Ariffin Bin Mohamad Annuar completed his bachelor's degree in Chemical Engineering with honours at Universiti Teknologi Petronas, Malaysia in 2020. He is currently undertaking a PhD in the Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry at the University of Cambridge, United Kingdom supervised by Professor Erwin Reisner. His research interests revolve around the scale-up and feasibility assessment of photocatalytic systems for solar chemical production under realistic conditions.

Gunjan Sharma is a final year doctoral researcher at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India, working under the supervision of Prof. Vivek Polshettiwar in the Nanocatalysis Laboratory. Her research focuses on the design and development of advanced plasmonic nanocatalysts for sustainable chemical transformations and climate change mitigation. She specializes in photocatalysis, plasmonic catalysis, and carbon capture and utilization (CCU), with a particular emphasis on converting greenhouse gases such as CO2 into value-added fuels and chemicals using solar energy. Gunjan’s work explores catalysts that harness localized surface plasmon resonance (LSPR) to drive energy-intensive industrial reactions under mild conditions. Her research includes photocatalytic CO2 hydrogenation, olefin transformations, and light-assisted ammonia synthesis, aiming to replace conventional thermocatalytic routes that require high temperatures and pressures. Through the application of photocatalysis, her work aims to reduce the carbon footprint associated with these reactions, contributing to the goal of achieving net-zero emissions.

Mattia Vettori is a PhD researcher in the group of Prof. Julio Lloret-Fillol at the Institute of Chemical Research of Catalonia (ICIQ). His research focuses on molecular electrocatalysis for sustainable chemical transformations, with particular emphasis on the development of 3d transition metal-based molecular catalysts for CO₂ electroreduction. He is especially interested in manganese-based systems, catalyst heterogenization, and mechanistic studies. His current work investigates how ligand design and electrode integration can tune the selectivity and efficiency of manganese molecular complexes for CO₂ conversion in aqueous media, particularly toward formate production.

Shantanu Nandi received his BSc and MSc degrees in Chemistry from Jadavpur University, India. He completed his PhD in 2023 at CSIR - Indian Institute of Chemical Biology under the supervision of Dr. Ranjan Jana. Following a brief postdoctoral stay at Osaka University, Japan, he joined Prof. Dorota Gryko’s group at the Institute of Organic Chemistry, Polish Academy of Sciences (IOC-PAS), Poland, in 2023 as a postdoctoral researcher. His research interests focus on photoredox and transition-metal catalysis, with particular emphasis on the fixation and valorization of benign C1 feedstocks.

Sijan Devkota is a PhD researcher in Chemical Engineering at Monash University, Australia, working on novel chemical process development for efficient carbon dioxide utilization and sustainable low-carbon fuel production. He completed his Master’s degree at Chungbuk National University, South Korea, where his research focused on ammonia-based hydrogen storage and transportation technologies. Prior to this, he graduated as part of the first batch of Chemical Engineering graduates from Kathmandu University in 2019 and was actively involved in teaching and national feasibility studies related to green ammonia, urea production, and carbon utilization technologies in Nepal. His technical research expertise includes process modelling, simulation, techno-economic analysis, and environmental assessment of sustainable chemical and energy systems. Sijan has contributed to projects related to hydrogen production, storage, purification, and carbon capture and utilization, supporting the development of circular low-carbon technologies. He has published in high-impact international journals, actively contributes as a journal reviewer, and regularly participates in professional conferences and research collaborations in the fields of sustainable energy and environmental engineering.

Dr. Sudip Bhattacharjee was born in Ghurisha, village in the state of West Bengal. He completed his Ph.D. in 2025 at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science under the supervision of Asim Bhaumik. His doctoral research was primarily focused on the catalytic conversion of carbon dioxide (CO₂) into value-added chemicals and fuels through heterogeneous catalyst. His research aimed to develop sustainable catalytic processes for carbon utilization, addressing both environmental and energy-related challenges. During his Ph.D., Dr. Bhattacharjee actively participated in several Indo–German collaborative research projects focused on CO₂ valorisation and sustainable fuel production. His research focused on converting CO₂ into fuels and value-added chemicals using transfer hydrogenation, with liquid organic hydrogen carriers and biomass-derived hydrogen sources. He also worked on CO₂ conversion to formylation, urea, carbamates cyclic carbonates and polymers.These studies contributed to the development of efficient catalytic systems for CO₂ reduction under environmentally benign and industrially relevant conditions. Following the completion of his Ph.D., Dr. Bhattacharjee joined as a Postdoctoral Fellow under the supervision of Radek Zbořil (VSB -Technical University of Ostrava) and Rajenahally V. Jagadeesh at (VSB - Technical University of Ostrava and Leibniz Institute for Catalysis). His current research focuses on the development of advanced single atom based heterogeneous catalysts and sustainable catalytic processes for carbon dioxide conversion, renewable fuel synthesis, and carbon-neutral chemical manufacturing. Google scholar link: https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=d5B-Xm0AAAAJ&hl=en

Dr. Yuman Qin obtained her PhD in Chemistry from the University of Antwerp, Belgium, in November 2024 under the supervision of Prof. Shoubhik Das. She then joined the University of Bayreuth, Germany, as a postdoctoral researcher (Dec 2024 – Nov 2025) working with Prof. Shoubhik Das. Since December 2025, she has been a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Münster, Germany, in the group of Prof. Armido Studer. Her research focuses on homogeneous and heterogeneous photocatalysis for the valorization of waste carbon resources, including selective plastic degradation and the direct use of low-purity CO₂ to synthesize highly functionalized γ-lactams. During her postdoctoral work, she has further developed heterogeneous photocatalytic strategies using CO₂ as a green oxygen donor for oxidative alkene cleavage. Dr. Qin has published 12 SCI papers in journals including Science, Nature Communications, Chem, Advanced Science, Chemical Science, and Angewandte Chemie International Edition. She received the Outstanding PhD Graduate Award from the University of Antwerp (2024), was a finalist for the EuChemS Young Chemist PhD-level competition (2024), and received the Bavarian Gender Equality Award (2025).

Dr. Yuyan Zhang is an independent research group leader in the group of Prof. Regina Palkovits at RWTH Aachen University/Forschungszentrum Jülich, Germany. Her research integrates heterogeneous catalysis, high-throughput automation platforms, and data-driven optimization, with a focus on developing intelligent catalytic systems for sustainable energy conversion and chemical transformations. Dr. Zhang received her Ph.D. from Charles University under the supervision of Prof. Jiří Čejka. After that, she joined the Max Planck Institute for Chemical Energy Conversion (MPI CEC) as a postdoctoral researcher in Prof. Walter Leitner’s group. She has published over 20 papers in high-impact journals such as J. Am. Chem. Soc., Angew. Chem. Int. Ed., and is the author of the Springer book chapter and two patents. In 2024, she received funding from the DFG Priority Program SPP 2080 “DynaKat”. In 2025, she received a research grant from the Cluster of Excellence “FSC2 – The Integrated Fuel and Chemical Science Center.”