Dr. Vinay Kumar Tyagi is a Scientist D in the Environmental Hydrology Division of the National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India. His research interests include energy-efficient wastewater treatment systems, sludge and solid waste management, and health related water microbiology. Dr. Tyagi has over 100 international publications, with more than 8,000 citations, as well as co-editing or co-authoring 8 full books and 42 book chapters. He was listed in the Top 2% of Scientists worldwide (Stanford University / Elsevier). Dr. Tyagi is Management Committee Member of the International Water Association (IWA) Sludge Management Specialist Group (represent South Asia Division), and Anaerobic Digestion Specialist Group. He is an editorial board member for several international journals and a lead editor of several special issues. Dr. Tyagi has extensive international research experience and collaboration in Norway, Japan, Singapore, Spain, and Taiwan in the domains of wastewater treatment, sludge pre-treatment, and biomass to bioenergy recovery.Yellamelli Ramji Satyaji Rao is a Scientist G and Head (Environmental Hydrology Division), National Institute of Hydrology, Roorkee, India. His reserch intrests are coastal hydrology, nitrate transport modelling, design and performance of septic tanks and stormwater management. Graduated in Civil Engineering from Osmania University, Hyderabad, Telangana State, India, post-graduated in ‘Hydrology and Water Resources Engineering’ from the Centre for Water Resources, Anna University, Chennai, Tamil Nadu, India. Awarded a Ph.D from Dept., of Civil Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, Delhi (IIT Delhi), India.He is having 32 years research experience in various capacities, in the field of coastal hydrology and other facets of hydrology. He is having more than 150 publications in the journals, conferences, book chapters etc. Thrirty in house projects which includes consultancy projects were sucessfully completed. Acted as a member in various committees constituted by Central Water Commisstion, Govt., of India, National Green Tribunal and other State Govt., Departments. Honered with UNDP fellowship and worked as adjunct faculty at San Diego State University, USA., Junior fellowship from IWMI, Srilanka, best paper awards etc. Contributed as ToT in the National Hydrology Project I and II on Hydrological Data Processing and Analysis. Major projects completed recently on River Bank Filtration for safe drinking water, Urban flood modeling studies in major cities in India (Chennai, Hyderabad and Kakinada), Impact of aquaculture on Groundwater in the east coastal deltas, high performance advanced septic systems and submarine groundwater discharge studies in Odisha and Andhra Pradesh coasts, India especially on nutrient loading.Mustafa Evren Ersahin is an Assoc. Professor at the Environmental Engineering Department, Istanbul Technical University (ITU), Istanbul, Türkiye. In 2010-2014, he has joined the Sanitary Engineering Section of the Water Management Department at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). He obtained two PhD degrees from both ITU and TU Delft. He was involved in several research projects in the field of energy efficiency in wastewater treatment, anaerobic biotechnology, resource recovery, dynamic membrane technology, innovative wastewater treatment processes, membrane bioreactors, renewable energy, industrial wastewater treatment, and biosystem modeling.He has published over 75 international journal papers, several books and book chapters, and oral presentations at international conferences. The journal papers have been cited >3750 times on Google Scholar database (h index: 30). Dr. Ersahin is Dean of Research at ITU and co-leading of EN3 LAB Research Group. He is a management committee member of the International Water Association Anaerobic Digestion Specialist Group. Dr. Ersahin has been awarded 14 different awards, five of which are international, for his contributions to science. He got the Huygens PhD fellowship award, one of the most prestigious awards given by the Dutch Government in 2011. Besides, he got the German Water Partnership GWP Award in 2016 and Waternet Watercycle Innovation Award in 2017. He got the TUBITAK (The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Türkiye) Incentive Award in 2020 and Scientist of the Year Award in Türkiye in 2020. He is member of Turkish Academy of Sciences (TUBA). Dr. Ersahin was Co-chair of the 18th IWA World Conference on Anaerobic Digestion (June 02-06, 2024, Istanbul, Türkiye). Xuedong ZHANG is a full-time professor at the Department of Environmental Engineering, Jiangnan University, Wuxi, China. His research interests mainly include resource recovery from low value organic residue and wastewater in production of bioenergy, short and middle chain fatty acids and lactate etc., anaerobic digestion modelling and novel processes for nitrogen and phosphorus separation and enrichment from various waste streams. Prof. Ir. Dr. ZHANG has published more than 60 scientific publications (Google Scholar Citation: >1358, h-index: 22) including 1 book and 1 chapter. In 2009 and 2017, Dr. ZHANG had worded at the Sanitary Engineering Section of Water Management Department at Delft University of Technology (TU Delft) and obtained his PhD degree at the university. He also had carried out his postdoctoral research at the TU Delft for 3.5 years. Dr. Zhang had broad experiences in research and applications of biotechnologies, including 5 years’ experiences in implementation of anaerobic and aerobic technologies in Veolia Water Technologies Techno Centre Netherlands BV. He executed more than 20 projects including European and Dutch research projects and projects on the implementation of biotechnologies worldwide. Besides, he has been a fellow of several professional organizations. Currently he is a member of Anaerobic Digestion Specialist Group of International Water Association and the secretary of both Youth Expert Committee of China Biogas Society and Youth Expert Committee of Anaerobic Biotechnology in China. He is also an active reviewer of more than 30 International Peer-Reviewed Journals and a lead editor of two special issues for international journals in environmental science and technologies. Furthermore, Dr. Zhang has broad international research cooperation in the Netherlands, Türkiye, Norway, Denmark, Spain, and Saudi Arabia in diverse environmental aspects with waste(water)s treatment focussing on various anaerobic biotechnologies, biodesulphurization processes, novel nitrogen and phosphorus recovery technologies, and biomass valorisation. Ed McBean, PhD, C.E., S.M. (all from Massachusetts Institute of Technology) and BASc (University of British Columbia), P.Eng., and P.E., is a Professor of Water Resources Engineering at the University of Guelph. Ed is a University of Guelph Research Leadership Chair Professor and former Tier I Canada Research Chair in Water Supply Security. After a post-doc at Cornell University, Ed spent two decades on faculty at the University of Waterloo, followed by a decade as President of CRA Engineering and a Vice-President of Conestoga-Rovers and Associate (the third largest Canadian engineering firm). In 2003, Ed joined the faculty at the University of Guelph where he continues today. Ed has received many awards including Fellow of Canadian Academy of Engineering, Diplomate of American Academy of Water Resources Engineering and American Society of Civil Engineers, and Fellow of European Union Academy of Sciences, and recipient of K.Y. Lo Award for significant contributions at international level, the Tom Duc Thang award, and the Julian C. Smith Award. Ed has published four books, edited thirteen books, and published more than 450 articles in the refereed technical literature. Ed has made more than 500 presentations at technical meetings, and pursued engineering research in more than 70 countries, and been a consultant to many organizations including the World Bank and Asian Development Bank. Ed’s research has continued his focus on applying engineering principles to issues of water quality and quantity, solid waste management and risk assessment/management throughout his career.
