Prof. Jose A. Lozano received his M.Sc. degrees in Mathematics (1991) and Computer Science (1992), and his Ph.D. in Computer Science (1998) (Best Engineering Thesis Award) from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU). He is Full Professor in the Department of Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence at UPV/EHU and leads the Intelligent Systems Group. Since 2019 he has served as the Scientific Director of the Basque Center for Applied Mathematics (BCAM). He was named IEEE Fellow in 2021. He has published more than 180 ISI-indexed journal articles, several of them highly cited, and has contributed influential books, edited volumes and special issues in machine learning, evolutionary computation and probabilistic modelling.

His research interests include combinatorial optimization, machine learning, probabilistic graphical models, time-series analysis and applications in fields such as medicine, biology and ecology. He has supervised over 30 PhD theses, many recognized with national and international awards, and has received distinctions such as the Basque Country Research Award (2024) and several best paper awards.

Prof. Lozano has held leading roles in the organization of major conferences, including serving as General Chair of IEEE CEC 2017 and ECML-PKDD 2021, and Program Chair of GECCO 2020. He has served on editorial boards of journals such as IEEE Transactions on Evolutionary Computation, IEEE Transactions on Neural Networks and Learning Systems, Evolutionary Computation and ACM Transactions on Evolutionary Learning and Optimization.

Dr. Bernhard Sendhoff (Fellow, IEEE) received the Ph.D. degree in applied physics from Ruhr-Universitat Bochum, Bochum, Germany, in 1998. He was with Honda Research Institute Europe GmbH, Offenbach, Germany, as a Chief Technology Officer from 2003 to 2010 and President from 2011 to 2017. He has been an Operating Officer with Honda Research and Development Ltd., Tokyo, Japan, since 2017, and CEO of the Global Network Honda Research Institutes since 2019. He is an Honorary Professor with the Technical University of Darmstadt, Darmstadt, Germany. He has authored or coauthored more than 180 scientific publications. He is a Senior Member of ACM and Member of SAE.