Junbo Jia is an internationally recognized scholar and currently a Senior Principal Engineer at Odfjell Technology, Norway, renowned for his contributions to engineering dynamics, marine engineering, earthquake engineering, and structural and geotechnical engineering across offshore, onshore, and energy¿infrastructure applications. He is the sole author of three authoritative Springer monographs - Essentials of Applied Dynamic Analysis, Modern Earthquake Engineering, and Soil Dynamics and Foundation Modeling - each achieving high global readership and becoming essential references in their respective fields. He has also co¿edited and co-authored the CRC Press volumes Engineering Dynamics and Vibrations and Structural Mechanics: Analytical and Numerical Approaches for Structural Analysis. Dr. Jia has delivered numerous invited lectures across continents, including six full¿day sessions at the annual OMAE conference, and serves as a guest professor, doctoral thesis examiner, and industry course instructor. Dr. Jia is an elected member of the Norwegian Academy of Technological Sciences and is featured in several international Who's Who editions. He has received several international honours, including the Vice Admiral E.L. Cochrane Award from SNAME and the Best Paper Award from Ships and Offshore Structures. He currently serves on the editorial boards of several international scientific journals, contributes actively to ISO, Eurocode, and API standards development, and is appointed as the Secretary General of the International Seismic Safety Organization (ISSO).
Zhongliang Wu is a leading authority in earthquake seismology, recognized for his extensive contributions to earthquake physics, seismic networks, and disaster¿risk reduction. After earning his B.Sc., M.Sc., and Ph.D. from Peking University, he advanced through key research and leadership roles at the China Earthquake Administration, serving as Deputy Director and later Director of the Institute of Geophysics, and Vice Chairman of its Science and Technology Committee. His research spans earthquake source processes, aftershock risk assessment, and major national programs including the Chinese Seismograph Network, the Wenchuan Fault Scientific Drilling Project, and the ChinArray initiative. Internationally, he has collaborated with Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory, ICTP, and the CTBT verification program. Within the International Association of Seismology and Physics of the Earth's Interior (IASPEI), he served as First Vice¿President and President, shaping global cooperation in seismology. His career is marked by sustained leadership, influential scientific contributions, and broad international engagement.
Mihaela Petrova KouteväGuentcheva is a full professor at the University of Architecture, Civil Engineering and Geodesy (UACEG), Bulgaria, and Scientific Committee Chair of the National Earthquake Engineering Centre. She has extensive research experience gained at the Central Laboratory for Seismic Mechanics and Earthquake Engineering, and later at the National Institute of Geophysics, Geodesy and Geography of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences. She has also worked internationally as an associated member and Advanced School Co-Director at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics and the University of Trieste. Prof. Kouteva-Guentcheva has been invited as a guest professor and keynote speaker by numerous international organizations and research institutes. She is a member of the working group governed by ISO TC 101 on Sustainable Construction and Digitalization of the Construction Sector in Bulgaria. With broad scientific interests and strong professional expertise, she successfully delivers lecture courses in both, Building Information Modeling (BIM) and natural disaster risk management (NDRM). She has served as editor of the proceedings of the annual international scientific conference of the NATO CMDR COE and is the co-editor of two Springer volumes focused on earthquake hazard and risk assessment.
