Abdool Karim is Pro Vice-Chancellor (Research) at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in South Africa, and Director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa. In the Unites States, he is a Professor of Clinical Epidemiology, at Columbia University and an Adjunct Professor of Medicine at Cornell University. He obtained his medical degree in 1983 and his PhD in 1999 from the University of KwaZulu-Natal. His scientific contributions are in HIV prevention (microbicides and vaccines) and AIDS treatment, including tuberculosis co-infections. His awards include the 2008 TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences; the 2011 Science-for-Society Gold Medals of the Academy of Science of South Africa; the 2015 African Union’s "Kwame Nkrumah Continental Scientific Award”, 2020, he received the Maddox Prize for his work defending science during both the HIV and Covid-19 pandemics, and the 2021 Special VinFuture Prize for Developing Country Innovators. He is a member of the World Health Organization Strategic and Technical Committee on HIV and Viral Hepatitis, the Academy of Science of South Africa, the African Academy of Science, the US National Academy of Medicine, among others.

Abidi is Distinguished Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He received his BSc in electrical engineering from Imperial College, London, UK, in 1976, and his MS (1978) and PhD (1981) in electrical engineering from the University of California, Berkeley. He has also served in many other capacities including: Member, technical staff, Advanced LSI Development Laboratory, Bell Laboratories, Murray Hill, NJ, 1981-84; visiting faculty researcher, Hewlett Packard Laboratories, 1989; and editor, IEEE Journal of Solid-state Circuits, 1992-95. He has received several honours including the IEEE Donald O. Pederson Solid-State Circuits Award; Lockheed-Martin Award for Excellence in Teaching, UCLA; IEEE Journal of Solid-State Circuits Best Paper Award; IEEE Millennium Medal; and membership in the US National Academy of Engineering and IEEE. He specializes in the design of analog integrated circuits, and is credited with single-chip CMOS radios. Abidi is the inaugural holder of the Abdus Salam Chair at LUMS, Lahore, Pakistan.

Artaxo is a professor of environmental Physics at the Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo (USP). He has worked at NASA, Harvard University (USA), Antwerp, Stockholm, Lund Universities, and the Max Planck Institute for Chemistry. His primary interest is in global climate change, focusing on the role of aerosol particles in the radiative balance and on environmental issues in Amazonia. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the World Academy of Sciences, a fellow of the US AAAS, and a member of the IPCC. He is vice president of the Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Sciences. He has been honored with numerous prizes, such as the Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa title in 2009 at the University of Stockholm and the 2024 PIFI Award from the Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is among the most cited Brazilian researchers, with more than 520 papers, 73.378 citations in Google Scholar, and a h-index 127. He has 60.202 citations in the Research ID with an h-index of 122. He published 35 papers in the Science and Nature family of journals. He coordinates the Center for Studies of Amazonian Sustainability from USP.

Founding Executive Director, University of California, Davis; President Emeritus, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO; Professor, Department of Biology, Washington Univ., St. Louis. Former director Natl. Inst. of Food and Agriculture, US Dept. of Agriculture. Education: BA in biology (1966) Goshen College, Indiana; PhD in plant pathology (1973) Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Previous academic positions: Washington Univ., St. Louis, Missouri; Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA. Member, US National Academy of Science; Fellow, AAAS and Academy of Microbiology; Foreign Fellow, National Academy of Sciences of India and Indian National Science Academy. Awards include the Wolf Prize in Agriculture; Dennis Robert Hoagland Award, American Society of Plant Biologists; Scientist of the Year, R and D Magazine; and Ruth Allen Award, American Phytopathological Society.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

obtained her Ph.D. in Physics-Mathematics in Moscow, 1989 in the ex-USSR Academy of Sciences. Founded the Group of Numerical Analysis in the Institute of Cybernetics, Mathematics and Physics in 1986, where also was Deputy director. In 1999 she was elected as TWOWS Vice-president for Latin America and the Caribbean until 2005. In 1999 she took part as official member of the Cuban delegation, to participate in the World Summit of Sciences in Budapest, Hungary. Especially participated actively in the issues of the importance of Basic Sciences and Women in Sciences. Particularly relevant was her leadership in the Iberoamerican Program of S&T, in the Network on Gender, Science and Technology. Member and Co-chair of the IANAS Program for Women of Sciences 2013-2017, having publications of 2 books on Women and in sciences in the Americas. Has published more than 70 papers, author of 2 book on Numerical Analysis obtaining National Prize to the best scientific publication in Cuba in 1992 for the Book“Numerical methods of Mathematical Analysis. In TWAS Newsletter 2016, published "Maths are a must for Solving problems" . Was awarded in 2001 with the National Award "Carlos Finlay", 2001.

Bhattacharyya is presently a professor at the Indian Institute of Science Education & Research (IISER) Bhopal. He obtained his PhD in 1984 at Calcutta University. After postdoctoral work at Columbia and Notre Dame, he joined the faculty of IACS in 1987. His main interest is in femtosecond dynamics in nano-confined systems which include biological assemblies. His most important discovery is the ultraslow nature of biological water. He is a fellow of all of the national science academies of India, and is a senior editor of The Journal of Physical Chemistry. He received the Bhatnagar Prize (CSIR, India) in 1997 and the TWAS Prize in 2007.

Blundell is Professor Emeritus and Director of Research in Biochemistry, Cambridge, UK, having been Professor of Biochemistry and Head, School of Biological Sciences, until 2009. He obtained D.Phil at Oxford University in 1967, and held positions at Oxford, Sussex and London before moving to Cambridge in 1996. He is a member of Academia Europaea; Fellow of Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, Indian Natl. Academy of Science and Chilean National Academy; and has hon. doctorates from 16 universities. He was member of advisory group to Prime Minister; founding CEO, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Chair, Royal Commission Environmental Pollution; President, Biosciences Fed., Biochemical Society and Science Council. He co-founded Astex Pharma, sold recently for USD886M.