Hirok Chaudhuri is currently an Associate Professor at the Department of Physics, National Institute of Technology Durgapur (NITD), India. He is also an adjunct faculty and joint coordinator of the Center for Research on Environment and Water at NITD. He obtained his B. Sc. Hons (Physics) and M. Sc. (Physics) from Burdwan University, West Bengal, India. He completed his Ph.D. in experimental physics from Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Kolkata, India, and he performed post-doctoral research activity at Variable Energy Cyclotron Center [VECC (a unit of the Department of Atomic Energy, Government of India)], Kolkata, India. His major areas of research interests include geochemistry for the groundwater and surface water, wastewater treatment using nanotechnology, geochemical precursors for earthquakes, geothermal exploration, helium exploration, environmental radioactivity, nonlinear dynamics. He has published 29 scientific papers in peer-reviewed journals and contributed to 9 book chapters. His current supervision includes 25 masters and 7 doctoral students. He is the founder coordinator of the Science Museum at NITD. He is also acting as joint coordinator for the Center for Digital Learning (CDL) at NITD. Dr. Chaudhuri is also working as a member of the International Thematic Group (ITG) of the Brazil-Russia-India-China-South Africa (BRICS) Network University Programme on water resources and pollution treatment. He was selected as a Fellow of the Earth Science Society of India in 2015. Presently he is serving as a member of the State Level Steering committee for RAA (a joint venture of Government of India, Ministry of Education and State Government of West Bengal to promote science at the state of West Bengal, India). Dr. Chaudhuri received Visiting Scientist Fellowship from Government of India, Department of Atomic Energy at VECC, Kolkata. Faizal Bux is currently the Director of the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology (DUT), South Africa. He obtained his B. Sc. Hons (Microbiology) from University of Durban Westville, M. Tech (Biotechnology) from Technikon Natal and Ph.D. (Biotechnology) from Durban University of Technology. His major areas of research interests include environmental biotechnology, water and wastewater treatment, wastewater beneficiation, environmental health, biotechnological applications of microalgae including biodiesel, bioremediation of industrial effluents and bio products. He has published more than 200 scientific papers in leading Science Citation Index Journals an^ 9900. H-index 49 (Google Scholar). Prof. Bux supervised 53 masters and doctoral graduates. His current supervision includes 17 masters and 13 doctoral students. 34 post-doctoral fellows served their tenure under his guidance. He is a recipient of the WRC legends award (2021) and NSTF-WRC Water Research Award (2019/2020). He also won NRF-Champion of Research Capacity Development and Transformation at South African Higher Education Institutions (2018). He received WRC Knowledge Tree Award (2017). He is a fellow of the International Water Association, Royal Society of Chemistry and Senior Fellow of WISA. He is the Chair of BRICS-Network Universities ITG: Water Resource Management and Pollution treatment since, July 2018. Nilo de Oliveira Nascimento is a full professor at the Department of Hydraulic and Water Resources Engineering of the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), in Brazil. He did graduation in Civil Engineering from Federal University of Minas Gerais, Brazil, master’s degree in Operational and Applied Hydrology from École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland, and Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from École Nationale des Ponts et Chaussées, France. His major areas of research interests include urban drainage with focus on flood studies, sustainable urban drainage systems (SUDS) and blue and green infrastructure. He is the co-author of 13 books and 47 peer-reviewed journal articles. His current supervision includes 36 masters and 23 doctoral students. Advisor of MSc (concluded: 35, on-going: 1) and Ph.D. students (concluded: 17, on-going: 6). He served as Deputy Director of International Relations of UFMG between 2012 and 2014 and as Head of the UFMG Graduate Program on Sanitation, Environment and Water Resources from 2015 to 2018. He has been member of the IWA/IAHR Joint Committee on Urban Drainage (2006-2012) and is member of the editorial board of the Urban Water Journal. As a consulting civil engineer, he acted in more than 20 projects, most of them focusing on flood studies, urban drainage, urban development, and regional planning.
