Agrawal is dean of the Center for BioSciences and Health Research, Trivedi School of Biosciences, Ashoka University (India), and a former director of the Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, a national laboratory of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research, India. After completing his medical education at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, Delhi, he further trained in internal medicine, pulmonary disease and critical care at Baylor College of Medicine, Houston (US), earning a PhD in physiology from Delhi University. His primary research is in respiratory biology, with other interests in a new vision of health and healthcare seen through the lenses of emerging technologies. He serves on numerous national and global advisory groups, most recently chairing the World Health Organization technical advisory group for viral evolution. He received the Shanti Swaroop Bhatnagar Prize in 2014, the Sun Pharma Foundation award in 2020, and is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, National Academy of Science, Indian Academy of Science, and the National Academy of Medical Sciences.

Ali is the honorary chief scientist and advisor of the Pothikrit Institute of Health Studies (PIHS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the chair of Pothikrit Foundation, a PIHS parent nonprofit organisation working for socioeconomic development and liberal cultural environment. He earned his PhD in 1990 from Uppsala University, Sweden. He was a professor of medical biochemistry and cell biology in institutes at Dhaka University, vice-chancellor at Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, president of the Bangladesh Society of Medical Biochemists, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Endocrine Society, a public health advisor of the government during COVID-19 pandemic, and a reviewer-designer of the 4th and 5th health sector programmes. As a short-term consultant, he has served various organizations like WHO, UNICEF, and USID. He is now an expert member of the Primary Health Care Forum of WHO-SEARO, and a distinguished visiting scientist of COMSTECH-OIC. He has been honoured by organizations like the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Islamic World Academy of Sciences, Indian Public Health Association, and Indian Association for the Study of Asian Traditional Medicine.

Bansal earned his PhD in 1988 from the Indian Agricultural Research Institute (IARI), India, and carried out his postdoctorate at Harvard University (US), in 1992. He is adjunct professor at the Centre for Crop and Food Innovation, Murdoch University, in Perth, Australia, and serves on the board of directors of the Global Plant Council, the board of trustees of the MS Swaminathan Research Foundation, Chennai, and the research advisory council of IARI, New Delhi. He is the first recipient of the Norman Borlaug Chair, in 2010. He served as elected secretary of the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, India from 2021 to 2023, as the director of the premier ICAR institute, National Bureau of Plant Genetic Resources, Department of Agricultural Research and Education, Government of India, New Delhi from 2010–2016, and as elected vice-chair from Asia for the 15th regular session of the Commission on Genetic Resources for Food and Agriculture of the United Nations (2013–2015). He played a visionary and key role in formulating the World Bank project on National Agricultural Higher Education, which has been implemented across 75 agricultural universities in the country, since 2017.

Chakravortty is a professor in the Department of Microbiology and Cell Biology, Indian Institute of Science (IISc) Bangalore, India. Dipshikha received her PhD from the DBT-National Center of Cell, Pune in 1999. She worked at Aichi University, Japan, and later received a Humboldt Fellowship to work at Friedrich Alexander University, Germany. Her research focuses on molecular pathogenesis, infectious diseases, vaccine development and novel delivery systems. She has received many awards, including Prof. Rustom Choksi Award for Excellence in Research in Science/Engineering, DAE Outstanding Investigator award, Astra Chair Professorship, DBT-National Bioscience Award, NASI-Reliance Industries Platinum Jubilee award, Tata Innovation Fellowship, P.A. Kurup Endowment Award by the Society of Biological Chemists (India), Yogmaya Devi Award for Research in Biomedical Science for outstanding work, S.K Chatterjee Award of IIT. She is a Fellow of the National Academy of Science, India, Indian National Science Academy, Delhi, and Indian Academy of Sciences, Bangalore. To date, she has mentored 28 PhD students, who are now reputed faculty members.

Chaudhuri is a K.N. Bajaj chair professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He earned his Bachelor of Technology in electronics and communication engineering at IIT Kharagpur (1985), his Master of Science at the University of Calgar (1987) and his PhD (1990), both in electrical engineering, at the University of California, San Diego. For his research excellence, he has received major national awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Swarnajayanti Fellowship, J.C. Bose National Fellowship, G.D. Birla Award and the NASI-Reliance Award. Chaudhuri was honoured with the title of TUM Ambassador by Technical University Munich, Germany. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science India, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (US). He has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and UCSD. He has received a Doctor of Science degree (honoris causa) by Burdwan University. His areas of research include computer vision, machine learning and computational haptics.

Joshi is an agricultural scientist with a PhD in agricultural science earned in Japan, and over 25 years of experience in the field. He has been at the forefront of agrobiodiversity conservation, developing and promoting more than 100 innovative methods and best practices for managing agrobiodiversity. His interventions comprise crops, livestock, forages, agro-insects, agro-microbes, and aquatic agricultural genetic resources. His pioneering efforts include genetic enhancement of landraces, biotechnology applications, GIS, climate analog tools, participatory and evolutionary plant breeding, and agricultural policy development. Joshi has published more than 600 articles, edited 25 books, and served as editor-in-chief for two scientific journals. He has taught plant breeding, genetics, biotechnology, and statistics at various universities and was a resource person in international training. He received 12 awards and serves as president of the Plant Breeding and Genetic Society of Nepal. A life member of many scientific organizations, his motto is to make agricultural genetic resources competent and dynamic, emphasizing ecological yield, food health index, and ecological agriculture.

Karimipour began his studies in electrical engineering before switching to physics and earning his PhD from Sharif University of Technology, where he has been a faculty member since 1993, and is now a physics professor. His early research focused on quantum groups and integrable models, later expanding to exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, particularly reaction-diffusion systems. As a contribution to this field, he developed an algebraic model for particles overtaking each other in a line and related it to traffic flow. Since 2001, he works in quantum computation and quantum information, mentoring many students who now work in Iran and abroad. His work covers various areas of quantum information theory, and is restricted to formal and mathematical aspects, like entanglement theory, and capacity of quantum channels. He was a regular associate of ICTP (1998–2013) and a Simons Associate (2015–2023). He served on the editorial board of the European Physical Journal D (2019–2024) and was named an outstanding referee by the American Physical Society, in 2013. Since 2007, he co-founded and co-organized the biennial IICQI conference series and contributed to ICTP schools.

Khakhar is currently an emeritus Fellow in chemical engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay. His research interests include the mechanics of granular materials and polymer processing, all fields where he has currently published more than 150 papers. For his research achievements, he has received several national awards, including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize (1997), the Swarnajayanti Fellowship (1998) and the J. C. Bose Fellowship (2010). Khakhar is also a recipient of IIT Bombay's Excellence in Teaching Award, and the Mathur Award for Research Excellence. He is a Fellow of all three science academies of India and the Indian National Academy of Engineering, and currently the Indian National Academy of Engineering chair professor. From January 2009 to April 2019, Khakhar served as the director of IIT Bombay. He has been a member of the Atomic Energy Regulatory Board since 2011, and currently serves on the Governing Body of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research. He is also the chairman of the governing board of the Technology Information Forecasting and Assessment Council, the Department of Science and Technology and the Bose Institute, Kolkata.

Khan serves as vice-chancellor, University of Shangla, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Pakistan. He remained as chairman, Department of Environmental Sciences at the University of Peshawar (UOP), Pakistan, as vice-chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology, and director, Directorate of Advanced Studies at UOP. He also holds adjunct positions at Hunan Agricultural University, China and the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He was elected a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences (2021). He has authored over 200 peer-reviewed research papers, with an impact factor exceeding 960, and a total citation count of 25,325. His current h-index is 71. He has published 1 book and 6 international book chapters, and supervised 35 PhD and 28 Master of Philosophy students. Khan has developed and patented a biochar-based organic fertilizer, and successfully recovered high-purity food-grade calcium carbonate from marble waste, for which he received a patent from the Intellectual Property Organization of Pakistan. He earned many awards, including the Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, the Gold Medal from Pakistan Academy of Sciences, the Young International Scientist Award, and the Best University Teacher Award.

Kulkarni earned his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore in 1992, where he also conducted postdoctoral research. He moved to Cardiff University to work on a project funded by Unilever. In 1995, he joined the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research (JNCASR) as a faculty Fellow, serving there as a professor since 2008. Until 2011, he chaired the Materials Science Unit at JNCASR and held key administrative roles including dean of academic affairs and dean of faculty affairs. He later joined the Centre for Nano and Soft Matter Sciences (CeNS) as its director. In 2020, he returned to JNCASR as president, while continuing to serve as an adjunct professor at CeNS. Kulkarni has been a visiting scientist and professor at several prestigious institutions, including Cardiff University, the University of Tokyo, TASC-INFM in Trieste, Scuola Normale Superiore in Pisa, Purdue University, and the Institute of Molecular Sciences of Orsay at Université Paris-Sud. He also served as an adjunct professor at the Birck Nanotechnology Center, Purdue University (2009–2011), and held an international senior fellowship from the University of Bayreuth (2016–2018).

Maji is a professor at the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research, Bangalore, India. He earned his PhD from the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, in Kolkata (2002). His research focuses on the design and functionalization of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) and porous organic polymers (POPs), of which he explores the applications in energy storage and conversion, and cost-effective adsorptive separation and purification of feedstocks. He developed MOFs and POPs for CO2 capture, and photo and electrocatalytic conversion of CO2 to fuels and green H2 production by water splitting. His research also extends to metal-organic “soft” materials for catalysis and optoelectronics, and his achievements are well reflected in the more than 285 publications to his credit. Maji is a recipient of the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in chemical sciences (2019), the Scopus Young Scientist Award, and the Senior Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (Germany). His accolades include the Bronze Medal from the Chemical Research Society of India and the Materials Research Society of India. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Chemistry.

A medical doctor with 30 years of health research experience in Bangladesh, including a research track record in disease epidemiology, population studies and health systems research, Naheed joined the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) in 1994 after earning a degree in medicine from the University of Dhaka (1992). She began a research career in infectious disease epidemiology after obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins University (US), in 2002. After obtaining a PhD from Tulane University (US) in 2012, she focused on noncommunicable diseases and, after postdoctoral training from the University of Melbourne, Australia (2015), focused on health systems research. She served as the head of the Initiative for Noncommunicable Diseases at the Health Systems and Population Studies Division at icddr,b for eight years (2015–2022) where she is currently a senior scientist with the Nutrition Research Division. She received the Bangladesh Academy of Science Sultan Ahamed Choudhury Science and Technology Gold Medal Award in 2021, and in 2022 was elected to the fellowship of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.

Shah is a professor and director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, and UNESCO chair on bioorganic medicinal and natural product chemistry at the University of Karachi, Pakistan. His research explores the intersection of supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. He has authored six books and edited four books (all with Elsevier), nine book chapters and more than 550 research articles with a cumulative impact factor exceeding 1,900. National and international agencies, including OPCW, IFS, ISECO-COMSTEC, TWAS-COMSTECH, DTRA US, HEC, PSF have provided financial support to his research, and 50 scholars have completed their PhD studies under his supervision or co-supervision. He is a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. He received the Atta-ur-Rahman gold medal in 2006, and the Dr. Raziuddin gold medal in 2015, both from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, as well as the civil award Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, conferred by the President of Pakistan (2015). He is a recipient of the Abdus Salam cash prize in chemistry, and serves as an editor of the Journal of the Chemical Society of Pakistan.

Turdikulova is a leading scientist in biotechnology, biochemistry, and human genetics. She holds a PhD in biotechnology (2001) and a Doctor of Sciences degree in biochemistry and cell biology (2008). She conducted postdoctoral research at UCLA (2002–2005) and earned a postgraduate diploma in organizational leadership from the University of Oxford, in 2025. A pioneer of human genetics research in Uzbekistan, she identified 1,450 genetic markers linked to 670 disease-susceptibility genes, and established a national DNA bank with 24,000 samples. She led the development of Uzbekistan’s first PCR test and co-led clinical trials of the ZF-UZVAC-2001 COVID-19 vaccine. She served as deputy minister of innovation and higher education (2021–2024) and currently directs the Center for Advanced Technologies. Since 2024, she has been vice-president of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, leading national biotech and innovation programs. She is a recipient of the Order Dustlik for her service to science and society.

Venkataraman is a leading researcher in aerosol science, working at the intersection of technology and emissions, climate science, air quality, and engineering nanoparticles for drug delivery. Her group aims to use aerosol science to serve society, through a diversity of environmental and biomedical applications, with emphasis on locally relevant solutions. She has authored over 150 cited publications, a book and four patents, and has built academic and research programmes to advance climate and air quality studies in South Asia. She was the founding head of the Centre for Climate Studies, and led the multi-institutional COALESCE research network. She participates in global policy networks, as a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of the UNEP and the Global Burden of Disease working group. She has extensively mentored research students and supported the advancement of women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in India, and has received a IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award (2024), a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2012), the Vikram Sarabhai Award (2006), and teaching excellence awards.

Yusuf, a J.C. Bose National Fellow, is a senior professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute, serving as director of the physics group at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He was the director of the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Argonne National Laboratory (US), and was a visiting scientist at the Institute of Materials Science in Spain. His research expertise lies in condensed matter physics. He has published nearly 400 original research articles, and obtained several patents. He serves as president of Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association, and vice-president of the Materials Research Society of India. In the past, he was appointed as president of the Indian Physics Association, vice-chair of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies, president of the Neutron Scattering Society of India, and council member of the National Academy of Sciences, India. His honours include MRSI Distinguished Lectureship Award, the P.K. Iyengar Memorial Award, the Raja Ramanna Prize Lecture in Physics (JNCASR), the MRSI Medal, and the DAE Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award.

Agarwal obtained his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1994, from Malviya Regional Engineering, Jaipur and his Master of Technology and PhD (both in energy, in 1996 and 1999 respectively) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. After his postdoctoral fellowship (1999–2001) at University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), he joined IIT Kanpur in 2001. His interests are internal combustion engines, alternate and conventional fuels, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, fuel sprays, lubricating oil tribology, and large-bore engines. He has developed laser-fired hydrogen and compressed natural gas engines in automotive sizes, and the first electronic fuel injection system equipped with a locomotive engine for Indian Railways. Agarwal has published 525+ journal and conference papers, 63 books, 129 chapters, 17300+ Scopus Citations, and 26000+ Google Scholar citations. He is an editor of Fuel. He is a Fellow of NASI (2018), RSC (2018), AAAS (2020), and Combustion Institute (2022), and the recipient of many awards including Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019), and Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017.

Banu's research focuses on mycobacterial infections, epidemiology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, all fields where she has fostered international and national collaborations. She is currently a senior scientist and head of the program for emerging infections under the Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b, where she has been working since 1991. Among her achievements are establishing the state-of-the-art BSL 2+ mycobacteriology laboratory at icddr,b; conducting the first-ever MDR-TB sentinel surveillance in Southeast Asia; bringing in new tools and technology in advancing TB diagnosis and management; research on TB prevalence and transmission in prison settings; standardizing stool processing method for Xpert MTB/RIF assay; and the successful development and implementation of an innovative social enterprise model for TB diagnosis and management in the private sector which has been incorporated in the National Strategic Plan. Banu is a fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, and serves as a member in several scientific/programme committees, and has over 120 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Khan, a leading figure in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, boasts a remarkable career marked by prestigious accolades and ground breaking research. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Karachi. He has received many awards, including Gold Medals from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and recognition from Elsevier Publishers. His contributions to science have been acknowledged nationally with civil awards and Research Productivity Awards from the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology. Khan's establishment of a cutting-edge laboratory at the University of Karachi's International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences reflects his dedication to advancing research. Noteworthy achievements include pioneering work on enzyme inhibitors against diabetes, peptic ulcers, and leishmaniasis. He has advanced microwave-assisted synthetic chemistry in Pakistan, simplifying complex reactions. Khan's mentorship of young scholars and publication record demonstrates his commitment to fostering scientific excellence. With over 900 research papers published in reputable journals, his impact on medicinal chemistry is profound and far-reaching.

Nadeem is a tenured professor in the Mathematics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University. He is an outstanding researcher and teacher, skilled in administrative duties. His research areas include peristaltic motion, blood flow through stenosis arteries, computational techniques, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, stretching and shrinking phenomena, stagnation flows, and analytical techniques to solve highly nonlinear differential equations. The main area of Nadeem's work is applied mathematics. He has considered highly nonlinear physical problems of applied nature obtaining their exact, analytical, and numerical solutions. He is an expert in analytical and numerical techniques. Nadeem has published more than 700 research papers in international journals of high impact factor. His impact factor is greater than 2,000 and his citations are over 30,000. He has received many awards including Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Salam Prize, Best Young Researcher, Best Teacher, PAS Gold Medal, Raziuddin Gold Medal, PCST Awards, TWAS Young Affiliate, Fellow Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and Obada Prize, and has supervised 34 PhD and 120 Master of Philosophy Graduates.

Pant earned his PhD from Jeonbuk National University, South Korea, in 2011. He is a pioneering chemist of Nepal and made a significant contribution towards fabricating advanced polymer and ceramic nanomaterials that have potential applications in the biomedical field and environmental remediation. His research on nanotechnology for the fabrication of hierarchical nanomembrane and nanoparticles using top-down and bottom-up approaches has greatly enhanced global knowledge in the field of advanced nanomaterials. He has been teaching and doing research for three decades, becoming a leader in the materials science and engineering discipline. Pant has published 88 SCI/SCIE-ranked journal articles and has 5,400 citations with h-index=43. He has more than 100 conference proceedings and non-ranked journal publications and is the author of 14 books and book chapters in chemistry and materials science. He is the editor of four SCI/SCIE journals and the reviewer of about 60 ranked journals. Currently, Pant is working as vice-chancellor of Far Western University, Nepal.

Singhal earned her PhD in 1990 from the Institute of Chemical Technology, Mumbai, India, where she is now a professor. She received fellowships from the Indian National Science Academy, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Sciences India, International Bioprocessing Association, and Association of Food Scientists and Technologists (India). She was a member of scientific panels and working groups, FSSAI, Government of India, and a member of the subject expert committee of national bodies of the Government of India, including BIRAC, DST, UGC, DBT, and TDB. She is a project evaluator for the European Science Foundation, was an associate editor with Carbohydrate Polymers, and is an associate editor with Sustainable Food Technology. She was a chairperson, Research Council, CSIR-CFTRI, and is a former member of the Research Council, CSIR-NIIST. She is a subject expert with the National Board of Accreditation and works in interdisciplinary areas encompassing chemical sciences, in particular, food chemistry, biological sciences, and engineering sciences, where she works with separation techniques, using supercritical carbon dioxide and chromatography.

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.

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.

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is the Group Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani, overseeing campuses in Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai, and Mumbai. Before joining BITS in 2023, he served as Director of IIT Delhi (2016-2021) and was a Chair Professor at IIT Bombay & IIT Delhi. A globally recognized Nanoelectronics researcher, he has 500+ research papers, 50+ patents (20 US-issued), and 15 licensed patents, including IP used in millions of ICs. He co-founded two deep-tech startups, Nanosniff & Soilsens, with successful products. Prof. Rao played a key role in India's Nanoelectronics programs and is a Fellow of IEEE, TWAS, INAE, IASc, NASI, and INSA. He has supervised 52 Ph.D. students working globally. His 40+ awards include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys Prize, IEEE EDS Education Award, and three honorary doctorates. He also chairs multiple national committees on Education, Research, and Innovation. He is the BoG Chairperson of JNCASR & NIFTEM, two institutions of national importance in India..

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.

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.

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, Physiologia Plantarum, 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 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.