Mini Symposia
The Program Co-Chairs have planned the inclusion of several mini symposia to the Symposium agenda. These special sessions will follow and build upon the topics and themes of each of the Invited Topical Review presentations. Mini symposia are high impact sessions designed to spark insight, collaboration, and meaningful discussion. Each session brings together experts, innovators, and attendees for a focused exploration of a specific theme. Unlike traditional symposium presentations, the mini symposia blend dynamic talks, guided panel presentations, and open crowd discussion, creating a space where everyone has an opportunity to contribute to and shape the conversation.
Additional information regarding the topics and participants can be found below.
Mini-Symposium on Future Fuel for Energy Conversion Monday, 27 July 2026
Organizers
Mara de Joannon, Institute of Science and Technology for Sustainable Energy & Mobility, Italy
Paul Papas, RTX Technology Research Center, USA
Invited Speakers
Toshiro Fujimori, IHI Corporation, Japan
Keith McManus, GE Aerospace, USA
Stephen Dooley, Trinity College Dublin, Ireland
Christine Rousselle, University of Orléans, France
Johan Hult, Everllence, Denmark
Hikaru Katano, Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd, Japan
Panelists
Jacqueline Chen, Sandia National Laboratories, USA - Panel Moderator
Agustin Valera Medina, Cardiff University, UK - Panel Moderator
Ghenadie Bulat, Siemens Energy, UK
Johan Hult, Everllence, Denmark
Keith McManus, GE Aerospace, USA
Cheng Yibing, Foshan Xianhu Laboratory, China
The Future Fuels for Energy Conversion Mini-Symposium, to be held on July 27, 2026, during the 41st International Symposium on Combustion in Kyoto, Japan, aims to provide a focused forum for advancing the understanding and application of emerging fuels in practical energy conversion systems. As global energy demands grow alongside the need to reduce carbon emissions, future fuels such as hydrogen, ammonia, synthetic fuels (including sustainable aviation fuels, SAF), and metal fuels are increasingly viewed as critical solutions for hard-to-electrify sectors, including transportation, power generation, and industrial heating.
The objectives of the mini-symposium are to identify key scientific and technical challenges, highlight recent advances in combustion science and technology, and foster dialogue among academia, industry, and government. Through invited presentations and panel discussions, the mini-symposium seeks to define research needs and future directions that support the deployment of future fuels in commercial energy systems.
Mini-Symposium on Fundamental Challenges and Applications of Detonative Propulsion Systems Tuesday, 28 July 2026
Organizers
Jason Burr, Air Force Research Laboratory, USA
Jonathan Sosa, Naval Research Laboratory, USA
Participants
Myles Bohon, TU Berlin, Germany
Jeong-Yeol Choi, Pusan National University, South Korea
Nikolaos Kateris, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom
Ken Matsuoka, Nagoya University, Japan
Greg Meholic, The Aerospace Corporation, USA
Brent Rankin, Air Force Research Lab, USA
Kapil Singh, GE Aerospace Research, USA
This Mini Symposium aims to provide a focused forum on the advancement of detonative-based propulsion systems. With a growing need for revolutionary gains in thermal efficiency and performance beyond the limits of current technology, propulsion concepts based on detonation, such as Rotating, Pulse, and Oblique Detonation Engines, offer a transformative pathway for the future of aerospace travel and power generation.
Through invited talks and panel discussions, this session will gather leading experts to define the fundamental challenges, identify promising research opportunities, and discuss the practical applications of these systems. The goal is to establish a clear roadmap of the research and development required to mature detonation-based technologies for deployment in next-generation propulsion and energy systems.
Mini-Symposium on AI and Machine Learning in Combustion Science Thursday, 30 July 2026
Organizers
Alessandro Parente, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Sili Deng, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Zhi Chen, Peking University, China
Panelists
Karthik Duraisamy, University of Michigan, USA
Sili Deng, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, USA
Zhi Chen, Peking University, China
Hessam Babaee, University of Pittsburgh, USA
Alessandro Parente, Université libre de Bruxelles, Belgium
Daniel Mira, Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC-CNS), Spain
Venkat Raman, University of Michigan, USA
This Mini Symposium aims to bridge the gap between the combustion and data science communities. The goal is to envision the next 20 years of the field by integrating AI/ML with traditional physics-based modelling.
The program includes a series of keynote presentations from global leaders that will cover a wide range of critical areas, including machine learning algorithms, AI-augmented scientific discovery, and the development of collaborative AI ecosystems. By bringing together experts from different fields, the session seeks to foster a holistic discussion that addresses both academic research and industrial applications. This event serves as a primary platform for establishing how the combustion community will adopt and evolve with AI technologies in the coming years.
Mini-Symposium on Combustion in Wildfires and Fires in Wildland-Urban Interface Friday, 31 July 2026
Organizers
Xinyan Huang, The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, HK
Sara McAllister, United States Forest Service, USA
Participants
Natalia Flores Quiroz, Stellenbosch University, South Africa
Rory Hadden, The University of Edinburgh, UK
Albert Simeoni, Worcester Polytechnic Institute, USA
Sayaka Suzuki, Institute of Science Tokyo, Japan
Arnaud Trouvé, University of Maryland, College Park, USA
Matthias Ihme, Stanford University, United States
This Mini Symposium aims to provide a focused forum for advancing the understanding of combustion fundamentals in wildfire and improving the fire safety in the wildland-urban interface.
Recent global wildfires and fires in wildland-urban interface (WUI) have demonstrated the complexity in combustion process and the significance of fire consequences. This mini-symposium will include, but not be restricted to
- Combustion processes related to wildland fuels and firebrands
- Ignition of both vegetative and human-made fuels in WUI
- Physical modelling of wildfire and WUI fire behavior
- New technologies to mitigate WUI fires
- Ecological benefits of wildland fire
- Research framework to address wildfire management needs