INVITED SPEAKERS

Keynote Speaker

Borja Armendariz

Copper oleate–EP synergy in low-viscosity lubricants: antiwear comparison with commercial oils

Tekniker

He is a researcher in the Tribology and Materials Department at Tekniker, where his work focuses on the tribological characterization of gear lubricants and high-temperature tribology, with particular focus on nickel-based materials. His research contributes to the understanding of lubrication mechanisms and material behavior under severe operating conditions, providing improved performance and durability of mechanical components.

He holds a Bachelor's degree in Physics from the University of the Basque Country (UPV/EHU) and a Master's degree in Advanced Materials Engineering from the UPV/EHU. He is currently a PhD student at UPV/EHU, where his doctoral research is focused on the development of low-viscosity gear lubricants based on the synergistic effect between copper oleate and extreme-pressure (EP) additives.

Keynote Speaker

Sophia Bastidas

Investigating combustion engine wear during running-in and an overview of journal bearing performance prediction using a hybrid model approach.

Virtual Vehicle

Dr. Sophia Bastidas is a senior researcher at Virtual Vehicle Research GmbH, specializing in automotive data science, machine learning, and tribology. Her research combines experimental methods, physics-based modeling, and data-driven approaches, with a particular emphasis on predictive maintenance, anomaly detection, and federated learning with applications to bearings and lubrication systems.

She obtained a PhD in Propulsive Systems in Transportation from the Universitat Politècnica de València and was awarded the highly competitive Margarita Salas postdoctoral fellowship, funded by the European Union's NextGenerationEU program. She is project leader of the EU-funded SoliDAIR project and is involved in multiple national and EU-funded projects.

Keynote Speaker

Marc Vila Forteza

A Proportional Hazards Models perspective on MTBF estimation for centrifugal pumps

Petronor / Repsol

Marc Vila Forteza holds a Master of Science in Industrial Engineering (Mechanics) and a Bachelor of Science in Marine Engineering from the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (Spain). With more than 25 years of professional experience, his career has been dedicated to the reliability and diagnostics of rotating machinery.

He currently works as a Technical Advisor in Rotating Equipment Reliability at the Petronor refinery (Muskiz, Spain), part of the Repsol Group. He is also pursuing a PhD at the Division of Operation and Maintenance Engineering at Luleå University of Technology (LTU), Sweden, focused on remaining useful life prediction of centrifugal pumps through advanced monitoring and predictive maintenance strategies.

Keynote Speaker

Tim Hosenfeldt

Holistic Tribology for Sustainable and Efficient Motion.

Schaeffler AG

Prof. Dr.-Ing. Tim Hosenfeldt is Senior Vice President Central Technologies at Schaeffler AG. He studied production engineering at the University of Bremen and worked as a research engineer at the Leibniz Institute for Materials Engineering. After receiving his doctorate from the University of Bremen in 2000, he joined the Schaeffler Group, where he established the coating and surface technology division.

From 2015 to 2022 he served as Head of Central Innovation, and since 2022 he has led Central Technologies. Since 2016 he has been honorary professor for Engineering Design at Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nuremberg (FAU) and is board member of the EU initiative Innovative and Advanced Materials (IAM-I).

Keynote Speaker

Jorge Seabra

Torque loss in an angular contact ball bearing

INEGI

Jorge is a Professor of Mechanical Engineering who joined Porto University Engineering Faculty (FEUP) in 1981. He holds a BSc in Mechanical Engineering, MSc in Structural Engineering, PhD in Mechanics – Tribology (INSA de Lyon, France, 1988), and "Agregação" in Mechanical Engineering (FEUP, 2005). Research topics include Contact Mechanics, EHD Lubrication, Gears, Rolling Bearings, Lubricants, and Surface Failures.

He has coordinated more than 60 R&D projects financed by the EU, the Portuguese Agency for R&D (FCT), and several industrial companies worldwide. He has supervised 10 Post-Doctoral Fellowships, 17 PhD Theses, and more than 50 MSc Dissertations, and authored more than 120 papers in peer-reviewed scientific journals. He served as Director of the Department of Mechanical Engineering at Porto University (2015–2023) and Director of the Tribology Research Unit (CETRIB) at INEGI (1992–2022).

Keynote Speaker

Cristian Schmid

Tribology for Industry: Closing the Gap Between Knowledge, Application and Measurable Benefits

Grupo Sicelub Lubritech

Cristián Schmid is an Electromechanical Engineer (UTN, Argentina) and holds an MBA from Euncet Business School (Spain), with more than 25 years of experience in industrial maintenance, tribology, and rotating equipment reliability. He currently serves as General Manager of Grupo Sicelub Lubritech, overseeing operations across Latin America and Europe. His professional work focuses on the development and implementation of advanced lubrication engineering solutions aimed at improving reliability, availability, and operational efficiency in sectors such as power generation, Oil & Gas, mining, and steel. He holds international certifications from the International Council for Machinery Lubrication (ICML), including MLT I (Machine Lubrication Technician), MLA II (Machine Lubricant Analyst), and VPR (Varnish Prevention & Removal), with specialization in varnish control in lubrication and hydraulic systems.

He has led applied engineering projects involving technologies such as oil mist lubrication, oil purification, high-velocity flushing, and varnish mitigation in turbomachinery, contributing to improvements in reliability indicators (MTBF) and reduction of operational failures. Since 2025, he has served as President of the Argentine Association of Tribology, promoting technical knowledge dissemination and strengthening the link between industry and academia through conferences, training programs, and technical events. He is a frequent speaker at regional and international technical conferences, with a focus on tribology, predictive maintenance, and asset management.

Keynote Speaker

Dr. Balasubramaniam Vengudusamy

From Tribology Challenges to Lifetime Extension – Advanced Lubrication Strategies for Modern Wind Turbines.

Klüber Lubrication

Dr. Balasubramaniam Vengudusamy (Bala) is a Senior Expert in Tribology at Klüber Lubrication, based in Munich, Germany, with over 20 years of experience in lubrication science and tribology. He holds a degree in Mechanical Engineering and earned his Ph.D. in Tribology from Imperial College London. He has extensive experience in tribology, lubrication science, and failure analysis, and has played a key role in developing lubrication strategies for wind turbine applications. His work focuses particularly on rolling bearings, gears, WEC, electrically induced damage mechanisms, and their mitigation. By bridging fundamental tribological research with industrial practice, he supports the reliable and sustainable operation of critical machinery.

He has authored and co‑authored numerous technical papers in leading journals and regularly contributes to international conferences and industry forums. He serves as an Associate Editor of the ASME Journal of Tribology and as a Technical Editor for Tribology & Lubrication Technology (TLT), and is actively involved in collaborative research with academia and industry worldwide.

Keynote Speaker

Gema del Olmo

SUSTAINABILITY IN LUBRICANTS DEVELOPMENT

FUCHS

With a degree in Chemical Sciences, Gema began her career at FUCHS in 1997 as a cutting fluids specialist. Later, she became the development supervisor of product categories related to the metal processing: cutting, forming, and rolling, ensuring that the developed products were in line with market needs and the latest technologies, always respecting legislative developments.

Since 2017, she has been the director of the laboratory of the Spanish subsidiary and has been part of the steering committee for 5 years. Gema is currently focused in developing the R+D team in Spain in coordination with FUCHS LUBRICANTS Germany and the EMEA region, where the Spanish team has an important role in metal process products development.

Speaker

Anna Andersson

Towards grease-free lubrication in electrical switching 

ABB Corporate Research Centre

Anna Andersson is an experienced materials scientist and senior researcher at the ABB Corporate Research Centre in Västerås, Sweden. She received her PhD in Inorganic Chemistry from Uppsala University in 2000, with a research focus on surface phenomena in lithium-ion batteries. After working in the United States and in the Swedish steel industry, she joined ABB in 2007. Her research interests span energy storage materials and the tribological performance of electrical contacts, with graphene serving as a unifying theme across both domains. She has acted as principal coordinator for several national and European collaborative research projects and has served as an assistant PhD supervisor in the areas of lithium-ion battery materials and materials for tribo-electrical applications.

Since 2017, she has investigated innovative graphene–metal composites aimed at multifunctional, low-friction components in electrical switching devices. From 2020 to 2023, she coordinated the EU-funded Graphene Flagship Spearhead project CircuitBreakers, which successfully demonstrated a first-of-its-kind, maintenance-free low-voltage circuit breaker based on solid graphene-based coating technology operating without conventional grease lubrication. She serves on the executive board of Batteries Sweden (BASE) and is a board member of IAM-I, the Innovative Advanced Materials Initiative, which leads the co-programmed EU partnership on advanced materials (IAM4EU).

Speaker

Aldara Naveira

Circular Lubrication: Enhancing performance and reliability of industrial operations through circular use of oil

RecondOil - SKF

Aldara Naveira holds a chemical engineering degree from the University of Santiago de Compostela with a focus on environmental engineering, completing her thesis work at Vienna University of Technology in 2005. She then joined SKF, a market-leading bearing manufacturer, at its product development division in Steyr, Austria. In 2007, she was awarded a Marie Curie fellowship from the European Union to pursue doctoral studies on machine elements and tribology, jointly with Luleå University of Technology in Sweden and SKF R&D Centre in The Netherlands. Her thesis focused on the effect of lubricant formulation on bearing performance.

Since 2011, she has held various roles in technology development at SKF, working with lubrication topics for both bearing manufacturing processes and bearing lubrication. In 2020, she joined SKF RecondOil, where she now leads the business unit for oil regeneration technology — one of SKF's key sustainable and circular initiatives.

Speaker

Jorge Alarcón

AI Agents in Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance: Reshaping the Future of Asset Reliability

Bureau Veritas

Reliability Manager, Condition Monitoring Engineer, Researcher and consultant in Condition Monitoring and Predictive Maintenance in the power generation, manufacturing and wind energy industries, among others.

Extensive knowledge of the Predictive Maintenance markets of Europe and the Americas, full customer technical support, focused on improving plant reliability through oil condition monitoring, lubrication best practices and digital transformation strategies.