Biographical note

Dr. Ali Kargari is an associate professor in Chemical Engineering Department at Amirkabir University of Technology (Tehran Polytechnic), Tehran, Iran. He received B.S. (1994), MSc. (1996) and PhD (2004) degrees from Amirkabir University of Technology. His researches have been focused on polymeric membranes since 1993. He is the founder and manager of Membrane Processes Research Laboratory (MPRL) and also the president of Farnood Institute of Membrane Technology (FIMTEC) (established in 2019). He is the author of more than 120 scientific papers and several book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Journal of Membrane Science and Research, a SCOPUS indexed journal (a Q2 ranked journal, confirmed by Scimago). Professor Takeshi Matsuura is a senior academic with a career spanning more than 50 years and has held several distinguished posts in many countries including the USA, Canada, Japan, Germany and Singapore. Most recently he joined the University of Ottawa (1992) as the British Gas/NSERC Industrial Research Chair. He served as professor of the Department of Chemical Engineering and the director of the Industrial Membrane Research Institute (IMRI) until he retired in 2002 and was appointed as professor emeritus in 2003. He received the Research Award of International Desalination and Environmental Association in 1983. He is a fellow of the Chemical Institute of Canada and a member of the North American Membrane Society. He has delivered plethora of invited lectures and presentations to many of the world’s foremost scientific events and conferences. He has published over 400 papers in refereed journals, authored and co-authored 6 books and edited 8 books. A special symposium was held at the Eighth Annual Meeting of the North American Membrane Society to honour Prof. Matsuura (together with Dr. S. Sourirajan) for life-long contributions to membrane research and a similarly the International Conference on Membrane Science and Technology 2013 was held in his honour. In addition, he has received the George S. Glinski Award for Excellence in Research and the occasion of his 75th birthday was marked with a special edition of the journal Desalination. Mohammad Mahdi A. Shirazi is currently a postdoctoral researcher in the Center for Membrane Technology, Department of Chemistry and Bioscience at Aalborg University, Denmark. He received his PhD degree in Chemical Engineering from the University of Kashan. His current research interests focus on membrane technologies for resource recovery, desalination, wastewater treatment, and remediation of emerging contaminants, all towards environmental sustainability and the circular economy. He is also keen on materials development and nanofiber membranes for advanced separation technologies. He has contributed to many academic and industrial projects. He also co-edited a book about nanofiber membranes and published >45 references, including international refereed journal papers and book chapters. He has also delivered several invited talks at international events. He has been editing special issues and collections and reviewing for high-ranked journals from reputed publishers. He has a significant commitment to the advancement of cleaner and greener technologies for environmental sustainability and the circular economy.