Digitalization of Biological Wastewater Treatment Plants: Towards Industry 5.0

Abdul Gaffar Sheik is a post-doctoral fellow at the Institute for Water & Wastewater Technology, Durban University of Technology, South Africa. He holds a Ph.D. in Chemical Engineering from NIT Warangal, India, and a master’s in Chemical Engineering with a specialization in Environmental Process Design from Nirma University, Gujarat. His research focuses on experimental modelling of wastewater treatment processes, advanced control applications, and artificial intelligence. Dr Gaffar has published extensively in reputed international journals and contributed to two book chapters. He is a member of the International Water Association and the Society of Petroleum Engineers, and he has received numerous accolades for his contributions to the field.

Susana Rodríguez-Couto (female) got her B.Sc. and M.Sc. in Chemistry (Industrial Chemistry) from the University of Santiago de Compostela in 1992 and her Ph.D. in Chemistry in 1999 from the University of Vigo, obtaining the maximal grade (magna cum laude) and, in addition, she was awarded with the Extraordinary Prize for Doctoral Thesis in Chemistry. She worked as an Associate Professor and an Isidro Parga Pondal Senior Researcher at the University of Vigo (2000-2004), as a Ramón y Cajal Senior Researcher at Rovira i Virgili University (2004-2008) and as an Ikerbasque Research Professor (2009-2019). She has also worked as an Invited Researcher at the Institute from Environmental Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology (Austria) and at the Department of Biological Engineering, University of Minho (Portugal). In 2008, she received the I3 Professor from the Spanish Ministry of Science and Education to the recognition of an outstanding research activity. In March 2021 she is joining LUT School of Engineering Science at Mikkeli, Finland, as a Full Professor in biological water treatment. She has published more than 140 articles in highly reputed international journals (h index 42). She is editor of several journals (3Biotech, Frontiers) and 14 Elsevier books.

Ashutosh Pandey is an NRF-SARChi Fellow at the Institute for Water and Wastewater Technology (IWWT), Durban University of Technology (DUT), holds a Ph.D. in Biotechnology from Motilal Nehru National Institute of Technology, Allahabad, India. His doctoral research focused on algae cultivation using dairy wastewater for biofuel production and bioremediation. Dr Pandey also earned an M.Tech in Chemical Technology with a specialization in Biochemical Engineering from Harcourt Butler Technological Institute and a B.Tech in Biotechnology Engineering from Sardar Vallabh Bhai Patel University of Agriculture & Technology. With over six years of professional experience, he has held positions as a postdoctoral fellow, assistant professor, and scientist, contributing extensively to environmental technology, biological treatment of industrial wastewater, and algal biotechnology research.