He Zhixin, the Vice Director of the National Engineering Research Center of Guangzhou Metro Group, is a professor senior engineer who has been engaged in the design and research of urban rail transit for over 20 years. He has accumulated rich practical experience in engineering theory, system concepts, and technological innovation, and has conducted in-depth research in the fields of urban rail transit electromechanical systems, green and low-carbon technologies, and digitalization. He has obtained 20 invention patents, participated in 12 international and industry standards, published 25 papers, and completed 3 books. His research and engineering achievements have successively won 58 industry awards.

 

Speech title "Exploration and Practice of Digitization and Intelligentization in Urban Rail Transit"

David R. Fuhrman is Professor of Coastal Dynamics at the Technical University of Denmark (DTU), Department of Civil and Mechanical Engineering. His research focuses on many aspects of coastal and ocean engineering, including: surf zone and coastal dynamics, sediment and pollutant transport, coastal morphology, scour, turbulence modelling, wave boundary layers, and nonlinear wave hydrodynamics. He has published approximately 100 peer-reviewed articles in leading international journals on such topics. He presently serves as Editor in Chief of Applied Ocean Research, as Associate Editor of ASCE J. Waterways, Port, Coastal and Ocean Engineering, and on the Editorial Boards for Coastal Engineering, OpenFOAM Journal, and Journal of Marine Science and Application. His research on turbulence modelling is featured in the CFD software OpenFOAM (since 2019) and Star CCM+ (since 2024). He is co-author of the textbook: Turbulence in Coastal and Civil Engineering.

 

Speech title "Recent advances in the understanding of coastal microplastic transport"

Abstract-Microplastic transport in coastal environments involves complex interactions between hydrodynamics, particle properties, and seabed conditions. Recent advances have substantially improved our understanding of these processes through a coordinated series of experimental studies addressing particle incipient motion, settling behavior, and both buoyant and non-buoyant transport induced by waves.
New flume experiments on 57 regular and eight irregular particle groups have yielded a unified framework for predicting incipient motion conditions of microplastics. The work is the first to reconcile microplastic incipient motion with the classical Shields diagram, by explicitly accounting for static friction, hydraulic roughness, and hiding–exposure effects. Complementary measurements of settling velocity for 66 particle groups, spanning a wide range of Reynolds numbers, have produced improved drag formulations for both regular and irregular shapes. The work is the first to uniformly account for preferential settling orientation, which greatly simplifies parameterization. The resulting parameterizations outperform existing predictive approaches and are shown to be equally applicable to natural sediments.
Further experiments have clarified the mechanisms governing cross-shore transport of both buoyant and non-buoyant microplastics under irregular waves. From experiments involving buoyant microplastic particles, beaching times and Lagrangian transport velocities have been quantified in both pre-breaking and surf zones, revealing that transport velocities scale with the local wave field and depend systematically on the particle Dean number (a dimensionless settling velocity). For denser, non-buoyant particles, controlled laboratory tests over plane and barred profiles demonstrated distinct accumulation hotspots: offshore of the breaker bar, at the bar crest, across the inter-bar plateau, and on the beach, corresponding to three characteristic Dean number regimes. The results highlight the role of wave breaking type, particularly plunger-type breakers, in governing both onshore and offshore transport.
Collectively, these studies establish a physically consistent basis for predicting the mobility, settling, and nearshore transport of diverse microplastic particles, bridging the gap between sediment transport theory and the emerging field of coastal microplastic dynamics.

Xuan-Kien Dang was born in Hai Phong City, Vietnam. He received a Ph.D. in Control Science and Engineering from Huazhong University of Science and Technology in June 2012. He is the Head of the Science and R&D Department at Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport, Vietnam. He has been awarded the Best Paper Award at the Conference of Science and Technology, Ho Chi Minh City University of Transport (2018, 2023, 2025), Conference on “Smart Technology Application in Industry 4.0, Smart Cities and Sustainable Development” - STAIS (2024, 2025), the President Prize for Award Winner of the Excellent Paper of The 17th Asia Maritime & Fisheries Universities Forum (2018), and Doctoral Scholarship - Huazhong Univ. of Science & Tech., China, 2008-2012. His current research interests focus on Artificial Intelligent Transportation, Control Theory, Automation, Maritime Technology, Underwater Vehicles, Optimal and Robust Control, and Networked Control Systems. Dr. Dang has authored and co-authored multiple publications in international and national journals, conference proceedings, and technical reports. His research has been published in reputable journals indexed by ISI/Scopus. He has also presented his work at various international conferences on control systems, automation, maritime engineering, and intelligent transportation systems. His publications often focus on applying artificial intelligence, robust control techniques, and optimal control algorithms for complex systems such as autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs), maritime navigation, and networked control systems. Additionally, Dr. Dang has participated in multiple scientific research projects at institutional and national levels, and he actively contributes as a reviewer for several peer-reviewed journals in the fields of control engineering and intelligent systems, Dr. Dang is also Editor-in-Chief of EAI Endorsed Transactions on Transportation Systems and Ocean Engineering.

 

Speech title "Bridging Quantum Science and Maritime Engineering: Opportunities and Frontiers"

Giorgio Bellotti is full professor of Coastal and Harbour Engineering at Roma Tre University, Italy. Graduated in Civil Engineering (1997) at Sapienza University of Rome, and earned his Ph.D. in Hydraulic Engineering (2002) at University of Naples Federico II.
His main research topic is that of the wave induced hydrodynamic processes in coastal areas, with focus on the wave-structures interaction, on the long waves amplification in harbours and bays, and on the numerical models for the short and long waves propagation.
Since January 2024 serves as Associate Editor of the journal Coastal Engineering (Elsevier), formerly member of the editorial board (2017-2023). He has been the coordinator of the Local Organizing Committee for the International Conference on Coastal Engineering held in Rome in September 2024. Member of the board of professors of the PhD schools in Civil Engineering, Roma Tre University and tutor/co-tutor of 9 PhD students. Formerly Director of the Civil Engineering courses (2016-2022) at Roma Tre University.
Visiting researcher/professor at the Center for Applied Coastal Research, University of Delaware (USA, 2000), Department of Civil Engineering, The University of Nottingham (Nottingham, UK, 2011), Universidad Catolica de la Santisima Concepcion and CIGIDEN, Centro Nacional de Investigacion para la Gestion Integrada de Desastres Naturales (Cile, 2016).
Author of more than 60 peer-reviewed scientific papers published on Scopus/ISI-indexed international journals.

 

Speech title "Wave Forces on Vertical Breakwaters"

Abstract-Composite vertical breakwaters are key structures for port protection in deep-water environments. However, current design methods often fail to capture the complex hydrodynamics introduced by non-standard configurations, such as retreated wave walls. Previous studies have shown that wall retreat can reduce forces on the caisson trunk while increasing impulsive loads on the crown wall, yet the governing mechanisms remain poorly understood. In particular, post-overtopping flows—well documented in naval “green water” research—play a crucial role in these dynamics but have rarely been investigated in coastal engineering contexts.
This study presents a new 2D experimental campaign specifically focused on post-overtopping flows over composite vertical breakwaters with retreated wave walls. A two-stage methodology was adopted: first, flow types (Dam Break, Plunging–Dam Break, and Hammer–Fist) were classified on caissons without a wall; then, representative cases were reproduced under varying wall retreat configurations. Advanced image-clustering analysis was used to characterize intra-wave processes such as air entrainment and bubble dynamics, while direct pressure measurements quantified impact loads on the wall and superstructure.
The experiments demonstrate how flow type, wall retreat, and aeration levels jointly control the magnitude and spatial distribution of wave-induced loads, providing new insight into impact mechanisms. A comprehensive parameter map—developed in the spirit of the PROVERBS design framework—links flow classification to key geometric and hydrodynamic parameters. These results constitute the first systematic mapping of post-overtopping dynamics on retreated-wall breakwaters, bridging the gap between offshore “green water” research and coastal engineering, and offering practical guidance for optimizing breakwater performance while reducing construction and maintenance costs.