Plenary and Keynote Speakers

Karin Bijsterveld is historian and professor of Science, Technology and Modern Culture at Maastricht University. She has published Mechanical Sound: Technology, Culture and the Public Problems of Noise in the Twentieth Century (MIT Press 2008), The Oxford Handbook of Sound Studies (Oxford UP 2012, with Trevor Pinch), and Sound and Safe: A History of Listening Behind the Wheel (Oxford UP 2014, with Eefje Cleophas, Stefan Krebs & Gijs Mom). She currently coordinates the project Sonic Skills
http://fasos-research.nl/sonic-skills/

Jens Holger Rindel, b. 1947 in Copenhagen, Denmark. M.Sc. 1971 (civil engineering), Ph.D. 1977 (acoustics), both from the Technical University of Denmark. Broad experience in architectural acoustics, project work as well as research and teaching. Since 2008 working part time in Odeon A/S, Denmark and in Multiconsult, Norway. Until 2008 professor in acoustics at the Technical University of Denmark. Senior researcher at the Norwegian Building Research Institute (1998-99). Visiting professor at a number of universities and research centres in Australia (1991), Germany (1993), Japan (2001), and New Zealand (2002). Initiated the development of the ODEON software, the leading room acoustic simulation tool. Coordinator of European research projects within acoustics, music and cultural heritage. Convenor of working groups within standardization (ISO, CEN, INSTA, Nordic Committee on Building Regulations). Author of textbooks, design guides, and more than 175 scientific papers. International short courses and master classes in architectural acoustics. Fellow of the Institute of Acoustics (IOA) and the Acoustical Society of America (ASA).

Steven van de Par studied physics at the Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands, and received the Ph.D. degree in 1998 from the Eindhoven University of Technology, on a topic related to binaural hearing. As a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Eindhoven University of Technology, he studied auditory-visual interaction and was a Guest Researcher at the University of Connecticut Health Center. In early 2000, he joined Philips Research, Eindhoven, to do applied research in auditory and multisensory perception, low-bit-rate audio coding and music information retrieval. Since April 2010 he holds a professor position in acoustics at the University of Oldenburg, Germany with a research focus on the fundamentals of auditory perception and its application to virtual acoustics, vehicle acoustics, and digital signal processing. He has published various papers on binaural auditory perception, auditory-visual synchrony perception, audio coding and computational auditory scene analysis.

Wim Desmet (1969, Belgium) obtained an MSc degree (1992) and a PhD degree (1998) in Mechanical Engineering from KU Leuven, Belgium. He is a Full Professor in dynamics and mechatronics at the KU Leuven Department of Mechanical Engineering, where he is currently the head of the Noise and Vibration Research group, which consists of 15 postdoctoral researchers and 60 PhD candidates. He holds also the LMS Chair on Vehicle Mechatronics.
His major research interests include vibro-acoustics, aeroacoustics, multibody dynamics, smart system dynamics, vehicle mechatronics, virtual prototyping techniques, noise control engineering, dynamics of lightweight materials, condition monitoring, uncertainty and variability in dynamics, green transportation, wind turbine dynamics, mechatronic simulation. His teaching activities include applied mechanics, mechanical vibrations, noise control engineering, vehicle dynamics and numerical prediction methods for vibro-acoustic design. He has published more than 150 papers in international peer-reviewed journals and over 450 papers in international conference proceedings. He is the promoter of 37 completed PhD dissertations so far. He is the organizer of the annual international ISAAC course on advanced numerical and experimental techniques in applied acoustics and he is member of the organizing committee of the biennial International ISMA Noise and Vibration Engineering Conference in Leuven, Belgium.
He is a member of the editorial board of Mechanical Systems and Signal Processing. He was Director of the International Institute of Acoustics and Vibration (2006-2010). He is Member of the ABAV- Belgian Acoustical Society, the ASA - Acoustical Society of America - and of the SAE - Society of Automotive Engineers. He has been the promoter of over 70 research projects, including several bilateral industrial research contracts, as well as multiple national and international research projects, including the co-ordination of 7 European projects. He is the KU Leuven representative in the General Assembly of EARPA - European Automotive Research Partners Association - and of EGVIA - The European Green Vehicles Initiative Association. He is member of the Board of Directors of spinoff company SoundTalks and a former member of the Board of Directors of Group T - International University College Leuven.