Dr Abdulaziz Othman Altwaijri, Director General of Islamic Educational Scientific and Cultural Organisation

Dr Altwaijri is Director General of Islamic Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization – ISESCO since 1991. ISESCO consists of 56 countries. He is member of Board of Trustees of Islamic University in Niger, Uganda, Pakistan and Bangladesh. He is member of various cultural and Islamic Organizations in Jordan, France, Egypt, Argentine, Sharjah, Iran and Peru. He is author of numerous educational and cultural

monographs, research papers and articles published in leading magazines. Member of the council of the 100 Leaders, affiliated to the World Economical Forum. He was awarded many prizes for his innovative work in religion, culture and science. He is being honoured with the” Outstanding Pioneer” due to his support and drive within ISESCO Countries to Renewable Energy and Clean Environment. Prof Monica Oliphant

Monica Oliphant runs her own Consultancy, “Monica Oliphant Research Scientist; specialising in Residential Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy”. She was President of the International Solar Energy Society (ISES) 2008/09. Monica is an Adjunct A/Professor at the University of South Australia in the Sustainable Energy Centre and is also an Adj A/Prof at the Flinders University of South Australia and Charles Darwin University, in the Northern Territory. She worked as a Principal Research Scientist

for 18 years at the South Australian Electricity Utility, ETSA, undertaking end-use monitoring, energy analysis and renewable energy projects. She has participated on a number of Australian Federal and State Government Committees. The main ones being Australia’s Mandatory Renewable Energy Target Review and Board Member of the South Australian Premier’s Round Table in Sustainability, RenewablesSA and the CSIRO Energy Transformed Flagship. In recent times regular trips have been made to China and Monica is a Senior Advisor for IEEPA (International Energy Conservation, Environmental Protection Association, Beijing) and the UNIDO International Solar Energy Centre for Technology Promotion and Transfer, Lanzhou. Last year she won the Ecogen 2011 Award “Most Outstanding Contribution to the Clean Energy Industry”.

Professor AbuBakr S Bahaj, University of Southampton, Sustainable Energy Research Group, School of Civil Engineering and the Environment, Southampton, UK

After completing his PhD Prof Bahaj was employed by the University of Southampton progressing from a researcher to the Personnel Chair of Sustainable Energy. Over the last 20 years, he has established the energy theme within the University and directed the Sustainable Energy Research Group (www.energy.soton.ac.uk, SERG), which is now

considered to be one of the UK‟s leading university-based research groups in renewable energy and energy in buildings. Prof Bahaj initiated and managed research in ocean energy conversion (resources, technologies and impacts), photovoltaics, energy in buildings and impacts of climate change on the built environment in the University

which has resulted in over 200 articles in academic refereed journals and conference series of international standing. Prof Bahaj heads of the Energy and Climate Change Division (E&CC) within the highly rated School of Civil Engineering and the Environment (2nd in the UK, RAE in 2008, with 80% of research was judged to be either “World Leading” or “Internationally Excellent”). The aims of the Division and SERG are to promote and execute fundamental and applied research and pre-industrial development in the areas of energy resources, technologies, energy efficiency and the impact of climate change. Prof Bahaj is a member of the Editorial Boards of Renewable Energy, the UK's Institution of Civil Engineers journal Energy, and a member of the Supervisory Board of the Tyndall Centre for Climate Change Research. From 2001 to 2007 he was a member of the Department of Business and Regulatory Reform (BERR), (now Department for Business Innovations and Skills, BIS), Technology Programmes Panels on Water (including ocean energy) and Solar Energy. Prof Bahaj is the chair of the Technical Committees of the World Renewable Energy Congress for the Congress in Abu Dhabi September 2010 in September 2009 he was the Chair of European Wave and Tidal Energy Conferences EWTEC conference held in Southampton 5 - 9 Sep 2011. To address training in the areas of energy and climate change Prof Bahaj has recently coordinated and developed a set of MSc programmes that address, traditional energy generation and distribution, energy in transport, energy resources and climate change and energy in the built environment. Dr A Kaabi-nejadian

He graduated from Japan with Ph D in 988, Department of Architecture, Kogakuin University, on March 1988, Tokyo, Japan, and M.Sc. degree, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Keio University, on March 1983, Tokyo, Japan, and B.Sc. degree, Department of Mechanical

Engineering, Tehran Polytechnic University, on May 1970, Tehran, Iran. He was for many years chairman of Iran Solar Energy Society. He cooperated with WREN for holding several conferences in Iran early 2003 to 2006.

He received the “Order of Rising Sun” which is a prestigious medal, Gold Rays with Blue Ribbon in recognition of his outstanding contribution to Renewable Energy, from Emperor of Japan and presented to him by Mr Koichi GENBA, minister of foreign affairs of Japan on 8 November 2011. He is an Advisor of Renewable Energy Organization of Iran, ministry of energy. He is the founder and president of Iranian Society of Heating, Refrigerating and Air conditioning, Engineers. Dr Kaabi-nejadian published many technical papers on thermal heating and cooling area. Professor Wasim Saman, University of South Australia, Adelaide, Australia

W asim Saman is professor of sustainable energy engineering at the University of South Australia. He is founding Director of the Sustainable Energy Centre and Director of Research of the Institute for Sustainable systems and Technologies which he established and was founding Director. The institute comprises over 150 staff and research students working on innovations in sustainable systems and technologies. Professor Saman has a Ph D in Mechanical Engineering. He is Fellow of the Australian Institute of Energy, Fellow

of the Australian Institute for Refrigeration, Air Conditioning and Heating and Director of the Australian Carbon Biosequestration initiative. He has published over180 technical papers in renewable energy and energy management and has supervised 30 post graduate students in this area. Professor Saman current research activities focus on energy efficient buildings and appliances. He is leading research teams developing solar driven heating and cooling systems and contributing to reducing energy use in new and existing housing. His contribution comprises developing national rating tools, detailed monitoring of energy use in new and existing dwellings, advising the building industry and governments on innovations and programs for reducing energy use and peak demand in the housing sector and the impact on the electricity grid. Some of the outcomes of his industry linked research and development activities which have found their way to commercialisation are a roof integrated solar heating system and a new generation of solar lights. His current interests are evaluation and regulation of energy consumption in buildings, solar and energy efficient heating, cooling, dehumidification and hot water systems, energy storage and sustainable energy policy. He has recently established the Sustainable Energy Industry Support Centre to work collaboratively with industry partners in developing and evaluating new sustainable energy products. He has also established the Whyalla Regional Sustainability Centre with the aim of working with the minerals industry to develop sustainable energy, water and waste solutions. Current projects include working with Wizard Power on evaluating the first demonstration of solar dish technology for energy generation and storage and working with OneSteel on using waste heat to produce demineralised water.

Ms Gail Karlsson, J.D., ENERGIA Advisor, USA

Since 1997, Gail Karlsson has worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) on energy and environment issues. In 1998, she was involved in the initiation of a UNDP project ‘Energy and Women: Generating Opportunities for Development’, and since then has prepared a number of briefing papers and publications on gender and en ergy issues, including serving as the editor of Generating Opportunities: Case Studies on Energy and Women (UNDP, 2001), and Gender and Energy for Sustainable Development: A Toolkit and Resource Guide (UNDP, 2004), a joint initiative of UNDP’s Sustainable Energy office and

ENERGIA, an international network of experts on gender and sustainable energy. As an advisor to ENERGIA, she has coordinated international advocacy activities at meetings of the UN Commission on Sustainable Development and the 2002 World Summit on Sustainable Development, and edited a publication entitled Where Energy is Women’s Business: National and Regional Reports from Africa, Asia, Latin American and the Pacific (ENERGIA, 2007). Ms. Karlsson began her career as an attorney for the United States Environmental Protection Agency and later practiced environmental and corporate law with a New York law firm. She has written extensively about environmental protection and sustainable development policies. Prof Donald Swift-Hook

After military service as a Lieutenant Royal Signals, he obtained a degree in Maths and Electronics from Trinity College, Cambridge followed by an MSc in Maths from London University and a career in industrial research. After five years in microwave research with GEC he joined the Central Electricity Generating Board where he became head of a Research Division. He obtained a PhD from Cambridge University on the basis of his research publications in plasmas and gas discharges and he has numerous other publications, mainly in the field of renewable energy, especially in wind power. While he was Chairman of the British Wind Energy Association he founded the Council of the European Wind Energy Association of

which he was subsequently Honorary Treasurer. He represented the UK in the International Energy Agency on Wind Energy Agreements and led (as Operating Agent) major international research projects (or Annexes) on Off-Shore Wind Power, Wakes & Clusters, etc. He was a Visiting Professor at Kings College London for more than 20 years and is now a Visiting Professor at Kingston University London. He is a

Director and Secretary of the World Renewable Energy Network which has organized successive World Renewable Energy Congresses since 1990. Keith Emery – NREL, USA

Keith Emery established and has managed the Cell and Module Performance Characterization team at NREL since 1980. The team established the procedures for calibrating cells and modules that have since been codified in standards and adopted by the international PV community. He received his B.S. physics and M.S.E.E. from Michigan State in 1979 with over 300 publications and 5 chapters in PV books to date. His ISO 17025 PV accredited calibration group provides the community with reference cell calibrations and efficiency certification. He is also active in PV

standards development and consulting on PV performance rating hardware, solar simulation, current versus voltage measurement software and procedures. He is a life time member of the Colorado Renewable Energy Society (CRES), senior member of IEEE, member of the ASTM E44 and IEC TC-82 PV standards committees. He is on the editorial board of Progress in Photovoltaics and Renewable Energy. He is co-awardee of two R&D 100 awards, and recipient of the 2007 Paul Rappaport and 2009 Harold M. Hubbard award. Further details of the teams activities can be found at http://www.nrel.gov/pv/measurements/.

Prof. Dato Dr. Kamaruzzaman Bin Sopian

Prof. Dr. Kamaruzzaman Bin Sopian obtained his BSc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in 1985, MSc in Energy Resources from the University of Pittsburgh in 1989 and PhD. in Mechanical Engineering from the Dorgan Solar Laboratory, University of Miami in 1997. He is presently the Professor in Renewable Energy at the Department of Mechanical and Material Engineering, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. Currently, he is the Director of the Solar Energy Research Institute, a center of excellence for the research and development in solar energy technology. He has been involved in the field of solar energy for more than twenty years. His main contributions are in solar radiation modeling, alternative material for solar absorber, solar water heating system

with integrated storage system, solar desalination, solar cooling, daylighting using solar light pipes, solar assisted drying systems, grid-connected photovoltaic system, thin film silicon solar cells, combined Photovoltaic thermal or hybrid collector and solar hydrogen production system.

He has published over 400 research papers in journals and conferences. He has delivered keynotes speeches at national and international conferences on renewable energy. He is the founding member of the Malaysian Institute of Energy, member of the World Renewable Energy Network based in the United Kingdom and is an associate editor of the Renewable Energy published by Elsevier Ltd. He heads several national subcommittees on renewable energy by the Malaysian government to promote awareness, market enhancement, policy studies and the applications renewable energy. In 2011 he received the title of Dato from his King.