Moura is director, Instituto Nacional de Meteorologia and vice-Pres., World Meteorological Organization. He was previously: Dir. Gen., Intl. Res. Inst. for Climate and Society, Columbia U.; snr. researcher and dir. meteorology, INPE, Brazil; and physics prof., U. of Taubate, Brazil. He has advanced research in climate forecasting, El Nino and Atlantic influences on droughts in northeastern Brazil and contributed to application of meteorological satellites and climate modelling in agriculture and water resources. He works on climate forecast system for global food security and relationships between climate and vector-born diseases. Awards include: Rossby Award, MIT; Awards from U. Fed. de Minas Gerais, Brazil; Award for Young Scientists, WMO, Geneva; Santos Dumont Medal, Min. of Aeronautics; Tamandaré Award, Navy, Brazil; elected Hon. Fellow of the Royal Meteorological Society, 2013.

Lynn Morris was appointed as the Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Innovation at Wits University from 1 April 2021. Her previous positions include Interim Executive Director of the National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) and Principal Medical Scientist and head of the HIV Virology Section at the NICD, Johannesburg, South Africa. She holds a joint appointment as Research Professor at the University of the Witwatersrand and an Honorary appointment as a Senior Scientist at CAPRISA. She completed her undergraduate studies at Wits University and obtained a DPhil from the University of Oxford in 1988. Lynn is an NRF A-rated researcher (leading international scholar) who has made significant contributions to our understanding of how the antibody response to HIV develops and her laboratory conducts validated end-point assays for HIV vaccine clinical trials. She has been recognised through several national and international awards including the Wits Vice Chancellor’s Research Award and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) Prize in Medical Sciences. She has supervised 30 PhD and MSc students, has published over 270 papers holding a current author H-Index of 63

Morel is director, Centre for Technological Development in Health (CDTS), Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ), Rio de Janeiro. A molecular biologist and medical doctor, he received his MD from the Medical Faculty, Federal Univ. of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil, and completed PhD work at the Biophysics Inst., Federal Univ. of Rio de Janeiro, and Molecular Biology Dept., Swiss Cancer Inst., Lausanne. He has led research projects in molecular parasitology and collaborated with others on neglected diseases and capacity building. He was previously: Professor, UnB; president, FIOCRUZ; and director, UNICEF/UNDP/World Bank/WHO Special Programme for Research and Training in Tropical Diseases, Geneva, where he moved WHO forward in areas such as the unveiling of genomes of parasites and vectors, and establishing relationships with product-development partnerships and global ventures in public health.

Moraes R., biologist (PhD, 1996, Aarhus University) is director, professor and researcher, Herbario Nacional and Instituto de Ecología, Universidad Mayor de San Andrés, La Paz; editor in chief of Ecology in Bolivia journal; member of the Bolivian science academy; focal point for Bolivia in the Women for Science Program of the InterAmerican Association of Science Academies. She documented flora and vegetation in the lowlands of Bolivia and has specialized in the study of native palms of Bolivia. Her prizes include 2006 Jubilee Award from the International Foundation for Science; 2016 Procer Pedro Domingo Murillo in the Degree of Civic Honor of the Municipal Council of La Paz; 2017 Grand Master in the Adela Zamudio degree, Chamber of Deputies. She published 18 edited books; 44 chapters; 61 articles; 23 prologues, editorials and other publications; among others. Starting in 2021 Dr. Moraes was appointed for president of the Bolivian Academy of Sciences.

Professor Moncada’s scientific career began at the Royal College of Surgeons, where he was part of the team that discovered the mechanism of action of aspirin-like drugs, thus explaining how they act to relieve pain, control temperature, reduce inflammation and cause gastric damage. During his time at the Wellcome Research Laboratories he led the team that discovered thromboxane synthase and the vasodilator prostacyclin. This work is the basis for the understanding of how low doses of aspirin prevent cardiovascular cardiovascular disease and events such as heart attacks and strokes. In the 1980’s he discovered nitric oxide as a biological mediator, the mechanism of its biosynthesis and many of its biological functions. As Director of Research at Wellcome, he also presided over the work that resulted in the development of several new medicines, including Lamotrigine, Atovaquone, Somig and La

Momba is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo living in South Africa since 1991. She is a full research professor and holds the South African National Research Chair of Water Quality and Wastewater Management at Tshwane University of Technology. Her core research in these areas includes drinking water treatment, industrial wastewater and municipal wastewater treatment, health-related water microbiology, nanotechnology, environmental biotechnology, bioremediation and microbial ecology. After 31 years of specializing in the field of water research, she is a C1 rated scientist in South Africa, and an elected Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. Her research has attracted global recognition as evidenced by numerous awards, publications in peer review journals, collaborations she has established with other universities beyond the borders of South Africa, and the number of students originating from many parts of Africa who obtained their master and PhD degrees under her guidance and mentorship. Momba is a member of 13 scientific committees and reviewer of about 15 refereed journals. She is a mother.

Mohan is Chairman of Dr. Mohan’s Diabetes Specialities Centre and President of the Madras Diabetes Research Foundation, Chennai, India. He obtained PhD in 1987 and DSc in 1997. He has over 1530 publications including 986 original research articles in peer reviewed journals, 367 review articles and 186 chapters in text books. His work has a h-index of 145 and has over 174,000 citations. He has received Fellowships from all the four Royal College of Physicians of UK and Ireland, American College of Endocrinology and the American College of Physicians. He has received 200 awards including the prestigious Dr. B.C. Roy Award by the Medical Council of India and the Dr. B.R. Ambedkar Centenary Award from the Indian Council of Medical Research. In 2012 he was awarded the Padma Shri, one of the highest civilian awards given by the Govt. of India. He was conferred Hon. Doctorate from Deakin University of Melbourne in 2017. He has been conferred with the prestigious Harold Rifkin Distinguished International Service in the Cause of Diabetes Award by the American Diabetes Association in 2018 for his pioneering work in the field of diabetes and he is the first Indian to receive this award. He

Mizrahi is the professorial director of the Institute of Infectious Disease and Molecular Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT). She also directs the MRC/NHLS/UCT Molecular Mycobacteriology Research Unit and the UCT node of the DST-NRF Centre of Excellence for Biomedical Tuberculosis Research, which is co-hosted by the Universities of Stellenbosch, Witwatersrand, and Cape Town. Awards include the 2013 Christophe Mérieux Prize from the Mérieux Foundation and Institut de France; UNESCO-L'Oréal For Women in Science Prize (Africa and Middle East region, 2000); the Gold Medal of the SA Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (2006); and the Order of the Mapungubwe: Silver of South Africa (2006). She is fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, a member of the Academy of Science of South Africa and a fellow of the American Academy of Microbiology and a Fellow of UCT.

Mitra is a Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She was in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Germany (1992–94) as a Fellow under the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She was Visiting Professor at Computer Science Department, University of Alberta, Canada; Meiji University, Japan; and Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark. Mitra received the National Talent Search Scholarship (1978–1983) from National Council of Educational Research and Training, India; the University Gold Medal (1988); the Outstanding Paper Award (1994) by Transactions on Neural Networks, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for her pioneering work in neuro-fuzzy computing, the CIMPA-INRIA-UNESCO Fellowship (1996), and Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship (2018–2020). She was the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Chair Professor 2018–2020. Mitra has been awarded the prestigious J. C. Bose National Fellowship, 2021. She is a Fellow of IEEE, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), Fellow of INAE, and of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI).

Prof. Ulmas Mirsaidov is the consultant and head researcher in the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Safety & Security Agency of Tajikistan. He worked as the director at the Regulatory Authority in Tajikistan and as director of the V.I. Nikitin Institute of Chemistry of the Academy of Sciences, Tajikistan. His research areas are the chemistry and technology of inorganic hydrides, mineral raw materials, and radioecology. He had practical research work, which is associated with the recovery of materials from wastes of the Tajik aluminum and Isfara hydrometallurgical production. He was awarded: Kurnakov Medal; Tajikistan’s Lenin Komsomol Prize; Peoples' Friendship Medal, Abu Ali Ibn Sino State Award, and ISESCO Award. Besides, his membership in National academy of Sciences of Tajikistan; International Academy Of Science And Technology in California; International Association of the Academies of Sciences; and Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia (AASSA).”

Yunus Daud Mgaya (B.Sc., 1986, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; M.Sc., 1989, University of British Columbia, Canada; PhD, 1995, National University of Ireland - NUI Galway, Ireland) is Professor of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology, University of Dar es Salaam; Fellow, Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA); Fellow, Tanzania Academy of Sciences; Fellow, The African Academy of Sciences. He is presently (since October 2018) the President of Tanzania Academy of Sciences and Chancellor of Kampala International University in Uganda. I served as Director General of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) from December 2016 to September 2022.

Meng is a professor of Tsinghua University, Beijing, China. He obtained his bachelor degree in 1983 at Southwestern Agricultural University, China, and PhD in 1991 at Nottingham University, UK. He was director of the Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (2008-2012). He is an elected fellow of CAS. He has been working mainly on maternal factors related to regulation of cell lineage, body axis determination, and germ layer formation and patterning using zebrafish and mouse models. His representative work include: 1) revealing the role of Dpr2/Dact2 in mesoderm induction by antagonizing Nodal signaling (Science, 2004); 2) discovery of the maternal factor Huluwa as the key organizer determinant in the zebrafish embryo (Science, 2018); 3) Discovery of the second polar body's role in preimplantation cell fate determination and postimplantation development of the mouse embryo (National Science Reviews, 2022); 4) demonstration of regulation of zygotic genome activation by maturity of nuclear pole complexes in the zebrafish (Cell, 2022).

Menck (PhD Biochemistry, 1982, at the University of São Paulo) is Professor at the Institute of Biomedical Sciences, USP, São Paulo, where he was Head of the Dept. of Microbiology and Vice Director, Vice-President and President of the Brazilian Society of Environmental Mutagenesis, Carcinogenesis and Teratogenesis (SBMCTA), and of the Brazilian Society of Genetics. He participated in the organization of many scientific meetings, including as Chair for the V Congress of SBMCTA, 57th and 58th Annual Congress of Genetics, 11th International Conference on Environmental Mutagens and five meetings on Molecular Mutagenesis and DNA repair (FARM-DNA) (São Paulo and Belo Horizonte, Brazil). His prizes include the Award of Scientific and Technological Merit from the State of São Paulo, Fellow of the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, member of the Order of National Scientific Merit, Commander Class. He is also member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo.

Menchaca-Rocha is a Mexican nuclear physicist with an Oxford D.Phil. and postdoctoral training at LBNL. His interests include heavy-ion reaction mechanisms and their hydrodynamic simulation; the production of light nuclei and antinuclei, with applications to cosmology. He is member of important international collaborations such as ALICE and AMS2. Locally, he pioneered muon-imaging, carrying highly visible applications to the Teotihuacan Pyramid of the Sun and to the Popocatepetl Volcano. He has published 237 papers, cited over 20,000 times (H=75). Directed (2003-07) the UNAM Physics Institute of Physics; presided over the Mexican Academy of Sciences (2010-12); and is (2016-19) General Coordinator of the Science Advisory Council to the Mexican Presidency. Among other distinctions, in 2004 he received the National Science Prize, the highest academic honor in Mexico. Emeritus, National Researchers System since 2017

Mekonnen is a Professor of Cell and Human Physiology in the Department of Biology at the College of Natural and Computational Sciences of Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. She has published extensively in different peer reviewed scientific journals on topics of respiratory physiology, medicinal plants and other related topics. She has advised many MSc and PhD students and she has also mentored young professionals, specially women, over the last three decades. She was involved in leadership positions and has initiated a number of national, continental and international research networks and collaborations. In 2013, she was able to establish with other colleagues the Society of Ethiopian Women in Science and Technology, to help empower and mentor women academicians and researchers in Ethiopia. In 2015, she received the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Regional Scientific Award for Women in Science. She was appointed as Ambassador Scientist by the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany as part of a worldwide network for excellence from 2016 to 2021. Currently she is the Principal Vice-President of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences.

Narinder Mehra is the Vice President (international affairs) of the Indian National Science Academy, Hon Emeritus Scientist of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Former Dean (Res) and Founder Head Dept. of Transplant Immunology and Immunogenetics, All India Institute of Medical Sciences, New Delhi. He is former Secretary General and Vice President of Federation of Immunological Societies of Asia Oceania (FIMSA) and Life member of Asia Pacific Histocompatibility and Immunogenetics Association (APHIA). He is council member, International Union of Immunological Societies (IUIS) and International Histocompatibility association. His honors include India’s highest S.S. Bhatnagar award, Ranbaxy Science foundation award, Chevalier of the National Order of Merit (France), IROST Khwarizmi international award (Iran) and B.R. Ambedkar award for excellence in Research (ICMR). He is member Honoris Causa of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, and Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and National Academy of Medical Sciences of India and holds Hon Fellowship of Royal College of Physicians (FRCP) of UK . He holds hon. professorship from four universities.

Medina (Dr. Ack., U. of Hohenheim, 1964) has worked as senior researcher and head of the Lab. for Plant Physiological Ecology, Instituto Venezolano de Investigaciones Científicas (IVIC), Caracas. He also served as: Dir., Intl. Ctr. for Tropical Ecol., IVIC-UNESCO; member, Intl. Scientific Adv. Board, Max-Planck-Inst. f. Limnologie; member, Adv. Comm., Scientific Comm. on Problems of the Environ. (ICSU); FAO adviser, Environ. and Develop.; and member, Coord. Comm. for Research, Int. Union of Biol. Sciences. His honours include: Carnegie fellow; Andres Bello Order; Lorenzo Mendoza Fleury Prize; Guggenheim fellow; hon. member, Ecol. Soc. of America; for. assoc., Natl. Acad. of Sciences, USA; for. member, Am. Acad. of Sciences; Bacardi chair, Univ. of Florida; for. assoc., Natl. Acad. of Sciences, USA; for. fellow, Am. Acad. of Arts and Sciences; and for. member, Am. Acad. of Sciences. Adjunct Scientist at IITF-USDA Forest Service

McManus, BSc from University College Dublin (1987), MSc from University of Edinburgh (1988) and PhD from University of Oxford (1991), received a post-doctorate scholarship at the University of Sydney (2002). She is full professor of Universidade de Brasilia and CNPq scholarship holder (1A). She has experience in animal genetics and breeding, in conservation of animal genetic resources and landscape genetics. McManus has published more than 400 articles in peer reviewed journals with editorial board, 24 book chapters, more than 550 abstracts in conferences, and supervised more than 200 student. She participates in joint projects at the United States Department of Agriculture, Agricultural Research Council of South Africa and Institut national de la recherche agronomique (INRA), France, among others. She is a reviewer for 38 national and international journals, and 11 development agencies as well as associate editor for Tropical Animal Health and Production. She was director of international affairs for CAPES/Ministry of Education, Brazil. McManus is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit.

Mbacham is a Titular Professor of Public Health Biotechnology. He obtained a Doctorat de Specialité in Molecular Parasitology from the University of Yaoundé I, Cameroon (1989), and a PhD in Tropical Public Health from Harvard, USA (1997). His research focuses on host and pathogen genomics and the interaction between communicable and non-communicable diseases at the University of Yaoundé I. He has served in leadership positions in many national and international programmes. He has developed a philosophical approach to Professionalizing Planning Actions in Science & Technology Education & University-based Research (Pro-P.A.S.T.E.U.R.) that integrates platforms for bioscience, physical sciences and research-uptake. He won the 2017 TWAS Regional Prizes in Public Understanding and Popularization of Science for sub-Saharan Africa. He was elected Chair of the Programme Management Committee of the International Atomic Energy Agency-AFRA programme of 41 African member states (2015–2021). He has supervised some 95 graduates and 25 PhD students with more than 180 publications. He founded the Fobang Institutes for Innovations in Science and Technology (FINISTECH), Cameroon.

Mazzafera is a full professor at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), São Paulo, Brazil. He graduated in agronomy and his main knowledge area is plant physiology. He started his career at Agronomic Institute of Campinas, working with coffee, a crop that is still his passion. He teaches plant physiology/biochemistry in undergraduate and graduate courses and supervised more than 120 MSc, PhD and postdoctoral students. Nowadays, his main research areas are lignin metabolism and crop nutrition in coffee, sugarcane, soybean and eucalyptus. He published over 300 refereed scientific articles, book chapters, and technical publications. During his career, he had intense administrative activity. He was head of department at Unicamp twice (1997-2003), director of the Institute of Biology (2006-2010), advisor to the dean of research (2003-2006), advisor to the rector (2011-2013) and director of the National Laboratory of Bioethanol Science and Technology (CTBE) (1985-1986). He is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences of São Paulo. He is a level 1A researcher at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Mayor is an Indian cell biologist. After studying chemistry at the Indian Institute of Technology, Bombay, he was awarded his PhD in life sciences from The Rockefeller University, New York, and worked as a post-doctoral fellow at Columbia University. In 1995, he joined the National Centre for Biological Sciences (NCBS), Bangalore, a centre of TIFR where he has been studying the fine structure and the function of the membrane of living cells using methods derived from biology, chemistry, and physics. He has been elected as a Fellow of Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian Science Academy, a Foreign Fellow of National Academy of Sciences (USA), and European Molecular Biology Organization. He has been awarded the TWAS Prize in Biology and the Infosys Prize in Life Sciences. He serves as Director of NCBS, and was Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (inStem) at Bangalore, and is founding director of Centre for Cell and Molecular Platforms (CCAMP), a technology enabler and biotech start-up incubator; together these make up the Bangalore Life Science Cluster, a multi-institutional organization that he has driven since 2015.

Mathur is J C Bose National Fellow at Manipal Academy of Higher Education. Formerly Distinguished Professor at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research in Mumbai, India and Dean, Natural Sciences Faculty; he was the founding Director of UM-DAE Centre for Excellence in Basic Science, Mumbai University. He obtained his PhD in 1976 at Birkbeck College, University of London. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy and the Indian Academy of Sciences. He has been an Advisory Editor of the Journal of Physics B and of EPL (Europhysics Letters). Among his prizes are the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in the Physical Sciences, the J C Bose National Fellowship, the European Union’s Erasmus-Mundus Scholarship in Optical Science and Technology, the Royal Society Guest Research Fellowship at Oxford University, and the Fulton Fellowship of the Association of Commonwealth Universities, London. He has been a visiting professor at Aarhus, Tohoku, Swansea, Oxford and Imperial College London. Currently he is the Scientific Committee Expert for the 2019 edition of the International Junior Science Olympiad being organised in Doha, Qatar.

Dr. R.A. Mashelkar, National Research Professor, served as the Director General of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR), with thirty eight laboratories and about 20,000 employees (1995-2006). He was also the President of Indian National Science Academy (2004-2006), President of UK Institution of Chemical Engineers (2007) as also the President of Global Research Alliance. 42 universities from around the world have honored him with honorary doctorates, which include Universities of London, Salford, Pretoria, Wisconsin, Swinburne, Monash and Delhi. Dr. Mashelkar is only the third Indian engineer to have been elected (1998) as Fellow of Royal Society (FRS), London in the twentieth century. He was elected Foreign Associate of US National Academy of Science (2005) and also National Academy of Engineering (2003), Associate Foreign Member, American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2011), Fellow of Royal Academy of Engineering, U.K. (1996), Foreign Fellow of Australian Technological Science and Engineering Academy (2008), Corresponding Member of Australian Academy of Sciences (2017), Fellow of World Academy of Arts & Science, USA (2000), Fellow of US National Academy.

Marwala is Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) and the rector of the UN University. He was previously vice-chancellor of the University of Johannesburg and deputy vice-chancellor for research, postgraduate studies and the library, and was previously dean of engineering and the built environment, University of Johannesburg. He was professor of electrical engineering, and Carl and Emily Fuchs Chair of systems and control engineering, University of the Witwatersrand. He has been chair of the Local Loop Unbundling Committee and non-executive director of SITA, EOH, Denel and City Power. He has received more than 40 awards including: Order of Mapungubwe, and President Award, National Research Foundation. He holds a PhD in engineering from University of Cambridge. He has supervised 47 masters and 37 PhD students and published 25 books, 300 refereed papers in journals, proceedings and book chapters and holds 3 international patents. He is a fellow of many organizations including the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.