Dr Ana Júlia Cavaleiro is a Research Scientist at the Centre of Biological Engineering (CEB), University of Minho (UMinho), Portugal, and Invited Assistant Professor at UMinho. Currently, she also serves as Associate Director at CEB. Her main research interests are resource recovery from waste/wastewater and environmental bioremediation, with particular focus in anaerobic processes and microbial interactions within complex communities. 

Dr Anna Schnürer is a full professor in microbial biotechnology at the Department of Molecular Sciences, Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU).  She has been working in the field of biogas for almost 30 years, one of which is the isolation and genomic study of syntrophic acetate oxidizing bacteria (SAOB). Currently, she is leading a team  devoted to generate basic understanding on anaerobic microbial processes and to use this knowledge for different biotechnological applications.

Dr Christopher Lawson is an assistant professor at University of Toronto. Dr. Lawson’s research focuses on harnessing the metabolic processes of anaerobic microbiomes for sustainable wastewater treatment and the production of renewable bioenergy and bioproducts from waste resources. This is accomplished using the most advanced and innovative approaches from systems & synthetic biology, microbial ecology, and bioengineering.

Dr. Changsoo Lee is a Professor at Ulsan National Institute of Science and Technology (UNIST), South Korea. His research focuses on waste-to-value biotechnologies that harness microorganisms to advance environmental and economic sustainability. His team actively investigates bio(electro)chemical conversion of waste organic matter and CO2 into valuable chemicals and materials, with anaerobic digestion at the center. His research also involves ecophysiological studies to explore microbial interactions in these systems.

Dr Jo de Vrieze is an associate professor at Ghent University. Dr. Vrieze's research focus on anaerobic microbial processes to achieve organic and inorganic waste valorization through the development of novel tools and methods based on microbial principles and technologies, and bring selected strategies from lab-scale fundamental “proofs of principle” to reliable full-scale technological applications.

Rory Moses McKeown holds a PhD in microbiology from the Microbial Ecology Laboratory, School of Biological and Chemical Sciences and Ryan Institute, University of Galway, and has over 15 years’ experience in drinking-water quality and public health. He currently supports global drinking-water safety activities at WHO Headquarters in Switzerland, with a focus on water safety planning for enhanced climate resilience. Prior to this, he has worked in the water industry in Australia, and as an academic in the field of environmental microbiology.