Dr Elena Bautu is Associate Professor at the Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics, Ovidius University of Constanța. She received a PhD in Computer Science, specializing in Artificial Intelligence, from "Alexandru Ioan Cuza" University of Iași, with a thesis on intelligent methods for data modelling and prediction. Her expertise includes nature-inspired metaheuristics, evolutionary algorithms, machine learning, statistical modeling, and virtual/augmented/extended reality systems, with applications spanning from petroleum geosciences and climate modeling to stock-market forecasting and cultural-heritage dissemination. She has co-authored more than 25 Web of Science/Scopus-indexed journal and conference papers, and several book chapters published by Springer, Nova Science, and InTech, and she regularly reviews for SCIE-indexed journals. She has participated in more than 15 research projects, including projects involving optimisation, simulation, intelligent systems, virtual reality, medical applications, and defence-related training and navigation.