Dr John Clout is an internationally recognised expert in relating iron ore and concentrate properties to their high temperature process performance including sintering, pelletising, direct reduction and smelting. He has worked in research (previously at CSIRO), at WA mining operations as well as consulting to steelmills. John Clout has recently been appointed as Adjunct Professor at Curtin University, where he brings real-world experience to teaching and research projects, aiming to help make a significant contribution to carbon neutral metals production in WA.

Christian Böhm has been working in the field of direct and smelting reduction for 35 years. Starting with responsibilities for COREX and FINEX, the area has been extended to Midrex, FINORED and the new direct reduction processes e.g., HYFOR and HYREX. He is the Head of the Technical Committee of the IIMA and participates in various Scientific Committees/Advisory Committees for international conferences such as ESTAD, ABM, ECIC/ICSTI or EOSC. The current focus is planning for Smelting and Direct Reduction including smelting with main focus on decarborization.

Professor Geoff Brooks has published over 250 papers on fundamentals aspects of iron and steelmaking and has worked closely with steel companies in Europe, Asia and North America. He is currently a Professor of Engineering at Swinburne University of Technology. Geoff has been previously an Associate Professor at McMaster University and a Senior Lecturer at University of Wollongong. Geoff was awarded John Elliott Lectureship Award by the Association for Iron and Steel Technology in 2013 and the Bessemer Gold Medal by the Institute of Materials, Minerals and Mining (IOM3) in 2023. Geoff and research collaborators have also been awarded several international awards such the 2015 MetSoc Award, 2015 Marcus Grossman Award ASM and 2020 Williams Award by IOM3. He is a fellow of the IOM3.

Roberto Valery is a Chemical Engineer, who graduated in 2003 from Simon Bolivar University, Venezuela. He began his professional career as Process Specialist in an HBI plant in southern Venezuela. Roberto joined Metso in 2013 and has been working on the development of Circored and other fluidized bed applications. He is based in Oberursel, Germany and holding the position of Product Manager in Direct Reduced Iron Product Group at Metso’s Metals Business Area.

Dr Youngcheol Yang is a senior researcher who works as a team leader in the Low-Carbon Iron and Steel Making R&D Center of POSCO Technical Research Insititute. He obtained a Ph.D. in mineral resource engineering from Chonbuk National University in Korea and worked as a post-doctor for 2 years at the KIGAM(Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources) and conducted research on beneficiation process. He joined POSCO Technology Research Institute in 2009 and has been conducting various research on the characteristic evaluation and sintering process of iron ore. The main areas of research are evaluation of the properties of iron ore, prediction of sintering operation using iron ore properties, sintering process of iron ore, beneficiation of iron ore and by-products, and recycling of by-products.

Paul is responsible for leading the second Steel Research Hub, which brings major domestic and global steel manufacturers, innovative SMEs and peak industry bodies, together with 9 outstanding Australian university partners. Based at the University of Wollongong, this important engagement represents a very strong consortium to effectively progress steel innovation in Australia and to facilitate the industry’s transformation towards a resilient, environmentally sustainable and economically competitive position across the entire steel supply chain. Internationally recognised for expertise and publications in ironmaking research and technology development, he combines years of engineering, technical, research and executive management experience to help solve complex problems across various areas of steelmaking and ferrous minerals industries. He is an elected Fellow of the Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering (ATSE).