Prof. Zhihua Zhang is a Taishan Distinguished Professor at Shandong University (China) and is leading an AI for Digital Earth research group. His long-standing research focuses on Digital Earth, Earth system dynamics, Environmental evolution and Sustainability. Prof Zhang has published many Elsevier/Springer books as the first author and more than 80 articles as the first/corresponding author, highlighted many times by New Scientist (UK), China Science Daily, and China Social Science Daily. Due to his research achievement on AI for Digital Earth, Prof Zhang was elected as an IETI fellow in 2025. Currently, Prof. Zhang is serving in many global and regional known journals as an Editor-in-Chief, Associate Editor or Editorial Board Member, chairing the first tracks at the Mediterranean Geosciences Union Annual Meeting and has delivered several plenary/keynote presentations at international conferences. Prof. M. James C. Crabbe is a Fellow at Wolfson College, University of Oxford, where he was a Governing Body Fellow, and has served as Professor and Head of School at the University of Reading and Executive Dean of Creative Arts, Technologies & Science at the University of Bedfordshire. His research focuses on international environmental challenges, including marine conservation, coral reef preservation, and climate change. He has published more than 400 refereed journal articles, books and major book chapters, and 14 items of commercial software, and delivers plenary presentations at major international conferences. He serves as President of the International Engineering and Technology Institute and Academician of the World Academy of Sustainable Development and the World Sustainable Development Institute (WAOSD/WSDI). He is also a Fellow and former Vice-President and Council Member of the Institute of Marine Engineering, Science & Technology and a member of the UK Government’s Deep Sea Mining network. He is a Distinguished Visiting Professor at a number of Universities, and is an elected Member of the China Association of the Club of Rome. Dr. Daniele Contini got his M.Sc. in Physics in 1994 and his Ph.D. in Energy Engineering in 1999 from the University of Florence. He became Researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate of the National Research Council (ISAC-CNR in Lecce) in 2001 and he is now (from 2019) Research Director at ISAC-CNR. He is coordinator of the macroarea of ISAC-CNR research in Atmospheric composition, climate forcing and air quality. His research activity is mainly experimental and focused on atmospheric sciences. Currently, research interests could be summarized in four main lines: (i) Identification and characterization of atmospheric particulate matter sources, using both high-resolution temporal measurements and receptor models based on the chemical composition of the particulate, and their spatial and temporal trends; (ii) health and toxicological effects of atmospheric particulate matter due to both natural and anthropogenic sources; (iii) study of atmospheric particulate dynamics in the surface boundary layer with particular attention to nucleation, emission, and deposition processes. (iv) analysis and parameterization of the dispersion of atmospheric pollutants also using physical modelling on a reduced scale in a wind tunnel and/or in a hydraulic vein. Throughout his career he has established numerous and successful research collaborations with leading international groups in the field of atmospheric and climate sciences. He had coordination responsibility in a number of research projects at regional, national, and international level. Dr. Daniele Contini is the President (since 2018) of the Italian Aerosol Society (IAS) and he is the Chair of the working group “Atmospheric Aerosol Studies of the European Aerosol Assembly (since 2022). He is PI of the Environmental-Climate Observatory (ECO) of Lecce, regional station of the GAW/WMO-Global Atmosphere Watch network and national facility of the ACTRIS network. Daniela Cesari is a senior researcher at the Institute of Atmospheric Sciences and Climate-CNR since 2013. She received her M.S. in Environmental Science from the University of Salento (2005) and PhD degree in Environmental Science from the University of Urbino “Carlo Bo (2010). Since 2006, she worked in the CNR ISAC with different fellowships, gaining an in-depth knowledge on the aerosol dynamics in atmosphere. Her research interests are focused on the atmospheric composition, atmospheric aerosols and their sources, in terms of temporal and spatial variability. Currently she is also interested in the study of new metrics for evaluating the aerosol human health effects. Dr. Daniela Cesari has published 51 articles with H-index 29. Dr. Daniela Cesari is an associate editor of Atmospheric Environment (Elsevier) and an editorial board member of Atmosphere (MDPI), as well as the member of scientific committee for the Italian Conference “PM organized by the Italian Aerosol Society (2019-now) and the international Conference “EAC organized by the European Aerosol Assembly (2021-now).
