Category: Delegate

Jens Müller received his diploma degree for electrical engineering and the doctoral degree from TU Ilmenau, Germany, in 1992 and 1997 respectively. From 1997 to 2005, he held managing positions in development departments at Micro Systems Engineering GmbH, Berg, Germany. His responsibilities included research and development of medical implants (especially heart pacemakers) and general substrate and packaging development (e.g. LTCC, flex-circuits, Chip Scale Packaging).

In 2005, he returned to Ilmenau University of Technology to establish the junior research group “Functionalised Peripherics”. In July 2008 he was assigned full professor for the Electronics Technology Group at the same university. Since 2021 he has been the Vice President International Affairs and Transfer.

Assoc. Prof. Dr. Samak Kaewsuksaeng is the Vice President for Research and Innovation of Thaksin University, Thailand. He is an expert in post-harvest technology. He was a visiting scholar at the Faculty of Agriculture, Yamaguchi University, Japan and many esteemed universities in Korea, and USA. Furthermore, he was granted for training course on “the Postharvest Physiology, Pathology and Handling of Fresh Commodities” Agricultural Research Organization (ARO), Israel. He has 14 years teaching experiences and has published numerous research papers in national and international publications.

Paul is an experienced Director of Innovation, with a background in the pharmaceutical industry, healthcare, utilities, and higher education. With significant experience of leadership, organisational change and strategy implementation, Paul has a deep understanding of supplier/client management, building value propositions, collaborative partnerships, innovation management, and the development of large-scale projects.

The Enterprise & Innovation Organisation (EIO) at Coventry University are responsible for establishing strong links between the University’s academic expertise, and a wide breadth of public and private sector organisations across global markets. Active in a range of sectors (including manufacturing, mobility, healthcare, and the creative economy), individual members of the EIO are typically involved in the writing of bids, tenders, and business plans, IP commercialisation, sales & account management, and marketing/PR.

Paul is a CMI (Chartered Management Institute) approved coach and mentor, with current board level and external advisory responsibilities as a Non-Executive Director with Feraru Dynamics, and Board Member of the European Business & Innovation Network (EBN).

Professor Akito Takasaki received his Dr. Eng. from Tokyo Institute of Technology and his DSc. from Hiroshima University. His professional career started as a researcher at Japan Atomic Energy Research Institute and also a researcher at OECD Halden Reactor Project, Institutt for Energiteknikk, Halden, Norway. He then moved to Department of Mathematics and Physics, National Defense Academy, and has been employed at Shibaura Institute of Technology (SIT) since 1996. Now, he has been a vice president of SIT since 2021. He received a Medal Komisji Edukacji Narodowej from Ministry of Higher Education of Polish government in 2011, and the title of Honorary Consul from AGH University of Science and Technology, Krakow, Poland in 2017.

He was a visiting Professor at Department of Physics of Washington University in St. Louis (USA) and at Faculty of Energy and Fuels of AGH University of Science and Technology (Poland).

He has published about one hundred fifty scientific papers on mechanics of materials, and materials science and engineering fields. He was a trustee of Materials Research Society of Japan and an academic advisor of ASEAN University Network/Southeast Asia Engineering Education Development Network. Since 2021, he has been serving as a chairman of board of directors of Japan University Consortium for Transnational-education, where he promotes international higher education in Japan for students from southeast Asian countries.

Michael Affenzeller’s main research focus is on theoretical and practical aspects of evolutionary computation, genetic algorithms, and meta-heuristics in general. In 2001 he received his PhD in engineering sciences and in 2004 he received his habilitation in applied systems engineering, both from the Johannes Kepler University of Linz, Austria.

Michael Affenzeller is professor at the Upper Austria University of Applied Sciences, Campus Hagenberg, and head of the research group HEAL. From October 2014 to August 2022 he served as the head of studies for the Master degree program Software Engineering and as vice dean for R&D at the faculty of informatics, communications and media. Between 2019 and 2022 Michael Affenzeller acted as the scientific head of the Softwarepark Hagenberg. Since 2022 he took on the role of Provost of the Upper Austrian University of Applied Sciences.

Professor Affenzeller commenced his role as WTUN Chair beginning 1 August 2025 for a period of two years.

Ciarán Ó hAnnracháin has worked in tertiary education, both public and private, for over 30 years in the Irish, UK, US, and Swiss education systems, predominantly working in the field of Hospitality and Tourism Management. He has held several academic management roles in Switzerland and Ireland for the past 20 years and has been a member of a range of national advisory panels in both Hospitality & Tourism and Higher Education. He holds an undergraduate degree from Trinity College Dublin, a master’s degree from both University College Dublin and Waterford Institute of Technology, and a doctoral degree from University of Sheffield. He was Project Manager in Letterkenny Institute of Technology for merger of GMIT. IT Sligo and LYIT to become the Atlantic Technological University in April 2022 with responsibility for Academic Strategy and Planning, Student Services, Internationalisation and External Engagement. He currently works as Director of Strategic Projects for the ATU Faculty of Business.

He is the outgoing Chair of the Operational Board of the World Technology University Network, facilitating collaboration between academics across the globe.