Prof. Alain Le-Bail earned his PhD in Heat Transfer and Fluid Dynamics from the University of Nantes in 1990 and serves as Professor at ONIRIS VetAgro-Bio in Nantes (www.oniris-nantes.fr), where his teaching and research in UMR GEPEA (Process Engineering applied to Food science and Environment, affiliated with CNRS) focus on heat transfer, phase change in food systems, the impact of processing on food structure and functionality—emphasizing physics of interfaces under external fields (electric, microwave, ultrasound) and gas interactions during preparation—with applications in baking technology and refrigeration.

He has supervised over 40 PhDs, authored more than 250 peer-reviewed papers, 24 book chapters, and co-authored 11 patents (H-Index 50 WoS, 70 invited lectures/keynotes; ORCID: 0000-0001-6132-5392).

Prof. Alain Le-Bail was also Past President of IAEF (2019-2023), current President of IIR-IIF Commission C2 (Food Science and Engineering, 2019-2027; https://iifiir.org/en/commission-c2), current Co-Editor-in-Chief of Innovative Food Science and Emerging Technologies (Elsevier), Editor of International Journal of Food Properties (Taylor & Francis), and serves on the Editorial Boards of Journal of Food Engineering, Food Chemistry Advances, and Applied Food Research (all Elsevier).

Ana Heredia holds a PhD in Food Science and Technology and is a Full Professor at the Universitat Politècnica de València (Spain), where she develops her research activity at the Institute of Food Engineering FoodUPV. She has participated in more than 25 competitive national and international research projects and has authored over 90 peer-reviewed articles published in JCR-indexed journals, in addition to book chapters and more than 60 contributions to international congresses. Her research focuses on the development and validation of novel plant-based ingredients and food concepts tailored to specific population groups.

She specializes in the application of in vitro digestion and colonic fermentation models to evaluate bioaccessibility, functionality, and physiological impact. Her work particularly addresses the nutritional needs of children, older adults, and individuals with gastrointestinal disorders such as pancreatic insufficiency or gut dysbiosis. Her research contributes to evidence-based innovation in health-oriented food design.

He chaired the international conference in Food Chemistry and Technology, FCT, in 2022 and 2023, and is a member of the Scientific Committee of the Int. Conference of Future Food which will be held in Singapore 2025. Antonio Derossi is author of more than 100 scientific publications, 9 book chapters and more than 20 oral presentations as invited speaker and oral presentation at International Conference. Also, his works received more than 5,000 citations and he reached h-index of 42 as of Feb-2026.