KEYNOTE SPEAKERS OF ICREC 2025

Fellow, IEEE
Prof. Gianfranco Chicco, Politecnico di Torino, Torino, Italy

Gianfranco Chicco holds a Ph.D. in Electrotechnics Engineering and is a Full Professor of Electrical Energy Systems at Politecnico di Torino, Italy. He received the title of Doctor Honoris Causa from the Universities Politehnica of Bucharest and “Gheorghe Asachi” of Iasi (Romania) in 2017 and 2018, respectively. He is a Fellow of the IEEE and the past Chair of the IEEE Italy Section. He is listed in the “Top 2% Scientists” ranking prepared by Stanford University. He is the Scientific Responsible of the research group on Power and Energy Systems at Politecnico di Torino, and the Responsible of the Torino unit of the Italian Consortium ENSIEL. He is the Editor-in-Chief of Sustainable Energy Grids and Networks. He is a past Subject Editor of Energy and a past Editor of the IEEE Transactions on Smart Grid, IEEE Transactions on Sustainable Energy, and IEEE Open Access Journal of Power and Energy. He was the Conference Chair of WESC 2006, IEEE PES ISGT Europe 2017, UPEC 2020, IEEE Eurocon 2023, SEST 2024, and a co-Chair of IEEE SmartGridComm 2024. His research topics include Data Analytics Applied to Smart Grids, Power System Analysis, Distribution System Analysis, Electrical Load Management, Energy Efficiency, Multi-Energy System Operation, and Power Quality.

Prof. Raffaele Carli, Polytechnic of Bari, Italy

Raffaele Carli received the Laurea degree (Hons.) in electronic engineering and the Ph.D. degree in electrical and information engineering from the Polytechnic of Bari, Italy, in 2002 and 2016, respectively. From 2003 to 2004, he was a Reserve Officer with Italian Navy. From 2004 to 2012, he worked as a System and Control Engineer and the Technical Manager for a space and defense multinational company. He is currently a Senior Assistant Professor of Automatic Control at the Polytechnic of Bari. He is qualified for access to a position of full professor in the ERC field: PE7_1 Control engineering since 2023.
He is the technical responsible for the Decision and Control Laboratory (coordinated by prof. Mariagrazia Dotoli) at the Department of Electric and Information Engineering (DEI) of the Polytechnic of Bari (http://dclab.poliba.it/).
He is an author of over 100 printed international publications. His area of expertise is the development of decision and control techniques for the modelling, optimization, management, and control of complex and large-scale systems. His research interests include the formalization, simulation, and implementation of decentralized, distributed, and hierarchical optimization and control algorithms, to be applied on distributed systems (cooperative and noncooperative), multi-agent systems, and networked systems in smart frameworks such as for example the industry and energy fields.
He was the Young Career Chair of the 2017 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, the Pubblication Co-chair of the 2020 IEEE Conference on Automation Science and Engineering, the General Co-chair of 7th International Conference on Renewable Energy and Conservation (ICREC 2022), and the Tutorials Co-chair of 2023 IEEE International Conference on Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC 2023). He is the Finance Chair and Special Session Chair of the 2024 IEEE International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (2024 August 26-30, Bari – Italy). He is an Associate Editor of the IEEE TRANS. ON AUTOMATION SCIENCE AND ENGINEERING and the IEEE TRANS. ON SYSTEMS, MAN, AND CYBERNETICS.  He is a member of the conference editorial board for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society (RAS) and IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics  Society (SMC), a member of the international program committee of over 50 international conferences, and a guest editor for special issues on international journals.
For additional information, visit: http://dclab.poliba.it/people/raffaele-carli/

Prof. João Soares, Polytechnic of Porto, Portugal

Prof. João Soares is a distinguished senior research at GECAD (ISEP/P.Porto), holding a PhD in Electrical and Computer Engineering from UTAD, which he earned in 2017. Since completing his doctorate, he has demonstrated exceptional leadership in securing competitive funding for numerous high-impact research initiatives.

Prof. Soares has cultivated extensive international collaborations, particularly with São Paulo State University (UNESP) and Centrale Lille, where his work has centered on the operation and planning of electrical energy systems integrating renewable generation and electric vehicles using artificial intelligence. His research partnerships extend to prominent institutions such as the Honda Research Institute Europe, fostering strong ties between academia and private industry. Additionally, he has collaborated with leading universities in India, where he has actively contributed to research initiatives and academic competitions. Since 2019, his role as a visiting professor at a prestigious Centrale Lille in France has further enriched his global research and teaching activitie.
With a remarkable track record in project leadership, he has participated in over 30 national and international research projects, serving as Principal Investigator in nine of them, including initiatives under the Horizon/H2020 framework. His leadership has driven significant advancements in energy resource management, particularly in the areas of local energy markets and electric vehicle integration. Recently, he secured five private contracts for R&D projects focused on energy communities and electric mobility, underscoring his ability to bridge academic research with industry needs.
Prof. Soares has authored over 250 scientific publications with over 6,000 citations and achieving an h-index of 42. His contributions to the scientific community extend beyond research; he has taken on editorial responsibilities, co-leading 16 special issues in high-impact journals and reviewing over 350 manuscripts.
As an educator, he has delivered courses on cutting-edge topics such as AI, electric mobility and smart grids at ISEP, UNESP, and Centrale Lille. Over the past five years, he mentored a team of several researchers and supervised a diverse group of students, including nine PhD candidates and 23 MSc students, many of whom have gone on to successful careers in academia and industry.
He has been recognized with numerous awards for his contributions to the field. He currently serves as Chair of the IEEE ISATC Task Force on Computational Intelligence for the Energy Domain and as Secretary of the IEEE PES Intelligent Systems Subcommittee. His leadership extends to organizing over 30 international events, including workshops and competitions, and he is frequently invited to deliver plenary and keynote speeches at prominent conferences worldwide.
More information available on https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4172-4502