Atilla Elçi is full professor and chairman of Software Engineering at Hasan Kalyoncu University, Turkey. He served as full professor of computer engineering, the founding director of the Graduate School of Science and Technology, and the dean of Engineering Faculty at Toros University, Mersin, Turkey (July 2010 - June 2011) and at various other universities. He has organized or served in the committees of numerous international conferences. He has published over a hundred journals and conference papers; co-authored Composition of OWL-S based Atomic Processes - Towards a Semantic-based Workflow Model (LAP Lambert, 2011); edited Semantic Agent Systems (Springer, 2011), Theory and Practice of Cryptography Solutions for Secure Information Systems (IGI, 2013) and Handbook of Applied Learning Theory and Design in Modern Education (IGI, 2016); proceedings SIN 2007, 2009 - 2015 by ACM, ESAS 2006-15 by IEEE CS, and IJRCS 2009; and various special issues and book chapters. He was the program chair for the 36th IEEE CS COMPSAC (2012) and standing committee member since then. He is an associate editor of Expert Systems: The Journal of Knowledge Engineering and editorial board member of several other journals. He obtained B.Sc. in Computer/Control Engineering at METU, Ankara, Turkey (1970), M.Sc. & Ph.D. in Computer Sciences at Purdue University, USA (1973, 1975).

Professor Umit Cali's research field stands at the intersection of cutting-edge digital technologies and innovation with modern social systems. Umit holds a Chair / Professor in Digital Engineering for Future Technologies at the University of York and a part-time professorship in Energy Informatics at NTNU in Norway. Umit's experience is in leading research efforts focusing on the nexus of cyber-physical-social systems (CPSS), digital engineering, and energy informatics, which incorporates artificial intelligence, blockchain technology, digital twins, and cyber law. His diverse skill set enables him to investigate technical and non-technology elements of his study topics, supporting innovation while stressing responsibility and digital ethics. Umit began his academic path with a Bachelor of Engineering in Electrical Engineering from Yildiz Technical University in Istanbul, Turkey, in the year 2000. His desire to learn pushed him to pursue further education, and he eventually graduated with master's and doctoral degrees in electrical engineering and computer science from Germany's University of Kassel in 2005 and 2010, respectively.

Sedat Akleylek received his BSc degree in Mathematics, majoring in Computer Science, from Ege University in 2004 in Izmir, Turkey, and his MSc and PhD degrees in Cryptography from Middle East Technical University in 2008 and 2010, in Ankara, Turkey, respectively. He is currently employed as an associate professor at the Department of Computer Engineering, Ondokuz Mayis University, Samsun, Turkey, since 2016. He is a member of the editorial board of IEEE Access, Turkish Journal of Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences, Peerj Computer Science, and International Journal of Information Security Science. His research interests include in the areas of post-quantum cryptography, algorithms and complexity, architectures for computations in finite fields, and IoT security.

Dr. Burak Kantarci is a Full Professor and University Research Chair in AI-Enabled Secure Networking for Smart Critical Infrastructures in the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the University of Ottawa. Dr. Kantarci is the founding director of the Smart Connected Vehicles Innovation Centre (SCVIC) and Next Generation Communications and Computing Networks Lab (NEXTCON). Prior to joining the uOttawa, he was an assistant professor at Clarkson University in Potsdam, New York (2014-2016). In 2009-2014, he had also worked as a research fellow at the School of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science of the University of Ottawa. He is the co-author of 300+ peer-reviewed publications in established journals and conference proceedings sponsored by established publishers such as IEEE, ACM, Elsevier, and Springer. He has been listed among the top-2% cited scientists in telecommunications and networking according to the "Science-wide author databases of standardized citation indicators" data reported by Stanford University since 2020. Since 2021, based on data collected from Microsoft Academic Graph, research.com has listed Dr. Kantarci among Canada's top computer scientists. Dr. Kantarci holds an Exemplary Editor Award from IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials (2021),and is a joint holder of multiple best paper awards from various conferences, most recently from IEEE Globecom2021, 48th Wireless World Research Forum 2022, IEEE ICC2023, IEEE VCC2023 and IEEE Globecom 2024. He is a recipient of the King Charles III Coronation Medal (2025) for his contributions to Canada as a scientist, researcher and educator, and Minister's Award of Excellence (2021) from Ontario Ministry of Colleges and Universities. Dr Kantarci is also the recipient of the IEEE Communications Software Technical Committee - 2023 Technical Achievement Award for contributions to AI/ML-enabled communication network security and trustworthy sensing systems for the Internet of Things, and a winner of 2024-25 George S. Glinski Award for Excellence in Research in the Faculty of Engineering at uOttawa.