Biographical note

Zakaria Hamimi is Tectonics and Structural Geologist, currently at Benha University in Egypt, and has worked previously at Sana’a University, Yemen (1995-1998) and King Abdulaziz University, Saudi Arabia (2003-2013). He obtained a B.Sc. (distinction with Honors) in 1984 at Assiut University, a M.Sc. in 1988 at Zagazig University, and a Ph.D. in 1992 in Structural Geology and Tectonics at Cairo University. His research focusses on the tectonic evolution of the Arabian-Nubian Shield via structural/microstructural, paleostress, and strain studies, aligned with geological mapping, geomorphology, and remote sensing methodologies. His research output exceeds 80 research publications in national and international journals.

Zakaria Hamimi is President and Founding Member of the Arabian Geosciences Union, since 2012. He has been awarded the medal of the Egyptian Geological Society of Egypt in 2015 and the medal of the Arab Mining and Petroleum Association in 2016. Károly Németh was Professor in Geology at Massey University, New Zealand, until 2022. He retained his academic position at Massey University as Adjunct

Professor in Geology. He is also holding Senior Researcher position at the Institute of Earth Physics and Space Science in Hungary. He is Research Affiliate of the Istituto Nazionale di Geofisica e Vulcanologia di Bologna, Italy. He obtained a Ph.D. in Geology from the University of Otago, New Zealand, in 2001, and a Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from the University of Sopron, West Hungary, in 2003. His expertise includes sedimentology, volcanology, and geoheritage. He worked extensively on research on monogenetic volcanism and volcanic geology in various geotectonic settings. He completed research in each of Earth’s continents and gained strong field-based geology skills including geological mapping and reconstruction of interaction between volcanism and the sedimentary environment. He worked geoheritage research that expanded to characterization of geodiversity.

Abdulrahman Fowler completed a Bachelor of Science majoring in geology at Sydney University, Australia, with first class Honours in Mineralogy, graduating in 1976. He completed a Ph.D. degree at the University of New South Wales, Australia, in 1988. The topic of the Ph.D. was tectonics and structural geology of part of the Lachlan Fold Belt of NSW. He has previously been employed at the University of New South Wales and at La Trobe University, Victoria, Australia. Prior to his doctoral studies, he was employed in the uranium and tin mining industries as Exploration Geologist in the Northern Territory, Queensland, and New South Wales. He has worked as Geological Consultant in gold exploration. He has conducted research projects in Australia, Turkey, Egypt, Oman, and the Emirates. His main research interests are in tectonics of the Arabian-Nubian Shield, sedimentary geochemistry, granite intrusion mechanisms, and strain analysis.

Shoji Arai is Professor Emeritus of Kanazawa University, Japan. After obtaining Ph.D. at University of Tokyo in 1975, he was on Faculty Member at the University of Tokyo, Shizuoka University, University of Tsukuba, and Kanazawa University. Throughout his academic career, he has been working mainly on deep-seated rocks to unravel processes and constitutions of the mantle and lower crust and published more than 350 papers. He is Fellow of Japan Geoscience Union and Winner of awards from Island Arc (Wiley), the Geological Society of Japan, the Society of Resource Geology, and the Japan Association of mineralogical Sciences.

José A. Peláez is Seismologist currently at the University of Jaén in Spain and previously at the University of Granada. He obtained a B.Sc. and M.Sc. in physics and a Ph.D. in seismology at the University of Granada. His research interests are in the areas of seismology in general and seismic hazard, seismic forecasting, and seismotectonics studies in particular. His research has focused on studying these topics in the Ibero-Maghrebian region, including Spain, Portugal, Morocco, and Algeria, although he has also published papers on these subjects in other regions, as Egypt, Mexico, or UAE. He also conducts extensive research on methods for seismic potential, especially in the Betic Cordilleras, Spain. These research efforts have resulted in the publication of over 60 JCR scientific papers, over 25 book chapters, more than 200 conference talks, and several technical reports as results of contracts with different companies.

Mostafa Toni is Professor of geophysics and seismology at Helwan University in Egypt. Currently, he is Consultant at the Saudi Geological Survey (SGS), Saudi Arabia. He previously (2001-2013) worked as Researcher at the National Research Institute of Astronomy and Geophysics (NRIAG) in Egypt. He

obtained the B.Sc. (geophysics) in 2000 from Assiut University (Egypt), M.Sc. (geophysics) in 2007 from Assiut University (Egypt), and Ph.D. (applied geophysics) in 2012 from Assiut University (Egypt), co-supervision with the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology KIT (Germany). His field of research activity focusses mainly on engineering seismology and shallow geophysical investigations. His research output exceeds 30 publications. He acts as Reviewer in several scientific journals and participated in the scientific committees of some Springer Nature conferences. He was Visiting Scholar at Physics Department, Fedrico II University, in Italy (2008), and Postdoctoral Scholar in Germany at the Geophysical Institute, Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (2014-2015).

Rashad Sawires born in Assiut on July 27, 1984, is Egyptian Seismologist who graduated from the Department of Geology, Faculty of Science, Assiut University in 2005 (Distinction with Honor). He obtained his M.Sc. from the same university, while his Ph.D. from the University of Jaen, Spain, in 2017. He is Associate Professor of Applied Geophysics at Assiut University, Egypt. He has been teaching several courses and supervising some M.Sc. and Ph.D. students. His research interests focus on seismotectonics and seismic hazard assessment, besides near-surface geophysical methods. He has developed several research stays in Germany (Martin-Luther King University), the UK (Southampton University), Spain (University of Jaen), Mexico (at both the University of Guadalajara and the National Autonomous University of Mexico), and Switzerland (University of Geneva). He has participated in several research projects and scientific campaigns (e.g., Egypt, Algeria, Tunisia, UAE, Spain, Switzerland, and Mexico).