Tishk International University and Erbil Polytechnic University hosted 5th International Engineering Conference (IEC2019) on June 23-25, 2019. IEC2019 is technically sponsored by IEEE and IEEE Iraq Section. The conference aimed to disseminate research findings and provide a platform for scholars to debate and exchange ideas on the developments in the field of engineering. The accepted papers will be indexed by IEEE Xplore Digital Library Database. Furthermore, the conference provides our graduate students a chance to establish communication with experienced researchers to discuss their current work as well as to be engaged in future research topics, and new opportunities.

The program committee (the reviewers) is comprised of 200 members, 172 of them are PhD holders in certain fields of engineering, relevant to one or more conference topics mentioned above. The quality measures of papers included several criteria such as Relevance and Timeliness, Novelty and Originality, Technical Content and Correctness, Quality of Presentation, References used in the paper, Written Language, Reviewer Expertise, Overall Recommendation.

This year, the total number of submitted manuscripts stood at 142 from several countries including Cyprus, Germany, Hungary, India, Iran, Iraq, Malaysia, Saudi Arabia, and United Kingdom. By track, 68 papers were related to Computer Engineering & Information Technology topics, 25 papers were related to Engineering Applications topics, 12 papers were related to Digital Communication topics, 17 papers were related to Construction Engineering topics, 6 papers were related to Environmental and Hydraulic Engineering topics, while 14 articles were written in the Geo-Technical and Transportation Engineering related fields.

The rate of acceptance was 57% while 61 papers pre-accepted and presented. Erbil Polytechnic and Tishk International University are grateful to all prospective presenters for their valuable contributions that will bring new perspectives on the developments in the Civil and Computer Engineering to Kurdistan Region.

This year our conference has hosted three distinguish keynote speakers. The one is Assoc. Prof. Dr. Marek SALAMAK (Silesian University of Technology, Gliwice, Poland) and gave a keynote speech titled “Bridge Management Systems with BIM and Augmented Reality Implementation”, the other one is Prof. Cesare Oliviero Rossi (Department of Chemistry and Chemical Technologies, University of Calabria, Arcavacata, Cosenza, Italy) mentioned about “Physical Chemistry Characterization of Modified Bitumen” and the last one is Dr. Saad Essa (Erbil Polytechnic University, Erbil, Iraq) talked about “Using of Functionally Graded Material in Civil Engineering”.

Regarding the conference, five workshops were organized, 3 of them in the field of Computer Engineering and Information Technologies and one in Civil Engineering, the other one in Mechatronics. The first workshop was titled as “Utilising Computer Technologies in Daily Life Application”. The topics of the first workshop were “Wi-Fi in the Sky: Mechanism and Requirements”, “A.I Techniques: Steering the Behaviour of Human Actors in Agent-Based Modelling” and “Remote Experimentation Labs in Science and Engineering Education: VISIR System” respectively. The chair of this panel was Dr. Ahmad B. Al-Khalil (MIEEE Iraq Section, University of Duhok, College of Science, Dept. of Computer Science, Duhok – Iraq). The other members for this panel were Dr. Shaheen A. Abdulkareem (MIEEE Iraq Section University of Duhok, College of Science, Dept. of Computer Science, Duhok – Iraq) and Dr.  Razwan M.S. Najimaldeen (MIEEE Iraq Section, University of Duhok, College of Science, Dept. of Computer Science, Duhok – Iraq).

The second workshop was titled as “Information Security and its new challenges.” The topics of the first workshop were “The Cognitive Computation and its Applications in Information Security”, “The Blockchain Technology as a New Trend: Abstracting, Usability, and Future Directions”, “Blockchain Technology (Common Risks and Auditing Environment)” and “Emotion in Decision Making” respectively. The chair of this panel was Prof. Dr. Eng. Sattar B. Sadkhan (SMIEEE, IT College, Babylon University, Iraq.) The other members for this panel were Assist. Prof. Dr. Jumana Waleed (Department of Computer Science, College of Science, University of Diyala, Iraq), Assist. Prof. Dr. Thekra Abbas (Department of Computer Science, College of Science, Mustansiriyah, Iraq), and Rusul Sattar. B. Sadkhan (MIEEE, Al-Mustaqbel University College- Babylon-Iraq.)

The third workshop was titled as “Graph Modeling: Foundations, Applications and Practice in Python” and chaired by Dr. Ismael Ali, University of Zakho. The other members for this panel were Dr. Karwan Jacksi, University of Zakho, and Mr. Mashhood Ali, University of Zakho.

The fourth workshop was titled as “Future Trends in Mechatronics” and chaired by Dr. Abdulazeez Ali Hussein (Mechatronics Engineering Department, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq). The other members for this panel were Assist. Prof. Abadal-Salam T. Hussain (Department head of Medical Instrumentations Technique Engineering, Alkitab University, Kirkuk, Iraq), Asst. Prof. Yahya Alhammad (Department of Medical Device Technologies, Al-Kitab University, Kirkuk, Iraq.)

The last one was titled as “Enhancing KRG’s project Performance toward Safety” and presented by Haval M. Salih (Civil Engineering Department, Tishk International University, Erbil, Iraq).

We are grateful to our sponsors: Hemn Group, and Rasan Group.