Symposia

Dr. Florian Kongoli holds 3 degrees: a Bachelor of Science, a Master of Science/University of Montreal, Canada and a Doctor of Science Degree/Tohoku University, Japan. Since 1996 he is CEO of FLOGEN Technologies Inc.,(www.flogen.com) a Sustainable High Tech applied research institute
incorporated in Canada and USA that today have offices and representations in more than 15 Countries around the the world while carrying out high tech projects in more than 40 countries.

Since 2007 he is Chairman of FLOGEN STAR OUTREACH (www.flogen.org), a not-for-profit organization dedicated to (1) achieving sustainability through science and technology, (2) raising the profile of science and engineering in the society and (3) properly honoring scientists and engineers.

Since 2003 Dr Kongoli has been President of the Organizing Committee of the Sustainable Industrial Processing Summits (SIPS) held every year in several countries around the world with an average participation of 500 authors from academia, industry, government and the entrepreneurship world representing an average of 80 countries.

Dr Kongoli has about 25 years of rich scientific and applied technology experience through direct involvement in numerous invited engagements in all continents. He has managed, involved, or actively participated in about 200 projects, 40 types of reactors, 10 industries, in 45 countries and in 6 continents. Dr. Kongoli has published 113 books and more than 200 scientific articles. He has delivered in numerous countries around the world about 220 plenary, keynote and invited presentations as well as articles, technical reports and research presentations. He has served in many leadership positions in national and international organizations and in many Professional Award Councils such as the Industrial Achievement Award Committee of International Federation of Automatic Control. He is Editorial Board member of several International Journals.

He is an elected Honorary Member of the Lorraine Academy of Sciences and Elected Member of Euro Mediterranean Academy of Arts and Sciences. He was awarded in 2017 the title "The Environmental Tech CEO of the year 2017" by CEO-Monthly UK magazine. He was awarded Certificate of Appreciation in recognition of his contribution toward sustainable development through FLOGEN Sustainability Framework by Tomas Bata University in Zlin (Czech Republic)/Faculty of Applied Informatics. He is honorary Citizen of Rio de Janeiro and Laureate of Gold Medal of the City of Nancy, France. In 2022 he was honored by the Congressman elect of Rio de Janeiro State, Alan Lopes, who will propose to the State Congress to adopt FLOGEN Sustainability Framework developed by Dr. Florian Kongoli in the state law for evaluating any proposed public or private project in the state. Also, in 2022 he was invited to give the Opening Sustainability Plenary Lecture at the United Nation Headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland, on 11 February 2022 about FLOGEN Sustainability Framework at the International Year of Glass 2022.

He has participated in business and government delegations in numerous countries accompanying Prime Ministers, Ministers and other government officials.
A more detailed biography can be found at: http://www.flogen.com/elt/pdf/Kongoli_Short-CV.pdf

www.flogen.org/

José M. Benlloch is a Tenured Research Scientist at CSIC, "Spanish Scientific Research Council". He worked in Particle Physics Experiments at CERN (Geneva), LPNHE and Université d'Orsay (Paris). His PhD thesis (Extraordinary Prize, 1990) was on the first data from DELPHI collaboration, led by Ugo Amaldi, at LEP accelerator (CERN), which determined the existence of 3 light neutrino generations.

He joined, as staff member, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (1991-95) under the direction of Jerome Friedman (Physics Nobel Laurate, 1990). Member of the CDF collaboration, at TEVATRON accelerator (Fermilab, Chicago), that discovered (1995) the top quark, one of the 12 elementary particles of matter.

In 1996, he is back at CERN to research on radiation detectors with F. Sauli and T. Ypsilantis. In 1998, starts a Medical Imaging research group in Spain, developing several Medical Imaging devices, some of them are at hospitals of excellence around the World, and patenting more than 40 different designs. Founder (2010) & Director of the Institute for Instrumentation in Molecular Imaging (I3M) at the Technical University of Valencia. Promoter of 3 Medical Imaging spin-off companies.

He developed a PET/SPECT/CT scanner for small animals that was transferred (2016) to the German company BRUKER, World market leader of preclinical equipment. BRUKER has commercialized the scanner with great success (Stanford University, KU Leuven, MGH, MD Anderson, etc).

Coordinator of many large EU Research Projects, including an ADVANCED ERC GRANT and a SYNERGY ERC grant. Author of 900 articles (H index 94, google scholar), in the most important reviews in Particle Physics and Medical Imaging. 2002 Technologist Award of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine & Biology. 2007 Prize of the Spanish Society of Medical Physics. 2008 Prize (100keuros) of the King Jaime I Foundation, "New Technologies" modality. 2012 Medal, García Cabrerizo Foundation (Geneva) for the promotion of invention. 2014 Spanish National Research Prize (100keuros) in Engineering "Leonardo Torres Quevedo". Elected member of the European Academy of Sciences (2018) and Valencian Royal Academy of Medicine (2025).

www.flogen.org/

Simon R. Cherry, Ph.D. received his B.Sc.(Hons) in Physics with Astronomy from University College London in 1986 and a Ph.D. in Medical Physics from the Institute of Cancer Research, University of London in 1989. In 1993, he became a faculty member in the Department of Molecular and Medical Pharmacology at UCLA. Simon joined UC Davis in 2001 and is currently Distinguished Research Professor in the Departments of Biomedical Engineering and Radiology. He is also Professor of Total-Body Imaging at King’s College London.

Simon’s research interests center around biomedical imaging. His major contributions have been in developing systems for positron emission tomography (PET), for example in designing and building the first microPET scanner for small-animal imaging and as co-leader of the EXPLORER consortium which developed the world’s first total-body PET scanner. He also has contributed to detector technology innovations for PET, conducted early biomedical studies using Cerenkov luminescence, and developed the first proof-of-concept hybrid PET/MRI (magnetic resonance imaging) systems.

Simon is an elected fellow of six professional societies and a Member of the U.S. National Academy of Engineering and National Academy of Inventors. He has received several international awards including the Society of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging Cassen Prize in 2022. He served as Editor-in-Chief of the journal Physics in Medicine and Biology from 2011-2020. Simon is the author of more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles, review articles and book chapters in the field of biomedical imaging. He is also lead author of the widely-used textbook “Physics in Nuclear Medicine”.

www.flogen.org/

Prof. Nicola D’Ascenzo is a Full Professor at the University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) with research focus in shape-adaptable, high-resolution All-Digital PET imaging. A recipient of the prestigious National 1000 Young Talent program in 2016, he has spent over two decades bridging the gap between advanced sensor physics—specifically the development of high-efficiency CMOS Digital SiPM technology—and transformative applications in neurology and sustainable agriculture. His groundbreaking Agri-PET system transitions functional plant imaging from the laboratory to the field, utilizing Kinetically Consistent Data Assimilation (KCDA) to analyze crop resilience against climate-change stressors. Recognizing his leadership in deep-tech disruption, he was named a 2025 recipient of the European Innovation Council (EIC) Pathfinder project to further advance the Agri-PET technology and its spatiotemporal digital signal processing capabilities.

www.flogen.org/

Actual Positions: Full Professor at NOVA-FCT in Advanced Functional Materials; running director of i3N; CENIMAT|i3N (https://www.cenimat.fct.unl.pt/) and CEMOP/UNINOVA, President of European Academy of Sciences - EurASc; President of the administration board of the Portuguese cluster in Advanced Materials (NANOMAT); member of the: administration board of the Portuguese cluster on Batteries (BatPower); committee of King Jaume I award for Basic Research; coordination board of the Sino-Portugal joint centre in Advanced Materials. Chair of the European Committee Affairs of European Materials Research Society (E-MRS), member of the Portuguese Engineering Academy, Royal Academy of Sciences and Arts of Barcelona and of Academia Europaea; editor in chief of the journal Discover Materials. Chair of the Conference Cell Press Forum on Optoelectronic Materials and Devices Supported by Cell Press, Macau, 8-10 April 2026., Invited key note speaker at ICDT-2026, Chongqing, China, 1 April and at Hong Kong at Nobel Forum, 12-14 April as plenary speaker.

Co-chair of the FNRS (Fonds de la Recherche Scientifique, Belgium) Quinquennial Scientific Prize, A DE LEEUW-DAMRYBOURLART Prize in Applied Exact Sciences. Coordinator of the EuMAT working group on Advanced Materials Academy Member of the jury Rei Jaume I Prize in New Technologies for 2025, Valencia 2-3 June, Spain.

Co-Chair of the Organizing Committee for IUMRS-ICA 2025, the 9th World Materials Summit and International Union of Materials Societies International Conference in Asia Guilin, 14-17 October 2025. Member of the International Committee of ITC2025, Nara Japan, March, 24-26 2025. Member of the advisory board (2025-2027) of the European University for Customized Education (EUNICE),.

Academic career: R. Martins got in 1974 the Honours degree in Electronics Engineering by U. Luanda. In 1977 he got the MSc degree in Semiconductor Materials, by U. of Dundee, Scotland, supervised by W. Spear, the 1977 Euro physicist award; in 1982, the Ph.D. in Energy conversion and Semiconductors, by New University of Lisbon (UNL); in 1988 the Aggregation in Semiconductor Materials and Microelectronics, by UNL. Full Professor at FCT-NOVA since 2002 in Materials Engineering, speciality Materials for Energy, Microelectronics and Nanotechnologies. Professor Honoris Causa by University of Galati, Romania, 2012.

Former Positions: Director of the Materials Science Department of FCT-NOVA; Member of the scientific council of FCTNOVA, President of International Union of Materials Research Society; Member of the Scientific Council of the European Research Council; president of the E-MRS; President of the senate of E-MRS; member of the qualification board of Engineering Association.

Key activities taken in Europe, close to EC and to Regions, contributor of the Paper Electronics, Responsible Electronics and Advanced Materials for Industrial Leadership programmes and of the Materials Manifesto 2030. Mentor of Advanced Materials Academy launched by the EC in 2024 and member of EIT, CLC Central. As far as regions are concerned, he promoted the creation of the Portuguese Materials cluster association, named NANOMAT (Association for Research and Development in Advanced Materials and applications, involving regional authorities and regional municipalities (14), Industry (10), SME (5), Universities (8), RTO (7) and Colab (1)), bringing together Municipalities, regions, industry and academy)

Key activities in China: QiuShi Chair Visiting Professor at Zhejiang University; Honorary Professor of Hefei Institutes of Physical Sciences of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); Honorary Professor of the Technical University of Wuhan; Professor of the School Chemistry, Chemical Engineering and Life Sciences of Wuhan University; Honorary Professor of Fuzhou University; Invited Professor at Southwest University, Chongqing. Coordinator of the Sino-Europe Display Materials Joint Laboratory, Hefei 4th July 2024. Chief Scientist of the International Joint Laboratory on Near-Zero-Carbon Materials in Wuhan, 2025 and coordinator and founder of the Asia Pacific EURASC hub in Hefei, 2025, with the support of the CAS.

Publishing activities: He is Editor in Chief of the Journal Materials Discover, from Nature-Springer. (https://discovermaterials.co.uk/). Member of the: international advisory board of Advanced Electronics Materials and of the Journal of Physics D; Editor board of the Responsive Materials Journal and of the editorial board of the journal Innovation Material (2025-2027) and editor of the Journal Iontronics

Fields of expertise: advanced functional materials; nanotechnologies, microelectronics, transparent electronics (pioneer) and paper electronics (inventor), with more than 1375 papers published, holding an h factor of 106, with more than 45500 citations (Google). Author in 5 books and 31 book chapters and editor in 8 books. He gave so far 170 plenary talks; 265 invited talks; 112 oral presentations and 95 posters, in conferences and workshops.

Patents, awards, and honours: 197 international patents conceived (WIPO-PCT), (https://patentscope.wipo.int/search/en/result.jsf?_vid=P11-M9JRY4-74105) 12 are trademark register and have 12 pending patents.

Awarded with the Chinese Government Friendship award 2025; decorated with the gold medal of merit and distinction by the Almada Municipality for his R&D achievements, in 2016; in 2021 he got the Career and Recognition Award given by the Portuguese Society of Materials and Research Nova-Altice Scientific Merit Award, in his first edition. In 2023 selected as PIFI Distinguished Scientist of CAS, the highest honour for overseas talents. Besides that, he got more than 18 international and national prizes and distinctions for his work.

Involvement in Research Projects: 211 projects (97 are national), coordinated 64, responsible in 72, co-responsible in 5 and active member in 64, involving total budget of 84,315,787.70€.

www.flogen.org/

Professor Dr. Avinash C. Pandey had a brilliant academic career with four Masters (Physics, Mathematics, Business Administration and Computer Science) degrees followed by Ph.D. in Physics from Allahabad university, India. He was awarded GB Deodhar Gold Medal for securing highest marks in M.Sc. (Physics-X Rays) examination 1984. He served Allahabad university in various capacities holding positions of Professor in Atmospheric and Ocean Science; Coordinator, K. Banerjee Centre of Atmospheric & Ocean Studies and M.N. Saha Centre of Space Studies; and Director, Institute of Inter Disciplinary Studies (IIDS). He received Excellence Award, University of Allahabad in 2016.
Professor Pandey has nearly 300 publications in journals of repute in areas of Nanoscience & Nanotechnology, and Atmospheric & Ocean Science, including 20 Patents and 19 books/monographs and contributed Chapters. He has supervised 30 research projects worth 37 Crores in the capacity of Principal Investigator. He entered into research collaboration with USA, Japan, South Africa, Germany, Armenia, South Korea, SAARC Countries and Italy. He developed state-of-the-art facilities for synthesis/characterization/device applications of nanomaterials; high performance computing for simulation studies of atmospheric/ocean/molecular dynamics and Virtual Physics Laboratory. His research output is of high quality with 4666 citations, i-10 index 129, and h-index 36.
Professor Pandey holds the position of Adjunct Professor, Michigan Tech, USA; and Chairman, Governing Council, Indian Institute of Astrophysics, Bangalore. He was Vice Chancellor of Bundelkhand University, Jhansi (2012-15) and presently holds dual charge as Director, Inter-University Accelerator Centre (IUAC), New Delhi & Director, Inter- University Centre (Yoga Sciences) Bangalore.

www.flogen.org/

Prof. John O. Prior, MD PhD, FEBNM, holds dual training in engineering and medicine, with an MSc from ETH Zurich, a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from UT Southwestern Medical Center (Dallas), and medical degrees (MSc Med and MD) from the University of Lausanne. He specialized in nuclear medicine and later served as Visiting Professor at UCLA. Since 2010, he has been Professor and Head of Nuclear Medicine and Molecular Imaging at Lausanne University Hospital (CHUV) (link) and has authored more than 350 scientific publications (ORCID https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1429-1374).

Prof. Prior is President of the Swiss Society of Nuclear Medicine (since 2018) and, since 2024, President of the Section and Board of Nuclear Medicine at the European Union of Medical Specialists (UEMS). UEMS represents 1.6 million specialists across Europe and focuses on harmonizing postgraduate training, accrediting continuing education, and improving practice conditions and professional mobility.

Globally, Prof. Prior serves as Treasurer of the World Federation of Nuclear Medicine and Biology (WFNMB) for 2025–2027 and has been the WFNMB Focal Point for technical collaboration with WHO since 2018. He contributed to WHO resolution WHA78.13 on strengthening medical imaging capacity, adopted at the 78th World Health Assembly in 2025, and continues to support its implementation.

www.flogen.org/

Prof. Robert Pullar obtained a PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Warwick (UK) in 2000. Afterwards he was a research fellow in the UK from 2000-2008 at LSBU and Imperial College London, and then in 2008-2009 he was in Crete on a Marie Curie Fellowship. From 2009 to 2020 he was a Principal Researcher at the Department of Materials and Ceramics Engineering of the University of Aveiro in Portugal, and since autumn 2020 an Associate Professor at the Department of Molecular Sciences and Nanosystems, Ca’ Foscari University of Venice.

His main research interests are the synthesis and processing of ceramics, oxides and nanomaterials, and include sustainable and green chemistry & nanotechnology; magnetic, dielectric and ferroelectric ceramics & nanomaterials; multiferroic and magnetoelectric ceramics & composites; ceramic fibers; bioceramics and bioglasses; photocatalysts; electrochromic and photochromic materials (smart windows); solar energy materials for splitting H2O and CO2; waste remediation and valorisation; wood-based ecoceramics; cork derived materials; combinatorial and high-throughput ceramics processing; 3D printing and robocasting; and sustainable materials for the preservation of Cultural Heritage.

Prof. Pullar has published over 170 papers, with over 5300 citations and an H index of 37, has presented at over 85 conferences on 5 continents, including over 30 invited presentations, and delivered ca. 30 invited lectures worldwide.
https://www.unive.it/data/persone/24258468/curriculum

www.flogen.org/

Fedora Quattrocchi is “Chief Scientist” at INGV as “Research Director” technologist (Prot. INGV Decr. 226, 25/07/2009), starting her activity in 1990, after the degree in Earth Sciences at University "La Sapienza" of Rome, in November 1988, "cum laudem", and after 20 years in following with the role of "tutor" a lot of degree and PhD students over different Italian universities (Rome 1-2-3, Padova, Florence, Milano-Bicocca, Cagliari, Basilicata, Perugia, etc..). She is already looking after Functional Unit “Fluid Geochemistry, Geological Storage and Geothermics” at the Department Seismology and Tectonophysics, and Responsible of “Energy and Georesources Research Line/Section Rome 1/INGV. Fedora started to teach as "contract professor" (2009) at the University "Tor Vergata" of Rome, Faculty of “Industrial Engineering”, for a 48 hours Course (5 CFU) named: “CO2 transport and sequestration”. She served as University teacher at Università degli Studi di Napoli Parthenope - Engineering Department - in December, 2015, teaching: Cod. A07 titled “Processes for the separation, capture and re-use of CO2”, in the frame of the post-PhD formation project “SMART GENERATION – Innovative Systems and technologies with high poligeneration efficiency”.

She is Italian member of “SET PLAN ENERGY enlarged Board” at the MIUR Ministry and Member of the EU-ZEP Platform Zero Emissions Fossil Fuels Power Plants since 2007. She represented for INGV the Zero Emission Fossil Fuels Power Plants Platform (EU-ZEP) inside the Working Group 2: CO2 Geological Storage, starting the activities in January 2006 and still ongoing. She was selected by IEA (International Energy Agency) on a series of activities on CCS, in the frame of the writing the Agency’s Energy Technology Perspectives 2008 Report. She was selected by IEA Commetee on Energy Research and Technology, as member of "Expert Group on R&D Priority setting and Evaluation" with first meeting November, 16-17, 2011 in Paris "Monitoring Progress towards a Clean Energy Economy". She is a Scientific Committee member of the Sustainable Development Foundation in Italy (Fondazione Sviluppo Sostenibile). Fedora has published more than 100 papers in peer reviewed and other journals.

www.flogen.org/

Gurtej Sandhu is Senior Fellow and Vice President at Micron Technology. In his current role, he is responsible for Micron’s end-to-end (Si-to-Package) R&D technology roadmaps. The scope includes driving cross-functional alignment across various departments and business units to proactively identify technology gaps and managing the engineering organization to resource and execute on developing innovative technology solutions for future memory scaling. Dr. Sandhu’s responsibilities include leading several internal project teams worldwide and managing interactions with research consortia around the world.
At Micron, Dr. Sandhu has held several engineering and management roles. He has been actively involved with a broad range of process technologies for IC processing and has pioneered several process technologies currently employed in mainstream semiconductor chip manufacturing.
Dr. Sandhu received a degree in electrical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology, New Delhi, and a Ph.D. in physics at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, in 1990. He is recognized as one of the top inventors in the world. Dr. Sandhu is a Fellow of IEEE. In 2018, he received the IEEE Andrew S. Grove Award for outstanding contributions to silicon CMOS process technology that enables DRAM and NAND memory chip scaling.
Gurtej Sandhu’s urge for enhancing the efficiency of technological devices has not only got him more US patents than Thomas Edison, but also a recognition for being all-time seventh most prolific inventor as measured by number of U.S. utility patents. https://www.thebetterindia.com/194656/gurtej-sandhu-indian-origin-inventor-more-patents-than-edison-inspiring/

www.flogen.org/

Prof. Sukhmander Singh did his M.S. from Indian Institute of Technology Delhi and Ph.D. degree in Civil Engineering from University of California Berkeley. He worked as Senior Project Engineer with a top Consulting Company in San Francisco. He worked as Principal Investigator of Prominent projects such as a Dam with a history of slide (failure), and its redesign; and in charge of the Seismic Stability of all the Slopes and Liquefaction of the soils along the entire 800 miles of the Trans Alaska pipeline.
Subsequently, he joined Santa Clara University and currently holds the position of Professor of Civil, Environmental and Sustainable Engineering. He has been teaching there for 35 years of which 15 years as Chairman of the Department. He has been a visiting faculty, for short periods, for 10 years at Cambridge University, UK, publishing 10 collaborative papers with Cambridge. He has delivered invited lectures at Stanford, Berkeley, and Cambridge Universities. Professor Singh is recipient of some noteworthy awards: Researcher of the Year, Endowed Chair Award for Academic achievements, President’s Special Recognition Award for Teaching, Research and Service. Chairmanship of sessions at International Conferences. Lifetime Achievement Award from American Society of Civil Engineering’s San Jose Chapter. He is one of the top researchers in the fields of Liquefaction of Silty soils, Landfill Stability of Solid Waste Landfills. Editor of a Landmark book from American Society of Civil Engineering as Memorial to the top Engineer in the Earth Dam Designs. Co-editor of another book. Published 118 research papers in reputed journals and refereed conferences.

www.flogen.org/

Alain TRESSAUD is CNRS Emeritus Research Director at ICMCB-CNRS, Bordeaux University. He is Honorary President of the European Academy of Science (Brussels), after being the President in the 2017-18 period. He is member of several European Academies (EASA, Austria, Disting. Fellow SCF, France). He founded and chaired until 2008 the French Network on Fluorine Chemistry, sponsored by CNRS. He received many awards, including the Atomic Centre Agency (CEA) Award of French Academy of Sciences (2008), Fluorine Award of the American Chemical Society (2011) and International Henri Moissan Prize (2012).
His scientific interest covers various fields, e.g. synthesis, physical chemical characterizations, applications in materials sciences, solid state chemistry & fluorine chemistry. His works also deal with surface modification of materials and intercalation chemistry. His scientific production includes more than 360 papers in international journals, 20 chapters contributions in books and 12 internationalized patents. In addition, he edited 11 books, including the Editor-in-Chief responsibility of the book series “Advances in Fluorine Science” (2006), “Progress in Fluorine Science” (2015 →), Elsevier. In 2011 his book on “Le fluor: histoire, applications & paradoxes” appeared at CNRS-Editions, Paris and in 2018 the multi-authored book “Progress in Science, Progress in Society” at Springer-Nature.

www.flogen.org/