Speakers
Plenary Speakers
（In alphabetical order by last name）
Dr. Guoqing Guan
Hirosaki University
Fellow of the Engineering Academy of Japan (EAJ)
Editor-in-Chief, Resources Chemicals and Materials
Dr Guoqing Guan is a full professor of Hirosaki University, a fellow of the Engineering Academy of Japan and a Distinguished Fellow of International Association for Carbon Capture (IACC). He received his B.S., M.S. and Ph.D degrees in Chemical Engineering from Sichuan University, China, and Kyushu University, Japan, in 1990, 1993, 1995 and 2004.
His research interests include electrochemical reduction of CO2, urea electrosynthesis, electro-upgrading of biomass intermediates, seawater electrolysis, coal/biomass/plastics pyrolysis and gasification, biorefinery, heterogeneous catalysts for energy conversion, and sustainable energy system.
He has published over 550 international peer reviewed papers, 65 patents and 30 book chapters with a H-index of 73 (WoS) and 84 (Google Scholar).
He is now serving as Editor-in-Chief of Resources Chemicals and Materials, Associate Editors of Carbon Resources Conversion and MetalMat, editorial board members of Fuel Processing Technology and other 5 international journals.
Prof. Sai Gu
University of Warwick
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng)
Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (East and South East Asia), University of Warwick
Professor Sai Gu is Deputy Pro-Vice-Chancellor (East and South East Asia) working closely with Professor Michael Scott, Pro-Vice-Chancellor (International), to maintain, extend and deepen our relationships with university partners in this region, and to pursue opportunities for funding, student mobility, and research and education collaborations.
Prof Gu obtained a PhD in Material Modelling from the University of Nottingham under the supervision of Professor Graham McCartney. He further pursued this material research with Professor Tian Jian Lu as Post-doc at the University of Cambridge. He was a lecturer at Aston University while working closely with Professor Tony Bridgwater in bioenergy research with focus on biomass fast pyrolysis. He continued to expand his bioenergy research at University of Southampton by developing an extensive international network in Asia, Africa and Europe from biomass resources, processing to product upgrading. He was appointed Chair in Clean Energy at Cranfield University in 2011 in partnership with Peterborough City Council to support the growth of high tech sectors. He subsequently established Centre for Bioenergy and Resource Management with large number of PhD and Post-doc researchers. He joined the University of Surrey as the Head of Chemical Engineering in 2015 and engineered the transformation of the department by substantially increasing its size and strengthening its research. He also led the merge of chemistry and chemical engineering as the Head of School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at University of Surrey.
Professor Gu has an international reputation for clean energy and material research. He has a long track-record of coordinating large collaborative projects with international partners and has successfully won tens of million pounds in grants from EPSRC, EU, Innovate UK and industry.
Professor Gu is an advocate of digital technologies for chemical engineering, pioneering the development of Industry 6th Sense technologies. He has established the Centre for Connected Plants of the Future to bring together multi-disciplinary expertise cross the University of Surrey, exploring the development of technology-driven innovation for chemical industry. He has led the EPSRC project "Stepping towards the industrial 6th sense".
Prof. Gideon Henderson
University of Oxford
Professor of Earth Sciences
Gideon Henderson is Professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Oxford. His research as a geochemist focuses on climate, the carbon cycle and the oceans. He applies understanding of natural geochemical systems to assess CO2 removal through intentional human intervention in those systems, both on land and at sea.
He was made a Fellow of the UK’s Royal Society in 2013 and chaired the joint Royal Society and Royal Academy of Engineering report on Greenhouse Gas Removal published in 2018; a report which influenced subsequent UK policy on CO2 removal. He has spoken widely on CO2 removal, including at the World Economic Forum, Select Committees in UK Government, and at numerous academic and industry events.
From 2019 to 2025 Gideon was the Chief Scientific Advisor and Director General for Science and Analysis at Defra (the UK government department responsible for agriculture and the environment). In addition to his university position, he presently serves as Chair of the Met Office Science Advisory Committee and on NERC Council, and he recently stepped down as a member of the Advisory Board to the UN Decade of Ocean Science.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gideon_Henderson
Prof. Daryl Williams
Imperial College London
Professor of Particle Science
Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng)
Professor Daryl Williams is a full professor of Particle Science in the Department of Chemical Engineering at Imperial College London, a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering (FREng). He was awarded a Research Fellowship and subsequently a prestigious EPSRC Advanced Fellowship within the same department. His research program integrates the fundamental science and practical applications of particulate materials and surface phenomena. His expertise spans critical sectors, including pharmaceutical manufacturing, antimicrobial water purification, and advanced adsorbents for air remediation.
A pioneer in characterization science, Professor Williams developed definitive experimental methods for assessing the physicochemical properties of powders. His laboratory is recognized as a global leader in gravimetric and inverse chromatographic techniques, with a specialized focus on water sorption in pharmaceuticals and biomaterials. His current portfolio also addresses urgent global challenges, such as CO₂/SO₂/VOC capture, peptide formulation, and freeze drying.
Beyond the laboratory, Professor Williams bridges the gap between academia and industry. His research group consistently delivers high-impact solutions for multinational corporations regarding materials manufacture and performance. Furthermore, as the Academic Lead for Imperial College’s Carbon Capture Pilot Plant, he has pioneered immersive, hands-on engineering education and public outreach, driving forward critical research in climate change mitigation.
Prof. Shengping Wang
Tianjin University
Changjiang Distinguished Professor
Professor of Ningxia University and Tianjin University
Shengping Wang is a Changjiang Distinguished Professor and a member of the Expert Committee on CCUS for the 2030 National Major Science and Technology Project for Coal. She earned her B.S. (1994) and M.S. (2000) degrees from Hebei University of Technology, and her Ph.D. (2003) in Chemical Engineering from Tianjin University. She joined the faculty of Tianjin University in 2003 and later became a professor in Chemical Engineering at Ningxia University in 2023.
In 2012-2013, she was a visiting professor at the University of California, Berkeley, collaborating with Professor Enrique Iglesia. Her research focuses on surface science and catalysis, including CO2 capture and utilization, as well as the utilization of synthesis gas, with a particular emphasis on the design and structure-performance relationships of catalytic and adsorbent materials.
She has published over 150 papers in leading journals such as JACS, Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., Energy Environ. Sci., and ACS Catalysis. She holds 42 patents in China, as well as 8 patents in the U.S., Europe, and Japan. Prof. Wang has received several prestigious awards, including the First Prize of the Tianjin Natural Science Award and the China Excellent Patent Award.
Prof. Paul A. Webley
Monash University
President of International Adsorption Society
Director of Woodside Monash Energy Partnership
Professor Paul A. Webley is a leader in clean energy technology, specializing in carbon capture and carbon dioxide conversion. He has 30 years of experience across academia and industry, and directs the Woodside Monash Energy Partnership and the ARC Hub for CO₂ Reuse and Recycling at Monash University.
His research has been central to establishing adsorption as a key technology for CO₂ capture. With over 300 publications, 10 patents, and extensive mentorship of PhD students, Professor Webley's work contributes to advancing sustainable energy practices both within and beyond academia.
Prof. Jiayin Yuan
Stockholm University
Wallenberg Academy Fellow
Senior Editor, Accounts of Materials Research
Jiayin Yuan is Professor of Materials Chemistry at Stockholm University, Sweden. He earned his PhD in polymer chemistry in Germany in 2009 and subsequently led a research team developing functional polymers at the Max Planck Institute of Colloids and Interfaces, Germany. After a one-year stay in the United States, he joined Stockholm University as a Wallenberg Academy Fellow in 2018 and has been a full professor since 2019.
He received an European research council (ERC) Starting Grant in 2014 and an ERC Consolidator Grant in 2022. His current research focuses on functional polymers and carbon materials for tackling environmental and energy challenges in sustainable development.
Prof. Aidong Yang
University of Oxford
Professor of Engineering Science, University of Oxford
Leader of Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering Group
Aidong Yang is Professor of Engineering Science and Senior Research Fellow of Green Templeton College at University of Oxford. Before moving to Oxford in 2014, Aidong was a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Chemical and Process Engineering at University of Surrey, where he started as a Lecturer in 2007 after holding research positions in several academic organisations in China, the US, Germany and the UK.
He studied Chemical Engineering in Hebei University of Technology and Dalian University of Technology and received a bachelor's degree and a PhD in 1992 and 1997, respectively.
As a systems engineering researcher, Aidong's work spans a broad range of mathematical modelling approaches and sustainability-oriented applications. At Oxford, he leads the Energy and Environmental Systems Engineering group in the Department of Engineering Science, currently active in areas including industrial decarbonisation, atmospheric CO2 removal and engineering biology.
Prof. Eileen Yu
University of Southampton
Professor of Chemical Engineering (Chair), School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Southampton
Editor-in-Chief, Fuel Cells (Wiley)
Professor Eileen Yu holds a Chair of Chemical Engineering in the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering, University of Southampton. After obtaining her PhD from Newcastle University pioneering on the development of direct methanol alkaline fuel cells, she worked as a research fellow at Max Planck Institute for Dynamics of Complex Technical Systems, Germany before she returned to Newcastle University to take a prestigious EPSRC Research Fellowship (Life Science Interface). This fellowship enabled her to extend her research into the biosciences, from which she has developed an interdisciplinary research profile.
She has a wide range of experience in various fields in electrochemical and bioelectrochemical systems for energy, environmental and biomedical applications. She has attracted more than £20m funding from various funding organisations and led interdisciplinary research group.
Her current research covers understanding fundamentals and engineering applications of electrocatalysis and microbial electrochemical systems with CO2 utilisation, CO2 capture, nitrogen fixation, resource recovery from wastes, bioremediation, environment monitoring with bio-electrochemical systems, and biosensors.
She is the Editor in Chief of Fuel Cells (Wiley), and Associate editor for several journals.
Prof. Mingjun Yang
Dalian University of Technology
National Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars
Dean of the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Dalian University of Technology
Mingjun Yang is a Professor and Dean of the School of Energy and Power Engineering at Dalian University of Technology. He is a recipient of the National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC) grants for Distinguished Young Scholars and Excellent Young Scholars. He also serves as Director of the Engineering Research Center of Low-Carbon Energy and Carbon Capture (Ministry of Education) and Director of the Liaoning Key Laboratory for Natural Gas Hydrate.
He received his B.S. (2005) and Ph.D. (2010) degrees from Dalian University of Technology. From 2015 to 2016, he was a Visiting Scholar at the National University of Singapore. His research focuses on natural gas hydrate exploitation, CO₂ capture, utilization and storage (CCUS), and applications of hydrate-based technologies.
He has published over 70 SCI-indexed papers in journals such as Energy & Environmental Science and Applied Energy, and holds more than 90 Chinese invention patents and 13 international patents. Prof. Yang has received several prestigious awards, including the Second Prize of the National Natural Science Award, two First Prizes of the Natural Science Award from the Ministry of Education, and a Special Gold Award at the Geneva International Exhibition of Inventions.
Alexander Cowan
University of Liverpool
Professor of Chemistry
Alexander Cowan is a Professor of Chemistry at the University of Liverpool, where he leads a research group focused on catalysts for sustainable fuel production. His work spans electrocatalytic CO₂ reduction, water splitting, and solar driven fuel synthesis. Notable advances include work on the use of highly selective molecular catalysts in carbon dioxide electrolysers and on the use of advanced vibrational spectroscopies to follow the catalytic mechanisms of CO2 reduction and water oxidation in-situ.
He joined Liverpool in 2012 after roles at Imperial College London and the University of Nottingham, and was promoted to Professor in 2019. He has held multiple EPSRC Fellowships and serves as Director of the UK Solar Chemicals Network. He is proud to have been part of the team who delivered the UK Circular Chemistry Centre that was awarded the IChemE Global Award for Sustainability (2023) and the RSC Horizon Prize for Energy and Sustainability (2025).
Tianshu Ge
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
Subject Editor, Energy
Guanyi Chen
Tianjin University of Commerce
Associate Editor， Biomass & Bioenergy
Dr. Tiancun Xiao
University of Oxford
Co-Founder and CTO of OXCCU
Dr Tiancun Xiao is a distinguished research scientist at the Department of Chemistry, University of Oxford, specialising in advanced catalysis and carbon capture & utilisation. He has pioneered highly efficient catalytic technologies for converting CO₂ and waste carbon feedstocks into sustainable fuels and high-value chemicals, with landmark publications and industry-validated innovations.
As Co‑Founder and CTO of OXCCU, he led the development of the company’s core direct CO₂-to-hydrocarbons and sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) platform, turning lab-scale breakthroughs into scalable industrial solutions. His research has accelerated global decarbonisation pathways, bridging academic excellence with real-world carbon utilisation impact.