Dr. Hesham El Naggar is a Distinguished University professor and a world leader in foundation dynamics and geotechnical earthquake engineering. He is an elected Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering, the Engineering Institute of Canada and the American Society for Civil Engineers. He is Editor-In-Chief of International Journals of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, and Urban Resilience and Earthquake Engineering. He advanced the state-of-the-art in analysis and design of foundations for dynamic loads. He published more than 800 technical papers and book chapters including 525 papers in selective and prestigious journals (19820 citations, H71, i386). Dr. El Naggar graduated more than 180 PhD and Master students. In recognition of his outstanding research contributions, He received many prestigious awards including the Cross-Canada Lecture Tour, Geosynthetics, Meyerhof and Canadian Geotechnical Colloquium Speaker Awards from the Canadian Geotechnical Society and the Ontario Professional Engineers Medal for Engineering Research & Development.

Professor Wenbing Wu received his Ph.D. in Civil Engineering from Zhejiang University in 2012. After completing his doctoral studies, he carried out postdoctoral research at China University of Geosciences (Wuhan), Western University in Canada, and Guangxi University. He joined China University of Geosciences (Wuhan) in 2012 and was promoted to Full Professor in 2018. He currently serves as Vice Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and as a Ph.D. supervisor. Professor Wu’s research interests include pile foundation testing technology, soil-structure interaction, and sustainable construction methods. He has led and contributed to more than 20 research projects, including those funded by the National Natural Science Foundation of China. He has published 88 SCI-indexed papers, including 11 ESI Highly Cited Papers, as well as 48 EI-indexed papers, and holds 32 national patents and 2 international patents. Professor Wu is actively engaged in academic service. He serves as an Associate Editor of Soil Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Vice Chair of the Youth Working Committee of the Chinese Society of Rock Mechanics and Engineering, Vice Chair of the Youth Working Committee of the Geotechnical Engineering Division of the Chinese Society of Civil Engineering, and a member of the TC207 Technical Committee of the International Society for Soil Mechanics and Geotechnical Engineering. He is also a member of the Geotechnical Engineering Committee of the Chinese Society for Hydraulic Engineering. In 2023, he was selected for China’s National High-level Young Talent Program.

Pierre-Alain Scherwey is Director at Marti Technics Pte Ltd, where he leads the development of conveying and logistics solutions for large infrastructure projects. With over 20 years of international experience across Asia-Pacific, Europe and Australia, he has been involved in major tunnelling, underground and civil engineering projects, including metro systems, long tunnels and complex earthworks. His work focuses on the integration of continuous material handling systems into project design, from early-stage concept development through to execution. He is particularly engaged in advancing the use of conveyor-based logistics in civil engineering applications beyond traditional mining, supporting more efficient, safe and sustainable construction methods.

Prof. Yang Wei’s main research field is building life cycle assessment and design, and sustainable evolution of the built environment. She is leading a research group on ‘carbon neutral building design, construction and operation’. She is also the deputy director of Tianjin Municipality Key Laboratory on Building Environment and Energy. Yang Wei holds the professional Bachelor and Master’s Degrees in Architecture and the Doctor of Engineering from Tianjin University. She studied at Karlsruhe University (KIT) from 2003-2005 as a visiting PhD student, and visited ETH Zurich in 2010 as a guest researcher. She is member of the UIA Sustainability Commission and the national participant from China in the IEA EBC Annex72 and Annex89 projects. She is also the member of the Green Building Committee and International Cooperation Committee of China Architect Association, and member of the Resource Flow and Management Committee of China Natural Resource Association. She has been the PI for several national level research projects. Her recent research projects are on the design methods of life cycle zero carbon buildings and the renewal strategies of the urban and rural building stocks towards carbon neutrality. She has been teaching the design studio on ‘building in life cycle’, which concerns the sustainability of the built environment, especially the climate responsive and resource conservation design strategies. Her seminar course (taught in English) on ‘Built environment in a Resource Conservation Perspective’ introduces the theories and analytical methods of the environmental, economic and social-cultural issues during the evolution of the urban building stocks. She led the TEAM Tianjin U+ to design and build the zero-carbon solar house prototype, RCELLS, in the Zhangbei County in north China, which won the championship in the 3rd Solar Decathlon China competition (SDC2022), with 8 first prizes in the 10 sub-contests. Together with her collea gues, she won the 2nd prize in China’s National Award for Higher Educational Achievement, and the honorable mention in the 2023 UIA Innovation in Architectural Education Award