Frej Mighri obtained his Bachelor (1987) and PhD (1998) from École Polytechnique of Montreal, and his Master degree in mechanical engineering from Université de Sherbrooke (1989). He worked during four years (1989-1992) as senior engineer at CETIME, a Tunisian government organism, where he had set up in collaboration with the United Nations the first Laboratory in the country for polymer characterization. After his PhD, he joined the Industrial Materials Institute, IMI, National Research Council Canada (Boucherville, QC), in the first time as a Postdoctoral trainee (NSERC fellowship) (1998-1999) then as a research officer (1999-2003). Since 2003, he joined Laval University where he is presently acting as full professor. He is highly involved in research with main interests in the development of high performance polymer systems, including correlations between the process, structures and final properties of the developed materials. He was Head of the graduate studies, Chemical engineering (2008-2014) and was Head of polymer processing program (2005-2009). He was Head of the graduate studies, Chemical engineering (2008-2014) and was Head of polymer processing program (2005-2009). He is acting since 2006 as a member of the Director’s board of the Research Center for High Performance Polymer and Composite Systems, CREPEC, a strategic inter-university’s cluster.

Dr. Nicholas Welham graduated in mineral processing from University of Leeds (1986) and obtained his PhD in hydrometallurgy and electrochemistry from Imperial College London (1992). He is considered as a highly experienced professional hydrometallurgist with an international reputation.  Whilst his background is primarily academic throughout his career he has been involved in numerous research and development projects for large and small minerals processing organisations. He specialises in the hydrometallurgy of complex ores and materials and has considerable experience developing novel processes which minimise their environmental impact but can also troubleshoot processes and provide training at all levels.  Nicholas has over 80 published papers and holds over 5 patents around the world.

Dr. Boffito is Assistant Professor in Chemical Engineering at Polytechnique Montréal.  She has a strong background in heterogeneous catalysis and industrial catalyst development. Her experience covers the design of catalysts for both gas and liquid phase processes including partial oxidation, esterification, transesterification, cracking, alkylation, isomerisation, CO₂ absorbers, methane conversion and photocatalysts.

Besides heterogeneous catalysis Dr. Boffito research interests encompasses Process Intensification by alternative energy sources such as ultrasound and microwave, with the objective to maximize process productivity while minimizing the size and energy requirements of the energy-intensive chemical industry. Dr. Boffito applies Process Intensification to the conversion of biomass to shorten the time-to-market of biomass based technologies and ultimately reduce greenhouse gas emissions.  She has authored over 40 Journal papers, 6 book chapters, 2 patents, 1 book, 40+ conference communications.

Faïçal Larachi obtained his PhD in Chemical Engineering from Institut National Polytechnique de Lorraine – France 1991. He subsequently worked at Polytechnique Montreal and Washington University, before joining the Laval University where he is currently acting as Full professor of chemical engineering since 2004. He is very active researcher in diverse chemical engineering fields. As sabbatical, he was involved in many R&D subject with IFP-Énergies Nouvelles (France), COREM a Mineral Research Consortium (Québec), Total (France). He was also Visiting professor at Ecole Centrale de Lille (France), ENSIACET, Toulouse (France) and Ecole Centrale de Lille (France). He was also directing the Center for Research on the Properties of Interfaces & Catalysis (CERPIC), Laval University for over 5 years. He is holder of Canada Research Chair on Green processes for sustainable energies (2005-2019). He is involved in many activities in professional & local societies. He is positioned as very active and renowned researcher in diverse chemical engineering area while he is cumulating 331 Journal contributions, coauthored 3 books and 6 chapters, 49 Refereed conference proceedings, 17 Non-refereed conference proceedings, 18 Technical reports, 327 Conference presentations. His major research and consulting activities includes Organic chemistry, natural gas & petroleum chemistry and processes, Technology of Separation Processes, Wastewater treatment (advanced oxidation/reduction, UV, photo-catalysis) as well as surface chemistry and speciation. He is also involved in gold processing chemistry and rare earth separation process development. He is member of OIQ.

Qi Liu obtained his PhD in minerals engineering from the University of British Columbia in 1988. He subsequently worked at Wuhan University of Technology (Wuhan, China), University of British Columbia, and Process Research Associates Ltd. (Vancouver, Canada) before joining the University of Alberta 10 years late in 1998. He is currently professor of materials engineering at the University of Alberta, the Ron Nolan/Hatch Chair in Sustainable Energy and Mineral Process Technologies, and the Director for the Imperial Oil Institute for Oil Sands Innovation (IOSI) at the University of Alberta. His major research and consulting activities include sulfide ore flotation; precious metal recovery; iron ore treatment; oxide ore flotation; oil sands processing; solids-liquid separation in mine tailings and oil sands tailings treatment and consolidation; the chemistry of mineral processing and metal extraction; fine particle flotation and polymeric flotation depressants. As of March 2016 he has consulted on 55 industrial projects for various gold, base metal and oil sands mining companies, and published 110 technical journal papers.