A well-renowned figure at the Tokyo Metropolitan University in Tokyo, Japan, Dr. Akira Kawamura is a Professor Emeritus at the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering in the Graduate School of Urban Environmental Systems. He finished his Bachelor of Engineering degree at the Department of Environmental Civil Engineering in Kumamoto University, Japan in 1978. Meanwhile, he finished both his Master of Engineering and Doctor of Engineering degrees at the Department of Civil Engineering Hydraulics in Kyushu University, Japan in 1980 and 1985, respectively. Dr. Kawamura started as a Research Associate in Kyushu University in 1985 in which he would later serve as an Associate Professor from 1993 to 2004 in the same university. He then served as a Professor, from 2004 to 2021, and as a Professor Emeritus, from 2021 to the present, in Tokyo Metropolitan University. He was engaged in many professional activities which includes serving as Vice-President for the Japan Society of Hydrology and Water Resources from 2014 to 2016 and serving as Chairman for both the Committee on Global Environment and Editorial Committee on Annual Journal of Global Environment Research for the Japan Society of Civil Engineers (JSCE) from 2017 to 2019. Currently, since 2016, he is the Chairman for the Editorial Committee on Journal of Hydrological System for the Association for Rainwater Storage and Infiltration Technology. Focusing on hydrology and water resources engineering, his research contributions include 198 journal papers, in which 44 are Impact Factor (IF) papers, 11 book chapters, 125 international conference papers, 29 memoirs report papers, and 324 domestic conference papers. One of his lead authored IF paper focused on investigating the barriers to integrated flood risk management adaptation in Metro Manila, Philippines which was published in 2019.

Dr. Neil Concibido is a seasoned academician, researcher, and hazard analysis facilitator and trainer. He is a Chemical Engineer, a certified process safety professional, corporate safety auditor, engineering project safety auditor, and a certified six sigma DMAIC greenbelt holder. He has attended several international academic conferences and safety trainings where he presented papers and / or serve as an expert trainer. Aside from these, he is a member of various international academic and professional organizations. As a corporate process safety manager at Global Safety Solutions, Corning Inc. in Japan, Dr. Concibido leads the global safety management program of the company by overseeing all PSM-covered facilities, developing policies, guidelines, and tools, facilitating process hazard analysis, conducting training for MOCs, PHAs, PSSRs, and evaluating chemical reactivity hazards. He has also authored global safety standards on PSM, MOC, Chemical Safety, HotWork safety, Laboratory Safety, and OH&S Management Programs. Dr. Concibido has also published papers in Applied Catalysis, Tetrahedron, and Reaction Kinetics Catalysis Letters and has received various awards from Henkel, Japan and Corning DCA. Currently, Dr. Concibido also serve as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at the UPLB Department of Chemical Engineering, where he graduated as a Chemical Engineer prior to obtaining his Masters of Engineering at the Asian Institute of Technology in Thailand and his Doctor of Engineering at Hiroshima University in Japan. He is serving as a consultant in the management of practicum courses for Chemical Engineering students and conducts online lectures and training workshops relevant to process safety management for UPLB DChE students and faculty members.

Dr. Carpenter is Founding Dean and Professor of Engineering at Campbell University and President of the American Society for Engineering Education (ASEE). An expert on issues impacting success of women in STEM and innovative STEM curricula, she has held national leadership roles including ASEE Vice President, WEPAN (Women in Engineering ProActive Network) President, and Mathematical Association of America First Vice-President. In addition, she chaired the National Academies Ad Hoc Committee on the Gulf Scholars Program. Dr. Carpenter is co-recipient of the 2022 Bernard M. Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Techology Education from the National Academy of Engineering, recognizing her contributions as one of the pioneers of the Grand Challenges Scholars Program. Carpenter is an ABET Program Evaluator and on the Executive Committee of the Global Engineering Deans Council. In 2015 DreamBox Learning selected her as one of 10 Women in STEM Who Rock! for her advocacy and TEDx talk, “Engineering: Where are the Girls and Why aren’t They Here?”, the only academic on a list of CEOs, politicians, and actresses. She received the 2019 ASEE Sharon Keillor Award for Women in Engineering Education, as well as the 2018 WEPAN Founder’s Award and 2013 WEPAN Distinguished Service Award.

Specializing in living environment, products, health promotion, and assistive technology for motion-disabled people, Dr. Satoshi Muraki is a distinguished researcher and Professor from the Department of Human Life Design and Science at Kyushu University in Fukuoka, Japan with more than 40 publications in the past 10 years of his career. He finished his Bachelor of Integrated Arts and Science degree at Hiroshima University, Japan in 1992. Meanwhile, he finished both his Master of Science and Doctor of Philosophy degrees at the Graduate School of Biosphere Science in the same university in 1994 and 1997, respectively. Dr. Muraki began his career as a lecturer at Nagasaki Prefecture Junior College, Japan in 1997. He eventually taught as an Associate Professor, from 2003 to 2015, and as a Professor, from 2016 to the present, at the Department of Human Science in Kyushu University. He also currently serves as the Vice Dean of Faculty of Design in Kyushu university and as the Vice Editor of the Japanese Journal of Ergonomics. He is certified as a professional ergonomist, by the Japan Ergonomics Society in 2015, and as an amenity planner as a 1st class expert in physiological anthropology, by the Japan Society of Physiological Anthropology in 2018. Some of his recent lead-authored publications include developing a human-centered design for advanced technology in 2018 and studying the preferable home environment for the independent elderly to prevent falls and maintain activities of daily living in 2020. In recognition of his notable and outstanding contributions in research, he was awarded the Research Excellence in Japanese Journal of Physiological Anthropology back in 2019.

Engr. Manapat is the Co-founder and Chief Saliksiker (CEO) of the Philippine-based social enterprise Saliksik Inc. — a platform that brings together the government, industry, academia, and the public to facilitate innovation adoption in society. She was a researcher under the Nanoclay Research group at the UP Department of Mining, Metallurgical, and Materials Engineering in 2012 to 2014 and a visiting researcher at the Department of Macromolecular Science and Engineering in Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland, Ohio, USA in 2016. She is the former Program Coordinator for the BS Materials Engineering program at the University of the Philippines (UP) Diliman and is currently a Senior Lecturer in the same institution. In 2017, Jill founded the Humanitarian Engineering, Entrepreneurship, and Design (HEED), a university-wide research and design group that integrates the strength of various disciplines to deliver technological solutions to underserved communities in the Philippines. HEED eventually led to a course in UP Diliman that produced award-winning startups such as Cloop (1st place, Pasig City Climathon 2019) and ReBirth (1st place, National Level, James Dyson Award 2020). Aside from her startup and academic work, Engr. Manapat also served as a consultant for organizations such as the Design Center of the Philippines (DCP) and USAID Science, Technology, Research, and Innovation for Development (STRIDE). She is currently with the UP Center for Air Research in Urban Environments (UP CARE) as Convergence Coordinator.

Dr. Carlos Fuentes has acquired a broad knowledge in the design and manufacturing of sustainable composites with a strong motivation to serve the scientific and technological development of society in an ecologically conscious way. The different awards he has received for his research were all related to the use of either recycled or natural materials. His granted patents are also related to green technologies. His research interests include biomimetics, mechanical behaviour of natural fibres, bio-based composites, interface/interphase of composites, wetting dynamics of liquids and polymer melts. He has worked and led interdisciplinary research, such as projects funded by the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7), the Swiss Commission for Technology and Innovation (CTI), the Materials Innovation Institute (M2I) from the Netherlands, Luxembourg National Research Fund (FNR) and the Dutch Polymer Institute (DPI). As a result, he has well established collaboration with prestigious research groups in European universities. He has also conducted research with industry such as projects funded by Akzo Nobel, Sabic, Teijin, SKF, Total, and DSM. To date, Dr. Fuentes has 29 articles published in internationally reviewed academic journals. He has participated in more than 56 international conferences throughout Europe, as well as U.S.A, Canada, China, South Korea, and Latin America. He has also been supervisor of 3 doctoral, 29 master and 8 bachelor theses.