Prof. Dr.ir. Geert Deconinck is full professor (NL: gewoon hoogleraar) at the University of Leuven (KU Leuven, Belgium). He performs research on the design of dependable system architectures for industrial automation and control, specifically in the context of smart electric distribution networks. Specific interests include smart grids, smart metering, distributed control, robust embedded system design, infrastructure interdependencies and dependability modelling, all in a context of power and communication infrastructures. Both simulation and experimental validation are key. He is active in the research centre EnergyVille, the research centre on energy for sustainable cities, where he is scientific leader for the research domain ‘algorithms, modelling, optimisation’, applied to smart electrical and thermal networks. He is member of the IEEE SMC TC on Infrastructure Systems and Services and chairman of the ieNET-society BIRA on industrial automation. He is a Certified Reliability Engineer (ASQ), a member of the Royal Flemish Engineering Society, a fellow of the Institute of Engineering and Technology (IET) (M 2006, F 2013), a senior member of the IEEE and of the IEEE Reliability, Computer and Power & Energy Societies (sM 1988, M 1996, SM 2000).