Koji Michishita
 Shizuoka University

Koji Michishita received B. S., M. S. and Dr. Eng. degrees in Electrical Engineering all from the University of Tokyo in 1986, 1988, 1991, respectively. He joined department of electrical engineering, Shizuoka University in 1991 and became a professor there in 2008. He is engaged in the research of lightning and its electromagnetic compatibility. Dr. Michishita is a senior member of the IEEE and is a fellow of the IEE of Japan. He is a convenor of WG C4.57 (Guidelines for the Estimation of Overhead Distribution Line Lightning Performance and its Application to Lightning Protection Design) and a scientific committee member of the ICLP (International Conference on Lightning Protection).

 Carlo Alberto Nucci
 University of Bologna

Carlo Alberto Nucci (Fellow, IEEE) received the degree (Hons.) in electrical engineering from the University of Bologna, Bologna, Italy, in 1982. He is currently a Full Professor and the Head of the Power Systems Laboratory, Department of Electrical, Electronic and Information Engineering Guglielmo Marconi, University of Bologna. He is the author or coauthor of over 370 scientific articles published in peer-reviewed journals or in proceedings of international conferences. He is a fellow of the International Council on Large Electric Systems (CIGRE), of which he is also an Honorary Member, and has received some best paper/technical international awards, including the CIGRE Technical Committee Award and the ICLP Golde Award. From January 2006 to September 2012, he served as the Chairman for the CIGRE Study Committee C4 System Technical Performance. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief for Electric Power Systems Research, Elsevier from Jan 1st, 2010, to Dec 31st, 2021. He has served as the President of the Italian Group of the University Professors of Electrical Power Systems (GUSEE) from 2012 to 2015. Member of the IEEE-PES Fellow Committee from 2014 to 2018, Member of the IEEE Fellow Committee from 2022 to date. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University Politehnica of Bucharest, a member of the Academy of Science of the Institute of Bologna and a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Tsinghua University. Invited Keynote plenary speaker and lecturer at some 40 international conferences.

 Alexandre Piantini
 University of São Paulo

Alexandre Piantini received the Ph.D. degree from the Polytechnic School of the University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil, in 1997. He joined USP in 1986, where he is an Associate Professor and the Head of the Lightning and High Voltage Research Centre. He has been an IEEE Senior Member since 2004 and has participated as a member of various IEEE and CIGRE WGs. He is the Convener of the CIGRE WG C4.67 ("Lightning Protection of Hybrid Overhead Lines"). He is an Editor of the Electric Power Systems Research and an Associate Editor of the IEEE Trans. Electromagnetic Compatibility and High Voltage. Prof. Piantini is the President of the Int. Symposium on Lightning Protection (SIPDA) and a member of the scientific committees of various international conferences. He was the recipient of the Best Conference Paper Award of the Asia-Pacific International Conference on Lightning (Chengdu, 2011). In 2018, he was the recipient of the ICLP R. H. Golde Award. In 2022, he received the “Technical Achievement Award” from the IEEE Electromagnetic Compatibility Society. He served as a Distinguished Lecturer of the IEEE EMC Society (2021-2022) and as a Keynote/Invited speaker at various national and international conferences/events. Prof. Piantini is the editor of two books on Lightning Interaction with Power Systems published by IET and the author or co-author of 10 book chapters and over 190 peer-reviewed scientific papers published in prestigious journals or presented at international conferences.

 Farhad Rachidi
 Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland

Farhad Rachidi received his M.S. degree in electrical engineering in 1986 and his Ph.D. in 1991, both from the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (EPFL), Lausanne, Switzerland. He remained with EPFL’s Power Systems Laboratory until 1996, after which he joined the Lightning Research Laboratory at the University of Toronto, Canada, in 1997. From 1998 to 1999, he worked at Montena EMC in Rossens, Switzerland. He is currently a Titular Professor and Head of the EMC Laboratory at EPFL. Professor Rachidi has authored or co-authored more than 300 peer-reviewed journal articles and over 400 conference papers.

Farhad Rachidi has received numerous awards including the 2005 IEEE EMC Technical Achievement Award, the 2005 CIGRE Technical Committee Award, the 2006 Blondel Medal from the French Association of Electrical Engineering, Electronics, Information Technology and Communication (SEE), the 2016 Berger Award from the International Conference on Lightning Protection, the Best Paper Award of the IEEE Transactions on EMC (2016 and 2018), and the Motohisa Kanda Award for the most cited paper of the IEEE Transactions on EMC (2012-2016 and 2014-2018). In 2024, he was appointed as Distinguished Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University. In 2014, he was conferred the title of Honorary Professor of the Xi’an Jiaotong University in China. In 2019, he was appointed a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bologna Institute. He was the President of the Swiss National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science from 2012 to 2020. He served as the Vice-Chair of the European COST Action on the Physics of
Lightning Flash and its Effects from 2005 to 2009, the Chairman of the 2008 European Electromagnetics International Symposium, the President of the International Conference on Lightning Protection from 2008 to 2014, Deputy Editor- in-Chief of IET High Voltage (2016-Present) and the Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY from 2013 to 2015 and a member of the Advisory Board of the IEEE TRANSACTIONS ON ELECTROMAGNETIC COMPATIBILITY from 2016 to 2021. He is an IEEE and HPEM Fellow.

 Marcos Rubinstein
 University of Applied Sciences and Arts Western Switzerland HEIG-VD

Marcos Rubinstein earned his Master’s and Ph.D. degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville, USA. After completing a postdoctoral fellowship at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne, where he worked in electromagnetic compatibility and lightning, he joined Swisscom as a project engineer and later became a program manager, overseeing projects in lightning, numerical electromagnetics, and EMC. He subsequently joined the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Western Switzerland HEIG-VD, where he was a full Professor and head of the Advanced Communication Technologies Group until his retirement at the end of August, 2025. He has authored or coauthored over 300 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journals and international conferences, as well as seven book chapters. He is one of the editors of a book on Electromagnetic Time Reversal. He has served as the Editor-in-Chief of the Open Atmospheric Science Journal and as Associate Editor for the Trans. On EMC. He is the President of the Swiss National Committee of the International Union of Radio Science (URSI).

Prof. Rubinstein has received several awards, including the best Master’s Thesis award from the University of Florida, the IEEE Achievement Award, NASA’s Recognition for Innovative Technological Work award (as a co-recipient), and the ICLP Karl Berger Award. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the SUMMA Foundation.