Keynote Speakers – SmartAgriSuSY

Keynote Speakers

Prof. Roberto SACILE

University of Genova, Italy

Pr. Roberto SACILE, full professor in industrial automation and systems engineering, invited professor in systems engineering at Sorbonne Université – UTC, received the Laurea degree in electronic engineering from the University of Genova, Genova, Italy, in 1990, and the Ph.D. degree from Milan Polytechnic, Milan, Italy, in 1994. He has been holding a postdoctoral position at the French National Institute for Research in Computer Science and Control (INRIA), Sophia Antipolis, France. He is at the University of Genova, Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and Systems Engineering, where he is the Head of the Systems Engineering Lab. He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE ACCESS. His main research interests are related to decision support methodologies and optimal control techniques with specific applications to energy, environmental and transport systems.

Prof. Michela ROBBA

University of Genova, Italy

Pr. Michela Robba is an Associate Professor of Systems Engineering at the University of Genoa. She received the Degree in Environmental Engineering in 2000, and the PhD in Electronic and Computer Engineering in 2004, from the University of Genova. The research activity is focused on optimisation and control of smart grids, electric vehicles, renewable energy resources, and natural resources management. She is a member of the scientific board of the Italian Energy Technological Cluster, and she is the President of the Liguria Region (Italy) Energy Consortium. She is Senior Editor for the journal IEEE Transactions on Automation Science and Engineering, and Associate Editor for International Journal of Robotics and Research, IEEE Transactions on Cybernetics, and Control Engineering Practice. She has joined several International Program Committees at conferences in the field of control and optimisation, and she is a member and vice-chair of different IFAC Technical Committees. She is Chair of the IFAC Technical Committee 6.3 Power and Energy Systems, and she is Chair of the IFAC Coordinating Committee Power, Energy and Sustainability. Actually, she is a lecturer for the courses ”Simulation of sustainable energy ”, ”Models and methods for Energy Engineering”, and ”Methods and models for logistics” at the Polytechnic School of the University of Genova. She is author of more than 150 publications in international journals, books and proceedings of international conferences. Main publications can be found at: https://scholar.google.it/citations?user=baTT1PwAAAAJ&hl=it

Prof. Ahmed OUAMMI

ETS Montreal

Pr. Ahmed OUAMMI received the Ph.D. degree from the Faculty of Engineering of Genoa, Italy, in 2010. He was a Research Fellow with the University of Genoa and an Assistant Professor with the National Centre for Scientific and Technical Research (CNRST). He was an Associate Professor with Qatar University. Currently, he is affiliated with the Department of Electrical Engineering, ETS Montreal.His research interests include artificial intelligence application, control and optimization of smart systems and microgrids, with special focus on the implementation of original methods, models and optimal control algorithms with applications to cooperative and interconnected smart systems

Prof. Hanane DAGDOUGUI

Polytechnique Montreal - Canada

Pr. Hanane DAGDOUGUI (Member, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in systems engineering from the Faculty of Engineering of Genova, Genoa, Italy, and the Mines Paris-Tech in France, as part of an international joint Program in 2011. She is currently a Professor with the Department of Mathematics and Industrial Engineering, Polytechnique Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada. Prior to joining the Polytechnique Montreal in 2017, she was a Research Assistant with the Department of Informatics, Bioengineering, Robotics, and System Engineering, University of Genoa, Genoa, Italy, in 2013.From 2013 to 2016, she was an institutional Researcher with the Department of Electrical Engineering, ÉTS Montreal, Montreal, QC, Canada. She has authored or coauthored in the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON SMART GRIDS, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON INDUSTRIAL INFORMATICS, IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON CONTROL SYSTEM TECHNOLOGY, and IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING in his research areas, which include the distributed optimization theory and applications of mathematical optimization, the applications of mathematical optimization and machine learning techniques to problems of smart grids, microgrids, and smart buildings, the techno-economic modeling and planning of renewable energy-based systems, demand response, and electric transportation.

Mr. Coen HUBERS

ACCEZ, The Netherlands

Coen HUBERS Msc has different roles within the Dutch Agrifood Ecosystem working within Triple Helix settings. As accelerator at ACCEZ a partnership of the Province of South Holland, Leiden University, TU Delft, Erasmus University Rotterdam and Wageningen UR he’s been part of an industry wide transition process towards a more sustainable horticulture cluster. Currently he’s involved in the process of creating the knowledge infrastructure of newly created FloraCampus in collaboration with the World Horti Centre. Besides he has active involvement within the Foundation African Greenports in setting up horticulture clusters in both Nigeria and Morocco. He graduated at Rotterdam School of Management in 2003 and has a specialization in Agricultural Economics from Tilburg University.

Prof. Marco FOSSA

University of Genova, Italy

Professor Fossa attained his PhD in Thermal Engineering at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Genova (Unige, www.unige.it), Italy, in 1993 . Since 1993 Professor Fossa worked at the Faculty of Engineering of the University of Genova, Italy (to date at Dime, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Energy, Management and Transportation) as full time senior researcher and since 2007 as full time associate professor. During this period Prof. Marco Fossa has several visiting research appointments, including an overall one year spent a CERN Geneva and one and half overall year spent at UNSW Sydney. Since October 2017 he is full Professor of Applied Thermodynamics and Heat Transfer (Ing-Ind10 Scientific Sector) at Dime Department (www.dime.unige.it)

Prof. Helmi HAMDI

Qatar University, Qatar

Dr. Helmi Hamdi is currently a Research Associate Professor at the Center for Sustainable Development, Qatar University, in charge of the Food and Water Security Program. He obtained a MS degree in Agricultural Engineering from the National Institute of Agronomy, Tunisia (2000), and a PhD in Environmental Science and Resource Management from Okayama University, Japan (2006). He also holds a Habilitation degree in Agri-Environmental Sciences earned in 2017. He has been awarded several prestigious scholaships to carry out advanced research under the Japanese MEXT and JSPS, the US Fulbright, and the German DAAD programs. As of September 2025, He has published two books, four book chapters and more than 70 peer-reviewed papers, conference papers, and research reports in the fields of sustainable crop production improvement, agricultural valorization of non-conventional inputs, and nanotechnology applications in agriculture.

Prof. Amin BENNOUNA

University of Cadi Ayyad, Faculty of Science and Technology, Marrakech, Morocco

Professor Amin BENNOUNA is an active retiree who taught physics from 1980 to 2022 and has published over 300 various publications. He won a National Research Award in 2009 and led two energy companies (until 2005 and 2018) which made him hold various responsibilities within AMISOLE-FENELEC until 2016. After coordinating two European "Medcampus" projects (1990-95), he led the "Propre.ma" project (2014-2017), built two energy scenarios for Morocco by 2030 (2007) and 2050 (2024). Currently, he meets the needs of 111 journalists in Morocco in their information on energy in the country.

Prof. Cherki GHOULAM

University of Cadi Ayyad , Faculty of Sciences Semlalia Marrakech, Morocco

Cherki GHOULAM is a full professor at Cadi Ayyad University (UCA), Faculty of Sciences and Techniques of Marrakech and affiliate professor at Agrobiosciences Program of Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, Benguérir. He is specialist in agroecology and crop physiology. He is member of the Excellence Laboratory of Agrobiotechnology & Bioengineering and the Agrobiotech Center. He is conducting research works on grain and forage legumes, their nitrogen fixing symbiosis with soil rhizobacteria and their interactions with the most prevailing climate change-induced abiotic stresses in Morocco and Africa. His research experiments are based on laboratory, greenhouse and field trials with focus on the selection of resilient legume genotype-rhizobia strains combinations more performing for biological Nitrogen Fixation mainly under the abiotic constraints (water deficit, salinity, P deficiency) and the study of their beneficial agroecological roles, through rotation and intercropping, for the agrosytem. Identification of alternative crop species and efficient farming practices to deal with soil salinity and develop biosaline agricultural system is one of the main objectives of his research activities. He focuses also on deciphering the agro-physiological and molecular mechanisms involved in the tolerance of legumes, their rhizobacterial partners and other crops to abiotic stress, imposed by climate change. He coordinated about 20 projects on these research topics in close collaboration with many national institutions and international organisms throughout the world.