Rao is Linus Pauling research professor and Hon. president, Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. After obtaining his PhD at Purdue U. and completing postdoctoral work at UC Berkeley, he returned to India in 1959 and has since worked in various capacities at the Ind. Inst. of Science and other institutions. His honours include: 77 honorary causa doctorates; Hughes and Royal Medals of the Royal Society, London; Einstein Gold Medal, UNESCO; India Science Prize; Dan David Prize; Ernesto Illy Trieste Science Prize; dist. research professor, U. of Cambridge; laureate, Khwarizmi Intl. Award, Iran; Order of the Rising Sun, Gold and Silver Star, by Emperor of Japan, Order of Friendship of Russia, Chevalier De La Legion D'Honneur of France. He was conferred the highest award for materials research, the von Hippel award by the Materials Society in 2017. He is a member of 27 science academies including the Royal Society, US National Academy of Sciences, and Pontifical, Australian, Canadian, Russian, Brazilian, French and Japan academies. He is the recipient of the highest civilian honour of India, Bharat Ratna (Jewel of India).

Swaminathan is a renowned agriculture scientist. Considered the scientific leader of the Green Revolution, his approach is at the heart of sustainable agriculture. His awards include: World Food Prize; A. Einstein World Science Award; Honda Award; Ramon Magsaysay Award; Tyler Prize; Franklin D Roosevelt Four Freedoms Award; UNESCO Gandhi Prize; Indira Gandhi Prize for Peace, Disarmament and Development. He chaired the Intl. Comm. on Peace and Food; is UNESCO chair in ecotechnology; was pres., Pugwash Conf. on Science and World Affairs, chairman, Natl. Comm. on Farmers of India. He is currently Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha); chairman, MS Swaminathan Research Foundn., Chennai, India; and hon. chair for sustainable development, Indira Gandhi Natl. Open U., New Delhi. He is Fellow, Indian Natl. Science Acad.; Royal Soc. of London; US Natl. Acad. of Sciences; Russian Acad. of Sciences.

Patel (PhD, Electr. Engg., Stanford, 1961) is Em. prof. of physics and astronomy, electrical engineering and chemistry, UC Los Angeles. University Distinguished Professor, University of Central Florida, Orlando, FL; He is also President and CEO of the Board, Pranalytica, Inc. In 1961, he joined Bell Laboratories where he managed all research in physics and materials science and engineering. In 1993 he joined UC Los Angeles as vice chancellor for research and assumed his present positions in 2000. He has received many scientific society prizes including the highest prizes of the IEEE (Medal of Honor) and the Optical Society of America (Ives Medal) and the Natl. Medal of Science awarded by the US President (1996). He was elected to the Natl. Acad. of Sciences, the American Acad. of Arts and Sciences and the Natl. Acad. of Engineering. In 2013, he was inducted into the Natl. Inventors Hall of Fame. He was pres., American Physical Society (1995) and Sigma Xi (1993-95).

Andriambololona (PhD, CNRS, France, 1967) is former founding director general of the National Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (INSTN), Madagascar. He returned to Madagascar in 1968. He was former member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); scientific adviser to the President, Madagascar Republic; national coordinator for African regional Agreement (AFRA) in Nuclear Energy since 1989; and developer of INSTN (1992). He was awarded the Grand Croix de l’Ordre National Malgache and Commandeur de l’Ordre de Mérite de Madagascar. He is former founding vice president of the African Academy of Sciences, member of Académie Malgache, founding president TWAS Madagascar Chapter and part of many other professional associations including the IAEA and Intl. Radiation Protection Assoc. Executive President of Commission Raoelina Andriambololona pour la Nanotechnologie (CORANANO) (2013). Member of International Energy Foundation. Former member of Pan African-Pugwash Group. Member of Society of African Physicists and Mathematicians (Accra, Ghana).

Ayensu (PhD, U. of London, Vis. Fellow at Wolfson College, Oxford U.), is Chairman of the Board of Trustees, Africa Inst. for Math. Sciences (AIMS) Ghana; President, Energy Globe Foundation; Vice Chairman, Accra Inst. of Technology. Former positions: Chairman, World Bank Inspection Panel; Chairman, CSIR Ghana, Director and Snr. Scientist, Smithsonian Institution; Secretary General, Intl. Union of Biological Sciences; Senior Advisor and Director, Central Projects, African Development Bank; Commissioner, Energy Sector Management Assistance Program, World Bank. Awards: 2004 Medal for Biological Sciences, TWAS; US Natl. Museum of Natural History Award; Ghana Natl. Book Award; Ghana Natl. Science Award; Ghana’s Outstanding Statesman Millennium Award. His membership includes: Ghana Acad. of Arts and Sciences; Indian Natl. Science Acad.; African Acad. of Sciences. Has authored many books and monographs.

Hassan is President of TWAS and of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences; and Chair of the Governing Council of the United Nations Technology Bank for the Least Developed Countries, and of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for Development Research, Germany. He covered many high-level positions, such as President of the InterAcademy Partnership (IAP); founding Executive Director of TWAS; President of the African Academy of Sciences; founding President of the Network of African Science Academies, and Chair of the Council of United Nations University. After obtaining his PhD in mathematics from the University of Oxford, he returned to the Sudan and later became Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences at Khartoum University. Among his honours are: Comendador and Grand Cross of the Brazilian Order of the National Scientific Merit, and Officer of the Order of Merit of Italy. He is a member of several scientific academies, including the Belgian, Colombian, Cuban, Moroccan, Pakistani, South African and the Pontifical. He is the recipient of the G77 Leadership Award and of the Abdus Salam Medal for Science and Technology.

Prof. Atta-ur-Rahman, PhD organic chemistry from Cambridge University (1968), has 1222 international publications in organic chemistry ( 245 books, 764 research publications, 80 international patents and 70 book chapters. He is the Editor-in-Chief of six European chemistry journals and Editor of "Studies in Natural Product Chemistry" (75 volumes, Elsevier). Awarded UNESCO Science Prize (1999), elected Fellow of prestigious Royal Society (UK)( 2006). Conferred honorary doctorate degrees by the Cambridge University (UK) (1987), Coventry University (UK) and Bradford University (UK). Elected Honorary Life Fellow of Kings College Cambridge,Awarded high Civil Award of Austria i“Große Golden Ehrenzeischen am Bande" (2007).Elected Vive President (TWAS). Won TWAS Prize for Institution Building (Durban,2009), Elected as President of NASIC (Network of Academies of Science of Islamic Countries (2003-present). Elected Academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences and won highest "International Science & Technology Collaboration Award from President Xi Jinping of China. Institutions in China and Malaysia have been named after him https://aurins.uitm and http://cpecinfo.com/hunan-university

Touré is currently Vice-President of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) for the advancement of science in developing countries, representing the African Region. He is a founding and active member of the Senegalese National Academy of Science and the African Academy of Science. He served as scientist and science manager for 32 years, respectively in the Senegalese agricultural research system (1974-1988) at the Work Bank and at the Global Environment Facility headquarters in Washington, D.C. (1989-2006). He was educated at the University of Orleans (B.Sc.), and the University of Rennes (M.Sc and PhD in agronomy and soil sciences), France. As a researcher, Touré worked in the fields of agronomy, soil chemistry, desertification and sustainable land management. As a science manager, he was instrumental in the design and management of the nascent Senegalese agricultural research system. He spearheaded the establishment of regional collaborative platforms at both sub-regional and continental levels. Prior to and after retirement, he was actively involved in the discussion and implementation of the SDGs related to the protection of the environment and enhancing livelihoods.

Lee received his B.S. degree from the National Taiwan University in 1959 and Doctorate from UC Berkeley in 1965. After working with Professor Mahan at Berkeley and Professor Herschbach at Harvard as a post-doctoral fellow, he was appointed Assistant Professor at the University of Chicago in 1968. He returned to Berkeley as Professor of Chemistry in 1974. He was University Professor and Principal Investigator at the Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory, UC Berkeley, before he returned to Taiwan to serve as the President of Academia Sinica from 1994 to 2006, the highest ranking academic institution in Taiwan. He was elected President of the International Council for Science (ICSU) in 2008 and served from 2011 to 2014. He has received numerous awards and honors, including the 1986 Nobel Prize in Chemistry and Doctor Honoris Causa from 41 universities throughout the world.

Zichichi, em. prof. of Adv. Phys., U. of Bologna, has authored over 1100 sci. papers incl. 7 discoveries, 5 inventions, 3 original ideas which opened new avenues in high energy subnuclear physics and 4 high-precision measurements of fundamental physics properties. Among the discoveries: nuclear antimatter; among the inventions: an electronic circuit for time-of-flight measurements with a precision of seventy thousandth of a billionth of a second; among the original ideas that which brought to the discovery of the third column in the fundamental structure of the Universe. The great projects of European Physics (LEP and LAA at CERN, GRAN SASSO at INFN, HERA at DESY) are linked to his name, for his seminal contributions in their conception, study and implementation phases. He has been in charge of high-level offices and received 102 prizes, distinctions and medals in 15 countries.

Nasim was president of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. He obtained his PhD (biochemical genetics, 1966) at the University of Edinburgh. He was science advisor to the COMSTECH Secretariat; chairman, National Commission on Biotechnology (NCB), Pakistan; and founding president of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA). His previous positions include senior research officer at the National Research Council of Canada and principal scientist of the Molecular Genetics Group at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. His awards include: Pride of Performance in Molecular Genetics, President of Pakistan, and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in Molecular Genetics, Pakistan. He is also fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and Islamic Academy of Science.Nasim