Dr. Nour Shafik El-Gendy

Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute, Egypt

Speech Title: Lignocellulosic wastes for environmental opulence and sustainable wastewater treatment

Dr. Nour Shafik El-Gendy is a Professor in the field of Environmental Sciences, Clean Energy and Nano-Biotechnology. She is the Head Manager of Petroleum Biotechnology Lab., Former Acting and Vice Head of Process Design & Development Department, Egyptian Petroleum Research Institute (EPRI). El-Gendy is the Head of Technology Innovation Support Center (TISC) office, Vice Head of Center of Excellence and member in Entrepreneurship Hub in October University for Modern Sciences and Arts, MSA University. She is a Member of Water, Energy and Environment Committee Technical, Monitoring and Performance Evaluation Office, and the Coordinator of National Committee for Environmental Issues in the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT). She is the Former Advisor for the Egyptian Minster of Environment. El-Gendy is Scientific Advisor for the Federation of Arab Women Leaders. El-Gendy is the Former Coordinator of Nanobiotechnology Program, Faculty of Nanotechnology for Postgraduate Studies, Cairo University, Sheikh Zayed Branch Campus. She is the Vice Coordinator of the Scientific Research Committee and a Member in Rural Woman Committee, National Council for Women (NCW) of Egypt. ElGendy is an Ambassador for the Egyptian Young Academy of Sciences (EYAS). El-Gendy is a Member of the Higher Scientific Committee of the Arab Union for Sustainable Development and Environment. She is a Member of many technical committees for the preparation of regulations of different faculties concerned with Energy, Environmental and Biochemical Engineering. She was awarded Professional Diploma in "Preparing Arab Women Leaders Internationally and Regionally" documented by the Egyptian Foreign Ministry. El-Gendy is an expert in the assessment of environmental pollution and its remediation, wastewater treatment, biofuels, petroleum upgrading, green chemistry, nanobiotechnology, valorization of wastes, biocorrosion and its mitigation. El-Gendy was awarded Diploma in “Environmental Management”. She has published 10 chapters, 9 books and 127 research papers, and supervised 29 MSc and PhD theses. Dr. El-Gendy is also an editor and reviewer in 88 and 186 international journals, respectively. She participated also as PI, Co-PI or research member in research projects concerning with biovalorization of wastes, solid waste management, bioethanol from lignocellulosic wastes, biofuels from algae, application of nanobiotechnology in upgrading of petroleum and bioremediation of polluted environment. Dr. El-Gendy participated in 89 international workshops and training courses, and 107 international conferences and seminars. Dr. El-Gendy established 4 ongoing research schools: Petroleum and Environmental Biotechnology, Environmental Nanobiotechnology, Biofuels, and Valorization of Solid Waste Biomass. Dr. El-Gendy is a member in many international associations and organizations concerned with petroleum industry, environmental health and sciences. She is also an active member in national committees concerning with sustainable development, water desalination, wastewater treatment, biofuel standards, petroleum pollution, chemical engineering and biotechnology. She is in international collaboration with different foreign international universities. She has also teaching experience (Chemical Engineering Department-Faculty of Engineering-The British University in Egypt BUE, Faculty of Biotechnology and Chemical Engineering Department-Faculty of Engineering-Modern Sciences and Arts MSA University, Faculty of Science-Monofiya University, Chemical Engineering Department-Faculty of Engineering-Cairo University and Biotechnology Program-Faculty of Science, Cairo University). She was honored in many scientific forums. She was awarded from India the Sciencefather Women Researcher Award 2022 for the contribution and honorable achievement in innovative research and the International Scientist Award 2021 on Engineering, Science and Medicine. El-Gendy has also been awarded the Best Women Scientist Award 2021 from College of Agriculture and Food Sciences, Florida Agricultural & Mechanical University, USA. She has been honored by the Official Portal of Department of Environment-Ministry of Environment and Water-Malaysia and University of Putra Malaysia-2021. Her biography is recorded in Who’s Who in Science and Engineering.

Dr. Selvam Sekar

Department of Geology, V.O.Chidambaram College,Tuticorin,Tamil Nadu, India

Speech Title: A fuzzy-conventional approach to assessing human health risks from fluoride groundwater contamination in hard rock aquifers of Southern India

Dr. Selvam Sekar currently working as a Senior Assistant Professor, Department of Geology, V.O. Chidambaram College, Tuticorin, Tamil Nadu, India. He had published more than 135 papers in SCI/SCIE/SCOPUS journals and his Total Citation- 4702, h-index of 40, i10 Index-95. He has received numerous awards for his contribution in the field of Geology. He was recently featured in the elite list of Stanford University rankings that ranks the top 2% of scientists worldwide on the basis of indices, citations and publications in 2020-2024. His expertise in various environmental fields like Environmental Geology, Environmental Geochemistry, Hydrogeology, Groundwater Quality, Marine Ecology, Microplastics, Environmental impact Assessment, Remote Sensing, Marine Environment, Heavy Metals, Sediment Geochemistry and submarine groundwater discharge, transport and remediation of geogenic and emerging contaminants. He acted as an Associate Editor in the SCI journals of Scientific Reports, Arabian Journal of Geosciences (AJGS), and Guest Editor in Environmental Science and Pollution Research (ESPR) and Ecotoxicology and Environmental Safety (EES) and Chemosphere. Dr. Selvam’s pioneering work in water research has embraced cutting-edge Machine Learning techniques like Adaptive Neuro-Fuzzy Inference Systems (ANFIS), Multi-Objective Optimization Algorithms (MOA), and Artificial Neural Networks (ANN), GALDIT, DRASTIC and GOD Index to model and predict contamination tendencies, a significant advancement in accurate groundwater modelling and prediction of contamination levels. By integrating these sophisticated Machine Learning techniques, he has not only enhanced the precision of groundwater assessment but also opened avenues for more effective risk management strategies and intervention plans, revolutionizing the approach to address groundwater quality impacted by heavy metals, fluoride and nitrate contamination.

Prof. Iqbal M. Mujtaba

University of Bradford, UK

Speech Title: To Be Announced

Prof. Iqbal M. Mujtaba is a Professor of Computational Process Engineering at the University of Bradford. He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the IChemE, a Chartered Chemical Engineer. He was the Chair of the European Committee for Computers in Chemical Engineering Education from 2010-2013 and the Chair of the IChemE's Computer Aided Process Engineering Special Interest Group from 2012-2019. He is currently an Associate Editor for Asia Pacific Journal of Chemical Engineering, South African Journal in Chemical Engineering, Chemical Product & Process Modelling and an Editorial Board Member of Desalination, Processes, Energies. Professor Mujtaba leads research into dynamic modelling, simulation, optimisation and control of batch and continuous chemical processes with specific interests in distillation, industrial reactors, refinery processes, desalination, wastewater treatment and crude oil hydrotreating focusing on energy and water. He has managed several research collaborations and consultancy projects with industry and academic institutions in the UK, Italy, Hungary, Malaysia, Thailand, India, Qatar, South Africa, Iraq, Algeria, China, Libya, Bahrain and Saudi Arabia. He has published around 400 technical papers and has delivered more than 75 invited lectures/ seminars/ plenaries/ keynotes/ short courses around the world. He has supervised 43 PhD students to completion and is currently supervising 8 PhD students. He is the author/ co- author of (1) 'Batch Distillation: Design & Operation' (text book) published by the Imperial College Press, London, 2004 (2) 'Wastewater treatment by Reverse Osmosis' published by CRC Press, 2020 (3) 'Desalination Technologies: Design and Operation' published by Elsevier, 2022. He is one of the co-editors of the books (1) 'Application of Neural Networks and Other Learning Technologies in Process Engineering', Imperial College Press, London, 2001 (2) 'Composite Materials Technology: Neural Network Applications', CRC Press, 2009 (3) 'The Water-Food-Energy Nexus', CRC Press, 2017 (4) 'Water Management: Social & Technological Perspective', CRC Press, 2018.

Assoc. Prof. Amir Sepehrianazar

Islamic Azad University of Ahar, Iran

Speech Title: Modification of Untreated Montmorillonite with Poly (Vinyl Sulfonic Acid) Hydrochloride and In situ Polymerization of Allyl Amine Hydrochloride to Remediate Wastewater

Dr. Amir Sepehrianazar received his Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering from Hacettepe University in Ankara, Turkey, in 2007. He completed his postdoctoral research in 2008 and has been a faculty member at the Islamic Azad University, Ahar Branch, since 2009. In 2025, he was officially promoted to the rank of Associate Professor. Since 2020, Dr. Sepehrianazar has concentrated his research on allylic-based polymers and hydrogels. His broader research interests include polymerization, copolymerization, and nanocomposites, with a strong focus on bridging fundamental scientific knowledge with industrial applications in the field of allylic polymers. He is highly proficient in various polymer characterization techniques, including FT-IR, NMR, ATR, and TGA-DSC, and continues to pursue academic and research endeavors with great enthusiasm.