George A. Tsihrintzis received (with honors) the Diploma of ECE from the National Technical University of Athens, Greece, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in ECE from Northeastern University, Boston, USA. He is currently a Professor in the University of Piraeus, Greece and has served as Director of the Graduate Program of Study in “Advanced Computing and Informatics Systems” (2008–2022), Head of the Department of Informatics (2016-2020) and Member of the Administration Council of the University of Piraeus (2012-2016 and 2022–2026). He has (co-)authored over 400 research publications which have appeared in international journals, book chapters, and conference proceedings. He has organized and chaired over 45 international conferences, has received best paper awards from several international conferences, and has been a keynote speaker of several international conferences. He is ranked among the top 2% of the most influential scientists worldwide of Scientists List at Stanford University ranking in ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE, both career-wise and single year, for 2023 and 2024.Maria Virvou is Dean of the School of Information and Communication Technologies at the University of Piraeus, Greece, and Professor in its Department of Informatics. She is Founder and Director of the Graduate Program in “Informatics” and Director of its Software Technology Research Laboratory. She is co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of the Springer book series “Learning and Analytics in Intelligent Systems” and “Artificial Intelligence-Enhanced Software and Systems Engineering” and co-founder and co-chair of the IEEE Information, Intelligence, Systems and Applications (IISA) International Conference annual series. She previously served as an editor-in-chief of SpringerPlus (Springer) and currently serves as an associate editor of Knowledge-Based Systems (Elsevier). She is consistently ranked among the top 2% of researchers worldwide with the highest scientific impact, according to the global academic ranking by Stanford University, particularly in the field of Artificial Intelligence.Vangelis Marinakis is Assistant Professor in the School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE) of the National Technical University of Athens (NTUA). He is an Electrical and Computer Engineer of NTUA and holds a PhD in the research domain of decision support systems for sustainable energy planning. His research is focused on the design and development of methodologies and decision support systems, using leading-edge ICTs technologies (Internet of things, artificial intelligence, big data technologies) for intelligent energy management at different levels (smart homes, smart buildings, smart cities, smart districts), as well as increased energy efficiency gains and renewables. In the above-mentioned fields, Dr. Marinakis has worked on more than 25 European and national co-funded projects.Lakmhi C. Jain, PhD, ME, BE(Hons), Fellow (Engineers Australia) is with KES International, Shoreham-by-Sea, UK. Professor Jain’s career is characterized by his solid commitment to research, education, and mentorship, as he has been a distinguished professor at numerous universities. His research works encompass automated information system design; modeling, design, and implementation of knowledge-based intelligent information systems; intelligent agent learning, coordination, collaboration, and Web-based agents. He has (co-)authored or (co-)edited more than 500 volumes. He is co-founder and co-editor-in-chief of several scientific journals and series.
