Hamidreza Lashgarian Azad is a PhD student with a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Mathematics and a Master’s in Industrial Engineering (Socio-economic Systems Engineering). He brings over a decade of professional experience in the automotive industry, where he has worked as a Planning and Logistics Manager, Project Manager, and Purchasing Manager. Hamidreza’s research interests include operations research, algorithms, artificial intelligence, and explainable AI (XAI). As part of SAEF, he aims to develop interpretable and explainable operations research and AI-based analytics to support systematic conservation planning and biodiversity protection in Antarctica.