Franz Faupel is Professor Emeritus at Kiel University. Until 2025, he held the Chair for Multicomponent Materials. He is a founding member of the International Alliance of Societies for a Sustainable Future (SFS), the founder of the North European Initiative Nanotechnology (NINa SH e.V.), and a member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts (EASA). He has published more than 450 research papers, inter alia, on metallic glasses, functional nanocomposites, magnetoelectric sensors, photocatalysis, plasma deposition, and memristive devices for bioinspired neuromorphic computing.

Emanuel Ionescu is Professor of Chemical Materials Technology at TU Wien, where he leads research in inorganic materials synthesis and processing, developing high-performance materials with tailored compositions, morphologies, microstructures, and property profiles, including materials for extreme environments and sustainable technologies. His research also addresses circular economy concepts, process modelling, sustainability assessment, and process digitalization. He studied Chemistry and Physics at the University of Bucharest and TU Braunschweig, received his doctorate in Inorganic Chemistry from the University of Bonn, and completed his habilitation at TU Darmstadt. Before joining TU Wien, he held academic and research leadership positions at TU Darmstadt, the University of Cologne, and Fraunhofer IWKS. He serves as Editor of the Journal of the European Ceramic Society, is a Fellow of the American Ceramic Society, and is currently SPARC Guest Professor at IIT Madras.