Prof. Nick Quirke, Imperial College London, UK.
Nick Quirke is Professor Emeritus of Chemical Physics at Imperial College, London. His group conducted theoretical research in the general area of nanomaterials with particular interest in their interaction with biological interfaces and with polymeric insulators. This fundamental research finds application in toxicology and in power engineering. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, Editor-in-Chief of the international Journals, Molecular Simulation, and the Journal of Experimental Nanoscience. He received the 1998 Royal Society of Chemistry Medal for Thermodynamics and was Royal Society / Kan Tong Po Professor at the University of Hong Kong for 2003/2004. He was awarded the 2006 NSTI Fellow Award for Outstanding Contributions in Advancing Nanotechnology and in 2013 a Yangtze river professorship ship at Xi’an Jiaotong university and was appointed adjunct professor at BUCT. His career has included leadership positions in both academia and industry. He was Principal Research Associate at BP. From 2006 to 2011 he was Vice President and Principal of engineering and science, University College Dublin.
Prof. Andrea Cavallini, University of Bologna, Italy.
Andrea Cavallini is Full Professor at the University of Bologna. From 1991 to 1994 he was a PhD student in electrical engineering at the Department of Electrical Engineering in the same University. He obtained the PhD in 1995. From 1995 to 1998 he was researcher at the Ferrara University. He works on endurance modelling and diagnostics of insulation systems. His research focuses on partial discharges detection and identification through innovative detection system and artificial intelligence techniques. Partial discharge phenomena under PWM voltage waveforms are currently his principal line of investigation. In particular, the dependence of partial discharge phenomena on thermal aging, temperature and pressure is dealt due to its strong impact in the automotive and aerospace industry. He is also involved in the characterization of dielectrics and electrical insulation systems for power electronics. He is co-author of about 280 scientific papers and 15 international patents, co-founder of the University spin-off Techimp and is active in IEEE DEIS (Adcom 2010-2016, Education c.tte chair from 2010, Italy Chapter President, chair of the TC on Transport Electrification), CIGRE (Italian national representative 2004-2008, convener of WG D1.43 and D1.74), IEC TC 2 MT 10 (project leader of IEC 60034-18-41 Ed. 2), and SAE (WG AE11). He is IEEE Fellow.
Prof. Masahiro Kozako, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan.
Masahiro Kozako (Member, IEEE) received the B.Eng., M.Eng., and Dr.Eng. degrees in electrical engineering from the Kyushu Institute of Technology, Kitakyushu-shi, Japan, in 1997, 1999, and 2002, respectively. He has worked with Waseda University, Tokyo, Japan, for three years, and the Kagoshima National College of Technology, Kirishima, Japan, for three years, as an Assistant Professor. He was a Visiting Researcher with the Laboratoire Plasma et Conversion d’Energie (LAPLACE), Université Paul Sabatier, Toulouse, France, in 2011. He is currently a Full Professor with the Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Kyushu Institute of Technology, Japan. His research interests concern the development of new insulating polymer nanocomposite materials and the development of diagnostic techniques for electric power apparatus. Prof. Kozako is a member of the Japan Institute of Electronics Packaging (JIEP), the Institute of Electrical Engineers of Japan (IEEJ), and the Conseil International des Grands Réseaux Electriques or International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE).
Assoc.-Prof. Thomas Andritsch, University of Southampton, UK.
Thomas Andritsch (M‘11, SM'21) is as an associate professor at the University of Southampton, with a research focus on advanced insulation materials for high voltage applications, including nanodielectrics, electroactive polymers, alternative fluids, and syntactic foams. He has been an elected member of the IEEE DEIS AdCom since 2018 and is the General Chair of the CEIDP for 2024 and 2025. He is member of the IEEE DEIS WGs on Nanodielectrics and on Transport Electrification, and the CIGRE WGs D1.73 and JWG B1/D1.75.
Drs. Marie-Paule Besland, CNRS, University of Nantes, France.
Marie-Paule Besland currently works at the Institute of Materials Jean Rouxel, University of Nantes. After a PhD at Montpellier University (France), she joined the CNRS at Ecole Centrale de Lyon in 1988. From 1992 to 2003, she developed passivation processes for III-V materials and devices involving plasma-based processes (LEOM laboratory, INL since 2011). At IMN, her current research fields are related to the deposition of functional thin films by magnetron sputtering, particularly ternary and quaternary materials, either oxides or chalcogenides. Since 2006, she is involved in a collaborating work dedicated to Resistive Switching in Mott insulators.
