Professor Ebrahim Karimi is a Professor at Chapman University and Tier 1 Canada Research Chair in Structured Waves and Quantum Communication at the University of Ottawa. He has authored over 200 publications and holds 3 patents, exploring the quantum properties of electrons and photons. He was the founder and co-director of the University of Ottawa Quantum Institute (NexQT). He is a Fellow of Optica, the Global Young Academy, the Royal Society of Canada, the National Research Council Canada, and the Max Planck Institute for the Science of Light in Erlangen, Germany. He has been awarded the Ontario Early Researcher Award, the University of Ottawa Early Career Researcher of the Year Award, the Herzberg Medal from the Canadian Association of Physicists, the NSERC Arthur B. McDonald Fellowship, and the Rutherford Memorial Medal from the Royal Society of Canada. Prof. Ebrahim Karimi is a globally recognised physicist whose pioneering research bridges quantum optics, photonic technologies, and quantum information science. He is best known for advancing the science of structured quantum waves, optical angular momentum, and high-dimensional quantum systems. He has made foundational contributions to quantum photonics, real-time imaging of entangled photons, and secure quantum communication.

Yang Ran is a Professor in the Institute of Photonics Technology, Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. His research activities include optical fiber sensing, fiber Bragg gratings, biosensors, and photo-theranostics. He has authored and coauthored more than 100 papers in peer-reviewed journals and conferences, including Nature Communications, Nature Nanotechnology, Light: Science&Applications, Advanced Science, Advanced Fiber Materials, Chemical Engineering Journal, Biosensors and Bioelectronics (H-index: 30). He presented over 20 invited talks at international conferences and hold 10 issued/pending patents. He had obtained 10 more competitive research projects and awards, including the NSFC key project and Guangdong Special Support program and “Pearl River Talents”. He also serves as an Associate Editor of Optics and Laser Technology (Elsevier).

Eugene Demler is a Professor of Theoretical Physics at ETH Zurich, specializing in the study of quantum many-body systems. His research explores strongly correlated states of matter and light, broadly defined—from electrons in solids to dilute atomic gases and photons. His work has profoundly impacted diverse areas of physics, including magnetism, superconductivity, ultrafast dynamics in solids and light-induced states, quantum simulations with ultracold atoms, nonlinear quantum optics, quantum sensing, and the development of real-world applications for NISQ devices.
Prior to joining ETH Zurich in the fall of 2021, Demler spent two decades at Harvard University. He began as a Junior Fellow in the Harvard Society of Fellows, joined the faculty as an Assistant Professor in 2001, and served as a Full Professor from 2005 to 2021. He received his PhD in theoretical physics from Stanford University in 1998.
Demler is the recipient of numerous honors, including the Hamburg Prize in Theoretical Physics (2021), a Simons Investigator Award (2021), a Siemens Research Award from the Humboldt Foundation (2015), and the Johannes Gutenberg Lecture Award from the University of Mainz (2006). Additionally, he has served as a Distinguished Scholar at the Max Planck Institute of Quantum Optics, a Hanna Visiting Scholar at Stanford University, and a Moore Distinguished Scholar at Caltech.

Minghong Yang is chief professor of Wuhan University of Technology, and director of the National Engineering Research Center for Fiber Optic Sensing Technology and Networks. He received PhD in physical electronics from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in 2003. From July 2003 to December 2005, he was with the Fraunhofer Institute for Applied Optics and Precision Mechanics in Jena, Germany as post-doctoral visiting scholar, after that he worked in the Berlin University of Technology, Germany as research fellow. Since 2009, he has been a research faculty member in the National Engineering Research Center for Fiber OpticSensing Technology and Networks, Wuhan University of Technology, China. He has served asTechnical Program Committee member for the 23, 24,25th international conference of Optical Fiber Sensors, and international steering member of the Asia-Pacific Optical Sensors since 2016. He is serving as Topic Editor and Associate Editor for IEEE Sensors Journal.

Dr. Chang-Qi Ma received his PhD degree at the Technical Institute of Physics and Chemistry, Chinese Academy of Sciences, in 2003. After serving as a postdoctoral research assistant at Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh, UK, he joined Professor Peter Bäuerle's research group at the University of Ulm in 2004 as a Humboldt research fellow. From January 2007 to May 2011, he completed his Habilitation at the Institute of Organic Chemistry II and Advanced Materials at Ulm University. Since June 2011, he has been a full professor at the Suzhou Institute of Nano-Tech and Nano-Bionics, Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research interests include the synthesis of organic/inorganic semiconductors, printing processing for organic/perovskite solar cells, and degradation and stability of organic/perovskite solar cells.