The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China;Prof. Yang received his Ph.D. degree from the University of Toronto and his bachelor's degree from the Harbin Institute of Technology. His research interests are Vibration and Mechatronics, with a special focus on developing smart materials and dynamic systems for sensors, actuators, and energy harvesters. This interdisciplinary research area requires combining knowledge and skills in Mechanical Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Materials Science and Engineering. He has applied for over 30 patents in China and the USA, and authored over 160 academic articles in high-impact journals such as Nature, Nature Comm., Science Robotics, Science Advances, Joule, EES, AM, etc. Prof. Yang is an IEEE Senior Member, recipient of the NSFC Young Scientist Scheme (Type B), and has been recognized as one of the “Top 2% Scientists in the World” by Stanford University.

School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences, Auckland University of Technology, Auckland, New Zealand;Professor Nikola K Kasabov is a Life Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Fellow of the INNS College of Fellows, DVF of the Royal Academy of Engineering UK. He has Doctor Honoris Causa from Obuda University, Budapest. He is the Founding Director of KEDRI and Professor Emeritus at the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He is also Visiting Professor at the Institute for Information and Communication Technologies of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences and Dalian University, China. Kasabov is Director of Knowledgeengineering.ai and member of the advisory board of Conscium.com. He is Past President of the Asia Pacific Neural Network Society (APNNS) and the International Neural Network Society (INNS). Kasabov holds MSc in computer engineering and PhD in mathematics from TU Sofia. His main research interests are in the areas of neural networks, intelligent information systems, soft computing, neuroinformatics, spiking neural networks. He has published more than 750 publications, highly cited internationally. He has extensive academic experience at various academic and research organisations in Europe and Asia. Kasabov has received a number of awards, among them: INNS Ada Lovelace Meritorious Service Award; NN journal Best Paper Award; APNNA ‘Outstanding Achievements Award’; INNS Gabor Award for ‘Outstanding contributions to engineering applications of neural networks’; EU Marie Curie Fellowship; Medal “Bacho Kiro” and Honorary Citizen of Pavlikeni, Bulgaria; Honorary Member of the Bulgarian-, the Greek- and the Scottish Societies for Computer Science.

Department of Mechanical Engineering, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, USA;Dr. Jiangtao Cheng received his Ph.D. degree in Physics from Purdue University in 2002. Prior to joining the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Virginia Tech in 2015 as Associate Professor, Dr. Cheng was a research scientist at Teledyne Scientific Company (formerly Rockwell Science Center). He has extensive experience in micro/nano-fluidics, optofluidics, thermal-fluid science, multiphase fluid flow, MEMS, and CFD. He has published more than 90 papers in these fields. He has won 6 times of Best Paper/Best Poster Awards in international conferences. Dr. Cheng has been on the editorial boards of 8 international journals. Dr. Cheng became elected fellow of the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) in 2021. He won the New Directions award of American Chemical Society (ACS) Petroleum Research Foundation in 2026. His recent work on “Bubble-burst-induced puddle jumping and jet printing” was reported as editor’s choice by Physics World of Institute of Physics (IOP).

Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Los Angeles, USA;Dr. Ximin He is an Assistant Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She received her Ph.D. Degree in Chemistry, Nanoscience, and Optoelectronics from the University of Cambridge in 2010. She worked as a Research Associate at Harvard University (2010–2013). In 2014, she moved to Arizona State University and was promoted to Assistant Professor. She has been awarded the CIFAR Azrieli Global Scholar (2019–2021), the International Society of Bionic Engineering (ISBE) Outstanding Youth Award (2019), and the Hellman Fellows Award (2018). Her research topics mainly include Optical sensing of chemical and biological molecules, Bioinspired self-regulating materials, Chemo-mechanically modulated separation of metal ions and cancer cells, Novel stimuli-responsive polymers for soft robots, Photo-responsive materials for optics, photonics, waveguides, and photo-harvesting, Biomaterials for controlled cell adhesion and migration, and 3D printing technology.

Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University;Dr. Linlin Kang is an Associate Professor at the Hangzhou International Innovation Institute, Beihang University, where she leads the research group on bio-inspired fluid mechanics. She received her B.S. in Theoretical and Applied Mechanics from the University of Science and Technology of China (2014) and her Ph.D. in Fluid Mechanics from Peking University (2020). She then spent five years at Westlake University as a Postdoctoral Fellow and later Associate Researcher. Her research interests include biomimetic propulsion of swimming and flying organisms, vortex dynamics, fluid–structure interaction, and reinforcement-learning-based flow control. She has published more than 30 SCI-indexed papers, including recent articles in the Journal of Fluid Mechanics and Physics of Fluids. She currently serves as a young editorial board member of several journals, including Theoretical and Applied Mechanics Letters, and as Guest Editor for Biomimetics. She has led more than ten research projects as Principal Investigator, including grants from the National Natural Science Foundation of China (General and Young Scientists Programs), the Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation, and the Zhejiang Young Talent Support Program.

Blacksburg Virginia Tech, USA;Giorgia Cannici is an Assistant Professor at Virginia Tech’s School of Architecture whose research focuses on engineered living materials. She is a registered architect in Europe, trained at Politecnico di Milano and Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, and has worked at Zaha Hadid Architects, Foster + Partners, and UNStudio. After more than a decade in practice, she retrained in biology and engineering to investigate biomaterials and their translation into architecture. She holds a Master of Liberal Arts in Extension Studies in Biology from Harvard University, an MSc in Biomedical Engineering from Tufts University, and a PhD in Biological Systems Engineering from Virginia Tech. Her research focuses on protein-based materials, biomineralization, and the engineering of biological systems to control hierarchical material organization. She investigates how biological control at the molecular and cellular levels can translate into material organization at the microscale and, ultimately, into geometry and material behavior at larger scales, aiming to reduce reliance on extractive, energy-intensive production methods and advance a more sustainable built environment.

BioTRIZ Ltd., Avon, United Kingdom;