Assoc. Prof. Dr. Mahendra Rao Somalu is currently a senior research fellow at the Fuel Cell Institute, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia. He was awarded a PhD from the Imperial College London in 2012. He has been an active Associate Member of the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) since 2013, a Member of the Malaysian Association of Hydrogen Energy (MAHE) since 2017, and a Member of the Malaysian Association of Solid State Science (MASS) since 2019. He was awarded a Gold Award in the 4th International Malaysia–Indonesia–Thailand Symposium on Innovation and Creativity 2021 (SIC 2021); Anugerah Bitara Penerbitan in the Science category from UKM in 2018; a Silver Award in the third International Innovation, Design and Articulation (i-IDEA 2016); and a Gold Award in the Invention, Innovation and Design Exposition 2015 (iideX2015). He has extensive expertise with over 15 years of experience in the development of high-temperature fuel cell technology, nanomaterials, biomass gasification and hydrogen energy. He has published more than 130 scientific articles in various high-impact journals and has been invited as a keynote and invited speaker at various national and international conferences.