Biographies of Conference Leadership Team
Conference Chair
Dr. Matthew Pepper
Associate Professor
Director, Centre for Supply Chain Research
School of Business, Faculty of Business and Law, University of Wollongong NSW 2522 Australia
Matt’s PhD research centred on the design and application of continuous improvement frameworks in process industry supply chains.
Recent research and consultancy activities focus on lean thinking, six sigma based process improvement and supply chain design and optimisation. Matt has undertaken research and consultancy across a range of industry sectors, including the manufacturing and process industries as well as local government. Most recently his work has focused on the implementation of continuous improvement in service environments. Matt is a member of the Editorial Advisory Boards for the Journal of Manufacturing Technology Management, the International Journal of Lean Six Sigma, International Journal of Information and Operations Management Education. He is also an Associate Editor for the Global Journal of Flexible Systems Management and the IIMK Society and Management Review Journal.
Conference co-chairs
Dr Felix Kin Peng Hui
Conference Chair &
Associate Professor of Engineering Management and an Academic Specialist
Department of Infrastructure Engineering
University of Melbourne
Melbourne, Australia
Dr Felix Kin Peng Hui is an Associate Professor of Engineering Management and an Academic Specialist in the Department of Infrastructure Engineering, Faculty of Engineering and IT, University of Melbourne. He is also the Program Director/Academic Coordinator for the Master of Engineering Management program and the Engineering Business specialisation for postgraduate masters degrees.
Dr Hui is an experienced engineer with over 25 years of industry experience in managing continuous improvement projects, factories, and business units. He has held senior management positions in a range of manufacturing industries which includes machine tools, precision engineering and semiconductors. He has also consulted to organisations seeking continuous improvements to optimise their operational efficiency. His research interests are in the areas of operational process optimisation, operational efficiency, lean systems, organisational development and team dynamics in engineering projects. He is currently a lead investigator on several government funded projects which includes mega-infrastructure projects research, prefabricated modular construction research, next generation buildings with Building 4.0 CRC and on CRC-P projects involving end-of-life treatment processes. Dr Hui is a registered Professional Engineer (Singapore), an ASEAN Chartered Professional Engineer and a Fellow of Institute of Managers and Leaders.
Dr Catherine Lou
Associate Professor in supply chain and logistics
Victoria University Business School
Victoria University, Australia
Dr Catherine Lou is an Associate Professor in supply chain and logistics at Victoria University Business School. She is the Program research lead in Business at Institute for Sustainable Industries & Liveable Cities, and College of Arts, Business, Law, Education and IT, at Victoria University. She has been leading projects in supply chain management towards sustainability and resilience; social value creation; as well as diversity and inclusion. Catherine recently published a book ‘ Supply chain management and corporate governance: Artificial intelligence, game theory and robust optimisation’, by Routledge (Taylor & Francis). More information can be found through: https://www.vu.edu.au/research/catherine-lou
Catherine is the current Global Vice Chair (Australasia) for Women in Logistics and Transport (WiLAT), Global Head for WiLAT Capacity Building Centre; National Council Member for the Chartered Institute of Logistics and Transport Australia (CILTA). She is a chartered fellow of CILTA.
Dr Alka Nand
Lecturer, Department of Management
Monash Business School, Monash University, Victoria, Australia
Alka’s expertise lies in the operations and supply chain management fields. Her studies have been based in the services and manufacturing sector and public sector. She has published her work in a number of leading journals including International Journal of Production Economics, International Journal of Operations and Production Management and International Journal of Production Research. Alka obtained her PhD from the University of Melbourne and her thesis examined how firms in Australian service and manufacturing industries treated and developed their operational capabilities using primarily secondary data. She also has strong interests in areas such as food waste, sustainability and circular economies with various publications such as IEEE: Transactions on Engineering Management, Journal of Business Research and Journal of Cleaner Production. Alka is an experienced lecturer, having taught many courses in undergraduate and postgraduate program locally and abroad. She is the co-chair for Australia and New Zealand Academy of Management (ANZAM) Operations, Supply Chain, and Services Management Symposium in 2021 and 2022.
Dr Sanjoy Paul, Associate Professor
UTS Business School
University of Technology Sydney (UTS), Sydney, Australia
Dr Sanjoy Paul is an Associate Professor in the UTS Business School, University of Technology Sydney, who works on supply chain risk and resilience, and in particular, on recovery modelling using mathematical model and optimisation.
Sanjoy’s research interests include also sustainable supply chain management, supply chain resilience, applied operations research, modelling and simulation, and intelligent decision making. His work has particular application to global supply chain interruptions, for example those experienced during pandemics, and he is now developing several supply chain recovery models that could be used by business during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. His latest research can be found in the following google scholar link.
Sanjoy has received several awards in his career, including ASOR Rising Star Award, Excellence in Early Career Research Award from UTS Business School, the Stephen Fester prize for most outstanding thesis from UNSW, high impact publications awards for publishing articles in top-tier journals, and several university scholarships for outstanding results at undergraduate and postgraduate levels. Based on his citation records, he was included in the top 2% of scientists three times (based on the single year 2020, 2021 and 2022) in author databases of standardized citation indicators. He is a member of the Australian Society for Operations Research, and of the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS). Prior to joining UTS as a lecturer, Sanjoy served on the academic staff at Melbourne’s RMIT University, and before that, at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology.
Dr Ahad Ali, Associate Professor and Director of Industrial Engineering Program, Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA
Dr. Ahad Ali is an Associate Professor, Director of Bachelor of Science in Industrial Engineering and Master of Science in Industrial Engineering in the A. Leon Linton Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Lawrence Technological University, Michigan, USA. Dr. Ali is the Director of Smart Manufacturing and Lean Systems Research Group. He earned B.S. in Mechanical Engineering from Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Bangladesh, Master in Systems and Engineering Management from Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Dr. Ali is the Executive Director of IEOM Society and Conference Chair of the International Conference on Industrial Engineering and operations Management. He supervised 11 doctorate students in Doctor of Engineering in Manufacturing Systems. Dr. Ali has published 60 journal and 150 conference papers. Dr Ali has done research projects with Chrysler, Ford, DTE Energy, Delphi Automotive System, GE Medical Systems, Harley-Davidson Motor Company, International Truck and Engine Corporation (ITEC), National/Panasonic Electronics, and Rockwell Automation. His research interests include quality, reliability, six sigma, manufacturing, simulation, optimization, scheduling, maintenance, e-manufacturing, lean, supply chain and logistics. He is a member of ASEE, IEEE, IEOM, INFORMS, and SME.
Dr. Md Mizanur Rahman
Western Sydney University, Sydney, Australia &
Director, IEOM Australia Operations
mizanur@ieomsociety.org
Mizanur is a sustainable energy expert with 22 years of experience in renewable energy, energy efficiency, thermodynamics, heat transfer, fluid mechanics, energy management, sustainable power generation, energy and environment and energy storage. He has implemented research projects on several contemporary issues namely Net Zero Energy Building, Energy Efficiency, Renewable Energy Policy, Life Cycle Analysis, Energy in Building, Solar Assisted HVAC, Long Range Energy Analysis and Planning, Flameless Combustion, and Distribution Generation. He has actively participated to organize several international conferences as a Co-chair and delivered speeches in international conferences, seminars and meetings. I have published 38 research articles published in international peer reviewed journals and conferences.
He has served as a Senior Project Engineer for 8 years and as a Assistant Project Engineer for 4 years with the ability to lead full lifecycle installation of electrification distribution lines and sub-stations. He has gathered technical proficiency in testing, calibration and maintenance of transformers, energy meters, protective devices, and photovoltaics.
He has obtained a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Aalto University, Finland and an MSc in Sustainable Energy Engineering from Royal Institute of Technology KTH, Sweden. He is a Chartered Energy Engineer with Energy Institute (EI) UK and Professional Member (MIEAust) with Engineers Australia.
He is interested to join an industry to apply my knowledge and skills in the broader mechanical engineering area with focus on sustainable and renewable energy, energy policy, zero emissions, climate change, energy efficiency, energy management, energy and environment, and energy storage.