Palladium Future Forum

James Bian is the founder of the China Precious Metals Industry Committee (CPMIC), which was established in 2006 following approval from the Ministry of Civic Affairs of the People’s Republic of China. The body has 100 member companies, representing 80% of China's platinum group metals trading, recycling and refining. In 2025, CPMIC was named as General Partner of the Palladium Global Science Award. Previously, Bian was key to the listing of platinum and palladium futures on the Guangzhou Futures Exchange, and has made major contributions to environmental and tax policy in China’s precious metals industry. Today, his areas of activity include the responsible procurement and application of green metals.

Heads the Germany-based organization representing the PGM industry globally, with a focus on advocacy in key markets from the EU, the UK and the USA to China and India. Previously he managed the International Manganese Institute (IMnI) for eight years, representing 130 leading manganese companies across 30 countries.

Nikos Kavalis is a founding partner of Metals Focus. He has more than two decades of experience as a metals analyst and strategist. He holds a bachelor’s degree in Econometrics and Economics from the University of York and a master’s in Econometrics and Mathematical Economics from the London School of Economics. Prior to the launch of Metals Focus, Kavalis worked as a commodity strategist for the Royal Bank of Scotland in London and a metals analyst for GFMS.

Professor Francis Verpoort is a distinguished expert in organometallic chemistry and functional materials. He leads the Laboratory of Functional Hybrid Materials at Wuhan University of Technology and is the founder and CEO of SAIS Ltd, a company specializing in chemistry, materials and engineering solutions. In addition to his research, Verpoort serves as the Editor-in-Chief of Chemistry Africa and Nanocatalysis, and the Editor of Applied Organometallic Chemistry. He is currently serving as the Chair of the Palladium Global Science Award International Expert Council.

Dr. Dingjun Wang is the Founder of Canan Material, a high-tech enterprise specializing in the manufacturing of catalysts for use in the petrochemical, pharmaceutical, fine chemical, natural gas chemical, agrochemical, environmental and oleochemical sectors. Additionally, the enterprise recycles spent precious metals. Wang received his PhD from Texas A&M University, and has over 40 years of experience in the development and manufacture of heterogeneous catalysts.

Professor Dmitri Bessarabov is an expert in PEM water electrolysis, hydrogen storage, electrochemical compression, and renewable hydrogen production and refuelling systems. He received his PhD in membrane technology from the Institute for Polymer Science at Stellenbosch University, and was subsequently awarded the Sasol Medal by the South African Chemical Institute for the best chemistry PhD of the year. Since 2010, Bessarabov has been leading the HySA Infrastructure Centre of Competence at North-West University and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, focusing on hydrogen and fuel cell technologies.

Professor Hideo Hosono is Distinguished Fellow and Team Leader at the National Institute for Materials Science and Honorary and Institute Professor at the Institute of Science Tokyo (formerly Tokyo Institute of Technology). He received his PhD in applied chemistry from Tokyo Metropolitan University, becoming a full professor at Tokyo Institute of Technology in addition to stints at Nagoya Institute of Technology, the Institute for Molecular Science and Vanderbilt University. His research achievements include the discovery of high-temperature iron-based superconductors. In 2012, Hosono founded the Materials Research Center for Element Strategy with the support of the Japanese Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology.

Prof. Chao-Jun Li is a Distinguished James McGill Chair at McGill University in Canada, where he received his PhD in 1992. He has been heavily involved in green chemistry and pioneered the use of water as a green solvent. His research was named by Canadian Chemical News as one of the 20 most important chemistry discoveries of the last century in Canada. He is also a Founding Board Member of the International Green Chemistry Consortium.

Dr. Verónica Bermúdez Benito is the Founder of Berbetin, a renewable energy and innovative technology consulting firm. She has over 20 years of experience in industrialization and clean climate technologies across Europe, Asia and the Middle East. Her focus is on how advanced materials and innovations can create new value, translating scientific developments into scalable market opportunities.

Professor Michael S. Wong received his education and training at the California Institute of Technology, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and University of California, Santa Barbara, and is now the Tina and Sunit Patel Professor in Molecular Nanotechnology and Chair of the Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering at Rice University. His research investigates water, sustainability and energy issues through chemical engineering, materials chemistry and heterogeneous catalysis approaches. He serves as Research Thrust Leader of the Rice WaTER Institute and as Director of the Rice PFAS Abatement and Replacement Center (Rice PAR).

Professor Richard Y. Liu earned his bachelor’s degree with highest honours from Harvard College in 2015. After completing his PhD at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 2019, he joined the laboratory of Timothy M. Swager as a postdoctoral associate, during which he demonstrated new applications of photochemistry using organic polymers. Liu is now an Associate Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology at Harvard University, where his research focuses on catalysis for organic synthesis and sustainability. Recent awards include the Amgen Young Investigator Award, the Bayer Early Excellence in Science Award and the NIH Director’s New Innovator Award.

Harada earned a PhD in applied chemistry from the University of Tokyo, and previously worked at the Institute for Solid State Physics (ISSP) at the University of Tokyo, the Max Planck Institute for Solid State Research, and the Institute for Materials Research at Tohoku University. His research focus is on thin film heterostructures.

Prof. Dr. Patrik Schmuki is a world-leading materials scientist and electrochemist working in semiconductor interfaces, self-organized oxide nanostructures, and single-atom catalysis. Before taking his position at FAU, he worked at ETH Zürich, Brookhaven National Laboratory (USA), the National Research Council of Canada, and EPFL Lausanne. He has published over 800 peer reviewed papers and is the recipient of numerous awards.

Professor Mark Bradley’s academic career began with a Royal Society University Research Fellowship at the University of Southampton in 1992, during which time he was appointed Chair in Combinatorial Chemistry. He later founded the UK’s Combinatorial Centre of Excellence. Following a professorship at the University of Edinburgh, he moved to his current role as Chair and Centre Lead in Therapeutic Innovation at the Precision Healthcare University Research Institute, part of Queen Mary University of London. His focus at the institute is on palladium-mediated intracellular chemistry, prodrug activation using radiotherapy, and in-cell polymerization.

Dominik Polanski is Director of Polsapart Technologies, where he develops practical industrial technology concepts focused on advanced materials, process architecture and controlled manufacturing routes. His work explores how promising material systems can be translated into repeatable pathways for real devices and production environments. He is the creator of PdBridge, an applied engineering concept for the reusable-donor transfer of PdCoO2 conductors for low-thermal-budget semiconductor integration. PdBridge was named the winner in the Best Applied Concept category of the Palladium Global Science Award.

Professor Shinya Takaishi received his PhD from the University of Tsukuba in 2003. After working as a postdoctoral fellow at Tokyo Metropolitan University, he was appointed Assistant Professor at Tohoku University in 2004 and promoted to Associate Professor in 2011. His research focuses on the electrical conductivity and switching properties of solid-state transition metal complexes, including halogen-bridged one-dimensional metal chains (MX chains), conductive metal-organic frameworks, and Kubas-type dihydrogen complexes for hydrogen isotope separation.

Dr. Bruce E. Rittmann received his PhD in Environmental Engineering from Stanford University in 1979. Today, he is Regents’ Professor of Environmental Engineering and Director of the Biodesign Swette Center for Environmental Biotechnology at Arizona State University. His research focuses on the science and engineering needed to manage microbial communities to provide services to society, with practical applications including renewable energy generation, water and soil purification, and human health. Dr. Rittmann has published over 920 journal articles, books, and book chapters, and he has 27 patents.