Keynote Talks:
Prof. Bert Bras, Ph.D.
Brook Byers Professor of Sustainable Systems and Senior Associate Chair for Administration
George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering
Georgia Institute of Technology
Atlanta, GA, USA
Dr. Bert Bras is a Professor at the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology since September 1992. His research focus is on sustainable design and manufacturing, including design for recycling and remanufacture, biologically inspired design, and life-cycle analyses with applications in energy and mobility systems with over 200 publications. His work has been funded by the National Science Foundation, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Boeing, BMW, Novelis, among others. From 2001 to 2004, he served as the Director of Georgia Tech’s Institute for Sustainable Technology and Development. In 2014, he was named a Brook Byers Professor of Sustainability. He was named the Associate Chair for Administration for the George W. Woodruff School of Mechanical Engineering in 2016, Senior Associate Chair in 2022, and briefly served as Interim School Chair in 2018. He also served as Design for Re-X Node Lead for the REMADE Institute from 2017 to 2022.
Dr. Bras has Master of Science (“Ingenieur”) degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Twente (The Netherlands) and a PhD in Operations Research from the University of Houston. Prior to his PhD, he worked at the Maritime Research Institute Netherlands (MARIN).
Prof. Paul Mativenga
Chair in Multi-scale & Sustainable Manufacturing
Director of Laser Processing Research Laboratory (LPRL)
Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering
School of Engineering
Faculty of Science and Engineering
The University of Manchester
Manchester
United Kingdom
Prof. Dr. Ir. Joost Duflou
Departement Werktuigkunde
KU Leuven
Celestijnenlaan
3001 Heverlee
Leuven, Belgium
Joost Duflou holds master degrees in Architectural and in Electro-mechanical Engineering and a PhD in Engineering Sciences from KU Leuven, Belgium. After a number of years of industrial experience in different international companies, he has been a faculty member at the Mechanical Engineering Department of KU Leuven since 1997. He became a tenured Full Professor in 2012. As chairholder of the Flexible Sheet Metal Working domain, he leads a research group focussing on processes and systems development for versatile sheet metal working. His research activities also extend into Ecodesign and Life Cycle Engineering, with special attention for the technological dimension of Sustainable Manufacturing and De-Manufacturing, driven bij systematic LCA impact assessment. He is a CIRP Fellow and has published over 500 peer reviewed international publications 9 (hWoS=52, hScop=58, hSchol=72). As board member of several spin-off companies and professional associations he contributes to research valorisation and dissemination. More detailed information can be obtained at his website.
Industrial Keynote Talks:
Prof. Engr. Adewale Basir Ikotun, FNSE
Professor of Automation and Mechatronics
Chairman and Chief Executive, Automation Group of Companies, Nigeria
Automation House, Podo Industrial Village
Oyo State, Ibadan, Nigeria
Prof. Engr. Adewale Basir Ikotun is a Professor of Automation and Mechatronics, a Chartered Electrical Engineer registered with the Council for the Regulation of Engineering in Nigeria (COREN), and a Fellow of the Nigerian Society of Engineers. He is Chairman and Chief Executive of the Automation Group of Companies in Ibadan, Nigeria, which he has built over more than twenty years into a group spanning industrial training, engineering consultancy and alternative-fuel technology.
The group comprises the Automation and Engineering Academy (Nigeria) Limited, a hands-on training centre covering industrial automation, PLC and SCADA systems, motor drives, robotics and drone design; Safecurrent Engineering Company, specializing in engineering consultancy, reverse engineering and re-manufacturing; and Automation Autogas Company, an approved centre for compressed natural gas vehicle and equipment conversion.
His remanufacturing practice addresses a condition common across African industry: equipment that has outlived its manufacturer's support, for which no drawings, tolerances or spare parts remain available. In 2026 his team completed a full reverse-engineering programme on an industrial packaging machine, producing original design documentation, a complete bill of materials and fabrication specifications for a machine with no surviving manufacturer support.
He serves as Nigeria and Ghana Coordinator for EurAfreman 2026, the first African–European remanufacturing workshop, convened at the University of Palermo. His work seeks to establish remanufacturing as a route to industrial capacity and resource efficiency in West Africa, and to bridge the gap between engineering education and industrial practice.
Torsten Hummen
Senior Expert for Sustainable and Circular Engineering
Operational Sustainability at Corporate Research
Bosch GmbH
Robert Hiedsieck
Director for Product Circularity
GE Healthcare
Buc, France
Robert Heidsieck is Director of the Circularity Innovation Lab at GE HealthCare, where he leads research and innovation on circular economy strategies for complex medical imaging systems. During a career spanning more than four decades at GE HealthCare, he has held leadership positions across R&D, product development, service supply chain, lifecycle solutions, and product circularity, driving the integration of sustainability into industrial operations and business strategy.
After 22 years in research and product development, contributing to approximately 30 medical imaging product launches and around 50 scientific publications and patents, Robert now focuses on advancing circular engineering through repair, refurbishment, remanufacturing, digital technologies, and resilient circular supply chains. His current work combines industrial implementation with collaborative research on digital twins, life cycle assessment, material flow analysis, artificial intelligence, and critical materials recovery to support the transition toward sustainable healthcare systems.
Robert founded and leads GE HealthCare's Circularity Innovation Lab, bringing together researchers, engineers, and doctoral students to develop practical solutions for healthcare circularity. He also lectures at leading French engineering schools, including Institut Polytechnique de Paris, CentraleSupélec, IMT Atlantique, and Télécom SudParis. His keynote presentations bridge academic research and industrial practice, illustrating how circular economy principles can be deployed at scale in highly regulated, high-value industries.
LinkedIn Link: Robert Heidsieck | LinkedIn
Research Gate: Robert Heidsieck