Jan Baeyens | KU Leuven, Belgium/Beijing University of Chemical Technology, China  

 

Jan Baeyens studied Nuclear Engineering (Brussels) and Chemical Engineering (Leuven). He obtained his Ph.D. at the University of Bradford-U.K. After 13 years of employment in engineering divisions of various Belgian companies, he became a part-time professor at the University of Leuven (B) and worked as a process and project consultant in Europe and overseas. In 2003. He started the Faculty of Bio-engineering at the University of Antwerp. In 2005, he moved to the University of Birmingham (U.K.) and the University of Warwick (U.K.), where he lectured on process design, sustainable development, renewable energy and powder technology, while also co-ordinating research in these fields. He has contributed to over 200 publications in international journals, is author/editor of 12 books, and is a regular speaker at international congresses. His h-factor is 55, and citations exceed 15000. Since 2010, he is Visiting Professor at the Beijing University of Chemical Technology, where he is actively involved in Life Science and Technology research. Since 1989, he is managing director of European Powder and Process Technology (EPPT). Within EPPT, he continues to co-ordinate design and consultancies for Belgian and overseas companies, mostly in the field of powder technology and renewable energy. EPPT is a partner in European research projects (FP7, and H2020).

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

Valentina Busini | Politecnico di Milano, Italy 

 

Prof. Valentina Busini has expertise in safety engineering and chemical engineering. In particular, with regard to industrial safety, she usually works on the analysis of the consequences of industrial accidental events, such as the CFD modelling of: heavy gas dispersion in complex environments, dispersion of hydrogen and carbon dioxide, design of vapour curtains; and the definition of methodologies for the evaluation of industrial accidents triggered by natural events (the so-called NaTech events). As far as chemical engineering is concerned, she focuses on process intensification finding methodologies for the transformation of batch processes into continuous ones.

 

 

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                

 

Po-Heng (Henry) Lee | Imperial College London, UK 

 

Po-Heng (Henry) Lee's team specialises in resource recovery, greenhouse gas reduction, and enhancing human health through the application of anaerobic biotechnologies, including anaerobic sewage treatment, anaerobic digestion, fermentation, and anaerobic ammonium oxidation (Anammox). His research and teaching have been primarily focused on transcending classical energetics limitations by exploring discrete (quantum and quantum-like) pathways within microbial metabolism and gene regulation.

His current research interests encompass two main areas:

Achieving superior antibiotics and nitrogen removal, producing value-added chemicals, and generating energy through the interactions between microbiomes and conductive materials under micro-aeration conditions.
Procrastination and optimisation of full-scale wastewater treatment plants using quantum computing.
Henry has developed state-of-the-art research techniques, including the use of quantum computing with the IBM Qiskit platform (such as Quantum Information Theory and Variational Quantum Eigensolver) and hybrid meta-omics approaches. These methods enable the manipulation of microbiomes to promote a healthier environment.

Henry's academic journey includes earning his PhD, MS, BS, and AAS degrees in Environmental Engineering from Iowa State University (2010), the USA, National Chiao Tung University (2003), National Ilan University (2001), and Hungkuang University (1999), Taiwan, respectively. He joined Imperial College London in 2019 after holding positions at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University (2012-2018) and Inha University, South Korea (2010-2012).