Keynote Speakers

Krzysztof Fic graduated in Chemical Process Engineering at the Faculty of Chemical Technology, Poznan University of Technology, in June 2008; at the same time, he was accepted for the research assistant position in the Department of Applied Electrochemistry and he works there until now. In 2012 he defended his PhD thesis (supervisor: prof. Elzbieta Frackowiak) and in 2020 he was awarded with habilitation degree – both in chemical sciences discipline. In July 2025, he was appointed as full professor.

Since 2019 he has a status of visting researcher at Kansai University in Japan, where he collaborates with Prof. Masashi Ishikawa research team.

His research activities focus mainly on the electrochemical systems for the energy conversion and storage; in particular, he is interested in phenomena occurring at the porous electrode/electrolyte interface in so-called operando approach. Besides, he investigates the electrochemical activity of selected redox couples and their application as a novel source of pseudocapacitance of carbon-based electrochemical capacitors.

He served as principal investigator in the Starting Grant (GA 759603, 2017-2023) funded by European Research Council, followed by Proof of Concept project (GA 101138710, 2024-2025). Together with other Colleagues, he is also one of supervisors in Marie Skłodowska Curie Actions ENERCAP project (HORIZON-MSCA-2022-Doctoral Networks).

In 2009-2025, he presented nearly 80 oral communications and 20 posters during national and international conferences, in Europe, U.S., Mexico, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Hong Kong, Taiwan and Australia. A number of oral communications and posters he has co-authored is even greater.

He is co-author of more than 80 peer-reviewed papers, cited more than 4 000 times. He co-invented more than 30 patents already granted and 20 patent applications pending.

Prof. Pooi See LEE is the President’s Chair Professor in Materials Science & Engineering at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. Her current research focuses on stretchable electronics and energy devices, soft actuators and stimuli-responsive materials. Professor Lee received the Nanyang Research Award in 2016 and the Nanyang Award for Innovation & Entrepreneurship Award in 2018. She was awarded the NRF Investigatorship 2016. She has been listed as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2018-2024. She is being inducted in the Singapore 100 Women in Tech 2021 (SG100WIT) and received the SNIC - AsCA2019 Distinguished Woman Chemist Award 2022. She was elected the National Academy of Inventors Fellow in 2020, MRS Fellow 2022 and RSC Fellow 2022.

Prof. Enn Lust graduated from the University of Tartu in 1980 and began his career as an engineer at the Laboratory of Electrochemistry. He later advanced to the position of scientific collaborator. In 1989, he received his Ph.D. in electrochemistry. He was elected as an associate professor in 1991 and has been a professor of physical chemistry at the University of Tartu since 1997. Prof. Lust served as the Head of the Institute of Physical Chemistry from 2003 to 2007 and as the Director of the Institute of Chemistry from 2008 to 2023.

He has published 414 articles in the Web of Science (WoS), which have received a total of 8,556 citations, resulting in an h-index of 46. Additionally, he has over 441 publications listed in Scopus, with more than 8,867 citations and an h-index of 51 as of 2025.

Prof. Lust has received several prestigious awards, including the Theodor von Grotthuss Medal from the Lithuanian Academy of Sciences in 2018, the Wilhelm Ostwald Medal from the Estonian Academy of Sciences in 2023, the Order of the White Star, Class III in 2020, and two National Science Awards in 2008 and 2021. He has also been honored with the Grand Medal from the University of Tartu. Prof. Lust is a member of the Estonian Academy of Sciences (ETA) focusing on Energy Technologies and serves on the ETA Energy Steering Committee. He represents Estonia in the European Platform of Universities engaged in Energy Research and is a member of the Energy Development Committee of the European Association of Academies of Sciences (EASAC).

His research areas include the development of supercapacitors, lithium-ion and sodium-ion batteries, polymer electrolyte fuel cells, medium-temperature solid oxide fuel cells, synthetic fuel synthesis reactors, and their materials. He also investigates thin-film hydrogen storage in ultramicro-, micro-, and mesoporous hierarchical carbons, separation and purification technologies for rare earth metals, and nanofiber materials activated with metal nanoclusters to deactivate or eliminate viruses.

Katsuhiko Naoi is Emeritus Professor at Tokyo University of Agriculture & Technology (TUAT), where he previously served as Distinguished Professor and Trustee (Vice President for Research Management and Academic Collaboration). He earned his Ph.D. in Applied Chemistry from Waseda University in 1988, following research fellowships at BASF in Germany (1982–84) and the University of Minnesota (1988–90). Since joining TUAT in 1990, he has held a number of key academic and leadership roles, including Head of Applied Chemistry, Vice Dean of the Graduate School and the Institute of Engineering, and Trustee/Vice President for Academic and Research Affairs. He was named Distinguished Professor in 2014.

K. Naoi’s research centers on electrochemistry and energy materials, with a focus on lithium-ion and post-lithium batteries, supercapacitors, and nanomaterials synthesis. He is internationally recognized for pioneering hybrid supercapacitors based on nanocarbon–nanocrystal composites, work that laid the foundation for the “SuperRedox Capacitor” (SRC) concept. His group has also advanced in-situ electrochemical analysis using EQCM, XAFS, and neutron scattering to reveal nanoscale mechanisms of energy storage.

Beyond academia, K. Naoi has long promoted science–industry collaboration. Together with Wako Naoi, he co-founded K&W Inc. in 2002 and later established TUAT’s Next Generation Capacitor Research Center (2012), which has become a hub for industrial partnerships and international collaboration, particularly with the University of Toulouse, France. His vision connects fundamental science with practical applications in electric vehicles, rail systems, renewable energy, and bioelectrochemical devices.