Keynotes
Title: "Bridging Science, Policy, and Practice for Sustainable Natural Resources Management"
Dr. Nigussie Haregeweyn will provide an in-depth overview of erosion-driven land degradation, exploring the science, policy, and development efforts aimed at mitigating its impacts. Drawing from a decade-long collaborative research project involving six Japanese and Ethiopian institutions in the Upper Blue Nile Basin—one of the world’s most erosion-prone and politically complex transboundary river systems—this speech will highlight key lessons learned and their broader applicability. By linking regional-level insights with global-scale perspectives, the presentation will introduce a comprehensive framework designed to bridge gaps between science, policy, and practical implementation in sustainable land management. The discussion will invite reflections on how this framework could be adapted to address similar challenges in comparable regions across the world.
More about Prof. Nigussie Haregeweyn Ayehu
Prof. Nigussie Haregeweyn Ayehu: is a distinguished environmental scientist specializing in soil erosion, hydrology, and sustainable land management, particularly in dryland regions. He earned his Ph.D. in Physical Geography from K.U. Leuven, Belgium, in 2006 and has over 25 years of research and academic experience spanning Africa, Europe, and Asia, providing him with a comprehensive perspective on environmental challenges in both developing and developed countries.
Prof. Nigussie began his career as an Irrigation Engineer in Bahir Dar in 1995 before joining Mekelle University as a lecturer in 2001. Since 2010, he has been a faculty member at Tottori University, Japan, contributing significantly to research, teaching, and academic leadership. He has led and participated in over ten major externally funded research projects, serving as Principal Investigator in four. His work integrates monitoring, experimentation, remote sensing, spatial analysis, and modeling to address local and global environmental challenges. More recently, his research has focused on bridging the gaps between science, policy, and development in land management.
He has published over 150 peer-reviewed articles, accumulating more than 6,500 citations and an h-index of 51 (Web of Science, March 2024). His achievements have been recognized with prestigious awards, including the Belgian Development Cooperation Prize (2008) and the Tottori University Scientific Research Award (2017).
A recognized leader in international research collaborations and academic mentorship, Prof.Nigussie was among 15 global experts selected by the FAO Global Soil Partnership to organize the 2019 Global Soil Erosion Symposium in Rome. He co-edited a special issue (Elsevier) and contributed to key working documents. Since October 2024, he has served as an independent expert for the European Commission, evaluating proposals and monitoring EU-funded projects. He also holds editorial roles in prestigious journals, including Land Degradation & Development (Wiley) and the International Journal of Soil and Water Conservation (Elsevier).
His collaboration with BDU dates back to 2008, when he facilitated connections between Belgian universities (K.U. Leuven and Ghent University), leading to successive Belgian-funded research projects. After joining Tottori University in 2010, Prof. Nigussie played a pivotal role in strengthening the relationship between Tottori University and his home country, Ethiopia, particularly with universities such as Bahir Dar University. This collaboration led to several Japanese government-supported projects. One notable initiative with BDU was the recently completed SATREPS project, which resulted in over 100 SCI-indexed publications, policy briefs, human resources capacity development, and laboratory enhancements. So far, he has (co) supervised about 21 Ethiopian PhD students, 12 of them from Bahir Dar University, of which 5 from BIT.
Prof. Nigussie Haregeweyn Ayeh
Tottori University, Japan
Title: "Powering Africa's Future: Unlocking Economic Transformation through Productive Use of Energy"
Professor Nigus Gabbiye Habtu will deliver a compelling overview of the strategic role of Productive Use of Energy (PUE) in driving Africa’s economic transformation, particularly in rural and underserved regions. Despite progress in electrification, over 600 million people in Sub-Saharan Africa of which 84% of them in rural areas still lack access to electricity. The challenge now lies not just in expanding access, but in ensuring energy that supports income-generation activities, livelihoods, and industrial growth. Using real-world examples, recent data, and policy insights, Prof. Nigus will illustrate how energy can unlock potential in sectors like agriculture, small-scale manufacturing, digital services, and healthcare. He will also examine barriers such as financing gaps, infrastructure deficits, and policy fragmentation, while outlining pathways through decentralized renewable energy, innovation, and inclusive energy planning. His talk underscores the urgency of aligning energy access with broader development goals: job creation, food security, climate resilience, and digital transformation. It will feature case studies from Bahir Dar University and the Technical University of Munich collaborative project through Living Lab approach in rural Amhara region, showcasing how sustainable energy drives rural entrepreneurship. Through actionable insights and inspiring examples, this plenary aims to reframe energy as a catalyst for Africa’s inclusive and sustainable future.
More about Prof. Nigus Gabbiye Habtu
Professor Nigus Gabbiye Habtu is an active and experienced faculty with over 20 years of teaching and research experience in process intensification, renewable energy, and environmental engineering. He earned his BSc in Chemical Engineering from Bahir Dar University (2001), MSc in Process Engineering from Addis Ababa University (2004), and PhD in Chemical, Environmental, and Process Engineering from Rovira i Virgili University, Spain (2011). He has also conducted short visit research at Eindhoven University of Technology, the Netherlands. Prof. Nigus has supervised over 30 PhD, 110 MSc, and 12 visiting scholars. He has authored/co-authored for more than 110 peer-reviewed journal articles, 60 book chapters, and holds a Scopus H-index of 29 (i10 – 64). He has led or co-led more than nine major international research projects.
His research spans process optimization, productive use of energy, and waste-to-energy conversion, with a focus on bioenergy from lignocellulosic biomass through advanced pretreatment and anaerobic digestion technologies. He also conducts interdisciplinary research at the nexus of sustainable energy (solar and biogas) and entrepreneurship. He has held several leadership roles, including Scientific Director of Bahir Dar Institute of Technology, Dean of Research and Graduate Studies, and Head of the Chemical Engineering Department. At Addis Ababa University, he served as Project Manager for the World Bank–funded Africa Center of Excellence for Water Management.
Prof. Nigus is a former Vice President and Secretary of the Ethiopian Society of Chemical Engineers, Chief Editor of the Poly Journal of Engineering and Technology, and a reviewer for leading journals such as Bioresource Technology. Prof. Nigus Gabbiye Habtu is the principal architect behind the inception of the ICAST (International Conference on Advancement of Science and Technology) conference series, which was initiated in 2012. He also served as the Chair of the EIA ICAST-2019 Conference, playing a pivotal role in shaping its success. Prof. Nigus has established a strong track record in fostering international collaboration, working closely with more than ten renowned institutions across multiple continents. Beyond academia, his contributions extend to impactful community service and active involvement in numerous national and international professional platforms, reflecting his commitment to societal advancement through science and technology.
Prof. Nigus Gabbiye Habtu
Bahir Dar University, Ethiopia
Nicos Maglaveras
Professor of Medical Informatics Aristotle University of Thessaloniki Greece
Personalised health driven by digital health systems and multi-source health/environmental data, ML/AI/DL analytics and predictive models
Nicos Maglaveras received the diploma in electrical engineering from the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki (A.U.Th.), Greece, in 1982, and the M.Sc. and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering with an emphasis in biomedical engineering from Northwestern University, Evanston, IL, in 1985 and 1988, respectively. He is currently a Professor of Medical Informatics, A.U.Th. He served as head of the graduate program in medical informatics at A.U.Th, as Visiting Professor at Northwestern University Dept of EECS (2016-2019), and is a collaborating researcher with the Center of Research and Technology Hellas, and the National Hellenic Research Foundation.
His current research interests include biomedical engineering, biomedical informatics, ehealth, AAL, personalised health, biosignal analysis, medical imaging, and neurosciences. He has published more than 500 papers in peer-reviewed international journals, books and conference proceedings out of which over 160 as full peer review papers in indexed international journals. He has developed graduate and undergraduate courses in the areas of (bio)medical informatics, biomedical signal processing, personal health systems, physiology and biological systems simulation.
He has served as a Reviewer in CEC AIM, ICT and DGRT D-HEALTH technical reviews and as reviewer, associate editor and editorial board member in more than 20 international journals, and participated as Coordinator or Core Partner in over 45 national and EU and US funded competitive research projects attracting more than 16 MEUROs in funding. He has served as president of the EAMBES in 2008-2010. Dr. Maglaveras has been a member of the IEEE, AMIA, the Greek Technical Chamber, the New York Academy of Sciences, the CEN/TC251, Eta Kappa Nu and an EAMBES Fellow.
Abstract
The last years saw a steep increase in the number of wearable sensors and systems, mhealth and uhealth apps both in the clinical settings and in everyday life. Further large amounts of data both in the clinical settings (imaging, biochemical, medication, electronic health records, -omics), in the community (behavioral, social media, mental state, genetic tests, wearable driven bio-parameters and biosignals) as well as environmental stressors and data (air quality, water pollution etc.) have been produced, and made available to the scientific and medical community, powering the new AI/DL/ML based analytics for the identification of new digital biomarkers leading to new diagnostic pathways, updated clinical and treatment guidelines, and a better and more intuitive interaction medium between the citizen and the health care system.
Thus, the concept of connected and translational health has started evolving steadily, connecting pervasive health systems, using new predictive models, new approaches in biological systems modeling and simulation, as well as fusing data and information from different pipelines for more efficient diagnosis and disease management.
In this talk, we will present the current state-of-the-art in personalized health care by presenting cases from COVID-19 and COPD patients using advanced wearable vests and new technology sensors including lung sound and EIT, new outcome prediction models in COVID-19 ICU patients fusing X-Rays, lung sounds, and ICU parameters transformed via AI/ML/DL pipelines, new approaches fusing environmental stressors with -omics analytics for chronic disease management, and finally new ML/AI-driven methodologies for predicting mental health diseases including suicidality, anxiety, and depression.
