INVITED SPEAKERS

Jiayuan Ji<<The University of Tokyo, Japan

Dr. Jiayuan Ji is an assistant professor at the Institute for Future Initiatives, the University of Tokyo. He completed his PhD studies in Civil and Environmental Engineering at Tohoku University, Japan. He has worked as a postdoctoral researcher, supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS), at the Graduate School of Engineering at Tohoku University, and as a research fellow at the Institute of Fluid Science, Tohoku University. He attended the 14th HOPE Meeting with Nobel Laureates and was honored as a HOPE Fellow. He won the Young Water Professional (YWP) Award by the International Water Association (IWA) at the IWA-ASPIRE 2023 conference. He has published more than 30 papers in various journals and serves as an Editorial member for Frontiers of Environmental Science & Engineering, China Water & Wastewater and so on. In addition, he serves as an expert reviewer for more than 20 SCI journals. He has memberships of the Academic Societies such as, Japan Society on Water Environment, IWA, the Japanese Society for Artificial Intelligence, Japan Society of Civil Engineers, the Association of Environmental & Sanitary Engineering Research, the Society of Chemical Engineers, and Japan Society for Molecular Science. He is also serving as a committee member for the Japan Society on Water Environment. He has multi-field and interdisciplinary experience and is committed to integrating multi-scale, multi-method, and cross-disciplinary approaches in his research to contribute to the environment, resources, and energy. His interests include energy recovery in wastewater treatment, biomass utilization, anaerobic digestion, resourceful disposal of wastewater and wastes, computational fluid dynamics, deep learning, and artificial intelligence for environmental energy systems. He would like to have a talk on “When AI is challenged with resource recycling and environmental studies, especially wastewater treatment” if it is possible.

Yew Ming Kun<<Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman, Malaysia, Malaysia

He completed his studies at the University of Malaya (UM), where he earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, UM (Manufacturing). He pursued further education at the same university, attaining both his M.Eng. and Ph.D. in Civil and Environmental Engineering with a collaboration in Mechanical Engineering (Materials). Commencing his academic journey at UM in 2009 and 2012, he undertook roles as a postgraduate researcher, tutor, and demonstrator.
Following the submission of his Ph.D. Thesis, C.Eng. Yew became a Lecturer in the Faculty of Engineering and The Built Environment at SEGi University. He subsequently joined Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR) in 2015. Presently, he operates within the Department of Civil Engineering at UTAR's Lee Kong Chian Faculty of Engineering and Science. He guided a significant number of final-year students and postgraduate students, fostering their growth and engagement in numerous projects, leading to award-winning products, patents, and the development of "Green & Sustainable Building Materials."
In his capacity as a Principal Investigator (P.I) and Co-P.I, he spearheaded over three research projects and secured eight intellectual property rights, encompassing both international and national domains. His accomplishments extend to receiving Gold Medals at ITEX 2011, 2019, 2020, and 2022, as well as a Gold Medal at iENA 2012 in Germany. He earned a distinguished accolade from the Japan Intellectual Property Association (JIPA-2022) for his exemplary work in Green Technology.
C.Eng. Yew's contributions to academia span over 75 technical papers and more than 8 books, predominantly focusing on sustainable construction materials and fire protective materials/coatings with sustainability in mind. He holds a significant role as the Lead Guest Associate Editor for Coatings-Special Issue: Recent Research on Surface Engineering of Cement and Concrete Materials, as well as Frontiers in Built Environment- Construction Materials. Moreover, he serves as an Editorial Board Member for (1) Scientific Reports- Springer Nature, (2) Nanoscience And Nanotechnology (N) and (3) Current Chinese Engineering Science, while also fulfilling the role of a reviewer for esteemed journals such as Engineering Structures (Elsevier), Construction and Building Materials (Elsevier), Journal of Building Engineering (Elsevier), Journal of Cleaner Production (Elsevier), Journal of Environmental Chemical Engineering (Elsevier), Fire, Coatings, Journal of Renewable Materials, British Journal of Applied Science & Technology, among others. He was also honored with the 2023 Outstanding Editor Award.
In addition to his scholarly commitments, he actively participates in international conferences, assuming roles within Technical and Conference Committees such as ICFMM:2021&2022, ICMSET:2023, and ICCEE-2018&2022. His involvement extends to the American Concrete Institute, ACI Malaysia, where he contributes as a Committee member. His professional background includes stints as a Project Engineer and Structural Engineer at IJM and Sapura Energy Berhad Malaysia. Throughout these roles, he demonstrated expertise in design, manufacturing, fabrication, construction, development, and management.
Furthermore, he engages in consultancy projects, collaborating with government entities and private enterprises within UM-UPUM and UTAR-DCC, Malaysia. His consultancy portfolio encompasses the design and development of projects related to Energy Sustainability and Smart Communities. Notable projects include "Fibre Reinforced Lightweight Floating Concrete Pavement Integrated with Solar Panel and IoT Devices," catering to various applications in the construction, oil & gas and aquaculture industries, including Marine Products Association, Pangkor Dolphin Fish Farm, Fajar Aqua, and others.