Plenary speakers

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Plenary speakers of Railcon’26

 

 Prof. dr Francesco FLAMMINI, University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, and University of Florence
FROM AUTOMATION TO INTELLIGENT TRAIN CONTROL: AI, DIGITAL TWINS AND TRUSTWORTHY AUTONOMY FOR FUTURE RAILWAYS
Dr. Francesco Flammini is a Professor of Trustworthy Autonomous Systems at the University of Applied Sciences and Arts of Southern Switzerland, and at the University of Florence (Italy). He leads the Trustworthy Autonomous Systems (TAS) research group at Dalle Molle Institute for Artificial Intelligence (IDSIA USI-SUPSI), and holds a PhD in Computer Engineering. With 15+ years of industry experience, he has managed EU-funded projects on AI, cybersecurity, and smart mobility. A Senior Member of IEEE and Distinguished Lecturer for both IEEE and ACM, he serves on the IEEE Systems, Man, and Cybernetics (SMC) Board of Governors. He has authored 200+ publications and received several awards including the Dalle Molle Award for the Quality of Life, TRA Senior Researcher Award, and recognition among the world’s top 2% scientists by Stanford
 

 Prof. dr Giannis ADAMOS, Aristotle University of Thessaloniki
FROM NODE TO NETWORK: HOW TRANSPORT INTERCHANGES DEFINE THE PATHWAYS TO RAILWAY TRANSFORMATION
Dr. Giannis Adamos is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Civil Engineering of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Greece. He is also an Affiliated Professor at University of Thessaly, ATHENA Research Center and AMARANTHUS Social Enterprise. He is an expert on human-centered design of transportation systems and infrastructure, sustainability and resilience of transport systems and logistics. He has been involved in more than 40 European and national research projects. Recent projects are CHOICE, HORIZON EUROPE, European Commission, 2023-2026, ΒΙΟΝΕΧΤ, HORIZON EUROPE, European Commission, 2022-2026, ENFORCE, HORIZON EUROPE, European Commission, 2024-2027, NATALIE, HORIZON EUROPE, European Commission, 2023-2028, MI-TRAP, HORIZON EUROPE, European Commission, 2023-2026. He has participated in numerous national and international scientific conferences and workshops, and he has in his record more than 100 scientific papers published in journals and conference proceedings and chapters in 6 books.
 

 dr Miroslav PROKIĆ, Railway Expert within the Project Implementation Unit for the “Serbia Railway Sector Modernization” project
ENHANCING COMPETITIVENESS OF INTERNATIONAL RAILWAY FREIGHT CORRIDORS THROUGH A COOPERATIVE GAME APPROACH
Dr. Miroslav Prokić began his professional career in 2016 at the Ministry of Construction, Transport, and Infrastructure, within the Department for Railways and Intermodal Transport. In this role, he worked on railway sector reform, the preparation and monitoring of railway infrastructure projects, cooperation with international financial institutions, budget preparation, and the drafting of regulations in the field of railways. Since November 2021, he has been engaged as a railway expert in the Project Implementation Unit for the “Serbia Railway Sector Modernization” project, financed by the World Bank and the French Development Agency. Within this role, he participates in the preparation of tender documentation, the implementation of procurement procedures in accordance with World Bank guidelines, and the monitoring of contract execution.
 

 Aleksandar Petrović, Technical Project Leader at Zumtobel Lighting d.o.o. and PhD candidate at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, University of Niš
IMPROVING THE RELIABILITY OF RELEVANT RAILWAY SIGNAL DETECTION BY COMBINING ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND CLASSICAL COMPUTER VISION METHODS
Aleksandar Petrović focuses his research on the application of artificial intelligence and computer vision in railway systems, particularly railway track and signal detection.
His doctoral research is focused on the development of an intelligent railway signal detection algorithm that combines complementary AI-based detection and verification methods, evaluates their confidence scores and applies intelligent information fusion within a unified architecture, with the aim of improving the reliability of detection and advancing existing approaches.
At the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering, he contributes to practical teaching in Railway Vehicle Design and Product Development Tools and Technologies. His railway-related work also includes published research on computer vision and convolutional neural networks for rail track and signal detection, as well as participation in the SMART2 research project.
He has several years of professional experience working on engineering projects for international companies, primarily in the field of mechanical engineering and new product development. During his career, he has contributed to patented engineering solutions and, in the roles of Design Engineer and Technical Project Leader, participated in the development of a product recognised with a Red Dot Award in 2025.