Keynote Speakers
Prof. Liyanage C. De Silva
Dean, Faculty of Integrated Technologies
University of Brunei Darussalam
Brunei
Prof. Girish Nath Jha
Director, International Collaboration
Jawaharlal Nehru University
New Delhi
Prof. Liyanage C. De Silva:
Professor Liyanage C De Silva has received BSc Eng(Hons) degree from the University of Moratuwa Sri Lanka in 1985, MPhil degree from The Open University of Sri Lanka in 1989, MEng and PhD degrees from the University of Tokyo, Japan in 1992 and 1995 respectively. He was with the University of Tokyo, Japan, from 1989 to 1995. From April 1995 to March 1997 he pursued his postdoctoral research as a researcher at ATR (Advanced Telecommunication Research) Laboratories, Kyoto, Japan. In March 1997 he joined The National University of Singapore as a Lecturer where he was an Assistant Professor till June 2003. He was with the Massey University, New Zealand from 2003 to 2007. Currently he is a Professor of Engineering and the Dean of the Faculty of Integrated Technologies (FIT) at the Universiti Brunei Darussalam (UBD).
Liyanage’s current research interests are Internet of Things (IoT) Neural Network Applications, Image and Speech Signal Processing (in particular multi modal emotion recognition and speech emotion analysis), Digital Communication (CDMA, OFDMA etc.), Information theory (source coding), Pattern recognition and understanding (biometric identification), Multimedia signal processing, and Smart Sensors (Smart environments for security, eldercare and energy efficiency). Liyanage has published over 170 technical papers in these areas in international conferences, journals and Japanese national conventions and jointly holds three US, one Brunei and one Japanese national patents. The Japanese national patent was successfully sold to Sony Corporation Japan for commercial utilization. Liyanage’s works have been cited as one of the pioneering work in the bimodal (audio and video signal based) emotion recognition by many researchers. His papers so far have been cited by more than 2600 times (according to scholar.google.com) with an h-index of 21.
Prof. Girish Nath Jha:
Professor Girish Jha received his Ph.D. in Linguistics, specialized in Computational Morphology in 1998 from Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi. He is a Professor of Computational Linguistics, Special Center for Sanskrit Studies Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) since 2014 and Chairs for the Special Center for Sanskrit Studies, JNU. Since 2016. Professor Girish Nath Jha is also a professor of the concurrent Faculty of the Center for Linguistics of the School of Language, Literature & Culture Studies and the Director of International Collaboration, JNU. He has also been holding various other positions, including Associate Professor of Computational Linguistics, Special Center for Sanskrit Studies, JNU Software Development Specialist, Human Kinetics, Champaign, Illinois, USA (2001 - 2002), Software Engineer, Collaborative Technologies (renamed Chain Commerce), Champaign, Illinois, USA (1999 - 2001), Research Assistant of Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology and Department of Psychology, and Teaching Assistant of Dept. of Linguistics of the same University (1996 – 1999) and Mukesh & Priti Chatter Distinguished Professor of History of Science (Center for Indic Studies, University of Massachusetts Dartmouth, USA (2009-2012).
In addition, Professor Girish Nath Jha has been holding many other positions in various European countries including Guest Professor of the University Of Wurzburg, Germany, under DAAD fellowship, Visiting Professor of University of Florence, Italy, Guest Lecturer under DAAD fellowship, at Digital Humanities Department of University of Wurzburg, Germany, 2014. His contribution as an eminent scholar in the Asian region includes Guest Lecturer of Yogyakarta State University, Indonesia.
Professor Girish Nath Jha’s research interests include Indian languages corpora and standards, Sanskrit and Hindi linguistics, Science & Technology in Sanskrit texts, Computational Lexicography, Machine Translation, e-learning, web based technologies, RDBMS techniques, and software design and localization.
Prof. Shireen Assem:
Professor Shireen Assem received her Ph.D. in Biochemistry and Biotechnology in 1999 from The Faculty of Science, Cairo University. She specialized in Plant Genetic Engineering, Molecular Biology and Biotechnology. Currently, she holds the positions of Director of AGERI and the Head of Research Scientist of The Plant Transformation and Biopharmaceuticals Lab.
The Deputy Director for Training and Extension, AGERI (2010-2014), Head of the Plant Molecular Biology Department, AGERI (2007-2010), Senior Research Scientist, AGERI (2004-2010), Research Scientist, AGERI (1999-2004), Assistant Researcher, AGERI (1992-1999), and Research Assistant, AGERI (1986-1992) were previous positions. Additionally, Professor Assem has been a reviewer for many national and international funding schemes.
Professor Assem’s Laboratory prioritizes in the practical application of biotechnology to improve agricultural crops focusing on cereal crops improvement through genetic engineering under the biosafety regulations for the development of new transgenic varieties. Developing countries are the main beneficiaries of these researches. She had many studies and experience in developing methods of gene transfer to monocot plants (i.e. maize, barley, sorghum, etc.) and in the development of plant-based biopharmaceuticals for human or livestock. Her recent research focus is the improvement of maize crop for abiotic stress tolerance. In sorghum, she focuses her research on the genetic modification of sorghum for yield improvement under environmental stresses and the biofortification of sorghum for human and animal consumption.