Cerda is prof. at the College of Business Administration, U. de Talca, Talca, Chile. He obtained his PhD (1991), MSc (1989), and MBA (1991) at Oregon State U., USA. At the U. de Talca, he is Director of The Graduate School (University of Talca) and former dean of Faculty of Economic and Business Administration and served as dir. of the Entrepreneurial Development Center. He was also head of the Department of Economics and director of the Center of Resource Economics and Master Degree Program on Environmental and Resource Economics at the Univ. de Concepción, Chile. He is the leading environmental and resource economist in Latin America. His work on the theory and practice of valuation of environmental and econometrics is world class. He has also been instrumental in building capacity in environmental economics in Latin America and was president of the Latin American and the Caribbean Assoc. of Environmental and Natural Resources Economics (2007-09).

Prof. Chaibi (PhD Agriculture Engineering and Climate Technologies, Swedish U. of Agriculture Sciences) is Research Dir., Natl. Research Inst. for Agricultural Engineering, Water and Forestry in Tunisia. His major accomplishments include the development of autonomous and integrated complex systems for supporting sustainable livelihood in areas poor in fresh water, thus providing communities with basic needs such as water food and energy. He was appointed in 2015 as GIZ senior advisor for the academic affairs and International affairs, and from 2008 to 2015 to serve the African Union in developing and coordinating processes in science, technology and innovations policy in Africa. He was elected Member, Governing Council, African Acad. of Sciences (AAS) representative of North Africa Region (2010), Fellow, AAS (2006), Fellow; IAS (2017). He served in various capacities as associate member of the Environmental Security panel under the NATO Science for Peace and Security and the EC Frameworks Programs.

Chandrasekhar is the Director of the National Institute of Science Education and Research, Bhubaneshwar, India. He is on a deputation from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur. He obtained his PhD in 1982 at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He investigates main-group organometallic chemistry, inorganic rings, metal clusters and cages. He also works on materials with emphasis on catalysis, magnetism and photophysical properties. He is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences and the National Academy of Sciences of India. His honours include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award by the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, New Delhi, the Friedrich Wilhelm-Bessel Award by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation, Germany, the JC Bose National Fellowship by the Dept. of Science and Technology, New Delhi and the SASTRA-CNR Rao award.

Coutsoudis is a public health scientist and a Professor in the Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, at the Nelson Mandela School of Medicine, University of KwaZulu-Natal in South Africa. She obtained her PhD in 1993 from the same university, and made important contributions on child nutrition, breastfeeding and prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV/AIDS. Her awards include: the 2004 Nutrition Society of South Africa Award for her contribution to nutrition research in South Africa; the 2005 Amnesty International South Africa for protecting human rights in South Africa; the 2006 Convocation of University of KwaZulu-Natal for her outstanding contribution to medical science and society; and the 2009 Science for Society Gold Medal of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, of which she is a Fellow. She is also a Fellow of of the University of KwaZulu-Natal. In 2000, she established the first community-based breastmilk bank in South Africa to provide donor breastmilk to AIDS orphans, and was one of the founding members of the Human Milk Banking Association of South Africa, which she chairs. She is involved in putting in place low-cost technology for human milk banks.

Crewe is a Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, U. of Pretoria (UP); Em. Vice-principal of UP; former pres., Acad. of Science of South Africa; fellow, Royal Soc. of South Africa; fellow, African Acad. of Science, and Royal Entomological Soc. of London. He obtained degrees in chemistry and biochemistry at the U. of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. He obtained his PhD in entomology at the U. of Georgia where he developed his interest in chemical communication and social organization in social insects. He was director of the Communication Biology Research Group, U. of Witwatersrand, for 10 years; dean, Science Faculties at both the univ. of Witwatersrand and Pretoria, and pres., Entomological Society of Southern Africa. He has been awarded the Gold Medal, Zoological Society of South Africa, the Gold Medal, Acad. of Science of South Africa and Ordre National du Mérite rank Chevalier.

Jean-Pierre EZIN is Emeritus Professor of mathematics of Université d'Abomey-Calavi. He held doctorat d'Etat in Geometric Analysis at Université Lille I, France. He has been Professor at Université Nationale, Bénin since 1982 ; senior lecturer at Université Lille I (1973-1982). He has been researcher at Abdus Salam ICTP,Trieste, Italy (1986-1988).He also was Commissioner of Economic Community of West African States for Education,Science and Culture from 2014-2016 and Commissioner of African Union for Human Resource,Science and Technology from 2008-2013. He is Founding Director of Institut de Mathématiques et de Sciences Physiques, Bénin from1988-2008. In between he was Recteur Université Nationale, Bénin (1990-1992).As other implications, he was member of Board of Council Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) of NSF, USA, and of Board of Council International Science Programme (ISP), Sweden from 2010-2013 and from 2011-2015 Chairperson of Agence Inter-établissement de Recherche pour le Développement (AIRD),France. He is initiator and founding member of Bénin Academy of Science. In 2014 he was honored by TWAS special Award " for building science capacity in Africa".

Goswami is SERB Distinguished Fellow of Government of India at Cotton University in Guwahati. He obtained his PhD from PRL, Ahmedabad, and did postdoctoral research at MIT, Cambridge, USA, and at NASA/GSFC, USA. Returning to India, he worked at CAS/IIT, Delhi and CAOS, IISc, Bangalore between 1985 and 2006. He was Director of IITM, Pune between 2006 and 2014. He was visiting professor at the University of Maryland and Princeton University. He has received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award; Hari Om Ashram Prerit Vikram Sarabhai Award; Kamal Kumari National Award for Science and Technology;National Award in Atmospheric Science and Technology by MoES and the Kalpathi Ramakrishna Ramanathan Medal by INSA. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and Indian Meteorological Society, and member of several national and international commissions and committees.

Rao served as the Director of the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology(CCMB) in Hyderabad, India. He is CSIR-Distinguished Scientist and Sir JC Bose National Fellow. President of Society of Biological Chemists (India); President of the Telangana Academy of Science. He obtained BSc from Osmania University; MSc in physical chemistry from Kakatiya University; PhD in Chemistry from University of Hyderabad. Later, he joined CCMB and initiated intact lens spectroscopic investigation. He has developed Red Edge Excitation Shift (REES) for intact biological material. His main research interest is small heat shock proteins, specially αB-crystallin, in health and disease. His research interests include molecular diagnostics, microfluids, nano biology, cell cycle, differentiation and apoptosis. He had visiting positions in USA, Japan and Australia. He is Fellow of all 3 national science academies of India, and has won the Bhatnagar, Ranbaxy and Sreenivasayya Awards of India, and the Rohto Award. Distinguished Alumni of the University Of Hyderabad,

Professor Emeritus at Simon Bolivar University in Caracas, Venezuela. After receiving PhD in Physical Chemistry from Southampton University, UK, Scharifker joined the faculty of Simon Bolivar University in 1980, shaping an Electrochemistry research group and serving successively as Department Head, Research Dean, Vice Rector and Rector. He has published more than 120 research papers in international journals with over 8000 literature citations (h = 39) and holds 3 patents of invention. He received several honours, including the Tajima Prize from the International Society of Electrochemistry, the Prize for Scientific Work in Chemistry from the National Council for Science and Technology Research of Venezuela, and the Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury Prize from the Polar Enterprises Foundation. He was Rector of Universidad Metropolitana (2011-2021), is Fellow and past president of the Venezuelan Academy of Physical, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, and member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences.

Shyamasundar is senior professor and JC Bose Natl. Fellow, Faculty of Technology and Computer Science, Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, India. He obtained his BE in electrical engineering at Mysore U. in 1970, ME in electrical engineering (1972) and PhD in computer science (1975) at the Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore. He worked under legendary Prof. E.W. Dijkstra at Eindohoven and has held various postions in PennState, UCSD, UIUC, SUNY Alabany, INRIA, JAIST, Max Planck Institute, IEEE Standards etc. He is the founding Dean of Technology and Computer Science at TIFR, and founding president of the India Association for Research in Computer Science. He is a fellow of IEEE USA, fellow Association for Computing Machinery (ACM) USA, the Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy, Indian National Academy of Engineering, and the National Academy of Sciences.

Sial is full professor (retired, 2012; Emeritus Professor, 2016) in the Department of Geology, Federal U. of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). He obtained his PhD from UC Davis (1974) and did postdoctoral work at the U. of Texas at Austin (1977-78), U. of Georgia at Athens (entire 1983, entire 1988) and U. of Wisconsin (2001). He also trained in Portugal, Canada, Japan and Scotland. He founded a Laboratory for Stable Isotope Studies at UFPE, only one in South America with facilities to analyze O isotopes from silicates, and pioneered the use of isotope stratigraphy in S. America. He has received several honours including: Silver Hammer and José Bonifacio Golden Medals (Brazilian Geological Society); Centennial Medal, Engineering School, UFPE; National Order of Scientific Merit commendator and Grao Cruz classes (by President of Brazil decree); special foreign member, Society of Resource Geology, Japan; and foreign member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Portugal.

Dr Peter Singer has dedicated his career to building innovative institutions with high social impact. Since 2017, he has been Special Advisor to the Director General, supporting Dr Tedros to transform WHO into an Organization focused on measurable impact in countries. Dr Singer co-chaired the transition team; was the architect of WHO’s strategy and its “triple billion” target; supports strategy implementation; and during the pandemic was a strong advocate for vaccine equity. From 2008-2018 Singer was Chief Executive Officer of Grand Challenges Canada, and from 1996-2006 he was Sun Life Financial Chair and Director of the University of Toronto Joint Centre for Bioethics. He is Professor of Medicine at University of Toronto In 2011, Dr Singer was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada, recognized for his contributions to health research and bioethics and for his dedication to improving the health of people in developing countries, and in 2007 he received the Michael Smith Prize as Canada's Health Researcher of the Year. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, the Canadian Academy of Health Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Medicine, and TWAS.

Tyagi is professor, Delhi University South Campus, India. He has served as head, Dept. of Plant Molecular Biology; chairman, Board of Research Studies; and dir., Interdisciplinary Centre for Plant Genomics at Delhi University South Campus; and dir., Natl. Inst. Plant Genome Research, India. He has made important contributions to genome sequencing of rice, tomato and chickpea, investigated transcriptome profile and characterized function of several novel genes/regulatory elements related to rice reproductive system and stress responsive networks by forward and reverse genetics approaches. His awards include: JC Bose Natl. Fellowship; DBT Natl. Bioscience Award; NASI Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee Award; BP Pal Memorial Award; Birbal Sahni Medal; and Om Prakash Bhasin Award for Sci and Tech. He is a member of: Ind. Natl. Science Acad.; Natl. Acad. of Sciences India; Ind. Acad. Science and Natl. Acad. of Agric. Scs., India; Former President, Natl. Acad. of Sciences India.

Zare is the Marguerite Blake Wilbur Professor in Natural Science, Stanford University. His research is in the area of laser chemistry, resulting in a greater understanding of chemical reactions at the molecular level and contributing very significantly to solving a variety of problems in chemical analysis. His development of laser induced fluorescence has been widely adopted in other laboratories. Awards include the US National Medal of Science (1983), the Welch Award in Chemistry (1999), the Wolf Prize in Chemistry (2005), the BBVA Foundation Frontiers of Knowledge Award in Basic Sciences (2010), and the King Faisal International Prize in Science (2011). His memberships include the National Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society, the Swedish Royal Academy of Engineering Sciences, the Chinese Academy of Sciences, and the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Al-Kindy is a Professor at the Department of Chemistry of the Sultan Qaboos University, in Al Seeb, Oman. Her research focuses on the development of robust and simple sequential injection analysis methods for the assay of pharmaceutical, biomedical and environmental samples, and on the investigation of various luminescence detection modes such as spectrophotometry, micellar enhanced fluorescence, lanthanide enhanced luminescence and chemiluminescence. She developed methods for the analysis of enantiomeric drugs; analysed essential oil from endemic plants; and developed novel ultra-sensitive detection methods for the monitoring of non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs (NSAIDs), such as piroxicam, ibuprofen and ketoprofen through urine and plasma samples, and in pharmaceutical formulations.

AlMomin is a Senior Research Scientist at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Vice President of TWAS for the Arab partner since 2020. She contributed to the establishment of a Kuwaiti national biotechnology program and leads a Government initiative to establish a National Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. She initiated the inclusion of KISR as an affiliated centre with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), being also Kuwait's Liaison Officer at ICGEB. AlMomin is a certified risk management professional from the International Federation of Biosafety Associations (IFBSA) and is a member of several entities, including the Commission of Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, the International Council for the Life Sciences, the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. Her research interests are genetic engineering, diagnostics, population genetics, biodiversity, and biosafety. She led several pioneer projects and introduced several scientific innovations in her country and MENA region. She serves as a chair and member of several national and international committees.

Arruda is a full professor, Department of Genetics, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas (Unicamp). He received his PhD in genetics from Unicamp and has pioneered the field of plant molecular biology and plant genomics in Brazil. His research interests are on the understanding the regulation of gene expression in plants and its impact on amino acid metabolism and plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has received honours including the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; Scientific and Technological Merit Award, State of São Paulo; and 2001 RedBio Medal, Red Latino-Americana de Biotecnologia (FAO) for his contribution to the development of plant biotechnology in Latin America and Caribe. He was co-founder and scientific director of the plant biotechnology company Alellyx Applied Genomics.

Baralle (PhD 1969, U. of Buenos Aires -UBA) has been director general at Intl. Centre for Genetic Eng. and Biotech. (ICGEB) in Trieste, Italy (2004-14). He now leads the ICGEB RNA Biology Group and is vis. prof. in Buenos Aires. From 1968 to 1974 studied Medicine at UBA and completed his MD in 1984 at the U. of Naples. Previously, he worked at the Instituto de Investigaciones Bioquímicas Fundación Campomar and at the MRC Lab. of Molecular Biology, Cambridge, UK. From 1980 to 1990, he was university lecturer of pathology at Oxford and fellow of Magdalen College. In 1990 he joined ICGEB. He is an elected member of EMBO and of the Argentine Acad. of Sciences. In 1977 he published the first complete primary structure of an eukaryotic mRNA, βglobin mRNA. His current research focuses on RNA splicing and RNA-protein interactions in neurodegenerative diseases. He has published over 220 papers.

BouJaoude joined the American University of Beirut (AUB) in 1993 where he is now professor of science education. At AUB he served as chairman of the Department of Education, director of the Science and Math Education Center, and is now director of the Center for Teaching and Learning. He has published in local, regional, and international education journals, written chapters in books in English and Arabic, and co-edited a book on science education in the Arab States. He serves on the editorial boards of regional and international science education journals and has been a presenter at local, regional and international science education conferences. He has also served as international coordinator, National Association for Research in Science Teaching, and is a member of the executive board, Supreme Education Council, State of Qatar.

Chakravarty is professor at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He obtained his PhD in 1982 from Calcutta University working at IACS (Kolkata) and did his postdoctoral studies at Texas A and M University prior to joining IISc in 1985 as assistant professor. He has made important contributions in bioinorganic chemistry towards developing the chemistry of bio-essential first-row transition metal-based synthetic photo-chemotherapeutic agents that are active in visible light in different types of cancer cells. His awards include: SS Bhatnagar Prize in 1998; CSIR, New Delhi; CRSI Silver Medal in 2007; JC Bose national fellowship of DST, Govt. of India; and Alexander von Humboldt fellowship, Germany, in 1994. His membership includes: Indian National Science Academy (FNA) in 2006 and Indian Academy of Sciences (FASc) in 1995.

Cui is professor, National Astronomical Observatories of China (NAOC), Nanjing Institute of Astronomical Optics and Technology (NIAOT), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); president, Chinese Astronomical Society; and associate director, Chinese Center for Antarctic Astronomy. She graduated from Nanjing University of Science and Technology (1975), and obtained her MSc (1982) and PhD (1995) at Purple Mountain Observatory and CAS Graduate School. From 2001-10, she was associate director, NAOC, and director, NIAOT. Her research focuses on astronomical instruments and technology for astrophysics. From 1985-86, she visited Jodrell Bank Observatory in England, and from 1986-94 she worked at the European Southern Observatory (ESO), Germany, for the Very Large Telescope project (VLT). From 1994-08, in China, she built the innovative telescope LAMOST. In 2009, she was elected as CAS academician.

Sandra Díaz is Professor of Ecology at Córdoba National University, senior member of the Argentine National Research Council and Visiting Professor at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University. She is interested in plant functional traits and syndromes, their effects on ecosystem properties and their interactions with global change drivers. She has advanced theory and practical implementation of the concept of functional diversity and its effects on ecosystem properties and benefits. She combines her ecology studies with interdisciplinary work on how different societies value and reconfigure nature. She founded Núcleo DiverSus on Diversity and Sustainability, and co-founded the Global Communal Plant Trait Initiative TRY. She co-chaired the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. She is a member of the Academies of Sciences of Argentina, USA, France, Norway, Latin America and the Developing World, and Foreign Fellow of the British Royal Society. Her awards include; Margalef Prize in Ecology, Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science, Kew International Medal and BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge.