Dr Kaveh Khalilpour is an Associate Professor at the Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney. He is an interdisciplinary academic focusing on the intersection of sustainability and socio-technical networks. His research philosophy is in the adoption of holistic and systems thinking approaches in addressing the existing and emerging challenges.  He utilises operations research (OR), AI, and data science in searching for innovative approaches to address sustainable development goals, particularly those related to the energy-water-food nexus. 

A/Prof Khalilpour is an applied researcher; prior to pursuing an academic career, he worked for government and industry tackling emerging policy and technical issues in the oil, gas and biotechnology sectors. This diverse career background has shaped his research and teaching philosophy at the nexus of social and academic idealism and industrial realism. The transdisciplinary and multidimensionality mindset flows also in the LAB.

He has established the NEX.T LAB with the aim of bringing together like-minded computational researchers with complementary skills in energy systems, sustainability science, complex systems and network science, computational social and policy analysis, and responsible innovation leadership to work on sustainable development goals, particularly from the lens of the "energy transition".

A/Prof Khalilpour serves Nature Scientific Report as an editorial board member. He is an associate editor of IET Generation, Transmission & Distribution (IET GTD). He also serves three journals of Energies, Sustainability, and Biomass as subject editor. He serves PLOS Water as Guest Editorial Board in "Access and Security" section. He is on the advisory board of The Challenge.

He can be contacted at: kaveh.khalilpour@uts.edu.au or NextLab.office@gmail.com

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Dr Mengyu Wang is Chemical Process Engineer by training. Further to chemical and energy industry, she has project management experience in medical devices industry. In her previous roles, she has successfully identified process improvements and implemented new project management tools and methods for project delivery and compliance with regulatory requirements. She is currently working on projects related to hydrogen supply chain design and optimisation.

She can be contacted at: mengyu.wang@uts.edu.au 

Dr Havvanur Feyza Kaya earned her PhD in Econometrics from Karadeniz Technical University in 2015. Her primary research focuses on Econometrics Science, encompassing Applied Econometrics, Forecasting, Time Series Analysis, Panel Data Analysis, and Macro-econometrics. She actively supervises Ph.D. candidates, teaches graduate-level courses, publishes scholarly articles, engages in visiting fellowships/professorships, and collaborates on consultancy projects. With extensive experience in academia, including teaching, supervision, and interdisciplinary research, Dr. Kaya is currently involved in a project related to securing hydrogen energy supply within the new hydrogen economy and forecasting hydrogen prices. Notably, she leads the project funded by The Scientific and Technological Research Council of Turkey.

Melissa Eklund is currently working towards her PhD in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at UTS. Driven by her passion for understanding and leveraging social factors in technical development, Melissa seeks to unravel the intricacies of how such factors can inform better decision-making and shape socio-technical approaches to microgrid development. Her current work centers on exploring socio-technical strategies for designing and operating community microgrids, with an emphasis on renewable energy integration.

Prior to joining UTS, Melissa gained experience in the building and energy sectors, specialising in renewable energy integration and digitalisation. She completed her Master’s Degree in Sociotechnical Systems Engineering, concentrating on Energy Systems, at Uppsala University in 2019.

Melissa can be contacted at: melissamikaela.eklund@uts.edu.au  

Zahra's research is focused on the circular economy of wind turbines. Despite being one of the most sustainable approaches to clean energy generation, wind turbines have notable material footprint which requires reverse supply chain design at their end of life. This project has been focusing on the material flow identification of the Australian wind technology waste flow, and lifecycle analysis of various alternatives for re-use or recycling.

Zahra can be contacted at: zahraossadat.alavi@student.uts.edu.au  

Harun is a dedicated mechanical engineer with a passion for innovation and sustainable technologies. He holds a Master's degree in Automotive Engineering from RMIT University in Melbourne, where he gained valuable insights into advanced vehicle design and manufacturing. Complementing his technical expertise, Harun also earned a Graduate Diploma in Management from CQ University, enhancing his leadership and project management skills.

With a diverse professional background spanning mechanical manufacturing, mining, and construction, Harun has honed his skills as a port engineer, effectively managing complex operations and ensuring optimal performance. His experience in these industries has given him a comprehensive understanding of the intricacies of large-scale projects and the ability to deliver results in challenging environments.

Currently, Harun is actively engaged in cutting-edge research on Electric Vehicles (EVs) and their integration into existing transportation networks. His work revolves around forecasting the adoption of EVs and developing strategies for seamless network integration, aiming to drive the transition towards sustainable mobility solutions.

Harun can be contacted at: harun.kaya@student.uts.edu.au  

Amira M. Attia was born in Alexandria, Egypt. She received a B.Sc. degree and an M.Sc. degree in Electrical Engineering (Power Engineering and Electrical Machines) from Alexandria University, Alexandria, Egypt, in 2014 and 2018, respectively. From February 2017 till December 2022, she was an Assistant Lecturer at the Department of Mechatronics, Alexandria Higher Institute of Engineering and Technology, Alexandria, Egypt. She is currently pursuing her PhD at the University of Technology Sydney.  

Amira's research interests cover Smart Grid, Renewable Energy, Demand Side Management, Cyber-Physical Power Systems, Reliability, and Real-Time Simulator. Her PhD focuses on the development of digital twins for community microgrids. She works on designing reliable power and cyber systems, then to analyse the results for the integration of both systems together using real-time simulator. 

Amira can be contacted at: amiramohamedattia.attia@student.uts.edu.au 

Ali M. Ahmed was born in Mosul, Iraq. He finished B.Sc. degree in the field of Mechanical Engineering from the University of Kufa, Iraq in 2016. In 2021, he finished his M.Sc. degree from the University of Putra Malaysia (UPM) in the field of Manufacturing Systems Engineering and his project was ‘Thermal simulation of laser surface hardening process using finite element method’. He worked with the Energy Science Laboratory For Electrical Testing And Consulting as mechanical and commission engineer testing at 132/33 KV and 400/132/33 KV substations. He is currently an associate lecture at the University of Al-Hamdaniya and pursuing his PhD at the Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Technology Sydney (UTS).

Ali can be contacted at: alimahmoodahmed.alialyoonus@student.uts.edu.au or eng.ali.bakko@gmail.com 

Osamh Mahdi is a PhD student at the UTS School of professional practice and Leadership. He graduated with a Master of Engineering Management from the University of Technology Sydney in 2022 and has worked on various projects. Osamh has a strong foundation in engineering principles and possesses expertise in planning projects, developing and implementing innovative solutions to engineering challenges. Osamh's PhD research is focused on Developing Sustainable Project Management Maturity Frameworks. 

Osamh can be contacted at: osamh.a.mahdi@student.uts.edu.au  

Joseph Nunez graduated with a Bachelor of Information Systems and a Bachelor of Commerce from the University of Melbourne. He has 15 years of experience in the energy industry. He has worked as a management consultant and quantitative analyst leading organisations in creating organisational capability in quantitative nalysis and modelling for the energy and utilities sector. He is currently pursuing a Masters by Research in UTS where his research interest is the development of stochastic and robust optimisation models for networked systems (energy, water and gas).

Joseph can be contacted at: Joseph.E.Nunez@student.uts.edu.au   

Zheyuan Sun completed her BSc Hons. degree in Electronics and Communications engineering at the Australian National University. She received her MSc degree in engineering management at the University of Technology Sydney. Her research area is in renewable engineering and peer-to-peer energy trading.

Marty Fuentes is currently completing his dual degree in Master of Engineering Management Master of Business Administration in the Faculty of Engineering and Information Technology at UTS.  He completed his undergraduate degree in civil engineering at the University of the Philippines in 2006.  At the same time doing his postgraduate degree, he also works full-time with a government agency in NSW managing roads and infrastructure projects.  Prior to arriving in Australia, he had worked overseas in the Southeast Asia, and the Middle East in the construction and utilities industries. 

 Marty is driven by his passion to contributed to and succeed in both the professional and academic realms.  His exposure to both worlds has enabled him to develop and advance his skills in data analytics and visualisations.  This paved the way for him to successfully undertake a complex and data-centric analysis of the influences governing the boom of the solar PV systems adoption in Australia. Marty is the lead developer of the "Solar PV in Australia" dashboard (see here).

Marty can be contacted at paul.m.fuentes@student.uts.edu.au. 

Viktor Lochot is completing his Master of Engineering Management at UTS and his Master of Engineering at IMT Nord Europe (France). His work focuses on macroeconomic analysis of sustainable economies through input-output analysis and green energy transition models. He aims to help policy makers in the fight against climate change by providing insight into the consequences of CO2 emission reductions on GDP and employment.

Viktor previously gained experience in sustainability analysis at Polytechnique Montreal. He also acquired proficiency in change management in the aerospace industry, contributing to the digital transition of SAFRAN.

Viktor can be contacted at: viktorstephanesven.lochot@student.uts.edu.au

Paul Gerard is completing his Master of Environmental engineering management at UTS and his Master of Industrial Engineering at IMT Mines Alès (France). His work focuses on the green hydrogen supply chain between France and African countries. The goal is to analyse the potential of several African suppliers and identify the best roads and means to transport hydrogen. The study takes technical capacities into account but also geopolitical aspects to find the most stable supply chain.

Paul can be reached at: PaulSebastienMarc.Gerard@student.uts.edu.au

Parth Chaudhary is currently a postgraduate student pursuing a Master of Engineering major in Operations at the University of Technology Sydney. For more than 13 years he has demonstrated excellence in engineering insurance, risk & project management as a Project Manager and Sr. Technical Consultant. He excels in the construction, erection, and commissioning of critical infrastructures and assets such as power plants, steel plants, and kilns. His interests are sustainable energy, engineering risk management, disaster/crisis management, business continuity management, and business resilience. He enjoys reading published scholarly journals, articles, and research reports in his spare time. 

Parth can be reached at: parth.s.chaudhary@student.uts.edu.au

Sara Tavakoli received her BSc in Electrical Engineering and MSc in Energy Systems Engineering from Amirkabir University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2012 and the Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran in 2016 respectively. A multi-carrier energy system was the focus of her master's degree final project. She worked for nine years in the field of grid planning and stability. Sara's current key interest is in smart grids and long-term planning of multi-energy systems.

Dr Ahmad Rafiee is a Research Fellow at the University of Galway (Galway, Ireland) on “green hydrogen for decarbonizing heat and feedstock in Irish industry”. Before joining the University of Galway, he has been working with DANA CLUSTER Pty Ltd on CCUS, biogas upgrading, simulation and optimisation of chemical processes, modelling and optimisation of energy systems, in addition to hydrogen supply chain optimisation.

Zhen Chen is a visiting scholar in the Faculty of Engineering and IT. His research focuses on behaviour-influenced green supply chain pricing and decision-making. By using game theory approaches, he seeks to determine the optimal pricing for green supply chains and provide decision strategies for manufacturers and retailers in the supply chain.

Zhen Chen comes from the Liaoning Technical University in China. He is sponsored by the China Scholarship Council (CSC) and is a jointly trained doctoral student under this program. In addition, he is a teacher at the Liaoning Institute of Science and Engineering, working in the School of Information Engineering. He primarily teaches courses related to artificial intelligence, data science, and other related subjects.

Zhen Chen can be reached at: zhen.chen@uts.edu.au