Dr. Badra was born in Lebanon and holds both Australian and Lebanese citizenships. He holds a BASc in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Balamand, Lebanon, two MASc (Coursework and Research) and a PhD degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Sydney, Australia before joining King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) as Postdoctoral Researcher in the Clean Combustion Research Center (CCRC). He joined Saudi Aramco in 2014 where he worked with and led the Engine Combustion team in the Transport Technologies division. He is currently the Business Manager for the Research and Development Centre at Saudi Aramco.

Dr. Badra is the recipient of the SAE Harry L. Horning Memorial Award for the best technical paper in 2015. He also has more than 100 peer-reviewed papers.

He is best known for his work on applying advanced modelling and Artificial Intelligence techniques to develop and optimize internal combustion engine technologies with decreased net environmental impact. Jihad’s current focus is on extending the applications of AI to broader R&D domains and applications such as material discovery, digitalization and process optimization.