Professor Yong Sik Ok is a Full Professor in the Division of Environmental Science and Ecological Engineering at Korea University and President of the International ESG Association. He has been ranked as the world’s No. 1 environmental scientist by multiple global evaluation bodies, including ScholarGPS. His research spans climate change, soil biodiversity, and ESG management, conducted through a highly interdisciplinary approach. He has authored landmark publications in leading journals including Nature, Science, Nature Water, Matter (Cell Press), Nature Sustainability, Nature Reviews Earth & Environment, Nature Protocols, Nature Reviews Bioengineering, and Environmental Science & Technology. In 2019, he became the first Korean scholar to be named a Highly Cited Researcher (HCR) in the field of environmental ecology. In 2022, he achieved a world-first distinction by being simultaneously recognized as an HCR across environmental ecology, engineering, and biology/biochemistry. Professor Ok previously served as President of the U.S.-based international society International Society of Trace Element Biogeochemistry (ISTEB). As Program Director of the Association of Pacific Rim Universities (APRU), he has led large-scale international research initiatives addressing global environmental challenges in collaboration with the world’s top universities, including Stanford University. He is also the Korean partner of the Planetary Health Alliance (PHA), the world’s largest academic–policy collaboration launched at Harvard University and has spearheaded the establishment of the Korea headquarters of the Climate Governance Initiative in partnership with the University of Cambridge and Deloitte. Currently, Professor Ok focuses on translating ESG management and sustainability science into corporate strategy and public policy. He has delivered ESG strategy lectures and provided executive advisory services to CEOs and CFOs of major global corporations, including Shinhan Financial Group, Samsung Electronics, LG, and POSCO. At Korea University Business School, he founded MBA and EMBA courses titled “Business and the Environment,” contributing to the training of next-generation ESG leaders. He also leads national-level research to establish ESG evaluation criteria and methodologies for Korea’s top 200 corporations. Through extensive international collaborations, Professor Ok is conducting large-scale field research on biochar-based climate change mitigation technologies and solutions to plastic pollution. In collaboration with Stanford University, he recently developed ESG evaluation indicators related to corporate water use for leading global companies, with the results accepted in Nature Water. His work exemplifies integrative scholarship bridging science and engineering with the humanities and social sciences. Professor Ok has accumulated over 133,750 citations, with an h-index of 188, and has received more than 105 Highly Cited Papers (HCPs). His annual citation rate has exceeded 20,000 citations per year consistently over the past four years (2022–2025), underscoring his sustained global impact and leadership in environmental and sustainability science.

Rodrigo Martins, portuguese nationality, was born in Nova Lisboa, Angola. He got in 1974 the Honours degree in Electronics Engineering, Telecommunications and applied Electronics by U. Luanda, Angola/ PT. In 1977 he got the MSc degree in Semiconductor Materials, by the University of Dundee, Scotland. Thesis title: “Photoconductivity in P Doped and Undoped Amorphous Germanium.” Supervisor W. Spear, 1977 Euro physicist award. In 1982, the Ph.D. in Energy conversion and Semiconductors, by New University of Lisbon, Portugal. Thesis title: “a-Si:H solar cells processing and characterization”. In 1988 he got the Habilitation in Semiconductor Materials and Microelectronics, by New University of Lisbon, Portugal. Lesson title: “Density of states in disordered semiconductors”. Full Professor at FCT-NOVA since 2002 in Materials Engineering, speciality Materials for Energy, Microelectronics and Nanotechnologies.

Thomas J. Webster’s (H index: 133) degrees are in chemical engineering from the University of Pittsburgh (B.S., 1995; USA) and in biomedical engineering from RPI (Ph.D., 2000; USA). He has formed over a dozen companies who have numerous FDA approved medical products currently improving human health in over 30,000 patients. His technology is also being used in commercial products to improve sustainability and renewable energy. He is currently helping those companies and serves as a professor at Brown University, Saveetha University, Hebei University of Technology, UFPI, and others. Dr. Webster has numerous awards including: 2020, World Top 2% Scientist by Citations (PLOS); 2020, SCOPUS Highly Cited Research (Top 1% Materials Science and Mixed Fields); 2021, Clarivate Top 0.1% Most Influential Researchers (Pharmacology and Toxicology); 2022, Best Materials Science Scientist by Citations (Research.com); and is a fellow of over 8 societies. Prof. Webster is a former President of the U.S. Society for Biomaterials and has over 1,350 publications to his credit with over 55,000 citations. He was recently nominated for the Nobel Prize in Chemistry. Prof. Webster also recently formed a fund to support Nigerian student research opportunities in the U.S.

Brahim Dkhil is the head of the Smart and Functional Materials group at CentraleSupélec and works since a long time on ferroelectrics and related materials, such as relaxors, antiferroelectrics, multiferroics, etc… His research activity aims at better understanding the physical mechanisms at play in these materials through their structures-properties relationships and better exploit their functionalities.

Chen Guanying is a professor and doctoral supervisor at the School of Chemical Engineering of Harbin Institute of Technology, the director of the Department of New Energy Materials and Devices, and a national high-level talent and national young talent and he is a Professor and Ph.D. supervisor at the School of Chemical Engineering, Harbin Institute of Technology, and serves as the Head of the Department of New Energy Materials and Devices. He has been recognized as both a National Distinguished Talent and a National Young Talent by the Ministry of Education and his research interest in Rare-earth luminescent materials, biophotonics, solar cells.

Paulo C. DE MORAIS (H-60), PhD, was full Professor of Physics at the University of Brasilia (UnB) – Brazil up to 2013, Appointed as UnB’s Emeritus Professor (2014), Appointed as Guest Professor of Huazhong University of Science and Technology– China (2011), Visiting Professor at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) – China (2012-2015), Appointed as Distinguished Professor at Anhui University (AHU) – China (2016-2019), Appointed as Full Professor at Catholic University of Brasília (UCB) – Brazil (2018), Appointed as CNPq-1A Research Fellowship since 2010. 2007 Master Research Prize from UnB, 2008-member of the European ERA NET Nanoscience Committee, Member of the IEEE-Magnetic Society Technical Committee, Senior Member of the IEEE Society, 2012 China’s 1000 Foreign Expert Recipient, and 2012 Academic Excellence Award from Brazilian Professor’s Union. He held two-years (1987-1988) post-doc position with Bell Communications Research – New Jersey, USA and received his Doctoral degree in Solid State Physics (1986) from the Federal University of Minas Gerais – Brazil. He graduated in both Chemistry (1976) and Physics (1977) at UnB.ProfessorMorais is member of the Brazilian Physical Society and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers – IEEE. He has served as referee for more than 50 technical journals, takes part of the Editorial Board of more than 15 technical journals and has conducted research on nanomaterials for over 40 years.He is known for his research in preparation, characterization and applications of nanosized materials (magnetic fluid, magnetoliposome, magnetic nanoemulsion, magnetic nanocapsule, magnetic nanofilm, magnetic nanocomposite, nanosized semiconductors, polymeric dots, carbon dots, and graphene quantum dots). With more than500 published papers in peer reviewed journals, more than13,500 citations, more than 250 international invited talks (35 countries), and 16 filed patents. He has appeared in recent World ranking of top scientists, such as 2020-Stanford, 2022-Research.com, 2023-AD Scientific Index, 2023-Research.com, 2024-Elsevier, 2025-AD Scientific Index, 2025-Research.com, and ONE Research Community.