile video creation tools
Dr. Rajkumar Buyya is a Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor at the University of Melbourne and Founder & CEO of Manjrasoft , a spin-off commercializing cloud innovations. He has held visiting roles at Imperial College London , University of Birmingham , and Tsinghua University . Research Interests : His work spans Cloud Computing , Edge Computing , Grid Systems , and Energy-Efficient Computing , focusing on utility-driven resource allocation, simulation tools, and scalable IoT application frameworks. He pioneered the CloudSim toolkit and Aneka Cloud technologies. Scientific Awards : IEEE Fellow (2015), Web of Science Highly Cited Researcher (2016-2021) Khwarizmi International Award (2020), Scopus Researcher of the Year (2017) Frost & Sullivan New Product Innovation Award (2010), IEEE TCSC Medal (2009) Impact : Authored over 850 publications, including the widely adopted textbook Mastering Cloud Computing . Graduated 54 PhD students now in leadership roles at institutions like Newcastle University and companies such as IBM , Google , and Amazon . His research has driven global adoption of cloud/edge technologies in 50+ countries.
Liangzhong Yao is a Professor and Director of the Smart Grid Research Institute at Wuhan University, China. He holds dual roles as Fellow of IEEE and IET, and has served in leadership positions such as Vice President of China Electric Power Research Institute (CEPRI) and Chair of IEC TC122. His expertise spans renewable energy grid integration, HVDC systems, smart grid technologies, and energy storage. Yao has led over 25 years of R&D projects with combined funding exceeding GBP 20 million and RMB 90 million, resulting in applied technologies in wind farms and HVDC grids. He has been awarded over 10 national and international accolades, including the IEC 1906 Standard Award and China Science and Technology Innovation Awards. Research focuses include AC-DC hybrid systems, distributed energy resource integration, and high-renewable energy grid operation. He has authored/co-authored 350+ publications, 60+ patents, and 4 books. Yao currently supervises 8 PhD and 10 Master's students, and serves on editorial boards of journals like CSEE Journal of Power Energy & Systems. His leadership roles in global standards bodies like IEC and CIGRE further highlight his contributions to advancing electrical engineering standards and practices.
Professor Thomas Lukasiewicz is a Full Professor and Head of the Artificial Intelligence Techniques research group at the Faculty of Informatics, Vienna University of Technology (TU Wien). His research focuses on enabling machines to mimic human-like intelligence through techniques spanning deep learning, symbolic reasoning, and predictive coding. Key areas include explainable AI, hybrid neurosymbolic systems, and applications in healthcare and law. He teaches courses such as Deep Learning for Natural Language Processing, Scientific Research and Writing, and multiple seminars in artificial intelligence and knowledge representation. His research projects include Explainable AI in Healthcare (2023–2027) and foundational work on predictive coding networks. His publications (15+ recent articles) address medical image segmentation, neurosymbolic frameworks, and language model evaluation in mathematics. Notable work includes neurosymbolic hybrid models (CCN⁺), reinforcement learning for medical report generation, and theoretical foundations of predictive coding networks.
Janusz Bujnicki is a Professor and head of the Laboratory of Bioinformatics and Protein Engineering at the International Institute of Molecular and Cell Biology in Warsaw (IIMCB), Poland. He holds concurrent roles in science policy advisory bodies, including the European Commission's Group of Chief Scientific Advisors (2015-2020, then expert) and the Polish Academy of Sciences’ advisory panel (2024-). He is also a founding member of the Association of ERC Grantees (AERG) and serves on the Scientific Advisory Board of Life Science Center at Vilnius University. Academia Europaea Member (2018-) EMBO Member (2018-) Leadership Academy for Poland (2018) His research spans structural biology, RNA modification, computational biology, and molecular evolution. He has pioneered computational methods like ModeRNA, SimRNA, and ClaRNA for RNA structure prediction and analysis, and developed databases like MODOMICS for RNA modification pathways. His work has applications in understanding RNA function and drug design targeting RNA-processing enzymes. The 15 most recent publications focus on RNA structural modeling (e.g., ModeRNA, ClaRNA, SupeRNAlign), RNA-ligand interactions (LigandRNA), and RNA modification biology (MODOMICS database). These works bridge computational methods with experimental validation in RNA enzymology and structure-function relationships. Scientific Awards: ERC Starting Grant (2010), EMBO Member (2018), Crystal Brussels Sprout (2016), Prime Minister’s Award (2014), Knight’s Cross of Polonia Restituta (2014) Grants & Leadership: Founded RNA bioinformatics infrastructure at IIMCB, led EU science policy advisory groups, and organized international research competitions (RNA Puzzles)
