Professor of the University of Thessaly. He is an Agricultural, Civil and Mechanical Engineer. Prof. Kittas is the director of the Lab. of Agricultural Constructions & Environmental Control of the University of Thessaly. He has more than 30 years of teaching and extensive research involvement in the field of agricultural engineering, bioclimatology, environmental control, greenhouse technology, plant-soil-atmosphere relationships and renewable energy sources. He has significant experience in greenhouse design, equipment and microclimate, on irrigation control of greenhouse crops and simulation and modelling of greenhouse microclimate and crop growth. He has 80 papers in international journals and over 200 papers in international and Greek conference proceedings. He has extensive experience in research projects since so far has coordinated and participate in more than 40 National-Greek and European research projects.

Former President of International Commission of Agricultural Engineering (CIGR), Hon. Vice-President of the International Commission of Irrigation and Drainage (ICID). Professor, Agricultural and Biosystems Engineering, Institute of Agronomy, Technical University of Lisbon, since 1980. Head, CEER, Biosystems Engineering Research Centre, 1993-2012. He is currently coordinator of a PhD programme on Biosystems Engineering; supervisor or co-supervisor of 31 Doctor Theses (7 more in progress) and 53 MSc. theses. He has been Director General for Hydraulics and Agricultural Engineering, Ministry of Agriculture, Lisbon (1977-80) and consultant with various UN Agencies - FAO, UNDP, WMO, and UNESCO -, IAM-Bari, Italy, and ICARDA, Aleppo. He is a co-author of the UN FAO publication "Crop Evapotranspiration" that serves as an international practice standard. Leader of research projects, namely on the Aral Sea basin, the Yellow River Basin and the North China plain. Was coordinator of a network on Agriculture Water Management for Latin American countries. Member, Portuguese Academy of Engineering, and Foreign Correspondent Member of Accademia dei Georgofili”, Firenze, Italy, American Academy of Water Resources Engineers, Académie d’Agriculture de France. Fellow member, National Institution of Engineers. Recipient of awards from several institutions in USA, Italy, China, India, Egypt, Ecuador, Mexico, Libya, and Bulgaria.

Prof. Jayas is a Vice-President (Research and International), University of Manitoba, Canada. He was Associate Dean (Research) in the Faculty of Agricultural and Food Sciences, Department Head of Biosystems Engineering, and Interim Director of the Richardson Centre for Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals. He is a Registered Professional Engineer and a Registered Professional Agrologist. He has authored or co-authored over 700 technical articles in scientific journals, conference proceedings and books dealing with issues of storing, drying, handling and quality monitoring of grains. In 2009, he was inducted as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada. He has served as President of Agriculture Institute of Canada, Association of Professional Engineers and Geoscientists of Manitoba, Canadian Institute of Food Science and Technology, Canadian Society for Bioengineering, and Manitoba Institute of Agrologists.

Dr. Morimoto is a senior researcher for Ishikawa Agricultural Research Center Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Engineering in Kanazawa, Ishikawa Agriculture and Forestry Research Center, Japan. He derived the first activity for precision agriculture etention in paddy rice farming based on real-time soil sensor, variable rate fertilizer applicator, unmanned helicopter and yield sensor. He received two awards for outstanding research from JSAM and CIGR while at Kyoto University in his Ph.D. work. In his present research position with IARC, he is Lead Scientist for a research project that involves on-the-go soil sensor and variable rate fertilizer application system for rice transplanter. Dr. Morimoto is currently a Journal referee for Japanese Society of Agricultural Machinery (JSAM) and Engineering in Agriculture, Environment and Food (EAEF) manuscripts.

Dr. Steven J. Thomson is a research agricultural engineer for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Service (USDA ARS) in Stoneville Mississippi, USA. He derived the first temperature and soil moisture calibrations for a commercial granular matrix soil water sensor and developed microcomputer-based controls for irrigation and chemical management when he worked as an irrigation research engineer with the Coastal Plain Experiment Station, Tifton Georgia before going for a Ph.D. degree (1990) at the University of Florida, Gainesville, FL. He then accepted a position on the faculty at Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA. He received two awards for Outstanding Faculty while at Virginia Tech. In his present research position with the USDA ARS, he is Lead Scientist for a research project that involves spray drift mitigation, optimization of spray penetration into crop canopies, non-contact range finding for agricultural aircraft, low-altitude remote sensing of crop health, and variable-rate aerial application. Dr. Thomson has received both manuscript and editorial awards while with the USDA ARS and is currently a Journal Editor for American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers (ASABE) manuscripts.

Dr. Al-Ajmi served as a representative of H.M. Sultan Qaboos Chair in Desert Farming at the Symposium on the Academic Chairs of HM Sultan Qaboos of Oman and their contribution to the development of Human Knowledge. He also served as a member of the team assigned for the preparation of the Second National Communication/Bahrain on climate change. He was also a member of the team assigned to the preparation of the 4th Global Environmental Outlook report (GEO4) for West Asia region. He is lead author for chapter 10 of (GEO4) report issued by UNEP. He was appointed by the Ministry of Higher Education in Oman as an Advisor on Academic Programs’ Assessment and Development.