Keynote Speakers
Prof. Merouane Debbah（Online Speech）
Khalifa University, Abu Dhabi
Mérouane Debbah is a researcher, educator and technology entrepreneur. Over his career, he has founded several public and industrial research centers, start-ups and is now Professor at Khalifa University of Science and Technology in Abu Dhabi and founding Senior Director of the Digital Future Institute. He is a frequent keynote speaker at international events in the field of telecommunication and AI. His research has been lying at the interface of fundamental mathematics, algorithms, statistics, information and communication sciences with a special focus on random matrix theory and learning algorithms. In the Communication field, he has been at the heart of the development of small cells (4G), Massive MIMO (5G) and Large Intelligent Surfaces (6G) technologies. In the AI field, he is known for his work on Large Language Models, distributed AI systems for networks and semantic communications. He received multiple prestigious distinctions, prizes and best paper awards (more than 50 IEEE best paper awards) for his contributions to both fields and according to research.com is ranked as the best scientist in France in the field of Electronics and Electrical Engineering. He is an IEEE Fellow, a WWRF Fellow, a Eurasip Fellow, an AAIA Fellow, an Institut Louis Bachelier Fellow, an AIIA Fellow and a Membre émérite SEE. He was named in 2025 as one of the "50 Leaders at the Forefront of an AI-Driven Future in the Middle East" and "Arab's Most Influential Leaders in Tech".
Title: The Network That Thinks: From Infrastructure to Intelligence
Prof. Stefano Secci
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers (Cnam), France
Professor and researcher specializing in communication networks, with expertise spanning routing, switching, virtualization, cloud networking, and advanced network protocols. He is currently leading and participating in multiple European and national research projects on 5G/6G, AI, edge computing, and network resilience, and has held roles as principal investigator, coordinator, and committee member on numerous initiatives. Prof. Secci teaches advanced courses at Cnam Paris and has served as the director of its Computer Science Department, contributing to several graduate programmes on computer networks and IoT systems.
Title: The Life of a Token: from Words to Bits on the Wire
Prof. Giuseppe Ritella
University of Campania "Luigi Vanvitelli", Italy
Giuseppe Ritella is an Associate Professor of Developmental and Educational Psychology at the University of Campania “Luigi Vanvitelli”. His research, grounded in dialogic and socio-cultural theories, investigates collaborative processes within technology-mediated learning. He focuses on the socio-material, emotional, and cultural dimensions of innovative educational practices and hybrid learning environments.
Title: Learning at the Boundary: Digital Tools as Enablers of Boundary Crossing in Education
Prof. Samir Ouchani
CESI LINEACT, France
Samir Ouchani is Research Director at CESI LINEACT (Aix-en-Provence, France), expert in cybersecurity, and federated/collaborative AI. He holds a PhD from Concordia University (Canada, 2013), an HDR from CNAM Paris (2022), and has been nationally qualified as Professor of Universities (CNU Section 27) since 2023. His research record is both prolific and impactful: more than 100 peer-reviewed publications in premier venues; contributions that have directly shaped the field—resilient FL architectures, robust aggregation and client-selection mechanisms, runtime supervision for distributed AI, and AI-assisted engineering for autonomous system remediation. He has directed seven PhD theses, coordinated more than fifteen research and industrial projects, and serves recurrently as Program or Track Chair at international conferences and as an expert evaluator for major funding agencies. These roles reflect sustained, internationally recognised scientific leadership—not merely participation, but the active structuring of a research community. His work does not describe trustworthy AI: it builds the methods, architectures, and standards that make it real.
Title: Towards Trustworthy and Resilient Federated Learning Systems
Prof. Vania Conan
Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France
Vania Conan is professor at CNAM (Conservatoire National des Arts et Métiers, Paris, France) chair ‘sovereign digital infrastructures’. He graduated from Ecole des Mines de Paris (Engineer 1990, PhD in computer science, 1996) and is HDR in networking (Sorbonne Université, 2012). At Thales until 2024, he develops a research activity on wireless communications (ad-hoc networks, 6G), software networks and secure infrastructures.
Title: Future Digital Infrastructures: What Place for Sovereignty
Invited Speakers
Dr. Mahdi Madani
Université Bourgogne Europe, France
Mahdi Madani is actually an Associate Professor at the department of Computer Science, Electronics and Mechanics, Université Bourgogne Europe. He received his Ph.D. in Electronics Systems from the University of Lorraine on July 2018. He was a temporary research and teaching associate at IUT Auxerre, University of Burgundy, from September 2018 to August 2020, and he was also a temporary researcher at IETR laboratory and teaching associate at IUT Nantes from September 2020 to August 2022. In September 2022, he joined the CORES team in the IMVA UR 7535, laboratory for the Associate Professor and Researcher position. His research interest is information security in new digital networks, algorithm-architecture suitability, FPGA, and SoC implementation of complex algorithms, applying security techniques (confidentiality, integrity, encryption, chaotic systems, etc.) to image, signal, and vision applications, and exploring artificial intelligence packages for data and privacy preserving in embedded applications.
Title: Enhancing Data Security through AI and Chaos Theory
Prof. Amirouche. Farid
University of Illinois Chicago, USA
Dr. Amirouche is currently a Professor and Director of Orthopaedic research at the University of Illinois at Chicago. He is the Director of Biomechanics at the Northshore University Systems, Orthopaedic Research Institute affiliate of the University of Chicago. He is also a senior research scientist at Jesse Brown Veterans Hospital, Chicago, IL. A graduate of University of Cincinnati where he received his BS, MS, and Doctorate degree in Engineering Science Aerospace, and mechanical engineering with focus on Biomechanics.
He served as a professor of Mechanical ad Bioengineering at UIC. He worked closely Dr. Gunnar Anderson in the department of Orthopaedics at Rush Presbyterian Hospital; Dr. Amirouche joined the Department of Orthopedics at UIC in 1998. He received the prestigious award of Scholar Professor at University of Illinois in December 2005 and served as the Director of Orthopaedics Research since 2006 where he served as full professor of Orthopaedics and Director of orthopaedic research.
Dr. Amirouche has developed a broad experience in orthopaedic biomechanics and related areas where he works on innovative new solutions and their realization, from concept phase to market readiness. His particular research interests are in the areas of knees/hips, spine biomechanics, biological tissues, the bone/implant interface, kinematics/kinetics of human joints, experimental and finite element analysis used to characterize the mechanical behavior of biological tissues and reconstructive devices for orthopedics.
Title: Understanding Orthopaedic Biomechanics: How Science Helps Us Improve Surgery
Assoc. Prof. Yuya Ieiri
Waseda University, Japan
Yuya Ieiri is an Associate Professor at the Graduate School of Information, Production, and Systems, Waseda University, Japan, and a researcher in the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) PRESTO program. He received his Doctor of Engineering degree from Waseda University in 2021. Before his current appointment, he was a Research Fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) and a Visiting Research Fellow at the School of Hospitality & Tourism Management, University of Surrey, United Kingdom. His research interests include artificial intelligence, human-computer interaction, social system engineering, augmented reality, tourism informatics, social informatics, and information design. He actively conducts field-based studies focusing on shopping streets and tourist destinations. He is a member of the Information Processing Society of Japan (IPSJ), the Institute of Electronics, Information and Communication Engineers (IEICE), the Society of Instrument and Control Engineers (SICE), and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE).
Title: Community Computing: Understanding, Modeling, and Designing Human-Centered Societies
Dr. Paulo Batista
University of Évora, Portugal
Current director of the Arquivo Nacional Torre do Tombo, he was senior technician positions at the Instituto de Arquivos Nacionais/Torre do Tombo, Instituto Português do Património Cultural and the Instituto Português do Património Arquitetónico. He has also worked as researcher at the Instituto de Investigação Científica Tropical – Centro de Estudos de História e Cartografia Antiga, and as professor at the MS program in Information Science and Documentation at Universidade NOVA de Lisboa (UNL).
Paulo Batista is PhD Researcher at CIDEHUS.UÉ-Interdisciplinary Center for History, Cultures and Societies of the University of Évora, Portugal, where is the coordinator of the research group 2: Heritage and Literacies, and professor at the Autonomous University of Lisbon, where is coordinator and professor of the Postgraduate in Promotion and Cultural and Educational Dynamization of Archives and Libraries, and the Postgraduate in Architectural Archives.
Paulo Batista holds a Ph.D. in Documentation (University of Alcalá, Madrid-UAH), an MS in Information Science and Documentation - Archival Studies (UNL), and an MA in Documentation (UAH). As part of his doctorate, he also received a Diploma of Advanced Studies in Bibliography and Documentation Retrospective in Humanities (UAH), and he also holds a postgraduate degree in Information Society Law (University of Lisbon) and Information and Documentation Science - Librarianship and Archival Studies (UNL), and a specialization in Good Practices in Patrimonial Management (UNL) and Information Science and Documentation - Archival Studies (UNL). He holds an undergraduate degree in History (University of Lisbon).
Paulo Batista is the author of several books and about 90 papers published in international journals and conference proceedings. He was also keynote speaker and invited speaker at various international conferences (Portugal, Argentina, Belgium, Brazil, China, Ecuador, Egypt, England, Fiji, France, India, South Africa, Thailand, Türkiye and South Korea).
Title: Responsible Research in and for an Information Science Revolution
Prof. Nianyin Zeng
Xiamen University, China
Nianyin Zeng was born in Fujian Province, China, in 1986. He received the B.Eng. degree in electrical engineering and automation in 2008 and the Ph. D. degree in electrical engineering in 2013, both from Fuzhou University. From October 2012 to March 2013, he was a RA in the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, the University of Hong Kong. From September 2017 to August 2018, he as an ISEF Fellow founded by the Korea Foundation for Advance Studies and also a Visiting Professor at the Korea Advance Institute of Science and Technology.
Currently, he is a Professor with the Department of Instrumental & Electrical Engineering of Xiamen University. His current research interests include intelligent data analysis, artificial intelligence and applications. He has authored or co-authored more than 100 publications with total citations >14,000 according to Google Scholar. His work has been recognized through the reception of numerous awards, including the Highly Cited Researcher in the field of Cross-Field in 2023. Prof. Zeng is currently serving as Subject EiC or AEs for Neurocomputing, Expert Systems with Applicaitons, IET Electronics Letters, and Evolutionary Intelligence.