Hamideh Khanbareh received her BSc degree, in 2008, in Materials Science and Engineering from University of Tehran. In 2012 she received her Cumlaude MSc degree in Aerospace Engineering from Delft University of Technology, Netherlands. Her final project concerned fractal analysis of microstructures of ultra-high strength aluminium alloys for aerospace applications. She then pursued her PhD in Novel Aerospace Materials group, at Delft University of Technology working on functionally graded ferroelectric composites. During her PhD she also worked as a visiting scientist at the Molecular Electronics Research Group at Max Planck Institute for Polymers (MPIP), in Mainz, Germany. In June 2016 she obtained her PhD degree from Delft University of Technology and subsequently was appointed as a Prize Fellow at the Materials and Structures Research Centre, within the Department of Mechanical Engineering at University of Bath. Dr Khanbareh's main research interests are in materials design, modelling, fabrication and application of piezo- and pyroelectrics in sensing and energy harvesting. Heterogeneous polymer-ceramic composites, offering a wide range of compositional and microstructural design flexibility, are the target of her current research. Dr Khanbareh has authored 21 peer-reviewed journal papers and 10 conference papers. She has been a member of IOM3 SMART MATERIALS & SYSTEMS COMMITTEE (SMASC), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) Ferroelectrics as well as Royal Society of Chemistry.
Vitaly Yuryevich Topolov was born in Rostov-on-Don, Russia (former USSR) on November 8th, 1961. He earned the qualification "Physicist. Educator" (honours degree) in 1984 along with the degrees "Candidate of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics)" and "Doctor of Sciences (Physics and Mathematics)" in 1987 and 2000, respectively, all from the Rostov State University, Russia. Since 2000, he has been a Professor of the same Department. Since December 2006, after reforming the Rostov State University, he is a Professor of the Department of Physics at the Southern Federal University (Rostov-on-Don, Russia). Dr. V. Yu. Topolov was also a visiting scientist at the Moscow State University, Russia (former USSR, 1989), University of Saarland, Germany (1994-1995), Aachen University of Technology - RWTH Aachen, Germany (1998), Karlsruhe Research Center, Germany (2002 and 2003-2004), University of Bath, UK (2006, 2007, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018), and University of Rome Tor Vergata, Italy (2008). His research interests include heterogeneous ferroelectrics, smart materials, domain and heterophase structures, as well as electromechanical effects in ferroelectrics and related materials. He earned the special award from the International Science Foundation (1993) and the Soros Associate Professor title and awards from the International Soros Science-Educational Program and the Open Society Institute (1997, 1998, 2000, and 2001). He is an author of six monographs published at Springer (London, UK, 2009; Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 2012; Berlin, Heidelberg, Germany, 2014; Cham, Switzerland, 2016 and 2018), two edited monographs published at Springer (Cham, Heidelberg, New York, Switzerland, Germany, USA, 2014 and 2016), one edited monograph published at Nova Science Publishers (New York, USA, 2016), five chapters in monographs published at Nova Science Publishers (New York, USA, 2010-2013), and over 450 scientific papers, reviews, conference proceedings, and abstracts. Dr. V. Yu. Topolov has been included in the list of Active Russian Scientists. Honorary co-worker of Higher Professional Education of the Russian Federation (Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation, Moscow, Russia, 2009).
Christopher Rhys Bowen earned a BSc in Materials Science at the University of Bath, UK in 1990 and DPhil in ceramics in the Department of Materials, University of Oxford, UK in 1993. In 1993-1994, he worked at the Technical University of Hamburg-Harburg, Germany. From 1994 to 1996, he was at the School of Materials, University of Leeds, UK and from 1996 to 1998, he was a Senior Scientist at DERA, Functional Materials Group, UK. He joined the University of Bath in 1998 and is now a Professor at the same University. The research interests of Prof. C. R. Bowen are cfunctional ceramics, including ferroelectric ceramics and composites for modern sensors and actuators.
