Dr. Siddhartha Agarwal is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Mining Engineering at IIT (ISM) since 2020. He is currently involved in research to develop Artificial Intelligence and Machine learning based application in Mining Energy and Supply Chain Systems. He has done his Ph.D. in Systems Engineering and Engineering Mgt. from Missouri University of Science & Technology (UMR) in 2015 with an emphasis on Operations Research and Artificial Intelligence. He has an MS. in Mining Engineering from the University of Alaska Fairbanks, June 2010, and an undergraduate B.Tech. in Mining Engineering from the Indian Institute of Technology- BHU, India, 2006. Previously in the mining domain he has worked for 2 years in Steel Authority of India Ltd during 2006-08. In United States I have worked for the State Department of natural resources during 2009-10 for implementing regulations of environmental protection agency (EPA) and mine reclamation and closure procedures. Besides I have worked for the Minesight software now called Hexagon Mining in Arizona as a mine planning engineer. Besides he has expertise in credit risk, banking and cyber-security of transactions where he spent five years in financial domain from 2015-2020. He worked as Project manager at Discover Financial Services (Top 10 Banks and Credit Card Services in US) and Sr. Manager Risk in Asurion LLC, a mobility and retail insurance Company. Dr. Agarwal’s research interests include online optimization and learning; machine learning; and decision making under uncertainty. His research has been supported by Technological Innovation Hub Govt. of India (IIT-ISM). He has been fortunate enough to be recognized for 2014 Stevens Doctoral Award for Promising Research in Systems Engineering and Integration from the International Council on Systems Engineering (INCOSE)/Stevens Institute Foundation which carries a cash prize of $5000. In 2013 receiving the Outstanding Ph.D. Research Award (Systems Engineering) at Missouri University of Science & Technology (UMR). He is currently a reviewer for a reviewer for the following journals; IEEE Systems Journal; International Journal of Mining Engineering and Mineral Processing; Systems Engineering Journal Wiley Publications (the official journal of International Council of Systems Engineering, INCOSE).

Dr Stephen Hardcastle, now the Technical Director BBE Group Canada, has had a passion for mine ventilation for over 40 years that has served industry, regulators and governments alike. His interest started under the influence of Malcom McPherson at Nottingham University where he completed his BSc and PhD. His career comprises 32 years with the federal government, CanmetMINING where he was a Lead Researcher and Project Manager,, before migrating to consultancy with BBE. He has always been driven by the need to protect workers while making mines more efficient, and that decisions should be based upon sound science and economics. Throughout he has focused on providing quality and understanding to drive change in developing mine ventilation simulators, improved measurement and monitoring methods, and the advancement of ventilation management and control systems. To this end he has led major collaborative research programs, application projects and has become an authority on controlled recirculation, ventilation on demand (or for production), diesel particulate monitoring, and heat stress among others. He has been a Technical Advisor to government, safety and research agencies in both Canada and the US. Stephen has also published over 130 book chapters, scientific and technical papers including contributions to the IMVC dating back to 4th Congress in Brisbane, 1988. He has been well recognized by his peers receiving the Howard Hartmann award from the SME, plus the Vale Medal and a Distinguished Service Award from the CIM. Today he focuses on bringing ventilation and cooling expertise, and solutions to mines throughout the Americas.

Mr. Vikram Sakinala has recently delivered his pre-submission for awarding PhD degree at the Indian Institute of Technology (Indian School of Mines), Dhanbad, India. His expertise in mine occupational safety, health and ergonomics, automation, Industry 4.0, planning and mining methods. He graduated in Mining Engineering from JNTUHCEM – Telangana, India and acquired a master’s degree in mining engineering from IIT (ISM)- Dhanbad, India. He was the gold medalist in master’s for the batch 2017-2019. He was also a topper in his bachelor’s degree program in mining engineering. He published five research papers in peer-reviewed international journals and presented six papers at International Conferences and one at national conferences. He has delivered five expert lectures in India. He gave an expert lecture for the Directorate General of Mines Safety (DGMS) officials recruited in the year 2022 at IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, India. He was offered the prestigious Sandwich program at Curtin University, Australia, in 2021. He served for three years as a member of the Departmental Post Graduate Committee (DPGC) at IIT-ISM, Dhanbad, India. He was also an associate member of “The Institution of Engineers, India”.

Zhao Chenguang is a young scholar in the field of mine ventilation, he graduated with a PhD from the School of Emergency Management and Safety Engineering, China University of Mining and Technology - Beijing in 2023, in the same year, he joined the School of Environmental and Safety Engineering, Nanjing Polytechnic Institute, his main research focuses are the optimization of mine ventilation systems and disaster prevention, Zhao has published 8 papers, obtained 10 authorized patents, participated in 6 research projects on mine ventilation, and won 4 provincial-level or above scientific and technological progress awards in China.