Bio: Prof. Dr. Saad Mekhilef is an IEEE Fellow and IET Fellow. He is serving as an editorial board member for many top journals such as IEEE Transaction on Power Electronics, IEEE Open Journal of Industrial Electronics, IET Renewable Power Generation, Journal of Power Electronics, and International Journal of Circuit Theory and Applications.

He is a Distinguished Professor at the School of Science, Computing and Engineering Technologies, Swinburne University of Technology, Australia, and an Honorary Professor at the Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Malaya.
He authored and co-authored more than 500 publications in academic journals and proceedings and five books with more than 34,000 citations, more than 70 Ph.D. students graduated under his supervision.

Prof. Mekhilef has been listed by Thomson Reuters (Clarivate Analytics) as one of the Highly Cited (Hi.Ci) engineering researchers in the world in 2018,2019, 2020, and 2021.
He is actively involved in industrial consultancy for major corporations in the Power Electronics and Renewable Energy projects.
His research interests include Power Conversion Techniques, Control of Power Converters, Maximum Power Point Tracking (MPPT), Renewable Energy, and Energy Efficiency.

Abstract: The Role of Power Electronics in Providing a Sustainable Energy Supply
Power electronics (PE) is an application-oriented and interdisciplinary area. It uses power semiconductor devices to perform switching actions in order to achieve the desired conversion strategy.
The PE plays a crucial role of the conversion and control of electrical power. The effective use of electrical energy is a key technique for achieving energy efficiency, and power electronics technologies that can convert electric power into the optimum characteristics for each application are an essential part of this approach.
Power electronics systems have attracted attention as key components for building a sustainable energy supply. PE-based power converters are also widely used in conventional and renewable energy systems.

The advancement of semiconductor technology, including the power devices and other components that support power electronics and control techniques, has led to a smaller size, higher efficiency, and higher performance.

In this lecture, i will describe some examples where power electronics and power devices are used in renewable energy and industrial applications and also highlight the role of PE in providing sustainable energy supply for the future generation.

---

Bio: Prof. Ali FELIACHI received the Diplôme d'Ingénieur en Electrotechnique from the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique of Algiers, Algeria, in 1976, and the MS and Ph.D. degrees in Electrical Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA in 1979 and 1983 respectively.
He has taught at the Ecole Supérieure de Chimie of the University of Algiers, at Lycée Ourida Meddad in El-Harrach, Algeria, and worked for SONELGAZ in 1976.

At Georgia Tech, he was employed as a Graduate Teaching and Research Assistant, then a Postdoc after graduation. He worked, as a consultant, for Georgia Power Company before joining the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering at West Virginia University in 1984 where he is currently a Full Professor and the Director of the Advanced Power & Electricity Research Center (APERC).
He also held the Electric Power Systems Endowed Chair Position for 15 years until 2017.

His research interests are modeling, control and simulation of smart grids and electric power systems. His work has been funded by electric utilities (Allegheny Power, Duquesne Light), and US DoE, US DoD, NSF, and EPRI (Electric Power Research Institute). He has published about 300 journal and conference articles in his field of expertise.

Dr. Feliachi is a Life Senior Member of IEEE, and a member of the honorary societies Pi Mu Epsilon (Math), Eta Kappa Nu (Electrical Engineering), and Sigma Xi (Research).
He received the ASEE (American Society for Engineering Education) North Central Section Dow Outstanding Young Faculty Award in 1987, the following awards from the College of Engineering at West Virginia University: Leadership Award in 1989, Outstanding Researcher Award in 1991, 2004 and 2005, Researcher of the Year in 2005, Outstanding Graduate Teacher Award in 1991.
In 1994 he received the Claude Bened Distinguished Scholar Award for the Sciences and Technology from West Virginia University.

Abstract: Flexible Electric Power Systems Challenges
The objective of this talk is to describe some of the challenges that face the operation and control of flexible and agile power systems.
Advances in power electronics, renewable, storage, computing, communication and sensor technologies and their declining cost will increase their proliferation in the power system to make it a system of systems. Decarbonization, digitization and decentralization are the main drivers behind the accelerated pace at which the system is evolving towards a system of systems.
Electrification was recognized as the Greatest Engineering Achievement of the twentieth century by the US National Academy of Engineering. Electricity is a key factor in determining the standard of living in the world.

The wealth of information available due to the proliferation of sensors, if utilized properly and communicated efficiently, along with automated switching, could be the key to the control and operation of smart grids of the future. However, the transition from idea to practice has proven to be quite challenging.
Successful implementation requires an intelligent control system with an adaptive communication layer as well as a robust and scalable information network. The realization of such a large-scale flexible network poses some key challenges, but if addressed judiciously will result in an autonomous, resilient, and efficient power system.

---

Bio: Prof. Ahmed BOURIDANE (Senior Member, IEEE) received the Ingenieur d’Etat degree in electronics from Ecole Nationale Polytechnique of Algiers (ENPA), Algeria, in 1982, the M.Phil. degree in electrical engineering (VLSI design for signal processing) from the University of Newcastle-UponTyne, U.K., in 1988, and the Ph.D. degree in electrical engineering (computer vision) from the University of Nottingham, U.K., in 1992.

From 1992 to 1994, he worked as a Research Developer in telesurveillance and access control applications. In 1994, he joined Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast, U.K., initially as a Lecturer in computer architecture and image processing and later on he was promoted to a Reader in computer science. He is currently a Full Professor in image engineering and security and leads the Computational Intelligence and Visual Computing Group, Northumbria University, Newcastle upon Tyne.

He has authored and coauthored more than 350 publications and one research book on imaging for forensics and security. His research interests include imaging for forensics and security, biometrics, homeland security, image/video watermarking, medical engineering, cryptography, and mobile and visual computing.

Abstract: Artificial Intelligence: Benefits, Risks and Challenges
Artificial Intelligence (AI) refers to the ability of a computer program/machine to think and learn like a human. AI applications already pervade many industries, bringing potential benefits that have been predicted to massively increase economic growth rate in a number of developed economies. However, the introduction of such innovative technology also brings new challenges. This seminar identifies some of the emerging risk issues around the growing implementation of AI and examines current and possible future implications of so-called "strong" AI, outlining potential benefits and areas of concern and their potential impact of AI in the security and defence industry.

For example, in security and defence applications, AI-powered software and machine (robots) can dramatically alter the digital security threat landscape. On one hand, it could help to reduce cyber risk by better detecting attacks, but on the other hand it could increase if malicious hackers are able to take control. AI could enable more serious incidents to occur by lowering the cost of devising cyber-attacks and enabling more targeted incidents. The same programming error or hacker attack could be replicated on numerous machines. For example, one machine could repeat the same erroneous activity several times, leading to an unforeseen accumulation of losses. It is already estimated that a major global cyber-attack has the potential to trigger massive losses. In addition, AI could also enable autonomous vehicles, such as drones, to be utilised as weapons. Such threats are often underestimated.

Existing AI applications are built around so-called "weak" AI agents, which exhibit cognitive abilities in specific areas, such as driving a car, solving a puzzle or recommending products/actions. With the first tangible benefits of "weak" AI applications already being deployed across many industries, expectations for AI technology are rising and more development investments are being allocated in order to anticipate the benefits of more human-like or "strong" AI in future. Its introduction especially with the current Deep Neural Network technology will most likely be unprecedentedly disruptive to current business models.

This seminar will first define and describe the concept of AI and a history of its development given. The operation of an AI system will then be given followed by a discussion of the risks and benefits including the technical challenges of the technology in light of the recent advances including the concept of Deep learning technology.

---

Bio: Prof. Adel BELOUCHRANI (Fellow Member, IEEE) was born in Algiers, Algeria, on May 5, 1967. He received the State Engineering degree from Ecole Nationale Polytechnique (ENP), Algiers in 1991, an MSc degree in signal processing from the Institut National Polytechnique de Grenoble, France in 1992, and his PhD in signal and image processing from Télécom Paris, France in 1995.
He was a postdoctoral fellow at the Electrical Engineering and Computer Sciences Department, University of California at Berkeley, CA, USA, from 1995 to 1996 and was with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Villanova University, Villanova, PA, USA, as a research associate, from 1996 to 1997.

From 1998 to 2005, he was with the Electrical Engineering Department, ENP, as an associate professor. Since 2006, he has been a full professor with ENP. His research interests are in statistical signal processing, (blind) array signal processing, time-frequency analysis, and time-frequency array signal processing with applications in biomedical and communications.

Dr. Belouchrani is a founding member of the Algerian Academy of Science and Technology. He has published over 200 technical publications including 67 journal papers, 5 book chapters and 4 patents that have been cited over 8760 times according to Google Scholar over 5160 and over 3820 time according to the ISI Web of Science. He has also supervised over 25 PhD theses. Dr. Belouchrani was awarded an Arab-American Frontiers Fellowship of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine to conduct research on the blind identification of power sources in processors design at Brown University, Rhode Island, USA in 2016. He has served as Associate Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing for two terms from 2013 to 2017 and as Editorial board member of the Digital signal processing Journal (Ed. Elsevier) from 2011 to 2019. He has been Senior Area Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Signal Processing for two terms from 2017 to 2021 and an elected member of the EURASIP Special Area Team (SAT)-Theoretical and Methodological Trends in Signal Processing for the 2018-2020 term, as well as an elected member of the IEEE Sensor Array and Multichannel Technical Committee for 2019-2021 term.
Prof. Adel Belouchrani has been named a 2020 IEEE Fellow.

Abstract: Blind Signal separation: Concepts and some applications
Blind signal separation is a mature field of research with a broad range of applications.
It is motivated by practical problems that involve several source signals and several sensors.
Each sensor receives a mixture of the source signals. The problem under consideration consists of recovering the original waveforms of the source signals without any knowledge of the mixture structure. The latter may be instantaneous linear mixture, convolutive mixture or nonlinear mixture.

This plenary concentrates on the concepts behind blind source separation, together with some applications such as jammer mitigation, power source identification in microprocessors, eye artifact removal in electroencephalography, telecommunications and speech separation.

The speaker plans to address a broad audience with general background in signal processing.

---

Bio: Prof. Seddik BACHA (Senior Member, IEEE) was born in Ighram, Algeria in 1958. He received the Engineering and Magister degrees from the National Polytechnic School of Algiers, in 1982 and 1990 and received the PhD and HDR degrees in 1993 and 1998, respectively from the National Polytechnic Institute of Grenoble-France

He served as an Assistant Professor during six years in Algeria at the National Polytechnic School of Algiers and University A Mira of Bejaïa-Bgayet. In 1993 he has been appointed Assistant Professor at Grenoble University and got Full Professor position in 1998.
He is currently Program Scientific Director and Scientific Council Chairman at the SuperGrid Institute of Energy Transition (France). In parallel he is involved on the UE – Algeria joint program “Taka Nadifa” since 2019.
His research is carried out within the Laboratory of Electrical Engineering of Grenoble (G2Elab) and his interests relate to the modeling and control of electrical energy processes: Renewable energy systems, Smart buildings, V2G, microgrids and HVDC supergrids.

Abstract: The new flexibility assets for an efficient grid integration of renewable energies
Electric renewables have experienced spectacular growth during this decade. Even if these technologies are mature, integrating the huge amount of energy from uncontrollable primary resources into the network poses both structural and operational challenges: routing, frequency/voltage stability and protection problems, economic aspects, etc.
The key to effectively supporting this integration is flexibility in three areas: consumption, production and storage.

The electrical system already contains within it the solutions to ensure optimal management of energy flows within the transport, distribution and micro-grids networks. Solutions can be divided into architectural and control solutions.

The keynote will discuss how flexibility can be used and ensured by the management of different potential assets such as electric vehicles, smart buildings, HVDC architectures for the most important of them.

---