Lucas F.M. da Silva is a Full Professor of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Porto (FEUP). He leads INEGI’s Advanced Joining Processes Unit (AJPU), a 35‑member team working on welded, plastic deformation, and adhesive joints, integrating mechanical characterization, fracture testing, analytical modeling, and finite element analysis. He has coordinated 35 research projects funded mainly by FCT and the European Commission. With 15 patents, his contributions also extend to practical innovations in joining processes. His publications include over 700 SCOPUS papers, approximately 23000 citations and an h-index of 74. His work has been recognized with awards such as the SAGE Best Paper Award, Donald Julius Groen Prize, FEUP Scientific Excellence Award (2013, 2018), and Pedagogical Excellence Award (2023). Prof. da Silva is editor‑in‑chief of multiple international journals and book series and organizes numerous international conferences on joining, materials, manufacturing, machine design, and engineering education. He is founder and president of the Portuguese Adhesion and Adhesives Association (EURADH member).Beatriz Duarte Simões is a PhD student at the University of Porto and a Research Fellow at the Institute of Science and Innovation in Mechanical and Industrial Engineering, University of Porto. She completed her MSc in Mechanical Engineering in 2022 at Faculty of Engineering of University of Porto (FEUP). She works in the field of adhesive bonding, with special focus on adhesive characterization, joint design and testing procedures. She has published six scientific articles, in the same areas of study of her master dissertation and PhD work, in web of science peer-reviewed journals. She participated in five international conferences in the field of adhesive bonding. Additionally, she has supervised a master dissertation and two bachelor theses. Eduardo A.S. Marques is an Associate Professor at the Department of Mechanical Engineering of the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Porto (FEUP) and investigator in the Advanced Joining Processes Unit of the Institute of Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Management (INEGI). He obtained his PhD in structural adhesive bonding for aerospace applications at FEUP in 2016.His research activity focuses on mechanical characterisation, numerical modelling and experimental testing of the mechanical behaviour of welded and bonded joints, with special attention to the effect of high strain rates, extreme temperature and high relative humidity on the behaviour of various materials and bonded structures. He has developed innovative techniques to join dissimilar material. He has published over 239 SCOPUS-index papers, amassed more than 4400 citations (h-index 36) and authored multiple books in the field of joining and material science. Ricardo J.C. Carbas (h-index 40, +6100 citations), is a senior researcher with extensive experience in joining technologies and project management. He is an expert in material testing and characterization, having developed several innovative design and manufacturing procedures for adhesive bonding, welding and joining by forming, for which he has been awarded ten patents. He is active in scientific dissemination, being the editor-in-chief of Engineering Manufacturing Letters (EML) journal (FEUP) and in the organization of conferences on materials and adhesive bonding: Luso-Brazilian Adhesion Conference (CLBA), International Conference on Materials Design and Applications (MDA), Advanced Joining Processes (AJP) and Ibero-American Conference on Composite Materials (IAMaC). He is an editorial board member of the 'Proceedings of the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, Part L: Journal of Materials: Design and Applications', 'Journal of Advanced Joining Processes' and 'Materials'. He does consulting work for national (e.g. Bosch, Amtrol) and international (e.g. Honda, Nagase Chemtex, John Deere, Safran, Infineon, Henkel, etc.) companies. Stanislav Gorb is Professor and Director at the Zoological Institute of Kiel University, Germany. He received his PhD degree in zoology and entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev (Ukraine). Gorb was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (Austria), a research assistant at University of Jena, a group leader at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and for Metals Research in Stuttgart (Germany). Gorb’s research focuses on morphology, structure, biomechanics, physiology, and evolution of surface-related functional systems in animals and plants, as well as the development of biologically inspired technological surfaces and systems. Gorb is Corresponding member of Academy of the Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (since 2010) and Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany (since 2011). Gorb has authored several books, more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and four patents.
