Prof. Vanwanseele is a full professor and the head of the Human Movement Biomechanics research group at the Department of Movement Sciences, KU Leuven. She is also the director of the Leuven Institute of Sports Science. She is an international recognized expert in muscle and tendon biomechanics covering highly specialized biomechanical modelling techniques including musculoskeletal modelling and finite element modelling, with medical imaging. She has published more than 100 full papers in peer-reviewed international journal, attracted research grants, supervised 15 PhD students to completion and is currently supervising 10 PhD students. She has presented her research at several national and international conferences.

Prof. Vanwanseele focuses her research on developing insights and innovative methodologies to achieve personalized rehabilitation and training regimes to enable each of us to perform optimally. Prof. Vanwanseele is also involved in the implementation of evidence-based methods to improve training programs for elite athletes such as the Belgian national hockey team and is the co-founder of a Spin-off company RunEasi. 

Thor is a Professor at the Auckland Bioengineering Institute and has a joint appointment with the Department of Engineering Science & Biomedical Engineering at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Thor’s research combines medical imaging with computational modelling to understand mechanisms of musculoskeletal injury and disease. Current projects focus on technology to assist people with neurological disorders and the use of models and wearable sensors in orthopaedics. He has published 156 journal papers on these topics and spun-out two companies from his research, including IMeasureU (inertial sensing for human movement) and FormusLabs (orthopaedic pre-operative planning).

Martyn Nash is a Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Deputy Director of the Auckland Bioengineering Institute, at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. The primary focus of his research career has been on bioengineering analyses of the heart in order to understand mechanisms underlying electro-mechanical cardiac muscle activity in health and disease. Dr. Nash is also engaged in the design and refinement of experimental techniques, bioinstrumentation and medical devices, and model-based approaches to medical image analysis to deepen understanding of biological systems. He strives to improve diagnostic techniques, and aid in the discovery and monitoring of therapies for prevention and treatment of disease, to ultimately improve patient management and care.

Dr. Nash is an elected Fellow of the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, and Senior Member of IEEE and EMBS. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Functional Imaging and Modelling of the Heart (FIMH) biannual international conference, and editorial boards of the international journals Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology, and Computer Methods in Biomechanics and Biomedical Engineering. Dr. Nash has supervised 37 PhD, 19 Masters and >80 Honours dissertation students, and has authored more than 160 international journals articles and 40 book chapters, which have collectively attracted more than 9100 Google Scholar citations to-date.

Dr. Bing-Shiang Yang is the Deputy General Director of Mechanical and Mechatronics Systems Research Laboratories, Industrial Technology Research Institute. He is also a Professor of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University (formerly National Chiao Tung University). Between 2020 and 2022, Dr. Yang served as the department chair and the CEO of the Innovative Creative Technology (ICT) Co-working Space at the university, which is the accelerator for interdisciplinary collaborative teaching and practical learning. In addition, he is the past president of the Taiwanese Society of Biomechanics.

Dr. Yang received a Ph.D. from the University of Michigan-Ann Arbor, and M.S. and B.S. in mechanical engineering from National Taiwan University. Besides, he is a National Professional Refrigeration and Air-Conditioning Engineer. His research interests are neuro-musculoskeletal control of human movements, and integrating engineering technologies to solve unmet needs for different industries and individuals. Dr. Yang leads a multidisciplinary research team to develop many assistive and medical technologies/devices (so far with more than 40 granted US., Taiwan, China patents). With Stanford-Taiwan Biomedical Fellowship training, Dr. Bing-Shiang Yang not only educates younger generations on the Biodesign process, but also puts it into practice. One of his inventions and associated business plan has been backed by the world-renowned startup accelerator, Y Combinator, and the resultant medical devices are on the way to help doctors and patients.

In addition to his research and developments, Dr. Yang’s creative and enthusiastic teaching has been recognized by the Outstanding Teaching Award of Institute of Engineering Education

Taiwan (IEET). With rich multidisciplinary experiences, Dr. Yang also holds joint appointments at Graduate Degree Program of Robotics, Institute of Biomedical Engineering, Executive Master of Business Administration, and College of Life Sciences at National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University.

Shigeo Wada received his M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Osaka University in 1988 and 1991, respectively. He previously held positions at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, Ryukoku University; the Research Institute for Electronic Science, Hokkaido University; and the Department of Bioengineering and Robotics, Tohoku University. He is currently a Professor in the Department of Mechanical Science and Bioengineering at Osaka University and serves as a council member of WCB (2014–2026) and APAB (2021–2025).

His research focuses on computational and experimental analyses of blood flow, mass transport, fluid–structure interaction, and organ, tissue, and cellular deformation in the respiratory and cardiovascular systems. He has developed a range of computational approaches, including image-based simulations of cardiovascular and airway flows, large-scale simulations of red blood cell dynamics, molecular dynamics simulations of cell membranes, data assimilation techniques for blood flow, and rule-based simulations of vascular disease progression, with the ultimate goal of advancing personalized medical technologies.

Dr. Peter Lee is a Professor at the Department of Biomedical Engineering at the University of Melbourne. He is the Director of the Australian Research Council (ARC) Training Centre for Medical Implant Technologies, leading an extensive industry-university-hospital partnership to train interdisciplinary engineers in biomechanics, materials, and manufacturing for the orthopaedic and maxillofacial implant industry. He leads the Cell and Tissue Biomechanics Laboratory and the Computer-Assisted Rehabilitation Environment (CAREN) Laboratory, where his research aims to understand better the behaviour of biological cells, tissues, and the musculoskeletal system under mechanical forces.

He has authored more than 150 publications in journals, conference proceedings and books. He is currently the Deputy Editor of the Journal of Orthopaedic Surgery and Research (Springer Nature) and a Member of the Australian Therapeutic Goods Administration Advisory Committee on Medical Devices.