Speakers and organisers biographies
9-11 June 2026
The Grand, York, UK
| Speaker | Biography | ||||
Mehdi Behzad | Mehdi Behzad is currently a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Sharif University of Technology, where he joined after graduating from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) in 1995. During the last 28 years, he has conducted more than 500 condition monitoring and vibration analysis projects in a variety of industries, such as oil, gas, petrochemistry, power plants, steel, cement, copper, wood and paper as CEO of Behravesh Vibration Engineering. Mehdi has been the chair and founder of the annual Condition Monitoring and Fault Diagnosis (CMFD) conference since 2007. He has published more than 160 journal articles in the area of CM, rotor dynamics and AI-driven estimation of ball bearing remaining useful life (RUL). He was selected as one of the top distinguished scientists of Iran for his joint academic-industrial activities in 2020. He has supervised more than 20 PhD and 40 MSc theses. In condition monitoring, he has carried out many experiments in order to predict the ball bearing failure using vibration and acoustics signal. He is also the course director of MSc in Maintenance and Condition Monitoring Engineering. | ||||
Esko Juuso | Senior Specialist, Esko Juuso, has a DSc (Tech) in Control and Systems Engineering, Technical Faculty at the University of Oulu. He is an Adjunct Professor on Computational Intelligence and a Fellow of the International Society of Condition Monitoring (ISCM). He also has an MSc (Tech) degree in Technical Physics (Material Physics) from the University of Oulu. He has 40 years of experience in industry and joint research projects on intelligent systems applications, including fields of energy, water, environment, bioprocesses, pharmaceuticals, pulp and paper, steel and mining. He is the developer of the non-linear scaling methodology, which is currently used in various applications. His research interests are in the modelling and control of industrial processes with a special emphasis on combining intelligent control, fault diagnosis and performance monitoring into smart adaptive systems (SAS) and cyber-physical systems (CPS). He has been active in Esprit Working Groups and in European Networks of Excellence. His h-index is 26 with 2812 citations. ISCM Fellow Juuso is member of the ISCM Management Committee with an emphasis on publications. In the Scandinavian Simulation Society (SIMS), he has been on the Board since 1996 and the President from 2007-2013. He is a founding member of the Finnish Simulation Forum (FinSim) from 2006 and ISCM since 2010. In the Federation of European Simulation Societies (EUROSIM), he has been a member of the Board since 2006, the Secretary from 2007-2010, the President from 2013-2016 and the organiser of the EUROSIM 2016 Congress. Since 2002, he has chaired various SIMS, EUROSIM, ISCM events and other conferences, organised special sessions and presented plenary and invited talks. In the International Federation of Automatic Control (IFAC), he is an active member of the Industrial Committee and several Technical Committees. | ||||
Jérôme Lacaille | Jérôme Lacaille is a mathematician and data science expert with extensive experience in academia and industry. A former student of the École Normale Supérieure (1985) and agrégé in mathematics, he was a lecturer at ENS Cachan before moving into applied research. In 1992, he co-founded Miriad Technologies with Robert Azencott, developing data-mining and statistical tools for industrial applications in aeronautics and semiconductors. He later contributed to Miriad Process, an early graphical data analysis automation tool, and holds two patents in machine tool analysis and factory optimisation. Since joining Safran Aircraft Engines (formerly Snecma) in 2007, he has played a key role in advancing data-driven decision-making, notably by developing Samanta, a data analysis platform for engine health monitoring. In 2014, he created Safran’s first DataLab, now a benchmark within the group. Jérôme Lacaille also leads Safran’s Mathematics Network, organises monthly conferences and trains over 30 data analysts per year through the DataClimber program. In parallel, he is a part-time professor at Université Sorbonne Paris Nord (USPN), vice-president of the Sorbonne Paris Nord Foundation (FSPN), a member of the Agence pour les Mathématiques pour l'Industrie et la Société (AMIES) Scientific Council and former vice-president of Société de Mathématiques Appliquées et Industrielles (SMAI). | ||||
Nalinaksh Vyas | Professor Nalinaksh S Vyas (web: http://home.iitk.ac.in/~vyas/) is a senior academic and researcher in Mechanical Engineering with over three decades of contributions to research, education and technology development in India. During his tenure at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kanpur, he served as Head of the Mechanical Engineering Department, Head of the Centre for Mechatronics and Head of the Nuclear Engineering Program. Following his superannuation in 2024, he continues to be associated with IIT Kanpur as Professor Emeritus. Professor Vyas served as the Chairman of the Technology Mission for Indian Railways (TMIR) from 2015 to 2022, where he contributed to programs related to smart sensors, rolling stock diagnostics and indigenous technology development. He also served as Vice-Chancellor of Rajasthan Technical University during 2013-2015. His professional activities span multiple sectors, including aerospace, automotive and railways. He currently advises organisations such as DRDO on digital twin development for fighter aircraft and supports Indian Railways in artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning initiatives. He is also associated with industry projects on data-based digital twins for automotive systems. Professor Vyas began his work on the application of AI and machine learning to engineering systems in the late 1990s, contributing to early adoption of data-driven methods in machine diagnostics and condition monitoring. He has authored or co-authored nearly 200 research publications and has undertaken collaborative projects with organisations such as DRDO, ISRO, HAL, Indian Railways and the automotive industry. He has held visiting or collaborative positions at several international institutions, including INSA Lyon, France, National Chung-Cheng University, Taiwan, Virginia Tech, USA, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden, City University of Hong Kong and Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, China. His academic career reflects sustained engagement in research, institutional leadership and mentoring in the evolving interface of mechanical engineering, AI and systems engineering. | ||||
For further information contact: Events and Awards Department, The British Institute of Non-Destructive Testing,
Midsummer House, Riverside Way, Bedford Road, Northampton NN1 5NX, UK.
Tel: +44 (0)1604 438300; Email: conf@bindt.org; Web: www.cm-mfpt.org
