Keynote Speakers (in alphabetical order, updated on May 16, 2024)

Paulo Santos Assis, UFOP: Federal University of Ouro Preto, Brazil

Presentation title: to be determined

Presentation title: Current status and prospects of Baowu coking technology

China Baowu, Chief Researcher of New Ironmaking Technologies at the Academia Sinica. As the head of the laboratory research phase, responsible for completing the development work of the laboratory phase of "coking coal drying technology"; The key technology for low-cost and high-quality coke manufacturing under complex coal source conditions, which is responsible for development, has been applied in the production of Baowu Group, resulting in a cost reduction of hundreds of millions of yuan for coking coal blending; Received 23 provincial, ministerial, municipal, and Baowu level scientific and technological achievement awards, and 37 invention patents ranked first in authorization.

Frank Barbaro, University of Wollongong, Australia

Presentation title: to be determined

Geoff Brooks, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia

Presentation title: to be determined

Moo-Eob Choi, POSCO, Korea

Presentation title: to be determined

Hao Chen, Tsinghua University, China

Presentation title: Flash annealing of advanced high strength steels

Dr. Hao Chen is tenured associate professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He received his PhD degree with “Cum laude” at Delft University of Technology in 2013. He also spent a year as postdoctoral fellow at University of British Columbia, Canada in 2014. Dr Chen’s research ranges from thermodynamics and kinetics of phase transformations in steels, to the application of emerging technologies such as additive manufacturing, flash heating and advanced modeling techniques (including physics-based modeling and artificial intelligence) in steel research. He has published over 100 refereed papers in the well known journals. He also delivered ~30 invited talks in the area of phase transformations and advanced high strength steels.

Mansheng Chu, Northeastern University, China

Presentation title: Research progress of hydrogen-based shaft furnace technology

Professor Mansheng Chu, doctoral supervisor, is the dean of Institute for frontier technologies of low-carbon steelmaking of Northeastern University of China. He is serving as deputy secretary general of the Metallurgical Reaction Engineering Branch and member of the Metallurgical Solid Waste Resource Utilization Branch of the Chinese Society of Metals.

Professor Chu is specialized in hydrogen metallurgy, low carbon and intelligent blast furnace ironmaking, and efficient utilization of metallurgical solid waste. He has published over 180 papers, authorized more than 60 invention patents, and undertaken several relevant government foundation, international and enterprise cooperation projects. A number of academic achievements and awards have been obtained in recent years.

Presentation title: Hydrogen reduction of low grade iron ores

Prof. Nikhil Dhawan is working as Associate Professor at the Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Institute of Technology, IIT-Roorkee, INDIA. His Ph.D. in the field of Metallurgical Engineering (Modelling of crushed ore agglomeration for heap leach operations, AMIRA P-986 project) was conferred by the University of Utah, Salt Lake City, USA in 2013. He is the recipient of IIM-ASM Lectureship 2023 award given jointly by IIM and ASM International (USA). He was awarded the Mineral Engineering International (MEI) global Young Person award for his work on mineral processing and extractive metallurgy activities to recover metals. He has also received the Outstanding Young Faculty Award from the Indian Institute of Technology, Roorkee. He has authored 103 referred international journal articles, 3 patents and 3 book chapters with an h-index of 23. His research work is focused on the iron recovery from lean grade iron ores for steel vision 2030, extraction and metal recovery (rare earth elements) from red mud, fly ash, electronic waste (discarded CFLs, hard discs), lithium and cobalt from lithium-ion batteries, copper and gold values from printed circuit boards, potassium values from silicate rocks. Received the IOM3 Billiton Gold Medal for the best paper published in Transactions C: Mineral Processing & Extractive Metallurgy. He is a member of the Technology Information, Forecasting, and Assessment Council study steering committee on “Technology solutions for maximum value recovery from Electronic Wastes”, Government of India; Bureau of Indian Standards for aluminum and other nonferrous metal division.

Hongbiao Dong, University of Leicester, UK

Presentation title: Data-Analytic Framework for Implementing Industry 4.0 in Steelmaking

Kip Findley, Colorado School of Mines, USA

Presentation title: The Influence of Vanadium on Acicular Ferrite and Bainite Microstructures in Microalloyed High Strength Low Alloy Steels

Kip Findley is the John Henry Moore Professor at the Colorado School of Mines in the G.S. Ansell Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, where he has worked since 2008.  Before joining Mines, he served as an Undergraduate Research Professor at Washington State University in the School of Mechanical and Materials Engineering. At Mines, he teaches undergraduate and graduate level courses in mechanical behavior of materials and is the Associate Director of the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center (ASPPRC). The ASPPRC is an industry-university collaborative research center with industrial and national laboratory partners who are users and producers of steel products. Kip Findley’s research interests involve linking mechanical behavior of metals, primarily steel, to microstructural features at a variety of length scales. During his time at Mines, he has received the Mines Faculty Excellence Award and was named a Fellow of ASM International. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Association of Iron and Steel Technology. Kip Findley has a B.S. in Metallurgical and Materials Engineering from the Colorado School of Mines and a Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering with a minor in Mechanics of Materials from the Georgia Institute of Technology.

Tadashi Furuhara, Tohoku University, Japan

Presentation title: Fundamental principles for alloy design of surface hardened steels by nitriding

His research activity covers a broad area in physical metallurgy of steels and non-ferrous alloys, such as phase transformations and precipitation, deformation and recrystallization, microstructure control by thermo-mechanical and thermo-chemical processing.  

He also actively contributes to various academic societies in metallurgy field, Japan Institute of Metals and Materials (JIMM), Iron and Steel Institute of Japan (ISIJ), Japan Society for Heat Treatment (JSHT) and the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS). He was a past Vice President of JIMM and currently the President of ISIJ (until April, 2024) . He has been an active member in the Phase Transformation Committee and the Steel Committee of TMS, and currently an editor of Acta and Scripta Materialia.

Si Gao, Kyoto University, Japan

Presentation title: Strain localization behavior in a 304 type stainless steel having fine microstructures

Si Gao is currently an associate professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at the graduate school of engineering of Kyoto University, Japan. He earned the Bachelor's degree in Materials Physics from Lanzhou University, China, in 2009, followed by a Master's and PhD in Materials Science and Engineering from Kyoto University in 2013 and 2016, respectively. From 2016 to 2019, he had been engaged as a postdoctoral researcher within the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Kyoto University. His research interest is on exploring the relationship between the microstructures and mechanical properties of structural metallic materials, particularly the strain localization behavior of metals having ultrafine microstructures. He has published over 40 papers in academic journals and serves as a reviewer of academic journals such as Acta Materialia, Scripta Materialia, Materials Science and Engineering A, Journal of Materials Science and Technologies. 

B.   P. Gautham, TCS Research, Tata Consultancy Services, India

Presentation title: to be determined

Hiroto Goto, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan

Presentation title: Influence of thickness profile after sizing press on width profile at head and tail portions of slab

Mr. Hiroto Goto is a senior researcher of Rolling & Processing Research Department, Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation. He joined JFE Steel in 2011 after he acquired master’s degree of engineering in Waseda University in the same year. Since then, he have studied improvement of efficiency for hot strip mill and shaped rolling mill. He have developed the equipment for new steel products in those factories. Mr. Hiroto Goto have made many presentations or papers at Japan and international conferences, and got best presentation and paper award, Tawara Award, etc..

Peimin Guo, Central Iron & Steel Research Institute, China

Presentation title: Difficulties and Countermeasures of Pure Hydrogen Reduction Technology

Professor Peimin Guo, metallurgical discipline leader of China Central Iron and Steel Research Group, doctoral supervisor, and chief expert of hydrogen metallurgy (green metallurgy) center. Member of Metallurgical Process Physical Chemistry Branch of China Metallurgical Society, member of Metallurgical Solid Waste Recycling Branch, expert member of Low Carbon Work Promotion Committee of China Iron and Steel Industry, member of International Conference Committee on Functional Materials and Metallurgy.

Professor Guo's main research directions involve the theory and technology of low-temperature metallurgy, hydrogen metallurgy, microwave metallurgy, vacuum metallurgy, and efficient utilization of solid waste.

Professor Guo has published four academic monographs, authorized 40 invention patents, published over 190 papers, and drawn up 10 sets of international standard diffraction cards.

Lei Guo, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Muxing Guo, Katholieke Universiteit Leuven, Belgium

Presentation title: Interactions Between Alumina Inclusions at the Liquid Iron/Argon Gas Interface: Role of Contact Line Undulation

Muxing Guo is currently a senior research expert and a leader of high temperature metallurgy at KU Leuven. For around 40 years, Muxing Guo has devoted himself to scientific research, teaching, and industrial applications in the field of process metallurgy. His work covers both fundamental and application research of process metallurgy on ferrous and non-ferrous, primary and secondary raw materials processing. He has coordinated and been involved in multiple national and international projects in the areas of : (1) thermodynamics of metallurgical melts and slag-metal-gas equilibrium; (2) clean metal production; (3) In-situ observation of high temperature metallurgical phenomena; (4) metal/slag/refractory interactions; (5) ferrous and non-ferrous metallurgical process optimization; (6) development of sustainable processes: recycling, metal extraction from the secondary resources, and valorization of metallurgical residues. He has published approximately 340 papers with H-index of 37.

Defu Guo,Hunan LY Steel,China

Presentation title: Research and practice on high efficiency production technology of wide strip hot rolling for many varieties quality steel in Hunan LY Steel

Govind S. Gupta, Indian Institute of Science, India

Presentation title: Modelling of hydrogen reduction of iron oxides in a shaft furnace

Professor Govind S. Gupta received his PhD in Materials Engineering from the University of Wollongong, Australia in 1991. From 1990 to 1997 he was with The University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia as a Postdoctoral fellow, Research Associate and Associate Lecturer before joining to Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. His research interests are in the broad area of modelling of chemical/metallurgical processes and fundamental study of solid, liquid, gas and powder interactions. He has published about 90 and 80 international journal and conference papers respectively. He has 5 international and 1national patents as well as authoured 8 books/book chapters. His SiC production technology and gas carburising software for heat treatment have been commercialised. He was a visiting professor at The University of Queensland, Tohoku University, AGH University of Science and Technology, and State Univ. of Campinas. He is a Member of Editorial board of International Journal of Engineering Systems Modelling and Simulation (IJESMS), UK. He has also received Metallurgist of the Year Award from Government of India in 2005. He is a Fellow of Indian Institute of Metals (FIIM). He is also a Director of Rescons Solutions Pvt. Ltd., Bangalore.

Danilo Guzela, USIMINAS, Brazil

Presentation title: Best Practices to Minimize Center Line Segregation of Sour Service Steel Plates

Graduated in Metallurgical Engineering from Mauá Engineering School (São Paulo) in 1980.

Graduated Diploma in Project Management from PROTAP-FEA/USP in 1996.

Executive MBA in Competitive Management from FIA / USP in 2005.

43 years of experience in LD Steelmaking and Continuous Casting.

31 years working as a Production Manager and Technical Manager of Cubatão Steel Making Plant USIMINAS, Brazil (LD Steelmaking, Continuous and Ingot Casting).

From 2014 working as Steelmaking Consultant to CBMM - Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração: Consultancy in Steelmaking and Continuous Casting (Slabs, Thin Slabs, Billets and H Beam Blanks). Technical assistance related to Steelmaking and Continuous Casting Plants in Canada, USA, Mexico, Spain, France, England, Germany, Sweden, Finland, Netherlands, Austria, Slovakia, Philippines, South Korea, China, Japan, India, Slovenia, Morocco, Turkey, Egypt, Vietnam.

Trained in the processes concerning Steelmaking and Continuous Casting in several NSC Plants (Yawata, Kimitsu, Nagoya).

Several works implemented to improve the surface and inner quality of the slabs and rolled with recognition of Nippon Steel Corporation.

Experience in BOF (LD) and Continuous Casting machines: CONCAST, PRIMETALS, DEMAG, SMS, DANIELI.

Experience in secondary refining processes: Ladle furnace, RH, CAS-OB, AHF.

Experience in continuous casting machine projects and revamps.

Miyuki Hayashi, Tokyo Institute of Technology, Japan

Presentation title: Relationship between structures and thermophysical and thermochemical properties on silicate melts containing fluoride

Prof. Miyuki Hayashi is a full professor of the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Tokyo Institute of Technology. She graduated from Dept. Metall. Eng. Tokyo Inst. Tech. in 1992 and obtained her PhD at the same department in 1997. Her PhD thesis title is “Magnetic and optical properties of steelmaking slags from the perspective of coordination structures of iron ions”. She worked as a post-doctoral researcher at Dept. Physics, Trinity College, Dublin for one year, and then as an assistant professor at Tokyo Tech for four years. To expand her academic field, she moved to Royal Institute of Technology, Sweden and worked with Prof. Seetharaman for eighteen months, where she worked on thermophysical properties of mold flux, coke and Fe, Ti and Ni-based super alloys. She became an associate professor at Tokyo Tech in 2004 and a professor at the same in 2021. She is the first (and only at the moment) female professor in the field of iron and steelmaking process in Japan although Japan has over 120-year history in modern steelmaking.

Yoonuk Heo, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea

Presentation title: Grain boundary precipitation and brittle fracture behaviors in austenitic Fe-Mn-Al-C lightweight steels

Research Field

Microstructure characterization using transmission electron microscopy (TEM)

Mechanical properties of steels at high temperature

Yielding behavior in polycrystalline metals

Brittle fracture in steel

Phase transformation of a metastable phase to the stable phase in ferrous alloys during aging treatment.

Alloy design of ferrous alloy including TRIP/TWIP, lightweight, and maraging steels

Heung Nam Han, Seoul National University, Korea

Presentation title: Hole Expansion Failure of Steel Sheets

Heung Nam Han earned his Ph.D. in Department of Metallurgical Engineering at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea in 1995. In 1996, he joined Department of Materials, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK, as a postdoctoral researcher. From 1997 to 2002, he has made many contributions on modelling of microstructure prediction during steel processes in POSCO Research Laboratory. From 2003 to 2004, he joined a research group for the development of TRIP-aided multiphase steels in Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS). Since 2004, he has been a professor in Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University, Republic of Korea. Now, he is in charge of head of Department and Steel Research Center of Research Institute of Advanced Materials (RIAM). He received Young Scientist Award, Yoon Dong Suk Award and Suk Cheon Academic Award from The Korean Institute of Metals and Materials in 2000, 2014 and 2017, respectively. He also received Henry Marion Howe Medal from ASM international in 2016. His research interests have been concentrated on Transformation-Induced Plasticity, Microstructure-based Finite Element Model including Crystal Plasticity, Mechanical Behavior for High Stength Steel, Texture Development of Metals during Recrystallization, Nano-indentation of Materials, Electroplasticity and Electric Current Induced Phenomena in Materials.

Chang-Ching Ho, KATEC R &D COPORATION, Taiwan, China

Presentation title: The net-zero carbon emissions approach and practice of steel industry 

Chairman Chang-Ching Ho graduated from Department of Materials Science and Engineering at National Cheng Kung University. He is the Chairman of KATEC R&D COPORATION. He was the Deputy Factory Manager / Director / Chairman Special Assistant of Tung Ho Steel Enterprise Corp. He was the Honorary Chairman / Chairman of Taiwan Concrete Institute, National Standards and Technical Committee (Iron metal smelting/ Material / Civil Engineering and Construction) of Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection, M.O.E.A., and Safety & Environment Protection Committee, Deputy Director of Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association. His experiences also include Working Group on Slag Treatment & Recycling, Coordinator of Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association, Working Committee on Standards, Deputy Coordinator of Taiwan Steel & Iron Industries Association, Managing Supervisor of Taiwan Accreditation Foundation, and Secretary General of Taiwan Institute of Steel Construction.

Tom Honeyands, Newcastle University, Australia

Presentation title: Laboratory Electric Smelting of Australian Hematite Goethite Hydrogen DRI

Associate Professor Honeyands is Director of the Centre for Ironmaking Materials Research (CIMR) at the University of Newcastle. He is a metallurgical specialist with more than 30 years’ experience in research, consulting and process engineering.

Prior to joining the University of Newcastle in 2015, Associate Professor Honeyands spent 20 years working in an industrial R&D environment and 6 years as a metallurgical consultant. While working for BHP he was involved in research into both conventional blast furnace ironmaking and alternate ironmaking technologies. He was a member of the core team responsible for the R&D to mitigate technical risks with the development and commissioning of a new hydrogen based direct reduction technology; FINMET. While working for Creative Process Innovation, he led the AMIRA P1097 project on transportable moisture limit (TML) of iron ore fines to address a global safety issue in the iron ore industry.

In his current role as director of CIMR he is responsible for leading research in the use of iron ores in both conventional and low carbon iron and steelmaking as part of a $10 Million dollar partnership with BHP. He is also engaged in leading projects in the Australian Research Council Steel Research Hub and in the Heavy Industry Low Carbon Transition (HILT) Cooperative Research Centre.

Jun Hong, Nanjing Iron and Steel, China

Presentation title:  Research progress in the production of large thickness steel by continuous casting slab

Jun Hong, Senior engineer, graduated from Liaoning University of Science and Technology, majoring in Metallurgical engineering, postgraduate degree. Currently, Nanjing Iron and Steel Co., LTD. Sheet metal Division Technology research and development division director. Mainly engaged in the field of medium and thick plate product development and process research.

Byungchul Hwang, Seoul National University of Science &Technology, Korea

Presentation title: to be determined

Byoungchul Hwang is a professor of Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology (SEOULTECH), Seoul, Korea. He received a B.S. degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Yonsei University, Seoul, Korea, and M.S., and Ph.D. degree in materials science and engineering from POSTECH, Pohang, Korea. Prof. Hwang joined SEOULTECH in 2013 as an assistant professor and was promoted to full Professor in 2021. Prior to joining SEOULTECH, Prof. Hwang was a senior researcher at Korea Institute of Materials Science (KIMS), a research scholar at the University of California, Irvine, USA, and a postdoctoral research associate at Brown University, USA. He is a general secretary of steel committee and a director of external cooperation at Korea Institute of Metals and Materials (KIMM). He has been studying on the mechanical behavior of various steels and alloys and published about 140 papers as the first or corresponding author in SCI journals. His research interests include the microstructure and mechanical properties of advanced steels with particular emphasis on the fundamentals of deformation and fracture behaviors. 

Kazuhira Ichikawa, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan

Presentation title: CO2 Reduction Technology in the Blast Furnace Process for Achieving Carbon Neutrality

Mr. Kazuhira Ichikawa is a senior researcher of Ironmaking Research Dept., Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation. He joined JFE Steel in 2010, after he acquired master’s degree of engineering in Osaka University in the same year. Since then, he has been conducting research related to the operation of blast furnace for 14 years.

Kazuhiko IWAI, Hokkaido University, Japan

Presentation title: Application of electromagnetic fields to high temperature process

Dr. IWAI Kazuhiko is a professor of Division of Materials Science and Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Hokkaido University, JAPAN. He obtained his PhD at Nagoya University and joined to EPM(Electromagnetic Processing of Material) research group in the same university as an assistant professor. Then he moved to Hokkaido University in 2012. His main research field is application of electromagnetic fields to materials processing such as refinement of solidified structure, separation of inclusions, enhancement of chemical reaction rate.

Jose Maria Ibabe, CEIT, Spain

Presentation title: Microalloying with Nb: metallurgical process for sustainable industrial solutions

Shuhei Irie, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan

Presentation title: Estimation of Changes in Content and Characteristics of Mold Flux during Continuous Casting

Mr. Shuhei Irie is a senior researcher of Steelmaking Research Dept., Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation. He joined JFE Steel in 2016 after he acquired master’s degree of energy science in Kyoto University in the same year. Since then, he had been conducting research related to the operation of continuous casting machine for 7 years.

Zhengyi Jiang,University of Wollongong,Australia

Presentation title: to be determined

Zhengyi Jiang ,Distinguished Professor, School of Machinery, Materials and Mechatronics, Biomedical Engineering, University of Wollongong, Australia, and director of Rolling Technology Center. From 2006 to 2015, he served as visiting professor in Northwestern University, University of Science and Technology Beijing, and Tokyo Metropolitan University, Japan. 2010 - Now working as Team Leader in Rolling Mechanics at UOW (University of Wollongong), Australia.

Xiaofang Jiang, China BaoWu Steel Group Corporation Limited, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Zengbao Jiao, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU), Hong Kong, China

Presentation title: Synergistic alloying effects and nanoscale co-precipitation in ultrahigh-strength maraging steels

Dr. Zengbao Jiao is an Associate Professor at Department of Mechanical Engineering, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University (PolyU). His research interest focuses on the development of advanced structural materials, including ultrahigh-strength steels, high-entropy alloys, high-temperature superalloys & intermetallics, and nanostructured alloys. He has published >100 journal papers, including 4 papers in Nature Communications, 1 in Materials Today, and 20 in Acta Materialia.

Dr. Jiao serves as an Associate Editor for Materialia (Acta Materialia Inc.) and Advisory Board Member of MetalMat (Wiley). He also serves as a reviewer for Nature Materials, Nature Communications, Acta Materialia, etc.

Dr. Jiao received numerous honors and awards, including the World’s Top 2% Most-cited Scientists by Stanford University (2021 & 2022), Acta Materialia & Scripta Materialia Outstanding Reviewer Award for three times (2021, 2022 & 2023), Faculty of Engineering Merit Award in Research and Scholarly Activities (2022), Faculty of Engineering Research Grant Achievement Award (2021 & 2022), etc.

Feng Jin, SINOSTEEL MECC, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Namhyun Kang, Pusan National University, Korea

Presentation title: Ti/N ratio and Nb in shipbuilding steels and their coarse-grained heat affected zone

Namhyun Kang is the Professor of Materials Science and Engineering at Pusan National University, and Director of the Eco-Metals Education Center. He received a B.S. degree from Pusan National University in Metallurgical Engineering, in 1995 and a D.Phil. in Physical Metallurgy from the Pennsylvania State University, USA in 2003. He served in Senior scientist at the Korea Institute of Industrial Technology from 2003-2006 and became a Professor in the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pusan National University in 2006. He also serves as Editor of Metals and Materials International and Keyreader of Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A. Namhyun’s activities are focussed on development of steels and application of welding. His research interests have been concentrated on hydrogen embrittlement of steels, cold cracking in high strength steel welds, Nb alloying in shipbuilding steels, high-entropy alloys for joining, and electromigration in Pb-free solders. His work with students and colleagues has been recognized with a number of awards.

Youn-Bae Kang, Pohang University of Science and Technology, Korea

Presentation title: Evolution of Oxide Inclusions in Ti-added Al-killed Ultra-Low C Steel

Professor Youn-Bae Kang is currently a professor at the Graduate Institute of Ferrous and Eco Materials Technology and the Department of Materials Science and Engineering at Pohang University of Science and Technology. He brings a wealth of experience, having previously worked at Polytechnique Montreal in Canada, where he focused on the development of thermodynamic databases for oxides and alloys, as well as sophisticated solution models used in FactSage software. Furthermore, he was a visiting researcher at the Technical Research Laboratories of POSCO, Korea, an advisory professor at Samsung Electronics, and an invited professor at Polytechnique Montreal, Canada. His expertise lies in high-temperature experiments for the chemical reactions of metals and non-metals, computational and solution thermodynamics (CALPHAD), reaction kinetics, and mechanism analysis. His research interests encompass various important areas, including clean steel production, recycling of industrial waste (including ferrous scrap), low-C emission hydrogen production, and theoretical solution thermodynamics.  In addition to his academic roles, he serves as an associate editor of ISIJ Int., a Key Reader of Metall. Mater. Trans. B, a member of the international advisory board of steel research international, and a member of the editorial board of Int. J. Minerals, Metallurgy, and Materials. His research outcomes have garnered recognition from prestigious societies such as TMS, ISIJ, ASM International, KIMM, CALPHAD, and NAEK. Furthermore, he served as the secretary general for the AsiaSteel 2021 conference.

Yonghee Kim, Hyundai Steel, Korea

Presentation title: Decarbonizing ironmaking process and technologies at Hyundai Steel

Yong-hee Kim obtained Ph.D in Department of Metallurgical Engineering at Seoul National University in 2000, and has been working at Hyundai Steel Co. and conducting research in various fields.

Research has been conducted on various metallurgical phenomena in the iron and steelmaking process, such as a study on the dross behavior in a molten zinc pot and solidification in a continuous casting mold based on numerical analysis, a study on the metallurgical behavior and inclusions effect from steelmaking to continuous casting molds, and a study on the effect of iron ore in the ironmaking process and the operation of high-efficiency blast furnaces.

As the demand for the decarbonized steel process grows, research is continuing to produce high-quality automobile steel sheet while reducing carbon emissions in the iron and steelmaking process.

Dohun Kim, POSCO, Korea

Presentation Title: Driving Efficiency and Innovation in the Steel-making Industry: Digital Transformation for Smart Manufacturing

Dr. Dohun Kim is currently working as a Senior Researcher at POSCO. He obtained his Ph.D. in Computer Science and Engineering from Pohang University of Science and Technology in 2008 and has worked as a researcher at POSCO Technical Research Laboratories for 15 years. His research has focused on developing standard middleware and software platforms for steelmaking processes. Currently, he is actively involved in the Control and Instrumentation Research Group at POSCO, dedicated to the development of smart factory technologies, including big data, AI, and other Industry 4.0 smart technologies.

Peter Langenberg, IWT-Solutions AG, Germany

Presentation title: Opportunities provided by application of modern fine grain steel for steel structure in offshore wind facing the >15MW class of turbines

Today Prof. Dr.-Ing. Peter Langenberg works as funder, owner and CEO of IWT-Solutions AG in Aachen Germany. The company is specialized on consulting in structural integrity in industry and infrastructure application, damage case analysis and expertise for arbitration.

On the academic level he teaches as Honorary Professor at University Duisburg-Essen, Germany, Faculty of Civil Engineering and also as Lecturer at RWTH University Aachen, University Dortmund.

He studied Materials Science at RWTH Aachen University (Dipl.-Ing.) followed by a PHD at RWTH Aachen University (Instute of Ferrous Metallurgy) on The application of fracture mechanics for welded structures.

He is also educated as International Welding Engineer (IWE) and specialised in in fracture mechanics and fatigue for welded steel constructions, steel casting and cast iron in all areas of application. (> 30 years experience)

He is member of several European Standardisation groups for materials (EN 10025 (Convener), EN 10028, EN 10225, EN 10216, EN 1563 and pressure vessels as convener of EN 13445-2 and piping EN 13480-2

Joonho Lee, Korea University, Korea

Presentation title: Inclusion Control in front of Solid-Liquid Interface

Guangqiang Li, Wuhan University of Science and Technology, China

Presentation title: Hydrogen reduction of Oolitic high-phosphorus iron ore and phosphorus removal by melting separation

Professor and doctoral supervisor of Materials Department, Wuhan University of Science and Technology. He is the first distinguished professor of "Chutian Scholar" in Hubei Province, a national candidate of new Century Talents Project, a young and middle-aged expert with outstanding contributions in Hubei Province, and an outstanding teacher in Hubei Province. He was a project Professor of the University of Tokyo from June to September 2014. He was deputy director of the State Key Laboratory of Refractories and Metallurgy and director of the Key Laboratory of Ferrous metallurgy and Resource Utilization of the Ministry of Education. Mainly research on steel refining and inclusions control, metallurgical slag recycling, etc. Presided over and completed 5 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China. Presided over the completion of more than 20 scientific research projects of Baosteel, Wisco and Lianyuan Steel. He has published 315 SCI journal papers with H factor 35. One invention patent is authorized in the United States, and more than 20 Chinese invention patents are issued. Won 5 provincial and ministerial science and technology awards.

Chengjun Liu, Northeastern University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Zhengjian Liu, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

Presentation title: Progress of blast furnace ironmaking technology in China

Zhengjian Liu, professor and doctoral supervisor of University of Science and Technology Beijing, is the secretary general of the Ironmaking Branch of the Chinese Society for Metals, member of the Foreign Exchange Working Committee of the 11th Council of the Chinese Society of Metals, was selected to the National Young Talent Program, and was granted the IJMMM’s “Dingxin Young Scientist Award”.

He presided 3 General Programs and 1 Young Scientist Fund of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, participated in 1 project National Key Research and Development Program of China as the person in charge of USTB, 2 projects of the National Science and Technology Support Program of the “11th Five-Year Plan”, 1 project of the National Science and Technology Support Program of the “12th Five-Year Plan” period, 6 international cooperation projects, and nearly 100 enterprise cooperation projects.

He published more than 80 SCI/EI papers as the first and corresponding authors, authorized 24 patents, was granted 5 first-class prizes, 3 second-class prizes and 1 third-class prize of Science & Technology Award at the provincial and ministerial levels, 1 second-class prize of Educational Ministry Technological Invention Award, 1 second-class prize and 1 third-class prize of Wu Wenjun AI Science & Technology Award, published 1 monograph, and participated in the formulation of 1 national standard.

He is serving as the editorial board member of journal Metals, and as young editorial board member of Chinese Journal of Engineering, Journal of Iron and Steel Research, and Iron and Steel, etc

Kejiang Li, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB), China

Presentation title: Thermodynamic Strategy for Hydrogen-Based Direct Reduction Shaft Furnace to Achieve a Higher Efficiency

Kejiang Li is a full professor at the School of Metallurgy and Ecological Engineering, University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB). He is also the deputy secretary-general of the Metallurgical Reaction Engineering Branch of the Chinese Society of Metals (CSM), a young editorial board member of IJMMM and China Metallurgy journals. He has been awarded the China Association of Science and Technology (CAST) Young Talent Support Project. Kejiang Li got his PhD from the USTB and the University of Toronto (for joint study) in 2017, then joined USTB as a specially-appointed associate professor in the same year, and was promoted to professor in 2021. Kejiang Li is dedicated to studying metallurgical reaction processes and improving metallurgical technology from the microscopic atomic scale to the macroscopic process scale. He has published more than 70 SCI papers as the first/corresponding author in recent years, with a citation rate of more than 1500 times and an H factor of 21. He has authorized more than 10 patents, published one Chinese monograph, and co-edited one English monograph. His research results promote the interdisciplinarity of metallurgical engineering, computational chemistry, high-performance computing and artificial intelligence, and at the same time provide the theoretical and technological basis for the realization of carbon neutrality in the iron and steel industry.  Kejiang Li has presided 2 projects of the National Natural Science Foundation of China, and participated in more than 10 low-carbon metallurgy projects of Baowu Group and other enterprises, 2 of which were recognized as international leading by the China Society for Metals' technical appraisal. He has won 3 provincial and ministerial awards, including the Metallurgical Science and Technology Award of China Society for Metals and the China Industry-University-Research Cooperation Innovation and Promotion Award, and has served as a reviewer for more than 10 international journals.

Liming Lu, CSIRO, Australia

Presentation title: to be determined

Dr Liming Lu is currently a Chief Scientist leading CSIRO R&D in iron ore agglomeration and high temperature behaviour of iron ore agglomerates in blast furnace and other alternative ironmaking processes. Liming was featured in the World’s Top 2% Scientists List published by Stanford University in 2020 and ranked at 43 in the field of mining and metallurgy. Liming is also the recipient of CSIRO Mineral Resources Life Achievement Award, ISIJ Sawamura Award and AIST Josef S Kapitan Award. Liming is the editor of the Elsevier book entitled “Iron ore – mineralogy, processing and environmental sustainability”. He has published in a broad area from material characterisation to mineral processing to pyrometallurgy including 19 book chapters and more than 160 papers. Liming is an international technical expert of ISO Technical Committee TC102/SC3, which is reviewing and developing international standards for the physical testing of iron ore. In addition, Liming has served as an Editorial Board member for I&SM and Processes, Advisory Board member for ISIJ International, and Review Board member for Metallurgical and Materials Transactions A and Minerals.

Xionggang Lu, Shanghai University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Haiwen LUO, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

Presentation title: Revisit of bake hardening mechanism: Influence of baking on tensile properties of press hardening steels

Prof. Haiwen LUO has been working in the ferrous metallurgy for more than 20 years with the emphasis on understanding the relation of chemistries, processing routes, microsructures and the properties/performance of advanced steels. His recent effort is to develop new types of ultrahigh strength steels with good ductility/tounghness, and also touched some spherical steels including bearing steels for longer fatigue life and electrical steels for improved maganetic properties and higher strength. He is among the earliest researhers studying medium Mn steels for automotive and has published dozens of papers in highly ranked scientific jounrals. He has been yearly awarded the most cited Chinese researcher by Elsevier and Shanghai Ranking for his exceptional research performance in the field of metallurgy engineering since 2020.

Jiayi Ma, Shougang Group, China

Presentation title:  New 6 Stands Tandem Mill for high Silicon Steel Rolling -- Idea and Practice

Jiayi Ma, professor-level senior engineer, graduated from Northeastern University in 1988 and entered Shougang. He has been engaged in steel rolling production technology and engineering design for more than 30 years. He has rich practical experience and profound attains in cold and hot rolling wide strip steel engineering construction.  

Hiroyuki Matsuura, Tokyo University, Japan

Presentation title: In-site observation of non-metallic inclusions during the solidification of molten steel

Awarded Ph.D. from the University of Tokyo in 2006.

Research Associate in the Center for Iron and Steelmaking Research, Carnegie Mellon University, USA, in 2006-2007.

Assistant Professor, Lecturer, and currently Associate Professor at the University of Tokyo since 2007.

Mainly working on pyrometallurgical processes, including ironmaking, steel refining, solidification, and thermomechanical treatment processes from thermochemical and kinetic viewpoints, such as equilibrium phase relationship, dephosphorization reaction, inclusion modification, solid steel heat treatment, and slag recycling. Also focusing on the development of a novel recycling process of zinc in EAF dust via selective chlorination, molten salt purification, and molten salt electrolysis.

Dipak Mazumdar, Indian Institute of Technology Kanpur, India

Presentation title: Process Modelling In Steelmaking: Past, Present And Future

Professor Dipak Mazumdar, a distinguished Alumnus of NIT Jamshedpur, has been teaching and conducting research at IIT Kanpur for over 35 years. He was a former chairperson of the Dept of Materials Science and Engineering, IIT Kanpur and held the distinguished INAE Chair and the Ministry of Steel Chair professorship successively during the period, 2009-2017. Professor Mazumdar has coauthored three books, written book chapters and over one hundred seventy-five scientific articles in peer reviewed journals and conference proceedings. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) as well as the Indian Institute of Metals (IIM), and recipient of fifteen national and international awards, including three distinguished educator/teacher awards from INAE, IIM and IIT Kanpur. Prof. Mazumdar has been working as a consultant for more than a dozen steel and refractory industries in the country for over two decades. He has superannuated in 2023 and is currently continuing at IIT Kanpur as an Emeritus Fellow.

Suvorov Mikhail, NLMK, Russia

Presentation title: Minimum possible coke rate for normal BF operation

In 1997 graduated from Magnitogorsk Mining and Metallurgical Academy, engineer of metallurgy, candidate of technical sciences (Ph.D. in technology).

Since 1997 MMK BF cast house worker, since 1998 MMK BF operator assistant, since 1999 MMK BF operator, since 2003 MMK Blast furnace shop technology specialist, since 2007 Paul Wurth technology specialist, since 2022 Head of BF expert direction in NLMK R&D department

Goro Miyamoto, Tohoku University, Japan

Presentation title: Quantitative characterization and prediction of solute segregation at α-Fe grain boundary

Dr. Goro Miyamoto is an associate professor at Institute for Materials Research (IMR), Tohoku University, Japan. His research interests include various aspects of fundamentals of microstructure evolution and its control in structural metallic materials, especially steels; transformation kinetics associated with element partitioning in diffusional transformation, crystallographic analysis of displacive transformation, and strengthening by nano-clustering/precipitation. He has authored / co-authored over 170 refereed papers.

Kota MORIYA, JFE Steel Corporation, Japan

Presentation title: Utilization of Carbon Recycling for Carbon Neutralization of Direct Reduction Process

Mr. Kota Moriya is a senior researcher of Carbon Neutral Research Dept., Steel Research Laboratory, JFE Steel Corporation. He joined JFE Steel in 2015 after he acquired master’s degree of engineering in the University of Tokyo in the same year. Since then, he had been conducting research related to the operation of blast furnace for 6 years. After that, he has been conducting research related to direct reduction process and carbon neutralization of steelmaking process for 3 years until now.

Masoud Moshtaghi, LUT University, Finland

Presentation title: Design of Hydrogen Embrittlement Resistant High Strength Steels

Masoud Moshtaghi studied Materials Engineering and graduated from Ibaraki University, Japan. His primary research topics include fatigue, welding, steel design, design & analysis of steel structures and hydrogen embrittlement in advanced steels and alloys.

He started his research career at SIEMENS GmbH, Germany in 2012. He pursued a research career at Ibaraki University, Japan and worked at the Quantum Beam Research Center, Ibaraki University affiliated with the Japan Proton Acceleration Research Center (J-PARC). His main focus was studying the mechanics of materials and their mechanical performance in different loading regimes, e.g. cyclic, monotonic, axial, triaxial, etc. On top of that, the environmental effects on the mechanical performances of steels and alloys were studied with the main focus on hydrogen embrittlement. He developed several new approaches to the prediction of fatigue and monotonic tensile failures based on neutron/X-ray diffraction and entropy generation concepts and the development of a new series of alloys such as advanced high-strength steels for hydrogen applications with collaboration with top researchers and professors in fatigue, hydrogen embrittlement, steel design and quantum beams. He also recently introduced a new concept for hydrogen embrittlement prediction of alloys under the fatigue loading condition, which is now labelled as Hydrogen-Enhanced ENTropy (HEENT). During his academic career, he also led several projects related to hydrogen embrittlement and fatigue of advanced high-strength steels and alloys in Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria from 2021 – 2023. He was recently appointed as a new professor of steel structures and head of the Steel Structures Laboratory, LUT University, Finland, continuing the research work and leading the research projects on fatigue, welding, steel design, design & analysis of steel structures and hydrogen embrittlement in advanced steels and alloys. LUT Laboratory of Steel Structures has been a trailblazer in the field of design and strength analysis of steel and alloys in different combinations of loading regimes, structural design, welding joints and novel manufacturing processes such as additive manufacturing in Finland since 1974.

Masoud Moshtaghi has published over 60 papers in journals and conference proceedings and is a member of editorial boards and chair/organizer in different international scientific journals and conferences.

S S Mohanty, Essar Minmet Limited, India

Presentation title: to be determined

Mr. S.S. Mohanty, CEO & MD, Essar Minmet Limited has more than 45 years of experience in the Steel Industries.

Career spanning more than 45 years developed within steel industry (from mining up to the steel mills) managing projects more than $ 14 Billion in Mining , Mineral processing  consisting of agglomeration process – Pelletizing and Sintering , Iron making, Steel making , Rolling including breakthrough R &D. He was responsible for significant operational improvement in form of efficiency enhancement, technology upgradation, and process improvement leading to a cost saving of more than $ 1 Billion in steel industry.

A brief profile is as follows:

· For more than 45 years in Metallurgical Field

· Former Director (Tech) and additional charge of Director -Commercial, Director Projects & Business Planning ,member of Steel Authority of India (SAIL) Board , a Govt. of India undertaking , New Delhi

· Former Managing Director , Bokaro Steel Plant , SAIL

· Former Director of International Coal Venture Mining( ICVL) , SAIL & Tata Mining , Industrial Development Corporation of India Ltd. (IDCOL ) , SAIL-MOIL JV

· Past  President of Indian Institute of Metals

· Former Vice- Chairman & MD of Neelachal Ispat Nigam Ltd. (NINL)

· Distinguished Alumnus of NIT , Rourkela , VSSUT

· Past Chairman of AIST (American Iron & Steel Technology) , India Chapter

· 2 Patents & 50 Technical Papers

· Former Chairman of Metal Division of Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS)

·  IP Chairman CII – Odisha State Council

Samik Nag, Tata Steel Limited, India

Presentation title: to be determined

Ricardo Nolasco, CBMM, Brazil

Presentation title: Challenges on Microstructure Control during Seamless Pipe Production

Ricardo Nolasco de Carvalho is graduated in Mechanical Engineer by University of São Paulo (1990), MSc and PhD in Metallurgical Engineering by University of Minas Gerais (1993 and 2007) and visiting researcher on Corrosion at University of Virginia in 2015. He was chief expert at Vallourec, working for 26 years on development of steel processes and products for OCTG, line pipe, structural and automotive applications. Since 2008, he is a professor at Catholic University of Minas Gerais and, more recently, he has joined the Senai Center for Innovation and Technology as visiting researcher and CBMM as technical consultant. He is interested in physical metallurgy and conformation, working in the following themes: hot rolling, heat treatment, physical simulation of processes, microstructure modelling, mechanical behavior, corrosion, failure analysis, among others.

Presentation title: Effect of hydrogen-reduced microstructure on softening behavior of iron ore agglomerates under high temperature loading conditions

Worked at Kyushu University as an Assistant Professor from 2006 to 2012. At the same time, stayed at RWTH Aachen University as a Postdoctoral Researcher from 2010 to 2011. Work at the Kyushu university as an Associate Professor from 2012 to 2021. Work at the Kyushu university as a Professor from 2021 to present. Earned a Master of Engineering in 2003 and a Doctor of Engineering in 2006 at department of Metallurgy in Tohoku University. Research fields are kinetics analysis and thermodynamics of Iron and steelmaking Processes.

Presentation title: Performance of Vale’s briquette under rich H2 in Blast Furnace and Direct Reduction

Dauter holds the position of Vale´s Director, responsible for Asian Development. He has worked in Vale for 28 years, in areas from Research, Pelletizing, Technical Marketing and Marketing Development. He has been living in Asia for the last 17 years, with close contact to iron and steelmaking industry in this region. He received BE and MSc degrees in Metallurgical Engineering from UFMG University in Brazil, and PhD degree from USTB University in China.

Jian Pan, Central South University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Joohyun Park, Hanyang University, Korea

Presentation title: Reoxidation of molten steel in secondary refining and continuous casting processes: Influence on steel cleanliness

Prof. Joohyun Park is a director of the Laboratory for the High Temperature Physicochemical Processing of Materials (HiTeP²), Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, Hanyang University, Korea. He was a Senior Research Scientist in the Technical Research Laboratories, POSCO, for 7 years and now performing research focusing on i) inclusion science and engineering, ii) slag science and technology, iii) sustainable ferrous- and non-ferrous metallurgy for carbon neutral society, etc. He has been an Affiliated Professor in KTH Royal Institute of Technology, and a Guest Professor in USTB. He was selected as a recipient of the Iron- and Steelmaking Technology Award (2005) and Best Patent Award (2006) by POSCO; the Best Young Scientist Award (2012) and Chungwoong Award (2021) by Korea Institute of Metals and Materials; the Marcus Grossmann Young Author Award (2014), TMS-EPD Science Award (2020), and Key Reader Award (2021) by TMS; the Sawamura Award (2017) by Iron & Steel Institute of Japan; the Minister Award (2021) by Korean Government (Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, MOTIE). He has granted about 30 (International and Korean) patents and published 210 peer-reviewed scientific articles with 500 conference presentations.

Presentation title: Development of digitalization and intelligence of long products rolling

Dr. Chunsu Park obtained his Ph.D. degree for his research on tempcore, a reinforcing bar cooling process, and has served at the Dongguk Steel R&D Center since 2006.

It is focusing on developing Bar&Section steels and improving processes, and recently, it is trying to utilize data science in the steel manufacturing process.

Jitendra Patel, International Metallurgy Ltd., UK

Presentation title: Supporting the transition to a low-carbon economy with the development and application of low-emission high strength structural steels

Dr Patel is a world class steel technologist and business professional with over 25 years of international industry experience. He works with a diverse range of steelmakers across the world. Bringing together both physical metallurgy and process reality, he strives to connect scientific research and industry to find market orientated solutions.

A recognised expert in micro-alloyed steels and its application, he holds a Doctorate in Steel Technology, an MBA, and is a Fellow of The Institute of Materials-UK where he is a Board Member of the Iron and Steel Group. He is also a member of the British Standards Institutes ISE/103 Structural Steels Committee.

Throughout his career he has regularly published in international journals, conferences and delivered several invited keynote presentations. He also acts as an Executive Consultant and Advisor in areas spanning, strategic partnership building, strategic research and development planning and implementation. Most recently, as a special advisor towards the creation of a National Steel Academy in the Middle East. He is a passionate champion of the steel industry and its role in society and currently has a focus on net-zero carbon pathways covering technology, regulatory and financial implications.

Sudipta Patra, IIT BHU, India

Present Affiliation: Assistant Professor, Metallurgical Engineering, IIT(BHU), Varanasi, India

Academic degree: PhD(IIT KGP), Postdoctoral (University of British Columbia, Canada)

Industry experience: More than 7years in steel Industry

Area of Specialization: High strength high toughness steel, Physical metallurgy of steel and stainless steel, Thermomechanical processing of metals, Microstructure-property correlation.

Publication Summary: More than 25 papers in international journal and more than 10 presentation in international conferences, edited a conference proceeding,

Achievements / Awards: Young metallurgist of the year by ministry of steel, Govt. of India , Best paper in NMD ATM Kolkata 2018

Jian Pan, Central South University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Martin Pei, SSAB AB, Sweden

Presentation title: Transformation to Fossil Free Steel with the HYBRIT Technology

Martin Pei has a bachelor of science in ferrous metallurgy from Northeastern University, Shenyang, China and a doctorate in process metallurgy from the Royal Institute of Technology, Stockholm, Sweden. Mr. Pei started his working experience in 1994 at Danieli and since 2001 he has been with SSAB, Sweden. Since 2007, he has served as executive vice president and CTO at SSAB. During 2010 and 2014, he also served as head of SSAB Business Area APAC.

Mr. Pei is the initiator of the HYBRIT initiative, a cooperation between SSAB, LKAB and Vattenfall and served as the first-term chairman of board for Hybrit Development AB. He is currently chairman of board for SWERIM—the Swedish Research Institute of Mining, Metallurgy and Metals Research. Mr. Pei is a member of the Royal Swedish Academy for Engineering Sciences.

Yana Qie, North China University of Science and Technology, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Presentation title: Novel Bainitic Steels for Hot Rolled Applications

Radhakanta Rana is a Principal Researcher at Tata Steel R&D in IJmuiden, The Netherlands. He has worked in various countries (USA, Germany, Netherlands and India) and has a professional experience of about 16 years following his PhD. Dr. Rana’s current research areas encompass the development of innovative hot- and cold-formable steels for applications in automotive and lifting & excavating sectors, with an “end-to-end approach”, and the effects of high recycled contents on steel properties. In his research, he puts a particular focus on the understanding of the chemistry-processing-structure-property paradigm. Leading cross-functional teams, he has developed a number of innovative sheet steel product concepts. Dr. Rana has published some of his work on various 3rd generation advanced high strength steels, hot press formed steels, low density steels, high modulus steels, precipitation hardening steels and research techniques in over 80 papers in journals & conferences and in 1 book chapter, and also filed for many patents. In addition, Dr. Rana has also published 2 books on modern and emerging iron alloys and edited 3 special issues in materials journals.

Dr. Rana renders his service to the materials profession in various capacities such as journal Editor, Editorial Board Member, Key Reader, Expert/Scientific Committee Member, Advisory Board Member, Conference Topic Coordinator, Conference Session Chair etc. He has also brought together a number of European consortia involving universities, steel producers and automakers for collaborative research at the interfaces of science, manufacturing and applications to further the impact of steel innovations at larger scale.

Dr. Rana has received a number of TATA Group internal as well as external recognitions, including the InnoVista Awards (four times at company and regional levels), the Fellowship of the Institute of Materials, Minerals & Mining (IOM3) and Brimacombe Medalist Award from the Minerals, Metals & Materials Society (TMS) to name a few.

Gour Gopal Roy, IIT Kharagpur, India

Presentation title: Inclusion evolution of LCAK steel using mischmetal

Dr. Gour Gopal Roy, presently holds the position of Professor, Department of

Metallurgical & Materials Engineering, IIT Kharagpur.

Served as HOD, MME (2014-2017) and Associate Dean, SRIC IIT Kharagpur (2017-2020).

Specialization: Alternative Routes of Ironmaking, Clean steel, Electron beam Welding, Modelling & Simulation.

Awarded “Eminent Engineering Personality” by Institute of Engineers (India), Kolkata

on 21st January, 2023 during 35th National Convention of IE(I) at NIT Durgapur.

Awarded “Metallurgist of the Year-2015” instituted by Ministry of Steel, Govt. of India. Featured both in the top 2% career list and single-year list of the 2022 of Stanford ranking in the sub-field of Mining & Metallurgy.

Editorial board member: STWJ, Trans. IIM

110 publications in referred journals with total citations 3708 and H-index 28, i10 index 60.

Indradev Samajdar, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, India

Presentation title: Controlled Thermomechanical Processing of Steel and Elastic-Plastic Strain Gradients

Academic Background

Ph.D. : Drexel University, USA, 1994.

MS: University of Texas at El Paso, USA, 1991.

B.E.: Jadvpur University, India, 1987.

Research Interests

Crystallographic Texture, Microstructural Engineering, Thermomechanical Processing

Patents

1. "A Randomized Grain Boundary Austenitic Stainless Steel and a Process Thereof"; Application no. 1090/MUM/2002 dt 6-12-02.  (Names: V. Kain, P.K. Dey, D.N. Wasnik and I. Samajdar). – Indian Patent

2. “Development of a very high resistance to sensitization in austenitic stainless steel through special heat treatment resulting in grain boundary structure modification”; Application no. 893/MUM/2008 dt 21-April-08. (Names: R.K. Dayal, Parvathanandini, Baldev Raj, S. Mulke  and I. Samajdar).– Indian and US Patent.

3. “A System for Conducting Formablity Test of a Sample”; Application Number. 202331034968, 2023/05/18. (Names: Sarbari Ganguly, Monojit Dutta (TSL), Soudip Basu, Nagamani Jaya Balila, Indradev Samajdar (IITB)). Indian Patent filed by Tata Steel.

Awards & Recognitions

1. H.H. Mathur Award of Research Excellence, IIT Bombay, 2016.

2. Institute Chair Professor (2014-2017, 2017-2020), Prof. TRR Mohan Chair Prof. (2021-Cont.).

3. Adjunct Professor: Monash University.

3. Fellow of INAE (Indian National Academy of Engineers) and EMSI (Electron Microscopy Society of India).

4. Metallurgist of the year: IIM-NMD (Indian Institute of Metals – National Metallurgist Day), 2011.

5. MRSI (Materials Research Society of India) Medal Lecture

Yansong Shen, University of New South Wales, Australia

Presentation title: Modelling of multiphase reacting flows and net zero steel industry innovations

Professor Yansong Shen is a full Professor in the School of Chemical Engineering at the University of New South Wales (Tenured) and is currently holding a prestigious Australian Research Council (ARC) Future Fellowship. He initiated and is leading a vibrant research lab - Process Modelling and Optimization of Reacting Flows "ProMO Lab" (www.promo.unsw.edu.au) with over 30 postdoc/PhDs as of 2023. He published over 180 peer-reviewed papers in top-tier multidisciplinary journals with an h-index of 44 as of 2023, secures 12 ARC and >15 highly competitive research grants, in total over AUD 27M, enjoys industry engagements and translation in Australia and overseas, and won several honours and highly-competitive national fellowships e.g. ARC APDI Fellowship (2012) and ARC Future Fellowship (2019). His group designed and scaled-up new technologies and reactors in resource and energy sectors (e.g., low carbon ironmaking, e-waste recycling, hydrogen generation and storage). Many have been implemented and practised with measurable benefits. He is selected as president of the Australian Particle Technology Society and was invited/plenary speaker at many international conferences.  

Fengman Shen, Northeastern University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Douglas Stalheim, DGS Metallurgical Solutions, Inc., USA

Presentation title: Key Contributing Metallurgical Componets to Successful, Cost Effective Production of Steel Products and their Applications

Douglas Stalheim is currently President of DGS Metallurgical Solutions, Inc., a technical consulting business serving the oil, gas and metals industry for over 18 years. Doug has a BS in Metallurgical Engineering with over 42 years of practical industrial experience from steel employment to consulting services (Armco Steel, Ravenswood Aluminum, Oregon Steel Mills, CBMM, Nanjing Iron & Steel, Essar, Erdemir, Hyundai Steel, Shougang Steel, Xiangtan Steel, Primetals, Durabond Pipe, Berg Pipe, Energy Transfer, Kinder Morgan, and others). This includes but is not limited to all aspects of API/structural (flats/longs) steel production (plate mill, hot strip mill, Steckel mill, bar mill, section mill, downstream processing, etc.), metallurgical design, end use and marketing. Doug is a member of ASM, AIST, ASME and ASME B31.12 Codes and Standard for Hydrogen Piping and Pipelines committee member. Doug has authored and/or co-authored over 100 technical publications with over 70 training and conference presentations and received SD School of Mines & Technology 2017 Outstanding Alumni Award.

Marcos Stuart, CBMM, Brazil

Presentation title: Examples of niobium microalloyed steels toward the future of carbon neutrality

Marcos Stuart is a Metallurgical Engineer, Master of Engineering and MBA. He was the former Chief Technology Officer from 2008 to 2019 at Companhia Brasileira de Metalurgia e Mineração, CBMM, the Brazilian producer of niobium products and worldwide leader in niobium technology. Since 2019, he has been acting as a consultant of niobium technology for CBMM, having as his main task the development of niobium applications where niobium adds value to the supply chain, increasing the performance and the life cycle of the final products. Before CBMM, Marcos Stuart worked during 25 years as a steel maker in different companies, always striving to use the best technologies and processes for steel production and respective applications. 

John Speer, Colorado School of Mines, USA

Presentation title: Nb in Microalloyed Automotive Bar and Forging Steels

John Speer is the ABS Professor of Metallurgy at Colorado School of Mines, and Director of the Advanced Steel Processing and Products Research Center (ASPPRC), a research consortium supported by 31 companies.  He received a B.S. degree from Lehigh University in Metallurgy and Materials Engineering, in 1980 and a D.Phil. in Physical Metallurgy from the University of Oxford, UK in 1983.  He served in various positions at the Homer Research Laboratories of Bethlehem Steel Corporation from 1983-1997, and became a Professor in the Department of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at Colorado School of Mines in 1997.  He also served as Mines’ Associate Vice-President for Research from 2008 until he began his tenure as ASPPRC Director in 2013.  John’s activities are especially focussed on development and application of steels.  He is a Fellow of ASM International, a Distinguished Member, Fellow and officer of the Association for Iron and Steel Technology, Past-President of the American Institute of Mining, Metallurgical and Petroleum Engineers (the “parent” of AIST, TMS, SME and SPE), and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.  His work with students and colleagues has been recognized with a number of awards.

Sang-Han Son, POSCO, Korea

Presentation title: Characteristics of bio-carbon and its utilization in ironmaking process

Dr. Sanghan Son is currently a senior researcher at Low Carbon Iron and Steel Making R&D Center, POSCO and is conducting research on raw materials, sintering, and ironmaking. He received a B.S degree from Hanyang University, Korea in 1997 and a Ph.D in Metallurgy Engineering from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 2003. He completed a post-doctorate at Tohoku University, Japan in 2006 and joined POSCO in 2007. He participated in planning a carbon-neutral technology development strategy for the Korean steel industry in 2021-2022 and is currently conducting research on POSCO's low-carbon ironmaking technology.

Toshihiro Tsuchiyama, Kyushu University, Japan

Presentation title: Strengthening of ferritic steels by alloying element through grain boundary segregation

Dr. Toshihiro Tsuchiyama is now a professor at Department of Materials, Kyushu University, Japan. He has graduated from Kyushu University as a Bachelor in 1993, and received his Master and Doctor degrees at Kyushu University in 1995 and 1998.  His research expertise is in the control of microstructures and mechanical properties of steels using alloy design and heat treatment. The target materials include not only plain-carbon and low-alloy steels, but also high-alloy steels such as stainless steels, high/medium Mn steels, and high nitrogen steels. In particular, he is exploring optimal microstructures from the viewpoints of grain size, retained austenite, grain boundary segregation, dislocation density and distribution, and crystallographic features.

Pelo Uranga, CEIT, Spain

Presentation title: Impact of diverse Direct Strip Processing Mill Layouts on the Hot Rolling Metallurgy of Nb Microalloyed Steels

Pello Uranga is the Associate Director of the Materials and Manufacturing Division at CEIT Research Institute and associate professor at the school of Engineering in Tecnun-Univ. of Navarra (San Sebastian, Spain). His research activity is mainly focused on the thermomechanical processing and the microstructural evolution modeling of steels. He has published over 200 technical papers in international journals and conferences, receiving six international awards. He has participated in more than 60 research projects, most of them industrial projects. He is an active member of the AIST (Association of Iron and Steel Technology) and TMS (The Mineral, Metals and Materials Society) professional associations, being the current Steels Committee Chair for TMS.  He is university program evaluator for ANECA (Spain) and ABET Commissioner (USA).

Basov Vadim, NLMK, Russia

Presentation title: Influence of MgO in slag and slag basicity  CaO/SiO₂ and (CaO+MgO)/SiO₂on NLMK BF6 and BF7 operation

In 2003 graduated from Lipetsk State Technical University, engineer of metallurgy.

Since 2003 BF technology specialist in NLMK technical directorate, since 2023 Main expert of NLMK Blast furnace shop#2 Process stabilization department.

Geoff Wang, The University of Queensland, Australia

Presentation title: Insight into the heat and mass transfer of iron ore reduction in hydrogen shaft furnace

Professor Geoff Wang received his PhD in Metallurgical Engineering from the Northeastern University, Shenyang, China in 1990, and then worked in Wuhan University of Science and Technology in China for 5 years and about 2 years at University of New South Wales, Australia. He joined the University of Queensland (UQ) in 1996 until now. Currently he is Faculty Director of China Research Partnerships, and Director of the HBIS-UQ Innovation Centre for Sustainable Steel at UQ. His research activity and interests are directed towards developing energy and environmental technologies dealing with the coal and steel industries. He has been active and performed many research programs in low-carbon technologies such as pulverized coal injection into blast furnaces, hydrogen production through lower emission coal combustion, hydrogen reduction of iron ores, and decarbonization for ironmaking. In recent years, he is devoted to the study of hydrogen shaft furnace ironmaking and improved blast furnace ironmaking with hydrogen-rich and carbon recycling through CO₂ electrolysis.

Wanlin Wang, Central South University, China

Presentation title: Strategy for the optimization of continuous casting mold technology

Dr. Wanlin Wang is Lotus scholar chair professor and Dean of National Center for International Research of Clean Metallurgy, China. Also, he is the associate dean of the school of Metallurgy and Environment, Central South University. He received his Bachelor degree in Metallurgical Engineering from Central South University, Master degree in Metallurgical Engineering from the University of Utah, and his Ph.D. in Materials Science and Engineering from Carnegie Mellon University in 2007. He worked as a Sr. Research Scientist in the Reckitt Benckiser North America before joining Central South University in 2009.

His research focuses on high-temperature processing and continuous casting technology. He is the author of more than 300 publications in prestigious international journals, including 67 in Metallurgical Materials Transactions B. He is the recipient of many academic honors, including AIME-Champion H. Mathewson Award from TMS, Marcus A. Grossmann Young Author Award from ASM, Newton Advanced Fellow from Royal Society of UK, Excellent Young Scholar Fellowship from National Science Foundation of China, LMD Best Paper Award from TMS, MMI Best Paper Award from Korean Institute of Metals, Weishoukun Scientific Award, and National Ten-thousand Talents Program Award, etc. He is a distinguished member of Chinese Society of Metals. He has been invited to be international advisory board and give keynote speeches for numerous international conferences, such as International Congress on the Science and Technology of Steelmaking, International Conference on Molten Slags, Fluxes and Salts, European Continuous Casting Conference, etc.

Jing Wang, Hunan Iron & Steel Group Co., Ltd., China

Presentation title: Thoughts on future development path of steel industry being at long-term structural adjustments

Wang Jing, born in 1986, senior engineer, is currently Group CTO of Hunan Steel and President of Hunan Steel Research Institute of Technology. He takes the role of Director of the Chinese Society for Metals, Vice Chairman of Iron Core Application Branch of China Electrical Equipment Industry Association, Vice Chairman of Hunan Institute of Engineers, Executive Director of Hunan Society for Metals and Executive Director of Hunan Federation of Corporate Science and Technology Association. He takes the leading role and engages in over 10 major scientific research projects, including 8 provincial and ministerial-level scientific and technological awards, 2 national scientific and technological innovation projects, authorized 9 invention patents as major inventors, and published 12 essays or works.

Menghuai Wu, Montanuniversitaet Leoben, Austria

Presentation title: Advanced Modeling of Macrosegregation in Continuous Casting with the Effect of Electromagnetic Stirring (EMS)

Zhangwei Wang, Central South University,, China

Presentation title: Strong and ductile lightweight compositionally complex steels via dual-nanoprecipitation

Wang Zhangwei, an Alexander von Humboldt Research Fellow and Professor at Central South University, has been selected for the National Talent Youth Program. His research is focused on the design, processing, and mechanical properties of lightweight steels. He has published over 30 papers in prestigious academic journals, including Nature Communications, Science Advances, and Acta Materialia. He has also been invited to deliver presentations at several international conferences, such as the TMS2022 Annual Meeting & Exhibition and the First International Conference on Heterostructured Materials. He currently serves as an associate editorial board member of Materials Research Letters and is a member of the 10th Youth Working Committee of the Materials Research Society of China.

Zhenjia Xie, University of Science and Technology Beijing, China

Presentation title: Breaking cryogenic temperature strength-ductility trade-off via deformation omega phase transition and nano-twinning in low carbon low alloy bainitic steel

Dr. Zhenjia Xie is an associate professor at State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials in University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB). He received his PhD in Materials Science and Engineering in 2016 from USTB. During his Ph.D program, he spent one year at McMaster University as a joint-training student with Prof. S.V. Subramanian. His research interests focus on phase transformation and microstructure control of low alloy steels, microstructure characterization, strength and toughness mechanism, thermodynamic and numerical simulations. He has published 60+ journal papers. He was awarded by the second prize in The National Technological Invention Award.

Jian Xu, Chongqing University, China

Presentation title: to be determined

Takuya YAMAMOTO, Osaka Metropolitan University, Japan

Presentation title: Numerical investigation and automatic design of metallurgical process with an aid of simulation and optimization methodology

2017/3 Ph.D. (Engineering) in Osaka University, Department of Materials Engineering Science

2017/4~2020/3 Assistant Professor in Tohoku University, Department of Frontier Science for Advanced Environment

2020/4~2023/3 Assistant Professor in Tohoku University, Department of Metallurgy

2022/10~ Japan Science and Technology Agency, PREST researcher

2023/4~ Associate Professor in Osaka Metropolitan University, Department of Chemical Engineering

Jer-Ren Yang, National Taiwan University, Taiwan, China

Presentation title: Overview of the striking features of microstructure in steels

Professor Jer-Ren Yang received Ph.D. degree (Materials Science and Metallurgy) from University of Cambridge, England, UK in 1987.  In February 1988, he joined the faculty of Department of Materials Science and Engineering, National Taiwan University (NTU), where he has been a full Professor since August 1993. He is a Distinguished Engineering Professor in NTU, and was the head of the Department in 2007-2010. His research interests include phase transformation of steels, crystal geometry and crystal defects and has published some 260 international SCI journal papers in the areas of materials science and metallurgy. He is Director of Advanced Steel Microstructure Control – Engineering Research Center at National Taiwan University. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (FIMMM), UK.

Yongxiang Yang, Technische Universiteit Delft, TU Delft, The Netherlands

Presentation title: Hydrogen Metallurgy in European Steelmaking Industry: Challenges and Opportunities

Prof. Yongxiang Yang is the group leader for Metals Production, Refining and Recycling (MPRR) at the Department of Materials Science and Engineering, Delft University of Technology (TU Delft). His recent activities cover the fundamental studies in blast furnace and new ironmaking technologies in supporting green steel transition, and technology innovations in recycling of critical metals from e-waste and other secondary resources. Dr. Yang has initiated and participated a large number of EU and Dutch national funded projects for REE recycling, critical metals recovery, and sustainable ironmaking and steelmaking. He is leading the education and research program in extractive metallurgy and metal recycling at TU Delft (the only program in the Netherlands), and supervised more than 20 PhD students. Dr. Yang is actively involved in the EIT RawMaterials program and research projects. He is a scientific committee member of PROMETIA – Mineral Processing and Extractive Metallurgy for Mining and Recycling Innovation Association in Europe. He has been part-time professor at NTNU (Norway), and guest professors at NEU, AHUT and WUST (China). Dr. Yang has published more than 220 papers in refereed international journals and international conferences.

Zhinan Yang, Yanshan University, China

Presentation title: Accelerating nano-bainite transformation based on microstructure control

Prof. Yang Zhinan, received his PhD in Materials Science in 2013 from Yanshan University and then he joined Yanshan University. He got the funding of NSFC Excellent Young Scientist in 2021. Prof. Yang’s research interests focus on two areas: (1) fundamentals of relationship between microstructure and property of advanced steels, and (2) high effective and green manufacturing technology of advanced steels. He has published one monograph book and one translation, 100+ journal papers. He also got the second prize in The National Technological Invention Award and the first prize in the Hebei Province Technological Invention Award.

Jian Yang, Shanghai University, China

Presentation title: Oxide Metallurgy Technology for Improving Weldability of HSLA Steel Plates 

Jian YANG is a professor and the director of Department of Materials Engineering in Shanghai University. In Chinese Society for Metals, he serves as the deputy director of Foreign Exchange Working Committee, the deputy director of Metallurgical Artificial Intelligence Branch, the deputy director of Metallurgical Reaction Engineering Branch, and the member of Steelmaking Branch. He is also the editorial board member of Ironmaking and Steelmaking, ISIJ International, International Journal of Minerals, Metallurgy and Materials, etc. From 2006 to 2007, he was an associate professor in Nagoya University in Japan. From 2007 to 2016, he was a Chief Researcher of Central Research Institute of Baosteel Group Corporation. From 2010 to 2016, he served as the leader of steelmaking technology team of Baosteel Group Corporation. Jian YANG’s research mainly focuses on steelmaking, continuous casting, inclusion control technology and oxide metallurgy technology. He has authorized 7 international invention patents, applied for and granted 45 Chinese invention patents, and published 420 journal or conference papers. In 2015, he won the Nishiyama Memorial Award from Iron and Steel Institute of Japan(ISIJ). In 2002 and 2007, he won the Sawamura Best Paper Award from ISIJ. In 2021, he was awarded the Excellent Paper Award by Journal of Iron and Steel Research International. 

Deguchi Yoshihiro, The University of Tokushima, Japan

Presentation title: to be determined 

Aibing Yu, Monash University, Australia

Presentation title: Development of Hydrogen Blast Furnace for Ironmaking

Professor Aibing Yu specialized in process metallurgy, obtaining BEng in 1982 and MEng in 1985 from Northeastern University, China, PhD in 1990 from University of Wollongong and DSc in 2007 from the University of New South Wales, Australia. He is currently a Sir John Monash Distinguished Professor, Pro Vice-Chancellor and President (Suzhou), Monash University, and Director of ARC Research Hub for Smart Process Design and Control. He is a world-leading scientist in particle/powder technology and process engineering. He has authored/co-authored >1,200 publications (including >870 collected in the ISI Web of Science), delivered many invited plenary/keynote presentations at various international conferences, and graduated >50 postdoc fellows and >140 PhD students. His research has generated significant impacts in the mineral and metallurgical industries. He is Executive Editor of Powder Technology, Regional Editor of Granular Matter, and on the editorial board of ~20 learned journals. He is a recipient of numerous prestigious awards and fellowships. He was elected to Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering in 2004, and Australian Academy of Science in 2011, and Foreign Academician of Chinese Academy of Engineering in 2017.

Lifeng Zhang, North China University of Technology, China

Presentation title: Prediction on the Three Dimensional Spatial Distribution of the Number Density, Size and Composition of Non-metallic Inclusions in Steel Continuous Casting Products

Lifeng Zhang is a professor and the President with North China University of Technology. He was a Professor and the Vice President of Yanshan University from 2019 to 2022, professor and the Dean of the School of Metallurgical and Ecological Engineering with the University of Science and Technology Beijing from 2012 to 2019. He served as professor at Norwegian University of Science and Technology from 2005 to 2007, assistant professor and associate professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology from 2007 to 2011. Lifeng was a research associate and research scientist at University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign from 2001-2005. He pursued his post-doctoral studies at Tohoku University financially supported by the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, and at the Institute of Metallurgy, Technical University of Clausthal (Germany) from 1998 to 2001. Lifeng’s research mainly focuses on clean steel and inclusions and modeling of process metallurgy. He has published over 500 academic papers and been awarded over 40 patents and 10 patents in software, has been invited to talk at over 300 international academic assemblies. Lifeng is serving as the editorial board member for over 10 journals and he has been invited to review papers for over 130 international journals.

Lifeng received numerous awards, including the Youth Prize of China Guanghua Engineering Science and Technology Award, six 1stClass Prize of Provincial and ministerial science and technology awards Award; Richard J. Fruehan Award from Association for Iron & Steel Technology, USA; Distinguished Visiting Fellowship Award of Royal Academy of Engineering, UK.

Yongjie Zhang, Tohoku University, Japan

Presentation title: Interphase Precipitation of Nano-sized Alloy Carbides in Low Carbon Microalloyed Steels

Dr. Yongjie Zhang is now the assistant professor at Institute for Materials Research, Tohoku University, Japan. He has graduated from Shanghai Jiao Tong University as a Bachelor in 2011, and received his Master and Ph.D degrees at Tohoku University in 2013 and 2016. During his Ph.D course, he worked as JSPS research fellow (DC1), and mainly studied the nano-precipitation in microalloyed steels. Currently, he is also working on various fundamental aspects of microstructural control in steels, including phase transformation kinetics, solute segregation at grain boundary, etc.

Frank (Shaoliang) Zhong, World Steel Association

Presentation title: Global Steel Decarbonization Progress and Development of Hydrogen-based Steelmaking Technologies

Mr. Frank (Shaoliang) ZHONG is Deputy Director General of the World Steel Association and Chief Representative of the association’s office in Beijing. His main focus includes the outlook of the global steel industry as well as steelmaking raw materials market. He has been in charge of a variety of studies on steel demand, steelmaking capacity, raw materials outlook, monitoring the development of emerging economies in particular China, India and ASEAN, and a survey on the global railway system. He was involved in IEA’s Global Iron and Steel Technology Roadmap project as well as the EU’s raw materials strategy study. Mr. Zhong started his career with the former Baosteel Group (now China Baowu Steel Group) in 1997 as an ironmaking engineer. Before joined World Steel Association in 2006, he worked for Rio Tinto for three years.

Mr. Zhong obtained his Bachelor Degree in Iron & Steel Metallurgy from the University of Science and Technology Beijing, and an MBA degree from the Tsinghua University, Beijing. 

Miaoyong Zhu, Northeastern University, China

Presentation title: Prediction and Control of Surface Fluctuation in Slab Continuous Casting Mold Based on AI and Metallurgical Big Data 

Dr. Miaoyong ZHU born in 1965, is currently professor, the chairman of the academic committee and the director of advanced continuous casting research center, at the School of Metallurgy, Northeastern University (NEU), China. He is also the deputy director of the steelmaking committee and continuous casting committee, the Chinese Society for Metals. He was awarded the Changjiang Scholars Distinguished Professor by the Ministry of Education, China in 2012.

Dr. Zhu received the B.S., M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Ferrous Metallurgy from Northeastern University, China in 1988, 1991, and 1994, respectively, and was promoted as Associate Professor and Full Professor at NEU in 1995 and 1999, respectively.

He has conducted research primarily in the fields of steelmaking and continuous casting with emphasis on the removal of nonmetallic inclusions in steel and solidification control during continuous casting.

Dr. Zhu made co-authored 152 patents and over 500 scientific papers and edited 12 books. Dr. Zhu is the winner of National Outstanding Young Scientists Foundation, China and also won Wei Shoukun Science Technology and Education Prize for Young Metallurgist in 2012, and the National Award for Science and Technology Progress in 2021.

Jianwei Zhu, Ansteel, China

Presentation title: Research and Pilot Plant building of Hydrogen-based Iron Ore Direct Reduction with Fluidized Bed in Ansteel, China

Zhu jianwei, director and senior engineer of Iron Making Technology Research Institute, Ansteel, China. After graduated from university, he worked at iron-making production, management and research for more than thirty years. As a main researcher, he involved in the National Key Scientific and Technological Projects for the Ninth Five-Year Plan and was responsible for one sub-project. In his career, he had the honour to gain the titles of technical model in Ansteel for several times. In 2006-2007, he worked in Leeds University, UK as a research follow. He was selected to be the hundred-person level expert in Liaoning Province in 2007. He worked for ISO (International Organization for Standardization) as Chairman Assistant in 2013-2017, and held the membership of Technical Committee of World Steel Association in 2017.

Zulfiadi Zulhan, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

Presentation title: Reconsidering Hydrogen Plasma Reactor as a Sustainable Solution for Green Steel Production

Zulfiadi Zulhan is a full professor in the Metallurgical Engineering Department at Bandung Institute of Technology. After obtaining his Dr.-Ing degree from the Institute for Ferrous Metallurgy, RWTH Aachen University, Germany, in 2006, he joined a steel plant builder company in Duisburg, Germany, focusing on Vacuum Metallurgy for carbon steel and stainless-steel production using RH (Ruhrstahl Heraeus) and VD/VOD (vacuum oxygen decarburization). He has involved in the commissioning of plants in several steel production sites in China, including Yingkou, Benxi, Tianjin, Zhangjiagang, Nanjing, Maanshan, Taiyuan, and Guangzhou. In 2009, he returned to Indonesia and took on the role of a lecturer, contributing to the development of a pyrometallurgy laboratory.