Mihaela Luca (formerly Costin), is a scientific researcher in the Institute of Computer Science, Romanian Academy,Lași branch. She obtained her PhD in 2005 with a thesis on the development of decision systems. As an Associate Professor, she taught disciplines in the areas of Artificial Intelligence (Image Processing, Artificial Intelligence, Mechatronics and Expert Systems) to the students of the Computer Science Faculty of Alexandru Ioan Cuza University as well as from the Faculty of Automatic Control and Computer Engineering of Gheorghe Asachi Technical University of Iași, Romania. In 2023, she received the Excellence award of the Romanian Academy (ex-aequo) for her most recent accomplishments. Her research has focused mostly on two-dimensional signal processing, assessing images of interest in materials physics (nanostructures), medicine (scintigraphy, hematology, video colonoscopy and non-invasive cancer diagnosis using microwaves), employing artificial intelligence, neural networks, deep learning, fuzzy logic, and/or uncertainty reasoning. With over a hundred scientific papers and chapters in the last two decades, co-authoring three books and co-editing more volumes, she has been working in the frame of several scientific projects, either as coordinator for the Computer Science Institute in an excellence research national program for non-invasive breast cancer detection, or as a partner in an IAEA European Project using scintigraphy for cancer detection. She is a member in the editorial board of some international journals, reviewer for more interdisciplinary publications, and the scientific secretary of the Romanian Committee of History and Philosophy of Science and Techniques of the Romanian Academy, Iasi branch, serving as the editorial secretary of Noesis Journal, belonging to the Romanian Academy, too. Her hobbies are oil painting and psychology. Prof. Robert J. Howlett is the Academic Chair of KES International, a non-profit organisation which facilitates knowledge transfer and the dissemination of research results in areas including Intelligent Systems, Sustainability, and Knowledge Transfer. He is Visiting Professor in Sustainable Innovation at Cardiff Metropolitan University, Wales, UK, Visiting Professor at 'Aurel Vlaicu' University of Arad, Romania, and has also been Visiting Professor for Enterprise at Bournemouth University, UK. His technical expertise is in the use of artificial intelligence and machine learning for the solution of industrial problems. His current interests centre on the application of intelligent systems to sustainability, particularly renewable energy, with applications in housing and sustainable agriculture. He previously developed a national profile in knowledge and technology transfer, and the commercialisation of research. He works with a number of universities and international research groups on the supervision teams of PhD students, and the provision of technical support for projects.Dr. Lakhmi C. Jain, PhD, ME, BE(Hons), Fellow (Engineers Australia) is with the University of Technology Sydney, Australia, and Liverpool Hope University, UK. Professor Jain serves the KES International for providing a professional community the opportunities for publications, knowledge exchange, cooperation and teaming. Involving around 5,000 researchers drawn from universities and companies world-wide, KES facilitates international cooperation and generate synergy in teaching and research. KES regularly provides networking opportunities for professional community through one of the largest conferences of its kind in KES.
