Anne Schmalstig is an assistant professor of practice in English at the College of Humanities and Social Sciences (CHSS) at Hamad bin Khalifa University (HBKU), where she joined after teaching literature and academic composition courses for four years at Texas A&M University at Qatar (TAMU-Q).

She received a PhD in English Literature from the University of Miami, and an MA in English Literature from Purdue University. Her academic work focuses on narratives of climate change and environmental concerns in speculative fiction, with particular interests in Afrofuturism and the New Weird. Her research and teaching interests include environmental humanities, climate fiction, science fiction, writing about literature, and writing about the environment.

Dr. Naqaa Abbas earned her PhD in Comparative Literature from Western University where her research focused on representations of Islam and the other in nineteenth-century British, German, and French Romanticism. Her work on representation continues with ongoing projects that examine questions of gender, cultural identity, and linguistic identity in writing communities in the Gulf today.

Before joining HBKU, Dr. Abbas was a faculty member in English and served as the Writing in the Disciplines coordinator at Texas A&M University in Qatar. In her teaching and administrative roles, she focused on effective business communication, writing pedagogy, and writing in the disciplines for undergraduate students.

She has over eighteen years of teaching and administrative experience in North American, European, and Middle Eastern institutions. Before joining HBKU, Dr. Abbas taught a variety of composition and literature courses at Western University, Zurich University, the University of Saskatchewan, and Qatar University.

She has received multiple teaching grants at TAMUQ, including a Transformative Educational Experience Grant for three consecutive years and a Multiversity Grant. Her commitment to teaching and service has been recognized through two prestigious university-wide awards: the Early Career Faculty Excellence Award and the Distinguished Service Award.

Ahmed Farouk is a Senior Scientist at the Qatar Center for Quantum Computing and an Associate Professor at the faculty of computers and artificial intelligence at Hurghada University, Egypt. He is an early-career scientist demonstrating excellence in quantum communication, quantum cryptography, quantum machine learning, and cybersecurity research, having published more than 120 research papers with a high impact (over 5,300 citations and a 39 H-index). He received the Egyptian State Encouragement Award in advanced technological sciences, the University Encouragement Award in basic sciences and engineering, the Prof. Dr. Tarek Kamel Award in communications and information technology, and many more.

He has also been selected as one of 17 researchers from Africa to participate in the prestigious Lindau Nobel Laureate Meetings, selected by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences to participate in the 2^nd and 3^rd U.S.-Africa Frontiers of Science, Engineering, and Medicine symposium and his work has been recognized as one of Stanford's World Top 2% scientists. He has won several travel and full grants from IEEE Computer Society, Lindau Foundation, Baden-Württemberg International, the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, and the Okinawa Institute of Science and Technology.

Dr. Rozha Yousefjani received her Ph.D. in Quantum Physics from the University of Kurdistan, Iran. Her doctoral work laid the foundation for her continued contributions to the field of quantum technology. From 2019 to 2024, she served as a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Electronic Science and Technology of China (UESTC), where she conducted advanced research in quantum physics. Dr. Yousefjani’s work focuses on the theoretical aspects of quantum sensing, quantum computation, and many-body quantum systems. With a strong background in both analytical methods and interdisciplinary collaboration, she continues to contribute to cutting-edge research in the quantum domain.

Safaa Alqrinawi holds an M.Sc. in Physics from the Islamic University of Gaza, following a B.Sc. in Physics from Al-Azhar University, Gaza, with a minor in medical physics, which provided a foundation in diagnostic and therapeutic radiation as well as image processing. Her research interests are centered around quantum computing, quantum sensing, photonics, and computational modeling. She is currently a PhD student at Hamad Bin Khalifa University, working on projects related to machine learning and quantum machine learning techniques and their application in designing and optimizing photonic sensors.

Ali Al-Kuwari is a cybersecurity professional and researcher with a strong interest in quantum communication security. His research focuses on improving the security and performance of Quantum Key Distribution (QKD) systems using Machine Learning and Quantum Machine Learning techniques. During his Master’s degree, he worked on detecting attacks on QKD protocols by developing hybrid quantum-classical models. More recently, his research has expanded toward optimizing QKD systems and improving their practical deployment. He is particularly interested in real-world implementation challenges, including satellite-based QKD and secure quantum communication infrastructures.