Chakraborti (PhD, Saha Institute of Nuclear Physics, Jadavpur University, India, 2003; and Habilitation à Diriger des Recherches, Université Pierre et Marie Curie, France, 2013) is professor, Jawaharlal Nehru University, India. He was: registrar, Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU); dean, School of Computational and Integrative Sciences, JNU; dean of research and development, BML Munjal University, India; professor, chair of quantitative finance, Ecole Centrale Paris, France (now CentraleSupélec); lecturer in theoretical physics, Banaras Hindu University, India. He had postdoctoral tenures at Brookhaven National Laboratory, USA, and Helsinki University of Technology, Finland (now Aalto University). He is Founding Member, Center for Complexity Economics, Applied Spirituality and Public Policy, Jindal School of Government and Public Policy, OP Jindal Global University, India; International Member, Centro Internacional de Ciencias A.C., Cuernavaca, Mexico; council member of Centre for Quantum Social and Cognitive Science, Memorial University, Canada. He was awarded the Young Scientist Medal of the Indian National Science Academy (2009) for work in econophysics.

Dikshit has made significant contributions to molecular pharmacology with special emphasis on redox/NO biology and metabolism. In the area of neutrophil biology she enhanced our understanding of how nitric oxide modulates neutrophil differentiation, survival, free radical generation, NETosis, chemotaxis, and microbicidal activity. She has investigated the role of iNOS in metabolic regulations and insulin sensitivity. She led the anti-thrombotic drug discovery team at Central Drug Research Institute, and one of their new chemical entities has received permission for phase I clinical trial in India. She initiated a programme on drug and biomarker discovery in the area of fatty liver disease at the Translational Health Science and Technology Institute, with significant contributions. During the COVID-19 pandemic, under a Department of Biotechnology - Ayurveda, Yoga and Naturopathy, Unani, Siddha and Homeopathy (AYUSH) project, she undertook preclinical and pharmacokinetic evaluations of AYUSH herbal formulations for mitigating SARS- CoV2 and associated pathologies. Dikshit has published 200+ papers, 23 reviews, and 8 patents, edited 3 books, and has supervised 37 PhD and 10 MD theses.

Fotuhi-Firuzabad obtained his BSc and MSc degrees in electrical engineering from Sharif University of Technology and Tehran University in 1986 and 1989 respectively, and MSc and PhD degrees in electrical engineering from the University of Saskatchewan, Canada, in 1993 and 1997 respectively. He is a professor of electrical engineering at Sharif University of Technology, Tehran, Iran. His research interests include power system reliability, distributed renewable generation, demand response and smart grids. His scientific activities include more than 650 papers, and supervising more than 100 master's and doctoral theses. He is the recipient of several national and international awards including: World Intellectual Property Organization Award for the Outstanding Inventor (2003), and Probabilistic Methods Applied to Power Systems (PMAPS) International Society Merit Award in 2016. Fotuhi-Firuzabad is a visiting professor at Aalto University, Finland. He served as the editor-in-chief of IEEE Power Engineering Letters from 2017 to 2022. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) (2014) and Associate Fellow of the Iran National Academy of Sciences.

Kabir earned his MSc in biochemistry in 1983 from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), University of Dhaka (DU), Bangladesh and his PhD in nutritional biochemistry in 1990 from the Laboratory of Nutrition, Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, Japan. He then held a postdoctoral position under a joint fellowship with the United Nations University and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan (April 1994-April 1995). He was a professor at BMB, DU from December 1997 to January 2023, when he retired. Previously he was associate professor in the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, College of Life Sciences, Kuwait University, Kuwait (September 2004–June 2009, on leave from DU); associate professor, BMB, DU (December 1991–December 1997); assistant professor, BMB, DU (April 1990–December 1991); and lecturer, BMB, DU (April 1984–March 1990). He was a visiting scientist as a JSPS Fellow at Tohoku University, Japan (December 2003–May 2004); and at Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Karlsruhe, Germany (August 1998–March 1999).

Mukherjee is currently a professor of chemistry at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, India. He is a recipient of the NASI-Scopus Young Scientist Award, the Indian National Science Academy Medal, the S. S. Bhatnagar Prize, TWAS young affiliateship and the Swarnajayanti fellowship of the Government of India. He was recently featured by the Department of Science and Technology, India, as one of the 75 scientists under 50 who are shaping Indian science. He is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences. Mukherjee is or was in the editorial advisory boards of several journals: Inorganic Chemistry, Inorganica Chimica Acta, Inorganic Chemistry Frontiers, The Chemical Records, and Scientific Reports. He is currently serving as an associate editor of Inorganic Chemistry. He works on self-assembled discrete organic and coordination molecular architectures including their use as molecular vessels in catalysis, sensing, light harvesting and drug delivery. He has published over 205 papers in peer-reviewed journals with a current h-index of 65.

Pandey is distinguished scientist at the Centre for Innovation and Translational Research, Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR)-Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow, India; and executive director (honorary) at the Centre for Energy and Environmental Sustainability, India. His major research and technological development interests are in industrial and environmental biotechnology and energy biosciences. Pandey has been Highly Cited Researcher (top 1%) according to Clarivate Analytics, Web of Science since 2018 (h-index 126; citations ~69,000) and has been ranking first in India in biotechnology and eighth in the world in the Stanford University, USA, Citation Report (since 2020). He is fellow of many societies such as World Society of Sustainable Energy Technologies; Indian Chemical Society; International Society for Energy, Environment and Sustainability; National Academy of Sciences, India; Association of Microbiologists of India; International Organization of Biotechnology and Bioengineering; Biotech Research Society, India; and is academician of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts, Austria. Pandey has been visiting professor in 15 countries.

Pant obtained her MSc in botany from Tribhuvan University, and a PhD in biotechnology from Hiroshima University, Japan. Her major fields of research are application of plant tissue culture in threatened, endangered and economically important plant species in Nepal. She is currently a professor in Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, and also leads Annapurna Research Centre, a non-governmental, and non-profit organization, as a research director. Since over two decades, her active leadership has contributed significantly in developing and promoting tissue culture technology for economic benefit for the people of Nepal through her groundbreaking research. Pant is one of the very few Nepali scientists who have passionately and consistently worked in this important field of research. She has made significant contributions to academics as well as in human resource development in her country by supervising PhD and master’s students. She has contributed to the establishment and development of biotechnology education and research in Nepal by her involvement in various activities.

Prasad (PhD, Harvard University, 1989) has been chair professor, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, since November 2018. He was distinguished professor (till April 2020) and dean, School of Mathematics (2011–2013), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; president, Commission on Developing Countries of International Mathematical Union (2018–22); and president, Indian Mathematical Society (2022). He is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science (1995), and Indian National Science Academy (2003). He was awarded: Swarnajayanti Fellowship for Mathematics (1998–2003); JC Bose Fellowship (2010–2015 and 2015–2020); and Mega Grant, St. Petersburg, Russia (2018–2021). Prasad received the S.S. Bhatnagar Award for Mathematical Sciences (2002), and the TWAS Award in Mathematics (2019). Among his professional recognitions are: membership, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1992–93, 2006–07); research professorship, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, USA (2014); Chaire Jean Morlet, Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques, Marseille, France (2016). He was an Invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2018.

Rangappa has developed more than 7,000 synthetic small molecules and implemented some of them against therapeutically important proteins. He served as a postdoctoral fellow, research associate, and visiting professor in more than 10 countries. He is a Fellow of: Royal Society of Chemistry, London; National Academy of Sciences, India; Biotech Research Society of India; and Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, India. He has published over 560 research papers in peer reviewed journals, and holds 10 patents for small-molecule inhibitors of therapeutic targets. Three of his patented compounds namely DMBO, NPB, and AMPC have been sold commercially as pharmacological inhibitors of growth factors, BAD protein, TFF3, respectively. His publications received over 12,500 scientific citations, with an h-index of 58. He has guided 61 candidates for PhD degree, and presently 5 students are working on their doctoral research under his supervision. He has been ranked among the top 2% of World Scientists released by Stanford University, USA. Recently, he developed a COVID-19 self-detection kit and submitted it to the Indian Council of Medical Research.

Rao is group vice-chancellor for Birla Institute of Technology & Science (BITS) Pilani campuses in Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai and Mumbai. Prior to joining the BITS Group in 2023, he had served as director of Indian Institute of Technolog (IIT) Delhi (2016–2021) and as a chair professor for nanoelectronics, IIT Bombay and IIT Delhi. Rao, an internationally acclaimed nanoelectronics researcher, has over 480 research papers and 50 patents, including 20 US patents. Among his patents, 15 have been licensed to industries for commercialization. The patent on CMOS-System-on-Chip applications from his group is now used in countless integrated circuits sold all over the world. Rao is a co-founder of two technology startups at IIT Bombay—Nanosniff & Soilsens—which have successful commercial products on the market. He is also well known for establishing major nanoelectronics programmes in India. For his research accomplishments, Rao has been elected a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences, India; and Indian National Science Academy. He is a recipient of over 35 awards and honors in India and abroad.

Moslehian is a professor of mathematics at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. He is the President of the Iranian Mathematical Society. His research areas mainly include operator theory and functional analysis. He was a senior associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics - ICTP (Italy) and a visiting professor at several universities in England, Sweden, and Japan. He is the editor-in-chief of the journals Banach Journal of Mathematical Analysis, Annals of Functional Analysis, and Advances in Operator Theory being published by Birkhäuser/Springer.

Shahnaz, Senior Members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, received her PhD degree from Concordia University, Canada, as a winner of the Canadian Common Scholarship. She has been a professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology since 2015. She was a recipient of Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal for her contributions in science and technology. Recently, her nomination has been approved and she has been inducted into IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu as a Professional Member into the Eta Chapter of the board of governors. She has been elected as 2022 IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee chair-elect and she is serving as the 2023–24 IEEE WIE committee chair. She has been appointed as 2022–23 member, IEEE New Initiative Committee; 2021–23 Member, IEEE History Committee; liaison between IEEE History Committee and IEEE WIE. She has served as 2021–23 chair, IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Women in Signal Processing; 2021–23 liaison between IEEE SPS and IEEE WIE; 2021–22 member, IEEE Educational Activities Board Faculty Resource Committe.

Shinwari (PhD, Kyoto University) was postdoctoral fellow, Japan International Research Centre of Agricultural Sciences, and reported two new family of genes (DREB) that respond to drought, cold and salt stresses. He is distinguish national professor and emeritus, and was vice-chancellor, secretary general of Pakistan Academy of Sciences; vice-president of Islamic World Academy of Sciences; CEO of herbal products company Qarshi. He published several books, policy documents, and 470 publications in journals of international repute with 18,000+ citations; h-Index 68 and i10-index 287. Shinwari organized and participated in ~450 international conferences and workshops. He received UNESCO Avicenna Prize for Ethics in Science; civil awards Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, and Best University Teacher from the President of Pakistan. He was member and vice-chair, UNESCO-World Commission for Ethics in S&T; treasurer, Association of Academies and Societies of Sciences in Asia. For his expertise he was appointed member InterAcademy Partnership (IAP)-Biosecurity Working Group; Open Science Working Group; IAP Elections Committee; special advisor, Alliance of International Science Organizations.

Wasay is currently Alicharan endowed professor of neurology at Aga Khan University (AKU); past president, Pakistan Society of Neurology and Pakistan Stroke Society; president, Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation; chairman, advocacy and awareness task force of World Federation of Neurology; editor, Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences; chief editor, Jahan e Aasab (neurology public awareness magazine); chair, seed grants research committee at AKU; and co-chair, Non-Communicable Diseases Think Tank at AKU. Wasay received several national and international awards for educational, research and advocacy activities, including Teachers Recognition Award (American Academy of Neurology), Distinguished Teacher Award (Pakistan Society of Neurology), Outstanding Teacher Award (AKU), Gold Medal for Research (Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences), Advocacy Leader of the Year Award (American Academy of Neurology), Victor Rivera Award (UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA) and Lester R. Bryant Founders Award (Marshall University, Huntington, USA). He was awarded fellowship of the Pakistan Academy of Medical Science and Gold Medal in Health Sciences by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

Ahmed (PhD, 1987, Mines ParisTech, France) is Professor, School of Sciences, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India. An earth scientist, he worked extensively on groundwater hydrology in his 37 years’ career at CSIR's National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. Later he was Chair Professor in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He led a large number of national and international projects on Earth science including the National Aquifer Mapping, India using heli-borne geophysics. He has more than 150 SCI publications and supervised 40 doctoral theses. He is Secretary of the Asian Global Network on Water and Development Information for Arid Lands. His awards include National Geoscience Award, International Prize for Water Sciences, National Mineral Award, INC-IAH Excellence Award, NGRI-AHI National Lecture Award, IGU-Annie Talwani Memorial Prize, Young Scientist Award. He is Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India. Ahmed has led the Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research in Hyderabad for almost two decades as its founder head. He has been visiting Fellow to the Aligarh Muslim University and visiting professor to Kashmir University, India.

Badshah earned his PhD in 1994 from Quaid-i-Azam University (QAU), Islamabad. He is Vice Chancellor of the University of Buner and Ex-Professor Emeritus and Dean of the Faculty of Natural Sciences, QAU, Islamabad. He is a Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences (PAS); Chemical Society, Pakistan; and Associate Editor of the Journal of Chemical Society of Pakistan. His prizes include Research Productivity Award from Pakistan Council for Science and Technology (2001-16); Gold Medal from PAS; Best Teacher and Best Paper Awards from Higher Education Commission, Pakistan; and Tamgha-i-Imtiaz (TI) from Government of Pakistan.

Chatterjee is a Professor of Pharmacology, Institute of Postgraduate Medical Education and Research, Kolkata, India. Upon completing her MBBS and MD from University of Calcutta, she received her PhD from Jadavpur University, Kolkata, India. Her work as a medical immunopharmacologist includes multiple aspects of Leishmania biology that includes (i) delineating the immunopathology of Post Kala-azar Dermal Leishmaniasis (PKDL), a disease unique to South Asia, and especially challenging as it has no animal model; (ii) development of diagnostic/prognostic objective molecular tools for monitoring anti-leishmanial therapy; and (iii) studying redox-dysfunction as an effective leishmanicidal approach. In sum, the thrust of Chatterjee’s work is translational research in Indian Leishmaniasis with a view towards facilitating a greater understanding of disease pathogenesis through worldwide collaborations across geographic borders, and supporting the ongoing kala-azar elimination programme. She is a member of four Indian science academies and has over 175 publications in leading International journals (Clin Infect Dis, J Invest Dermatol, J Clin Invest, J Inf Dis).

Dube is Emeritus Scientist of Indian National Science Academy and Csir JC Bose National Fellow, Central Drug Research Institute, Lucknow, India. Her research focus is on the endemic organism Leishmania sp., a protozoan parasite causing Kala-azar, a neglected tropical disease and a major health problem in pockets in the Indian sub-continent. She identified novel vaccine and drug targets using functional genomics and proteomics, leading to the development of indigenous protein vaccines. This also led to the detection of new biomarkers for drug resistance in Leishmania. She developed and established the first non-human primate model for preclinical evaluation of a potential antileishmanial drug/vaccine, and generated fluorescent Leishmania organism for rapid drug screening which were recognized nationally and internationally. Member of the three Indian science academies, she has received awards such as Sir J.C. Bose National Fellowship, Indian Council of Medical Research Kshanika Oration, and Dr. B.N. Singh Memorial Oration among others.

Egamberdieva is the Head of the research group at the Faculty of Biology, National University of Uzbekistan. She received her PhD in agricultural sciences from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. On the national level she has played a leading role in the implementation and evaluation of the national programmes and projects in agricultural research for sustainable development, and acts as a Chair of the Executive Committee of the OWSD Central Asia National Chapter, and Vice-Chair and National Focal Point Representative to the UNESCO-STEPAN (Science and Technology Policy Asian Network). Egamberdieva is also involved in science policy, and served on the advisory committee of the German Council of Science and Humanities (WR). She currently serves on the High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), the science-policy interface of the UN Committee on World Food Security, and also acts as the Country Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). She is a member of the Global Young Academy (GYA). In 2023 she has been awarded with UNESCO Carlos Finley Prize for Microbiology.

Islam, an internationally reputed scientist in agrobiotechnology, has played a key role in establishing the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering at BSMRAU, Bangladesh. He did PhD at Hokkaido University (HU), and postdoctoral research at the HU, University of Goettingen, University of Nottingham, and West Virginia University under the fellowship programs of Japan Society for the Promotion of Science, Alexander von Humboldt, Commonwealth, and Fulbright, respectively. He is one of the top 2% of researchers in the world. He collaborated with Sophien Kamoun and led international scientists to rapidly identify the origin of the first epidemic outbreak of wheat blast in Bangladesh. His team developed a novel rapid diagnosis of wheat blast fungus in collaboration with researchers in China and the USA. He is Editor-in-Chief of Bacilli and Agrobiotechnology, and CRISPR-Cas Methods, and Editor of Physiologia Plantarum, Scientific Reports, PLOS One, Frontiers in Microbiology, and CAB Reviews. He is an elected Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences and the American Phytopathological Society. He received many awards and medals for his outstanding research accomplishments.

Jha is a Professor Emeritus at Tribhuvan University and a foremost ecologist of Nepal. He is credited for developing the ecology discipline in Nepal, and creating a strong network of ecologists in South Asia. He was born in Nepal in 1953 and completed his education in India, including MSc and PhD. He joined Tribhuvan University as Assistant Lecturer in 1976, retired as Professor in 1997, and appointed Professor Emeritus in 2017. He led the Botany discipline in Nepal as Head of the Central Department of Botany for almost a decade, taught at the post-graduate level for four decades, established a culture of research and publication, and inspired young botanists in the country for research. Jha is credited with supervising 11 PhD students at Tribhuvan University in the Institute of Science and Technology, the highest number in that institute. In addition, he has served as a reviewer of nearly five dozen PhD theses in Nepal, India, Bangladesh, Pakistan, and Australia. Jha is an Academician of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology. He has made significant contributions toward understanding the ecology and environment of Nepal.

Mahadevan (PhD, 1998, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore) is a condensed matter theorist working as a Professor at the S.N. Bose National Centre for Basic Sciences, Kolkata, in India. She is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science, and was a Member of the International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (IUPAP) C20 Commission on Computational Physics from 2015 to 2021. She has been a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of the Journal of Magnetism and Magnetic Materials as well as of ACS Energy Letters since 2021. She was a recipient of the NASI (National Academy of Sciences, India)-Scopus Young Scientist Award in 2010 and of the TWOWS Award for Young Women Scientists in physics/mathematics in Asia region in 2010. Her research interests involve using a combination of ab-initio and model Hamiltonian methods in understanding properties of materials - with a focus on electronic structure and magnetism.

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).

Naqib is currently serving as a Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Rajshahi, where he is leading the theoretical condensed matter research group. In terms of scientific productivity, this group ranks among the top in Bangladesh, and has been consistently producing high-quality publications in the fields of computational condensed matter physics, and superconductivity in hole doped cuprates. Naqib obtained his PhD from Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, in 2003. He had postdoctoral experience both at the Quantum Matter Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, and at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, New Zealand. His research interests include superconductivity in high-Tc cuprates, magnetic and transport properties of strongly correlated electronic systems, DFT calculations on MAX phase nanolaminates, superhard materials, novel low-Tc superconducting systems and topological insulators, semimetals and superconductors. Naqib has published 130 papers in Scopus indexed journals of international repute so far. His papers have been cited over 2200 times.

Omirov graduated in mathematics and applied mathematics from Novosibirsk State University (1993). From 1993 to 1996 he taught in Namangan State University as a Lecturer. Then he studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1996–1999). PhD and Doctor of Sciences theses were successfully defended at the Institute of Mathematics (Tashkent) in 2000 and 2006, respectively. From 2005 till 2016 Omirov worked at the Institute of Mathematics as Leading Scientific Fellow. Since 2016 he has been the Head of Department of Algebra and Functional Analysis at the National University of Uzbekistan. Omirov won the Postdoctoral Fellowship of the International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), Belgium (2005–2006). He was awarded the Diploma of Professor of Algebra (2013) by the Supreme Attestation Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He was a Visiting Scholar at University of California, San Diego, USA, for 10 month in 2019–2020, thanks to a Fulbright Scholar grant.

Panda (PhD, 1994, Bose Institute, Kolkata, India) is Director, National Institute of Pharmaceutical Education and Research, Mohali Punjab, India; and Professor, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai. He was a Chair Professor of Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay and also served as Head of Department of Biosciences and Bioengineering, IIT Bombay. He is a Fellow of National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian Academy of Sciences; and Indian National Science Academy. He received several awards and honours including G.N. Ramachandran Gold Medal, J.C. Bose National Fellowship; Tata Innovation Fellowship; Swarnajayanti Fellowship; Outstanding Research Investigator award by Department of Atomic Energy-Science Research Council; National Biosciences Award; Sun Pharma Research Award; Central Drug Research Institute Award for Excellence in Drug Research; S.C. Bhattacharya Award for Excellence in Pure Science of IIT Bombay; P. S. Sharma Memorial Award of the Society of Biological Chemists; and Fogarty International Research Award of the National Institute of Health, USA. He is an Associate Editor of BMC Molecular and Cell Biology.

Goswami (PhD University of Calcutta, 1996) is currently a senior professor in the Physical Research Laboratory, Ahmedabad, India. Her topic of research is neutrino physics and physics beyond the Standard Model of particle physics. She is a member of the India-Based Neutrino Observatory collaboration. She has received several awards including the Humboldt fellowship from Alexander-von-Humboldt foundation, P. Sheel Memorial Lecture Award for women scientists from the National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI), Allahabad, India, the C .V. Raman Mahila Vijnana Puraskara from Swadeshi Vijnana Andolana, Karnataka, and the J.C. Bose National fellowship of Science and Engineering Research Board (SERB), India. She is an elected fellow of all the three science academies in India.

Joshi, an internationally acclaimed scientist, was a senior professor in the department of Astronomy and Astrophysics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, before joining Charotar University of Science and Technology (CHARUSAT) as their provost, and founding director for the International Center for Cosmology (ICC). He is regarded as a scholar, physicist, and an expert on cosmology. Joshi’s research interests are general relativity and cosmology. He has made fundamental contributions in black hole physics and gravitation theory. His extensive analysis of general relativistic gravitational collapse has been widely recognized as providing significant insights into final fate of massive collapsing stars in the universe, formation of space-time singularities, and cosmic censorship. His research which mainly revolves around Cosmology and Gravitation Physics, has been reported in more than 200 research papers in international journals of repute, and also in monographs from Oxford University Press (OUP), Cambridge University Press (CUP) and other books on the subject. He has held visiting faculty positions in several countries doing research, lecturing on these topic.

Karunaweera is the chair, senior professor of parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and honorary visiting fellow at the School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA. Trained as a medical parasitologist she has extensive teaching and research experience in tropical diseases, with special emphases on vector-borne diseases. Elected Fellow of National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, she is the first Sri Lankan elected as an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and as a Distinguished International Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She received several research grant awards, both international and local, including Tropical Medicine Research Centre Award, by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, US. Fellowship awards received include Harvard University’s Senior Research Scholar Award (2005/6); Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Award (2005). She is the founder president of Sri Lanka National Chapter of Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and current president of Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists.

Mamun obtained his BSc (Honours) and MSc (Thesis) from Jahangirnagar University, and secured 1st class 1st position in both the examinations. He received his PhD degree from the University of St. Andrews (UK) under the Commonwealth Scholarship. Mamun was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (Germany), the Commonwealth Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (UK), the Max Planck Research Fellowship (Germany), among others. Mamun received the AvH the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award in 2009. He was awarded the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in 2004, the TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists in Developing Countries in 2006, among other recognitions. He has published over 400 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and has written a textbook published by the Institute of Physics (London).

Raqib, received her MSc degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Dhaka University and her degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine from Karolinska Institute, Sweden (1990-1995). She then returned to Bangladesh in 1995, to join as assistant scientist the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), where she was promoted associate scientist and then scientist in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Raqib received post-doctoral fellowship award from the Ellison Medical Foundation in 2005. She was appointed as the head of the Nutritional Biochemistry Lab in 2008 and was promoted to senior scientist in 2010, and to international senior scientist the next year. Raqib developed an immunological method to diagnose active tuberculosis which was patented in the USA (co-inventor David Sack). Her work on host directed therapy in infectious diseases with Agerberth and Guðmundsson generated first human data of successful clinical recovery, leading to two patents. Her studies on arsenic-mediated immune modulation generated new human data. She has published over 153 peer reviewed articles and mentored several MSc, PhD and post-doctoral students.

Seraj has been teaching molecular biology and working on ways for producing salt tolerant rice for Bangladesh using molecular biological and biotechnological approaches. Along with the International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) and Bangladesh Rice Research Institute (BRRI), she helped fine-map salt tolerant loci from Pokkali for introgression in a marker-assisted backcrossing approach into commercial rice. She has characterized many Bangladeshi rice landraces as salt tolerant and elucidated the mechanism of Horkuch, whose loci are being introgressed into commercial rice using fluorescent markers. She is working on the only halophyte which can set rice-like grains and which is endemic to the whole coastline of Bangladesh. Several genes from this Oryza coarctata have been cloned into salt sensitive rice. In addition several regulatory genes known to confer salt tolerance have been cloned into sensitive rice. She is the founder director of a center under Dhaka University for conduction of online bioinformatics classes from January 2017. She has supervised 11 PhD students and over 70 Masters students. She has organized many conferences and workshops in Molecular Biology.

Shaabani (PhD, 1994, Tarbiat Modarres University, Tehran, Iran) is full professor, Shahid Beheshti University (SBU), a member of Academy of Sciences, Islamic Republic of Iran, and past-president of SBU. His prizes include Distinguished Professor of the Iran Universities selected by the Ministry of Science, Research and Technology of Iran; Distinguished Professor selected by Iran's National Elites Foundation, (first edition of Allameh Tabatabaei Award); Prize of the International Kharazmi Festival in Basic Science; and Iranian Chemical Society’s Distinguished Chemist. Shaabani’s main expertise is the discovery and design of novel isocyanide-based multi-component reactions ( I-MCRs) in the synthesis of biologically important heterocyclic compounds, preparation of neoteric functional materials with functionalization/modified nano-materials and natural polymers via I-MCRs and applied in drug delivery and materials biomedical platform. He has published more than 350 publications including several review articles and book chapters and more than 100 presentations in conferences.

Baharvand (PhD, 2004, Khwarizmi University) is a Professor, Founder, and Director of Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, Tehran, Iran. His prizes include Mustafa Prize, TWAS Prize in Biology, UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize, Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Prize in Biology, three Razi Research Awards from Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education, two Khwarizmi International Awards from Iran Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, two Dr. Hadavi’s Awards from Academy of Medical Sciences of Iran, Prominent Professor in 3rd term of Allameh Tabatabaei’s Award from Iran Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and National Elite Foundation, etc. He is a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. He is currently the editorial board member of eight international journals (e.g., Journal of Biological Chemistry and Scientific Reports from Nature Publishing Group).

Bandyopadhyay completed her BTech and MTech in Computer Science from Calcutta University and IIT Kharagpur, respectively. She joined the Indian Statistical Institute as a faculty member after completing her PhD from the same Institute. She is currently the Director of the Institute. Her areas of research interest include computational biology and Bioinformatics, soft and evolutionary computation, data mining and machine learning, where she has published more than 325 research articles in journals, conferences and edited volumes. She has published six authored/edited books from publishers like Springer, World Scientific and Wiley. She has worked in and delivered invited lectures in various Universities and Institutes world-wide. She has received several awards and fellowships, including the Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys award, TWAS Prize, DBT National Women Bioscientist Award (Young), INAE Silver Jubilee Prize, Young scientist/engineer medals of INSA, INAE and Science Congress, JC Bose Fellowship, Swarnajayanti Fellowship and Humboldt Fellowship. She is currently a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India.

Chaudhary is an Emeritus Professor at Tribhuvan University (TU), Kirtipur, Nepal. He has 40 years' experience in teaching, research and academic administration. He was Executive Director of one of TU research institutes; served as a member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal; Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development; Trustee of the National Trust for Nature Conservation; team leader of national, regional (Bhutan, China, India, Nepal) and international (Italy, Norway, USA) programmes. He contributed to policy formulation for the Government of Nepal in the fields of biodiversity and environment; widely travelled on foot in mountains of Nepalese Himalaya; visited 10 major herbaria (France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Russian Federation, UK, USA); received 28 awards and medals; led 28 research projects; supervised five PhD and over 60 Master’s theses. He also established in his name a Gold Medal Award at TU, and a science scholarship in a secondary school in the village where he was born and received his primary education. A new plant species from Nepal, the Saussurea ramchaudharyi (Asteraceae), was named after him.

Jahiruddin (PhD, 1986, Aberdeen University) is a Professor of Soil Science, former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and former Associate Director of Central Laboratory at Bangladesh Agricultural University. He obtained BAS Gold Medal Award 2009, Global Research Impact Award 2017, BAAG Gold Medal Award 2018 and Soil Care Award 2018. He is a Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS). Professor Jahiruddin has a very high record of research publications in relation to Micronutrient problems, arsenic contamination and conservation agriculture. He worked as a team leader for research priority setting in agriculture and development of vision document -2030 and beyond in Bangladesh: Land and Soil Resource Management.

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.

Ahmedov (PhD, 1993, Inst of Nucl Phys, Tashkent; DSc, 2001, Natl Univ Uzb (NUUz), Tashkent; Member of Uzbekistan Acad Sci (2023); Fellow of Islamic Acad Sci, 2020. Head, Theoretical Astrophysics Dept. in Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute and Professor at NUUz. The Researcher of the Year 2018 in Uzbekistan, by Scopus; Science Leader Web of Science award (2017) as highly cited author in Uzbekistan; Uzbekistan State Order Glory of Labor, 2012; Award of TWAS for Young Scientists in Physics in Uzbekistan, 2001; NATO Reintegration Grant, 2004-2007; Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regular Associate, Italy, 2005-2010; Volkswagen Stiftung Grant, Germany, 2013-2016; King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia Grant 2020-2021, Erasmus+ Gant 2017-2019, DAAD (Germany) Grants 2017, 2012, 2009, 2006; UNESCO-TWAS Regular Associate at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai, India), 2012-2014, at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (Pune, India), 2010-2012, 2002-2004; Fudan Fellowship, China, 2017, 2019; Coordinator ICTP Affiliated Center, Network/Project, Chief Editor Uzbek J Phys, Editor Arabian J Math (Springer).

Dalkara is a Professor of Neurology and a member of the Faculty of Medicine and the Director of the Neuroscience PhD programme and Institute of Neurological Sciences and Psychiatry at Hacettepe University, Ankara, Turkey. He received his MD, Neurology and PhD (Pharmacology) training at Hacettepe University, and did his Postdoctoral fellowship at the Montreal Neurological Institute, McGill University. He held a joint appointment at the Massachusetts General Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston between 1992-2020. Dalkara’s research focuses on the basic mechanisms of ischemic brain injury and migraine and on targeted brain drug delivery. He received 2013 TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences and has been awarded with several scientific honors in Turkey. He is a principal member of the European Academy of Sciences and Arts and Turkish Academy of Sciences.

Murty (PhD, 1992, Indian Inst. of Science, Bangalore) is Professor, Dept. of Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, Indian Inst. of Technology (IIT) Madras. He is Institute Professor and Girija and R. Muralidharan Chair Professor, IIT Madras. He is also Adjunct Professor, Ryerson Univ., Toronto, Canada since 2011 and Associate faculty of School of Engineering, Univ. of British Columbia, Canada since 2016. His is a Fellow of Asia Pacific Acad. of Materials (2013), Indian National Science Acad. (2013), ASM International - the Materials Information Society (2010), Indian Acad. of Sciences (2008), National Acad. of Sciences (2008), Indian National Acad. of Engineering (2007). He is a recipient of a number of awards including JC Bose Fellowship award (2018-2023), Honorary Doctorate from Deakin Univ., Australia (2017), Life time Achievement Award of IIT Madras (2016), Distinguished Alumnus Award of Visvesvaraya National Inst. of Technology (2010), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (2007), Metallurgist of the Year Award (2004), Indian National Acad. of Engineering Young Engineer Award (1997), Indian National Science Acad. Young Scientist Award (1995), Young Metallurgist Award (1994).

Varshney (PhD, 1985, University of Calgary, Canada) is a Professor of Microbiology and Cell Biology and Chair of Biological Sciences Division, Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore. He is fellow of Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore; and the National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), India. He is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize; GN Ramachandran Gold Medal for Excellence in Biological Sciences and Technology; JC Bose National Fellowship; Life Sciences Research Award of Novo Nordisk Education Foundation, India; Ranbaxy Research Award for basic research in medical sciences; PS Sarma Memorial Award of the Society of Biological Chemists (India) and the first National Bioscience Career Development Award, among others. He is an honorary Professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre of Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore. He serves as a member/Chair on various advisory committees of research institutions and funding agencies.