Dr Oluwatoyin Joseph Gbadeyan I am a scientific researcher with a career that spans more than a decade in material development, mechanical engineering, waste valorisation, tribology, circular economy, and additive manufacturing. I received academic training in Nigeria and South Africa (UKZN, CSIR, and DUT). My research primarily focuses on composite, biocomposite, nanocomposite, tribology, and valorising wastes, where various market-based products are produced from these feedstocks using robust and sustainable technologies. I have contributes to developing novel biorefinery-based technologies and synthetic black composite brake pads to revitalize South Africa's biomass and transportation industries. He also actively mentors postgraduate research students (BSc Hons, MSc & Ph.D.) recruited in these projects in collaboration with our South African universities. I received several academic awards, the most notable being the Innovator of the Year 2022, a prize for producing a novel material for friction material (brake pad).

I also contributed immensely to his field through peer-reviewed publications and mentorship of students. His research has been published in top-tier international journals (with 32 scientific articles and >20 articles as the first author and). I hold a Google Scholar H-index of 14 with > 370 Citations. In addition to these academic accolades, he has secured research grants from various funding sources/organizations, and these are collectively worth millions of Rands while at the DUT and CSIR. Prof Nirmala Deenadayalu Area of Expertise: Thermodynamics; Ionic Liquids, Biomass Processing Bio: I have 30 years academic experience as a Demonstrator, Lecturer, Senior Lecturer, Associate and Full Professor. The latter position I have held since Dec 2011. I have published 71 peer-reviewed journal articles. Together with my post graduate students the research group has presented 84 national and international conference poster or oral presentations.

I have graduated 4 PhD and 18 Masters students and supervised 9 postdoctoral fellows. I'm currently supervising 4 PhD and 3 Masters students and a NRF C2 rated scientist. I have peer reviewed research papers for a number of international journals and examined a number of Masters and PhD thesis. I have visited the following international universities: Delhi University, India 2009; Warsaw University of Technology, Poland 2011; University of Campinas, Brazil 2012; Kurukshetra University, India 2014; Imperial College, UK 2016; Hamburg University of Technology, Germany 2016 and have numerous local and international collaborations. Most of the research funding (± R 6 million) that I have leveraged was from NRF and DUT. My research area is in thermodynamics, ionic liquids, biomass processing and biogas production. Currently biomass valorisation for sustainable development has attracted a number of postgraduate students.