Keynote Speaker I
Prof. Witold Pedrycz, University of Alberta, Canada
(IEEE Life Fellow)

Witold Pedrycz (IEEE Life Fellow) is Professor in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Canada. He is also with the Systems Research Institute of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw, Poland. Dr. Pedrycz is a foreign member of the Polish Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He is a recipient of  several awards including Norbert Wiener award from the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics Society, IEEE Canada Computer Engineering Medal, a Cajastur Prize for Soft Computing from the European Centre for Soft Computing, a Killam Prize, a Fuzzy Pioneer Award from the IEEE Computational Intelligence Society, and 2019 Meritorious Service Award from the IEEE Systems Man and Cybernetics Society. His main research directions involve Computational Intelligence, Granular Computing, and Machine Learning, among others. Professor Pedrycz serves as an Editor-in-Chief of Information Sciences, Editor-in-Chief of WIREs Data Mining and Knowledge Discovery (Wiley), and Co-editor-in-Chief of Int. J. of Granular Computing (Springer) and J. of Data Information and Management (Springer).

 

 

Keynote Speaker II
Prof. James Tin-Yau Kwok, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, Hong Kong, China
(IEEE Fellow)

Jun Prof. Kwok is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Engineering, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. Prof. Kwok is serving as an Associate Editor for the IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, Neurocomputing, Artificial Intelligence Journal, International Journal of Data Science and Analytics, and Editorial Board Member of Machine Learning.  He also served/is serving as Senior Area Chairs of major machine learning / AI conferences including NeurIPS, ICML, ICLR, and IJCAI. He is recognized as the Most Influential Scholar Award Honorable Mention for "outstanding and vibrant contributions to the field of AAAI/IJCAI between 2009 and 2019". He is an IEEE Fellow.

 

 

Keynote Speaker III
Prof. Nikola Kasabov, Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand
(IEEE Life Fellow)

Professor Nikola Kasabov is Life Fellow of IEEE, Fellow of the Royal Society of New Zealand, Fellow of the INNS College of Fellows, DVF of the Royal Academy of Engineering UK. He is the Founding Director of the Knowledge Engineering and Discovery Research Institute (KEDRI), Auckland and Professor at the School of Engineering, Computing and Mathematical Sciences at Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand. He is also George Moore Chair Professor of Data Analytics at the University of Ulster UK, Honorary Professor at the Teesside University UK and the University of Auckland NZ, Visiting Professor at the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. Kasabov is Past President of the Asia Pacific Neural Network Society (APNNS) and the International Neural Network Society (INNS). He has been a chair and a member of several technical committees of IEEE Computational Intelligence Society and Distinguished Lecturer of IEEE (2012-2014). He is Editor of Springer Handbook of Bio-Neuroinformatics, EIC of Springer Series of Bio-and Neuro-systems and co-EIC of the Springer journal Evolving Systems. He is Associate Editor of several journals, including Neural Networks, IEEE TrNN, Tr CDS, Information Sciences, Applied Soft Computing. Kasabov holds MSc and PhD from TU Sofia, Bulgaria. His main research interests are in the areas of neural networks, intelligent information systems, soft computing, bioinformatics, neuroinformatics. He has published more than 680 publications, highly cited internationally. He has extensive academic experience at various academic and research organisations in Europe and Asia, including: TU Sofia Bulgaria; University of Essex UK; University of Otago, NZ; Advisory Professor at Shanghai Jiao Tong University and CASIA China; Visiting Professor at ETH/University of Zurich and Robert Gordon University UK; Visiting Scholar at University of Dalian, China. Kasabov has received a number of awards, among them: Doctor Honoris Causafrom Obuda University, Budapest; INNS Ada Lovelace Meritorious Service Award; NN Best Paper Award for 2016; APNNA ‘Outstanding Achievements Award’; INNS Gabor Award for ‘Outstanding contributions to engineering applications of neural networks’; EU Marie Curie Fellowship; Bayer Science Innovation Award; APNNA Excellent Service Award; RSNZ Science and Technology Medal; 2015 AUT Medal; Honorary Member of the Bulgarian, the Greek and the Scottish Societies for Computer Science (https://academics.aut.ac.nz/nkasabov).

 

 

Keynote Speaker IV
Prof. Nikolaos M. Freris, University of Science and Technology of China, China
(IEEE Senior Member)

Nick Freris is Professor in the School of Computer Science at USTC, and Vice Dean of the International College. He received the Diploma in Electrical and Computer Engineering from the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA), Greece, in 2005, and the M.S. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering, the M.S. degree in Mathematics, and the Ph.D. degree in Electrical and Computer Engineering all from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC) in 2007, 2008, and 2010, respectively. His research lies in AIoT/CPS/IoT: machine learning, distributed optimization, data mining, wireless networks, control, and signal processing, with applications in transportation, power systems, sensor networks, and robotics. Dr. Freris has published several papers in high-profile conferences and journals held by IEEE, ACM, and SIAM and holds four patents. His research has been sponsored by the Ministry of Science and Technology of China, the Anhui Department of Science and Technology, Tencent, and the National Science Foundation (NSF), USA. He was recognized as the 2023 IEEE ROBIO Best Paper Award Finalist, as well as with the USTC Alumni Foundation Innovation Scholar Award (twice), the IBM High Value Patent Award, the IBM Invention Achievement Award (twice), and the Gerondelis Foundation Scholarship. Previously, he was with the faculty of NYU and, before that, he held senior researcher and postdoctoral researcher positions at EPFL and IBM Research, respectively. Dr. Freris is a Senior Member of IEEE, ACM, and CCF, as well as a member of SIAM.

 

 

Keynote Speaker V
Prof. Dave Towey, University of Nottingham Ningbo China, China
(IEEE Senior Member)

Professor Dave Towey received the BA and MA degrees in computer science, linguistics, and languages from the University of Dublin, Trinity College, Ireland; the MEd degree in education leadership from the University of Bristol, U.K.; and the PhD degree in computer science from The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong S.A.R., China. He has been with University of Nottingham Ningbo China (UNNC) since 2013, where he serves as the associate dean for education and student experience, the deputy head of the School of Computer Science, and as deputy director of the International Doctoral Innovation Centre. His current research interests include software testing (especially adaptive random testing, for which he was amongst the earliest researchers who established the field, and metamorphic testing) and technology-enhanced education. He co-founded the ICSE International Workshop on Metamorphic Testing in 2016. He is a fellow of the HEA (Advance UK), and a senior member of the ACM and IEEE.