Dr. Vinay Kumar Tyagi is a Scientist D in the Environmental Hydrology Division of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India. His research interests include energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems, sludge and solid waste management, and health related water microbiology. Dr. Tyagi has over 100 international publications, with more than 8,000 citations, as well as co-editing or co-authoring 8 full books and 42 book chapters. He was listed in the Top 2% of Scientists worldwide (Stanford University / Elsevier). Dr. Tyagi is Management Committee Member of the International Water Association (IWA) Sludge Management Specialist Group (represent South Asia Division), and Anaerobic Digestion Specialist Group. He is an editorial board member for several international journals and a lead editor of several special issues. Dr. Tyagi has extensive international research experience and collaboration in Norway, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Taiwan in the domains of wastewater treatment, sludge pre-treatment, and biomass to bioenergy recovery.Takahiro Watari is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Nagaoka University of Technology, Niigata, Japan. His research interests include advanced wastewater treatment systems such as anaerobic industrial wastewater treatment, low-cost aerobic sewage treatment, and recirculating aquaculture systems. Dr. Watari has published more than 80 publications. His research achievements have received many academic honors: 1) Japan Open Innovation Prize, Prime Minister's Award. 2) Best annual paper award of the Japan Society on Water Environment. He is an active reviewer of more than 50 International Peer-Reviewed Journals. Dr. Watari has extensive international research exposure and collaboration in Korea, Vietnam, Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, India, Kenya, Egypt, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Chile in various environmental research domains such as wastewater treatment, recirculating aquaculture systems, and water supply. Tsutomu Okubo is a Professor at the National Institute of Technology, Kisarazu College, Japan, specializing in Civil Engineering with a PhD from Tohoku University. His research focuses on biological wastewater treatment and microbial risks associated with water pollution. Since his undergraduate studies, he has developed sewage treatment systems using down-flow hanging sponge (DHS) technology, designed for low energy consumption and minimal sludge generation. Dr. Okubo has conducted demonstration experiments in India and Egypt, and ongoing projects are in Malaysia and Thailand. He has co-authored over 59 research papers and received numerous awards at national and international conferences. Hideki Harada earned his PhD from Tohoku University in 1980 and began teaching at Nagaoka University of Technology, becoming a Full Professor in Environmental Engineering in 1995. He moved to Tohoku University in 2006 and served as a Full Professor until 2015 before joining the NICHe research institute. In 2019, he founded DHS Technology Co., Ltd. Currently, he is a Professor Emeritus at both universities and CEO of his venture. His research focuses on developing low-cost wastewater technologies and analyzing microbial ecology in treatment processes. He has co-authored 400 scientific papers and spent two years at the Asian Institute of Technology, enhancing his commitment to appropriate wastewater treatment technologies for developing countries.
