Plenary Speakers

Prof. Michele Chiumenti is a Full Professor of Continuum Mechanics and Structural Analysis at UPC and a Full Research Professor at CIMNE. A graduate of Politecnico di Milano (1994) with a Ph.D. from UPC (1999), he is a renowned expert in non-linear computational mechanics, having published over 150 JCR-indexed articles and monographs (h-index=43, Scopus). He is the co-chairman of the prestigious COMPLAS conference series and is a member of SEMNI since 1999. Recently, his outstanding international career was recognized with the prestigious 2025 Academia Excellence award (formerly ICREA Academia) and as a Guarantor of the Severo Ochoa Excellence Program (2019-2023) at CIMNE. Furthermore, he has been awarded prestigious international distinctions from the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs of China through both the Overseas Talents from the Excellent Scientists Fund (2022) and the High-end Experts Recruitment Program (2014-2016). Throughout his career, he has led numerous European and Spanish-funded research projects focusing on finite element technologies for structural and failure analysis. His current research specializes in the coupled thermo-mechanical analysis of advanced manufacturing processes, including metal Additive Manufacturing and Friction Stir Welding.

Prof Emilio Martinez-Paneda is an academic at the University of Oxford. Prior to joining Oxford, he was a Reader (Associate Professor) at Imperial College London, where he led an interdisciplinary research group from 2019 to 2023 (2019: Lecturer [US Assistant Prof], 2021: Senior Lecturer, 2023: Reader). Before that, he was an 1851 Research Fellow at the University of Cambridge. His recent research focus has been on addressing fundamental scientific challenges that can accelerate our transition to a net-zero carbon society and assist in tackling our energy and climate crises. Prof Emilio Martinez-Paneda has been the PI on over 7M GBP of funding in the past five years (ERC Starting Grant, UKRI Future Leaders Fellowship) and his work has been recognized through multiple awards, including the 2021 UK Young Engineer of the Year (Royal Academy of Engineering), the 2022 Imperial College President’s Medal for Excellence in Research, ECCOMAS’s 2024 Zienkiewicz Award, the 2024 IACM John Argyris Award and the 2025 Philip Leverhulme Prize.