Speakers

Speech Title : When the Rain Stops but Pollution Persists: Is Groundwater the Missing Link in Aquatic Pesticide Contamination?

Dr. Reynold Chow is an Assistant Professor in Soil Physics and Land Management at Wageningen University & Research, the Netherlands, and an affiliated researcher at Stellenbosch University, South Africa. His research focuses on groundwater quality, contaminant transport, managed aquifer recharge (MAR), and sustainable water resources management. He has worked on groundwater and water quality projects across Europe, Africa, and North America, with expertise in groundwater modelling, drought resilience, and emerging contaminants in aquatic environments.

Speech Title : Technological solutions for expanding the resource base and product range of high-nutritional-value foods based on proso millet, foxtail millet, and Japanese millet

Madina Sadygova graduated from the K.A. Timiryazev Moscow Agricultural Academy in 1987. She completed professional retraining at Kemerovo State University, specializing in Bread, Confectionery, and Pasta Technology. Doctoral studies – Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Higher Education Voronezh State University of Engineering Technologies, 2010-2013, defense of doctoral dissertation on the topic: “Scientific and practical foundations of the technology of bakery and flour confectionery products using flour from chickpea seeds of Saratov selection” Through academic mobility, he teaches at the Almaty Technological University in the discipline "Technology of specialized flour products" The results of her research and teaching work are published in print and electronic publications of various levels (collections of international and Russian scientific conferences; journals of the Higher Attestation Commission of the Russian Federation and the Scopus database). She continuously improves her professional skills by participating in conferences of various levels.

Speech Title : Reviving the Soil by Nature-based Solutions: Conservation Agriculture and Tillage

Alessia Corami received her degree in Earth Science at University of Rome La Sapienza. She won a fellowship about isotopic chemistry at AREA Science Park. On 2001, she won a fellowship at Georesources and Geoscience Institute. In 2002 she won Ph.D. fellowship at University La Sapienza. During her PhD she spent 7 months in the USA, working with Prof. Rakovan (Miami University, OH) and prof. Traina (UC Merced, CA). In 2005, 2006 and 2008 she went to ESRF in Grenoble. From 2007 she was a professor at Guglielmo Marconi University. In 2014 she was a visiting professor at Karls Eberhard University. In 2022 she was a visiting assistant professor at University of Louisiana at Lafayette and from June 2024 she joined Aix-Marseille University/Cerege.

Speech Title : Characterization of isolated strains of microorganisms from mineral, mountain and spring waters from France, Italy, England, South Korea, Japan, Netherlands, Austria, Spain, Singapore, Germany, Switzerland, Greece, Turkey, Dubai and Bulgaria

Nedyalka Valcheva has an extensive background in food technologies and microbiology, with a career spanning several decades. She began her academic journey in 1990, completing a Master's degree program in Technology of Vegetable, Food, and Flavor Products at the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv, Bulgaria. From 1990 to 2016, she served as a teacher at the Vocational High School of Chemical and Food Technologies "Prof. Asen Zlatarov" in Dimitrovgrad, Bulgaria. In 2014, Valcheva earned a Ph.D. from the University of Food Technologies in Plovdiv, based on her dissertation titled "Microflora of Healing and Spring Waters in the Haskovo and Stara Zagora Regions." Subsequently, in 2016, she took on the role of a senior expert and organizer in the Department of Biochemistry, Microbiology, and Physics at Trakia University in Stara Zagora, Bulgaria. Her research pursuits continued, culminating in 2023 with a D.Sc. degree from the Institute of Cryobiology and Food Technologies, Agricultural Academy, Sofia, Bulgaria. Her dissertation focused on "Physical, Chemical, and Microbiological Characteristics of Mineral, Mountain, and Spring Waters from Bulgaria, and the Biological Properties of Identified Microorganisms."