Home > 2025 Keynote Speakers
Yuyuan Zhao
University of Liverpool, UK & Ningbo University of
Technology, China
Biography: Dr. Yuyuan Zhao graduated with a BEng in 1985 and MSc in 1988 from Dalian University of Technology, China, and a DPhil in Materials from Oxford University in 1996. He was a Lecturer at Dalian University of Technology from 1988 to 1991, a Research Associate at the MADYLAM Laboratory of CNRS, France in 1995, and a Research Fellow at Birmingham University from 1995 to 1998. Dr. Zhao worked at Liverpool University from 1998 to early 2023 for more than 24 years, starting as a Lecturer and later as a Professor. He is currently an Honorary Professor at Liverpool University and a Professor at Ningbo University of Technology. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao pioneered the Sintering and Dissolution Process (SDP) for manufacturing aluminium foam, which inspired the subsequent developments of several powder-based space-holder methods for manufacturing metal foams. He further invented the Lost Carbonate Sintering (LCS) process, a more versatile and cost-effective method for producing micro-porous metals. The LCS technology has led to the creation of Versarien, a highly successful start-up company which mass produces micro-porous copper for thermal management applications. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao was awarded the Ivor Jenkins Medal in 2015 for an outstanding contribution to powder metallurgy in developing and commercialising innovative powder based technologies for manufacturing metal foams. Dr. Yuyuan Zhao current research is focused on the manufacture, characterisation and applications of porous metals and metal matrix syntactic foams.
Akihiko Fujiwara
Kwansei Gakuin University, Japan
Biography: Prof. Akihiko FUJIWARA gained his Ph.D in 1995 from Tohoku University in Japan. He worked at Department of Physics in the University of Tokyo as a Research Associate (1995 – 2001), at School of Materials Science in Japan Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (JAIST) as an Associate Professor (2001 – 2010), and at Japan Synchrotron Radiation Research Institute (JASRI/SPring-8) as a Chief Scientist (2010 – 2015). From 2015, he has been a Full Professor at Department of Nanotechnology for Sustainable Energy in Kwansei Gakuin University. Beside the above primary research position, he was a Visiting Professor at Department of Physics in Tohoku University and at JAIST. His main research interests are experimental condensed mattered Physics focusing on semiconductor and battery materials for sustainable development.
Kwati Leonard
Kyushu University, Japan
Biography: Professor Kwati Leonard is an associate professor at the International Institute for Carbon-Neutral Energy Research (I2CNER) at Kyushu University. He earned his PhD in Applied Chemistry from the University of Kagoshima, Japan 2011. That same year, he established his expertise by receiving the prestigious JSPS Post-Doctoral Fellowship for Foreign Researchers. He then joined Kyushu University, where he made significant contributions to the advancement of energy conversion devices. In 2012, he was honored with a Young Scientist Award at the International Conference on Nanostructure-Enhanced Photo-Energy Conversion held in Tokyo, Japan. Professor Leonard specializes in solid-state electrochemistry and proton-conducting materials. His research currently focuses on processing ceramic proton conductor membranes for electrochemical devices. Since 2018, he has also been a visiting senior research scientist at the Institute of Energy Materials and Devices (IMD), Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany.