Sustainable Buildings and Infrastructure using Digital Technologies

Prof. Iraklis Varlamis (Member of IEEE, ACM, ELLIS) is a leading expert in data mining and management, a Professor in Harokopio University of Athens, Greece and the Director of the MPhil Program in Computer Science and Informatics. He holds a Ph.D. from Athens University of Economics and Business, Greece, and an M.Sc. in Information Systems Engineering from UMIST, UK. His research spans data mining, social network analytics, recommender systems, and applications of digital technologies in sustainability. With over 280 publications in top-tier journals and conferences and more than 8,000 citations, his work bridges theoretical innovation and real-world impact. He is listed among the Top 2% Highly Influential Scientists in 2023, and 2024 by Stanford University/Elsevier. He has led interdisciplinary projects at national and EU levels (H2020, ECSEL, REC), focusing on energy efficiency, blockchain, and federated learning. As a scientific coordinator he drives collaborations across academia and industry to advance sustainable infrastructure. His leadership in projects like energy-efficient building management and secure digital twin frameworks underscores his commitment to merging data science with environmental stewardship. Notably, he holds 3 patents related to systems that process Web content.

Yassine Himeur (Senior Member, IEEE) is globally recognized for his significant contributions to Artificial Intelligence, especially in areas where AI intersects with cybersecurity, big data analytics, and energy management. Named among the Top 2% Highly Influential Scientists in 2022, 2023, and 2024 by Stanford University/Elsevier, Dr. Himeur is an Associate Professor at the College of Engineering and Information Technology at the University of Dubai, where he also serves as Director of the Master of Electrical Engineering program. He completed his M.Sc. and Ph.D. in Electrical Engineering in 2011 and 2015, respectively, and earned the Habilitation to Direct Research in 2017, allowing him to supervise research. Dr. Himeur's academic journey includes a postdoctoral fellowship at Qatar University (2019--2022) and a tenure as Senior Researcher and Head of the TELECOM Division at the Algerian Center for Development of Advanced Technologies (CDTA). With over 180 research publications, Dr. Himeur has made valuable contributions to the field, co-leading several research projects funded by the Qatar National Research Fund (QNRF), Qatar University, and the University of Dubai. Among his numerous accolades, he was awarded the Best Research Award for the academic year 2023/2024, the Best Student Paper Award at IEEE GPECOM 2020, and the Best Paper Award at the 11th IEEE SIGMAP in 2014. In his leadership roles, Dr. Himeur is the Publicity Chair for ICSPIS 2024, held from November 12--14, 2024, in Dubai, and the Proceedings Chair for the 10th IEEE BigDataService 2024 in Shanghai, China. He was also the Proceedings Chair for the 9th IEEE BigDataService 2023 in Athens, Greece. He serves as the Special Issue Editor for Internet of Energy and Artificial Intelligence for Sustainable Cities in MDPI Energies and is the Chair of the 4th Workshop on Distributed Machine Learning for the Intelligent Computing Continuum (DML-ICC) at the IEEE/ACM UCC 2024. Additionally, Dr. Himeur chairs the Embedded Intelligence Workshop at the IEEE/ACM BDCAT conference in 2024. Beyond research, he actively teaches Advanced AI, Text Mining, and Research Methods, and supervises PhD and Master's students. Dr. Himeur also serves as Chair of the IEEE UAE Chapter for Robotics and Autonomous Systems, Control Systems, and Engineering in Medicine and Biology, and is an Associate Editor for Frontiers in Artificial Intelligence.