Keynote Speakers of 2026

 

 

Prof. Puthenkalam John Joseph, Sophia University, Japan

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Biography:  John Joseph Puthenkalam, Ph.D., is a Professor of Economics, at the Faculty of Economics, & Professor, at the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo, Japan. He serves as a Board Member of the Sophia School Corporation since 2016 to present. He was also Academic Dean of the Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies: 2015-2017. After obtaining bachelor’s and master’s degrees in economics, Philosophy and Theology in India and Japan, he continued his studies and obtained Ph.D. in Economics, from the University of Glasgow, United Kingdom in 1996. He was awarded First Class and First Rank in M.A. (1984). He also won The Straniak Foundation Philosophy Prize, Switzerland, 1993 and in 1998. He was granted a Senior Fellowship, at the University of Bonn, Germany, 2001. His published books include, "The Collision of Cultures? Dialogue Between Globalization and Cultural Identity", Academia Verlag, Germany, 200l. “Dialogue Among Civilizations: Zukunftiges Menchsein : Ethik zwischen Ost und West Nomos Verlagsgesellschaft Baden-Baden, Germany, 2003,(Edited Volume). “Economic Growth, Democracy and Human Development”, Claretian Publications, Bangalore, 2016. “Global Development Analysis: Developing Countries, Millennium Development Goals & Sustainable Development Goals”, Sophia University, Tokyo, 2020. Terra Thrive: Achieving SDG 15: Life on Land for Future Generations, Springer Nature Switzerland, 2025　(to be published)

(N.B. For More details about his Books, academic presentations, and Journal articles etc.,
Please refer my Home Page: https://pweb.cc.sophia.ac.jp/j-puthen/)
He serves as the Project Leader for the 17 SDGs Book series a collaborative research work between Graduate School of Global Environmental Studies, Sophia University, Tokyo, and Christ University, Bangalore, India.

 

 

Prof. Ildoo-Chung, Pusan National University, Busan, Korea

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Biography:  Professor Ildoo Chung joined the faculty of the Department of Polymer Science and Engineering at Pusan National University, Korea, in 2005. Prior to that, he completed his postdoctoral training with Professor Jimmy Mays in the Department of Chemistry at the University of Tennessee, USA, and with Professor Dong Xie in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Alabama at Birmingham, USA. He received his Ph.D. from Pusan National University in 2000. He has served as the editor-in-chief of the Journal of Adhesion and Interface and as a member of the board of directors of the Polymer Society of Korea, the Korea Society of Adhesion and Interface, the Korea Polyurethane Society, and the Asian Cyclodextrin Conference. He has over 130 peer-reviewed publications and over 200 presentations at national and international conferences. His research interests are focused on polymer synthesis, including atom transfer radical polymerization (ATRP) and reversible addition-fragmentation chain transfer (RAFT) polymerization, applied to advanced polymeric biomaterials such as drug delivery systems, hard/soft tissue compatible polymers, photocurable 3D printing polymers, biodegradable polymers, and composite systems.

 

 

Prof. Irene M. C. LO, Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, China

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                            

Biography: Irene Lo is currently a Chair Professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. She is an Elected Foreign Member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, and Elected Fellow of Hong Kong Academy of Engineering. She is also a Fellow of Hong Kong Institution of Engineers, and Fellow of the American Society of Civil Engineers. She was appointed by HKSAR Government as Justices of the Peace (JP) in 2017. She was also Adjunct Professor of Tongji University, Tianjin University, Jilin University and Harbin Institute of Technology. She had been Visiting Professor of Technical University of Denmark and the University of Wisconsin at Madison.

Prof. Lo is an internationally renowned scholar and is among the first to invent iron-based nanomaterials and photocatalytic materials for the removal of heavy metals, organics, and emerging pollutants such as antibiotics from water and subsurface environment as well as to investigate the fundamental understanding of the pollutant removal mechanisms. Her research is ground-breaking and innovative, sustainable, and the outcome application is economical. She was the recipient of numerous prestigious international research awards, such as 2025 Career Award by Proteomass Scientific Society, 2021 ES&T Best Critical Review Paper Awards-First Runner Up, 2007 ASCE Samuel Arnold Greeley Award, 2009 ASCE Wesley W Horner Award, and the 2012 ASCE EWRI Best Practice-Oriented Paper Award. In addition, she received the 2019 Higher Education Outstanding Scientific Research Output Awards in the Natural Science/Technology Advancement by Ministry of Education, China. She has been invited to give over 100 plenary/keynote/invited speeches at many international and regional conferences in Asia, Europe, Africa, and North America.

Her research interests include advanced oxidation processes and nanoparticles/nanotechnology for environmental applications. Her citation is 24000+ with H-index 82, as reported by Google Scholar. She was recognized as "Top 2% Scientists in the World” by Stanford university in the past years since 2019.