Biomimicry ─ A Functional Approach

Prof. Dr. Vincent Bels is a Professor Emeritus of the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). He belongs to the Institute of Systematics, Biodiversity and Evolution (UMR 7205 MNHN/CNRS/UA/EPHE) . He received his PhD degree in Zoology from the University of Liège (Belgium). V Bels worked as assistant at the Institute of Zoology of the University of Liège (Belgium) and taught in the "Haute Ecole Condorcet" (Belgium) at various levels with directing the laboratory of Applied Zoology in the CARAH (Belgium) before he was appointed as Full Professor at the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle in 2005. He also was invited Professor of the University of Mons (Belgium) for several years. His research focuses on the functional studies of Vertebrates by integrating morphology, physiology, biomechanics, ethology, and behavioral ecology. V. Bels has authored several books and more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Prof. Dr. Stanislav N. Gorb is a Professor and Director at the Zoological Institute of the Kiel University, Germany. He received his PhD degree in zoology and entomology at the Schmalhausen Institute of Zoology of the Ukrainian Academy of Sciences in Kiev (Ukraine). S. Gorb was a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Vienna (Austria), a research assistant at University of Jena, a group leader at the Max Planck Institutes for Developmental Biology in Tübingen and for Metals Research in Stuttgart (Germany). Gorb's research focuses on morphology, structure, biomechanics, physiology, and evolution of surface-related functional systems in animals and plants, as well as the development of biologically inspired technological surfaces and systems. He received the Schlossmann Award in Biology and Materials Science in 1995, International Forum Design Gold Award in 2011 and Materialica "Best of" Award in 2011. In 1998, he was the BioFuture Competition winner for his works on biological attachment devices aspossible sources for biomimetics. In 2018, he received Karl-Ritter-von-Frisch Medal of German Zoological Society. Gorb is Corresponding member of Academy of the Science and Literature Mainz, Germany (since 2010) and Member of the National Academy of Sciences Leopoldina, Germany (since 2011). S. Gorb has authored several books, more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed journals, and five patents.

Prof. Dr. Roi Gurka is a Professor at the Department of Physics and Engineering Science in Coastal Carolina University. He received his PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering at the Technion IIT (Israel). R Gurka was a postdoctoral fellow at Johns Hopkins University (US). R Gurka research focuses on fluid-structure interactions, turbulence phenomena and bio-inspired flows using flow experimental and numerical tools. R. Gurka has authored more than 80 papers in peer-reviewed journals.