Keynote Speakers

Talk title: Eliminating hydrogen embrittlement in alloys with gradient nanostructures

Biography

Prof. K. Lu is a material scientist. His research interests include processing, structure characterization, stability, properties and performance of nanostructured metals and alloys.

Talk title: The state of Hydrogen Deployment in Spain: From Strategy to Implementation

Biography

Javier Brey is a PhD engineer and Professor at Loyola University in Spain. He has more than 25 years of professional experience in the hydrogen sector, combining research, technology development, and executive management roles across different industrial and innovation-driven organizations.

He currently serves as Chief Technology Officer at H2B2 Electrolysis Technologies, where he is involved in the development and deployment of advanced hydrogen technologies. Since 2009, he has also been President of the Spanish Hydrogen Association (AeH2), playing a key role in shaping Spain’s hydrogen ecosystem and fostering collaboration between industry, research institutions, and public authorities.

In addition, Javier Brey actively represents the Spanish hydrogen sector in a wide range of national and international forums, contributing to strategic discussions on hydrogen policy, market development, and the global energy transition.

Talk title: Green hydrogen and ammonia: collaboration project between Japan and South Africa at HySA Infrastructure

Biography

Professor: North-West University, South Africa; Director: DSTI HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence. Prof. Bessarabov is a recognized expert in hydrogen energy and electrochemical technologies with extensive academic and industrial experience in Canada and South Africa. Since 2010, he has been leading the HySA Infrastructure Center of Competence at NWU and CSIR, focusing on hydrogen storage, water electrolysis technologies and refueling systems. He received his PhD in membrane technology from Stellenbosch University, South Africa, where he was awarded the SASOL Medal for the best PhD in chemistry. 
His expertise includes PEM water electrolysis, membranes, hydrogen storage, electrochemical compression, fuel cells, and renewable hydrogen production and refueling systems. He previously held leadership roles in hydrogen R&D at Aker Kvaerner Chemetics, Ballard Power Systems and AFCC in Canada. He is also PI for South Africa – Japan SATREPS research program in the area of green hydrogen and ammonia https://www.jst.go.jp/global//english/kadai/r0304_southafrica.html and a member of jury panels for the Palladium Global Science Award https://www.palladiumaward.com/

Talk title: Ultra Hight Temperature CMCs for Hydrogen Combustion

Biography

Dr. Qingda Yang is a professor and the Department Chair of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering (MAE) at the University of Miami (UM). Dr. Yang’s recent research has focused on developing multi-scale methodologies that can lead to realistic virtual testing and designing of complex heterogeneous materials and structures under general and/or extreme thermal-mechanical loading environments. He is an author/coauthor of 100+ journal publications, 4 book chapters, and more than 30 refereed conference proceedings. He was a past Chair of the Composite and Heterogeneous Materials Committee in ASME (2010-2012), and is currently serving an editorial board member for three professional journals.

Talk title: Supporting the hydrogen industry through collaborative research

Biography

After graduating with a PhD in Physical Chemistry from Loughborough University, Andrew Dicks spent over 30 years in the UK gas industry working on gasification, process design, and energy systems analysis. In recognition of his research in fuel cells he was awarded the H E Jones medal of the Institute of Gas Engineers. Andrew left the UK in 2002 to take up a research fellowship in nanomaterials for energy at the University of Queensland. Since then, he has played a key role in promoting renewable energy and hydrogen in Australia – as a Director of the Australian Institute of Energy, founder of the Australian Association for Hydrogen Energy and, since 2023, CEO of the Australian Hydrogen Research Network. Andrew is currently an adjunct senior research fellow at Griffith University, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry and Chartered Chemist.

Talk title: Green hydrogen filling stations based on electrolysis, biogas and e-ammonia

Biography

Born in Carrara (Italy), 1959. He studied classical subjects, then graduated in Mechanical Engineering (1984) and obtained a PhD in Energy Conversion (1989) from the University of Pisa. The thesis focused on the design of a plant for hydrogen production via photosynthesis. The PhD thesis focused on the use of Molten Carbonate Fuel Cells for power production. 
In 1992, he became an Assistant Professor at the University of Cassino, and ten years later, an Associate Professor in the field of Energy Conversion Systems at the same university. Currently, he teaches “Technologies and methodologies for energy sustainability”.
He wrote a little more than 100 scientific papers mainly focussed on hydrogen energy systems, fuel cell systems, and power to gas. He is co-author, with Bent Sørensen, of the third edition of “Hydrogen and Fuel Cells” and, with Daniele Candelaresi and Giulio Raimondi, of “Hydrogen Technologies for Energy.” He edited “Power to Fuel: How to Speed ​​up a Hydrogen Economy.”
He has participated as a plenary or keynote speaker at several international conferences.
He has held four Italian patents.
In 1995, he created and coordinated the HYPOTHESIS conference series. The conference has reached its 21st edition and has been held in 16 different countries, including online, during the COVID-19 pandemic. He organized and chaired the 2007 World Hydrogen Technologies Convention in Montecatini Terme, Italy. He organized and chaired the World Online Conference on Sustainable Technologies in 2021 and 2022. He organized seminars in Italy and abroad and hosted an Italian pavilion at the 2006 Hannover Messe Group Exhibition on Hydrogen and Fuel Cells.
He has been a member of the Board of Directors of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy since 1999, a Fellow of the IAHE since 2024, and IAHE Executive Vice President for Conferences. In 2018, he was awarded the IAHE Rudolph A. Erren Award, and in 2022, the IAHE Jules Verne Award.
He is CEO of EnTraT srls (Energy Transition Team), an academic spin-off of the University of Cassino and Southern Lazio, primarily focused on hydrogen energy systems and life-cycle sustainability assessment.

Talk title: Accelerated Discovery of Metal Hydrides for Hydrogen Storage, Purification and Separation

Biography

Vitalie Stavila received his PhD in Chemistry from State University of Moldova (2002), then completed postdoctoral stays at Ecole Normale Supérieure de Lyon (France), and at Rice University in Houston (USA). Dr. Stavila joined Sandia National Laboratories (Livermore, CA, USA) in 2008 to develop functional materials for energy generation and storage. A central theme in Dr. Stavila’s research is the rational design of new materials by changing the chemical composition, the arrangement of the atoms and molecules, and the size, shape, and orientation of nanoscale objects. Dr. Stavila uses various X-ray scattering and diffraction techniques, as well as data science and machine learning tools to reveal new structure-property relationships for accelerated materials discovery.

Talk title: Flame-to-Wall Interaction in Hydrogen/Ammonia Flames Toward Green Combustion Systems

Biography

Yuji Suzuki received the B.S., M.S., and Dr.Eng. degrees in mechanical engineering from the University of Tokyo, Tokyo, Japan, in 1987, 1989, and 1993, respectively. He is currently with the Department of Mechanical Engineering, the University of Tokyo, as a Professor. He received Fellow of Combustion Institute, IEEE Fellow, Fellow of AUTSE, and Fellow of JSME. He serves as a Board Member of Combustion Society of Japan, and a Vice President of Japan Society of Fluid Mechnics. His research interests include laser diagnostics of ammonia/hydrocarbon flames, flame-to-wall interaction, and microscale energy conversion.

Talk title: TBD

Biography

Dr. Rezaei is Professor of Chemical Engineering in the Chemical, Environmental and Materials Engineering Department at University of Miami. She obtained her PhD degrees in Chemical Engineering from Monash University in Australia and LTU in Sweden in 2011. Her research focus broadly lies at the interface of chemical, materials science and environmental engineering, and the overall goal of her research group is development of advanced adsorbent materials and adsorption processes for separation, purification, and storage applications. She is currently the Associate Editor of ACS Energy & Fuels journal.

Talk title: Hydrogen sonoelectrocatalysis – A “sound” research area!

Biography

Bruno Georges Pollet BSc(Hons) MSc PhD FIAHE FRSC is an electrochemist and electrochemical engineer, a Fellow of the UK Royal Society of Chemistry, a Fellow of the International Association for Hydrogen Energy, a full professor of chemistry, director of the Clean Hydrogen Lab and co-director of the Hydrogen Research Institute at the Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières in Canada. He also holds the NSERC Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Clean Hydrogen. He has worked on Hydrogen Energy in the UK, Japan, South Africa, Norway, and Canada, and has both industrial and academic experience. He has been involved in Hydrogen strategies in various countries. He is a prolific scholar, collaborator, and mentor. He is also regarded as one of the most prominent Hydrogen experts and one of the Hydrogen “influencers” in the world.