Vineet Kumar is working as a National Postdoctoral Fellow (N-PDF) in the Department of Microbiology at Central University of Rajasthan, India. He received his M.Sc. and M.Phil. in Microbiology from the Department of Microbiology at Ch. Charan Singh University, Meerut, India. Subsequently, he earned his Ph.D. in Environmental Microbiology from Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar (A Central) University, Lucknow, India in 2018. His research interests include waste management, bioremediation, phytoremediation, metagenomics, wastewater treatment, environmental monitoring, bioplastic, and biofuel production. He has published more than 50 articles in peer-reviewed international journals of repute, 55 book chapters, 1 technical report, and 4 scientific magazine articles, with more than citations 2500, and h-index 31. In addition, he has published 2 authored and 22 edited books on various aspects of science and engineering by renowned international publishers. He has been serving as a guest editor and reviewer in more than 65 International Journals for his research area. He is an active member of numerous scientific societies including the Microbiology Society (UK), the Indian Science Congress Association (India), the Association of Microbiologists of India (India), the Biotech Research Society (India). He is serving as the President of Society for Green Environment, India (website: www.sgeindia.org). Sartaj Ahmad Bhat is working as a JSPS Postdoctoral Researcher at the River Basin Research Center, Gifu University, Japan. He received his Ph.D. in Environmental Sciences from Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar, India in 2017. His research interests focus on vermicomposting treatment of various solid wastes, especially for investigations on fate and behavior of emerging pollutants during biological treatment of organic wastes. He has published more than 65 papers in peer-reviewed journals and edited over 15 books published by Elsevier Science, CRC Press, Royal Society of Chemistry, International Water Association and Springer Nature. Dr. Bhat is serving as an Associate/Academic Editor and Editorial Board Member/ Advisory Board Member of more than 20 journals published by Frontiers, Springer, Elsevier, PLOS, Hindawi, and De Gruyter. Dr. Bhat is a recipient of several prestigious awards such as the JSPS Postdoctoral Fellowship to pursue research at River Basin Research Center, Gifu University, Japan, the Basic Scientific Research Fellowship (BSR JRF, SRF) by the University Grants Commission (UGC) India, the DST-SERB National Postdoctoral Fellowship at CSIR-NEERI, Nagpur, India and Swachhta Saarthi Fellowship by the Govt. of India. Dr. Bhat has also received the 2020 Outstanding Reviewer Award by the International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, MDPI, and the Top Peer Reviewer 2019 Award in Environment and Ecology by Web of Science and has more than 800 Verified Reviews and 75 Editor Records to his credit. Sunil Kumar is a well-rounded researcher with more than 22 years of experience in leading, supervising, and undertaking research in the broader field of Environmental Engineering and Science with a focus on Solid and Hazardous Waste Management. Dr. Kumar is a graduate of Environmental Engineering and Management from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India. He completed his Ph.D. in Environmental Engineering from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. His primary area of expertise is solid waste management (Municipal Solid Waste, Electronic waste etc.) over a wide range of environmental topics including contaminated sites, EIA, and wastewater treatment. His contributions in these fields led to a citation of 14972, an h-index of 60, and an i10-index of 246 (Google Scholar). His contributions since inception at CSIR-National Environmental Engineering Research Institute (NEERI), India in 2000 include 261 refereed publications, 05 books, 40 book chapters, 10 edited volumes, and numerous project reports to various governmental bodies and private, local, and international academic/research bodies. He is the Associate Editor of peer-reviewed journals of international repute i.e., Environmental Chemistry Letter, International Journal of Environmental Science & Technology, and ASCE Journal of Hazardous, Toxic and Radioactive Waste. He also served on the Editorial Board of Bioresource Technology, Elsevier. He has completed many research projects as PI with 18 (12 awarded) Ph.D. and 20 M. Phil/M. Tech thesis/dissertations. Dr. Kumar was awarded the most prestigious award Alexander von Humboldt-Stiftung Jean-Paul-Str.12 D-53173 Bonn, Germany as a Senior Researcher for developing a Global Network and Excellence for more advanced research and technology innovation. Pradeep Verma is working as a Professor in the Department of Microbiology, School of Life Sciences at Central University of Rajasthan, Rajasthan, India. He is a well-rounded researcher with more than 21 years of experience in leading, supervising, and undertaking research in the broader field of bioprocess and bioenergy production from lignocellulosic waste with a focus on waste management. He earned his Ph.D. in Microbiology from Sardar Patel University in Gujarat, India in 2002. His research area of expertise involves microbial diversity, bioremediation, bioprocess development, lignocellulosic and algal biomass-based biorefinery. He has more than 92 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals and contributed to 52 book chapters in different edited books with citations of more than 6336, and h-index of 41. He has also edited 12 books by international publishers such as Springer, Taylor and Francis CRC Press and Elsevier. He also holds several International patents in the field of microwave assisted biomass pretreatment and bio-butanol production. He is a Guest editor to several journals such as Biomass Conversion and Biorefinery (Springer), Frontier in nanotechnology (Frontiers), and International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health (MDPI). He is also an editorial board member for the Journal Current Nanomedicine (Bentham Sciences). He is acting as reviewers for more than - 50 journals in different publication houses such as Springer, Elsevier, RSC, ACS, Nature, Frontiers, MDPI, etc. He is also a recipient of various prestigious fellowship and awards, such as JSPS Post-Doctoral Fellowship and Ron-Cockcroft award by Swedish society, UNESCO Fellow ASCR Prague. He has been awarded with Fellow of Mycological society of India (MSI-2020), Prof. P.C. Jain Memorial Award, Mycological society of India 2020, and Fellow of Biotech Research Society, India (2021). He is a member of various National and International societies/academies.
