Professor Janusz Koziński has enjoyed a distinguished academic career in leading institutions in the USA, Europe, and Canada. He is an internationally-renowned higher education leader, researcher and entrepreneur, and one of the world’s most widely acknowledged experts in sustainable energy systems. He received the Gold Medal in 2022 at the Ontario Professional Engineers Awards Gala and the 2023 Gold Medal awarded by Engineers Canada, the highest honour for an engineer in Canada.
Educated at AGH in Kraków, Poland, he subsequently conducted research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and spent much of his academic career at McGill University in Canada where he was Associate Vice-Principal for Research & International Relations.
He was Founding Dean of the Lassonde School of Engineering in Toronto and Founding President of a new University in Hereford, which is one of the most ambitious ventures in British higher education.
He is currently Dean of the Faculty of Engineering at Lakehead University in Canada leading a new trans-disciplinary initiative applying key driving forces in the 21st century science and engineering to create a novel type of research-based academic programs.
Throughout his career, Dr. Koziński has organized and led multi-disciplinary research teams and programs linking energy, environmental, public health, and security issues. These programs were supported by significant government, private, and industry grants and contracts. He has published over 400 papers in peer reviewed journals, books, and conference proceedings.
He completed the prestigious Advanced Management & Leadership Programme at Oxford University and the Executive Education Program, Crisis Leadership in Higher Education, at Harvard University.
Fueled by an entrepreneurial and inventive spirit, Dr. Koziński founded his own consulting company and has collaborated with multinational firms around the globe. He has also served on the board of a number of companies, including as chairman.
Janusz sees the necessity and beauty in bringing people together to not only solve problems of today and tomorrow, but to inspire each other to improve the social fabric of our societies.
Salvador Abreu is Full Professor of Computer Science at the University of Evora (Portugal), founder and head of the Laboratory of Informatics, Systems and Parallelism (LISP) which was later merged with NOVA LINCS, a common research lab featuring the NOVA University of Lisbon, the U. of Evora and three other public research higher education institutions. He coordinates the Evora branch. He is also external member at the CRI research laboratory of the University of aris-1 (Pantheon-Sorbonne). He was a JSPS (Japan Society for the Promotion of Science) Long Term invitation fellow, hosted at the University of Tokyo. He held several leadership positions at U. of Evora, among which those of deputy dean for IT infrastructure, director of computing services, head of the CS Department and director of the Exact Sciences Departmental Area. He coordinated the BSc. program in Computer Science at U. Evora. Currently he coordinates the PhD. program in Computer Science and is president of the Scientific Council of the U. of Evora Doctoral School.
He holds a Habilitation in CS, from U. Evora (2009), a PhD. in Artificial Intelligence from U. NOVA of Lisbon (1994) and a B.Eng in Informatics Engineering, also from NOVA (1988). He is an active member of ACM SIGPLAN and SIGARCH, the IEEE Computer Society, the Association for Logic Programming (ALP) and the Portuguese Artificial ntelligence Society (APPIA.)
His interests include Declarative methods for high-performance computing, namely Logic Programming, large-scale parallel constraint-based metaheuristics, as well as targeting the use of alternative computational architectures for solving declaratively-formulated problems.
Eddy Evans is a strategic communications and branding expert with over 20 years of experience in North America and Europe.
He is currently Director of Strategy, Communications and External Relations in the Faculty of Engineering at Lakehead University.
Previously, he was Principal Speechwriter for the Leader of the Official Opposition at the Legislative Assembly of Ontario.
Prior to working in Canadian politics, he was Director, External Relations and Principal Advisor to the Founding Dean at the Lassonde School of Engineering, York University in Toronto.
He spent the first part of his career in London and Washington D.C. working as a public affairs consultant for global PR and communications agency FleishmanHillard. While in the United States, he worked on the 2008 Barack Obama presidential campaign.
He studied Philosophy, Politics and Economics at Oxford University. He has since completed professional programs at Columbia University in New York and Harvard University’s John F. Kennedy School of Government.
Mahyar Fotoohi is a Global Partnerships Manager at Quanser Inc, where he leads initiatives to link emerging technologies with educational institutions, especially in fast-developing countries. Quanser is the world-leading company developing platforms that accelerate academic research and transform educational experiences.
His journey has taken him to over 40 countries, where he's guided projects to modernize local engineering education. With experience in leading projects in disruptive technologies like robotics, haptics, unmanned vehicles, 3D printing, AI, and blockchain, he sees technology as more than just a tool. It's a way to create a more connected world and encourage understanding among diverse cultures.
He's always on the lookout for ways to bridge the gap between academia and industry. When he's not working, you might find him exploring new tech or mentoring young talents.
His goal? To inspire the new generation of thinkers to shape an uplifting future.
He is an academic teacher and researcher who is passionate about promoting transdisciplinarity in science, encompassing both the educational and empirical dimensions. His expertise lies in two fields of study: social informatics and sociology. He particularly enjoy merging the perspectives of SSH (Social Sciences and Humanities) and STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics), while synthesizing empirical sciences with strategic and public management to inform evidence-based policy.
For more than a decade, he has been dedicated to educating students in various competences such as development strategies, organizational learning, knowledge management, interaction design, and qualitative research. He strive to persuade them that the future belongs to interdisciplinary teams comprised of passionate individuals who creatively leverage research-based knowledge and the potential of emerging technologies.
In addition to his teaching responsibilities, he engage in research projects spanning both basic and applied research. He actively participated in projects supported by esteemed institutions including the National Science Centre (OPUS program, analyzing public discourse on biopolitics), the National Centre for Research and Development (GOSPOSTRATEG program, exploring the social dimension of smart grids and energy clusters), the Ministry of Science and Higher Education (DIALOG program, developing a model for promoting SSH), and the European Commission (ERASMUS+ program, serving as the European Space University for Earth and Humanity UNIVERSEH WP4 coordinator).
He is currently involved in three projects:
1. He is leading a research project that focuses on understanding the role of religion in shaping the organizational identity of Catholic universities. This project is part of the OPUS program, funded by the National Science Center.
2. He is co-leading the "Service to Society" work package, which aims to engage stakeholders and the local community in space projects. This initiative is part of the UNIVERSEH project, supported by the European Commission.
3. He serves as a member of the Program Council for the International Congress Open Eyes Economy Summit OEES. This summit aims to promote the concept of an economy based on values.