Ghanya Al-Naqeb is an Associate Professor of Nutritional Sciences at the Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Sana’a, Yemen. She is currently also a research fellowship holder at the Centre Agriculture Food Environment at the University of Trento, Italy. At Sana’a University, she teaches several courses including biochemistry, functional foods, preventive nutrition, introduction to human nutrition, food processing and preservation, medical nutrition therapy, nutrition through life cycle, nutritional assessment, food analysis and research methodology. Al-Naqeb’s research focused on the role of the natural products from herbal plants and functional foods for disease prevention. Her research is providing new knowledge on the health benefits of the herbal plants as a folk remedy and searching about new effective natural products and functional foods for diseases prevention to be used as health supplements or nutraceuticals. She is the winner of the 2016 Elsevier Foundation Award for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, in Biological Sciences: Agriculture, Biology, Medicine, for the Arab Region.

Al-Qadhi received her PhD degree with a major in oral biology from Cairo University, Egypt, and her research focuses on tissue regeneration using stem cells derived from oral tissues and evidence-based dentistry, a rare achievement for a woman from Yemen. Her master's project was about the effect of Khat extract on the oral tissues, as the habit of Khat chewing is a major health and social problem in Yemen. She has published several scientific articles in international journals. She received several awards, including the academic distinction for the highest-ranked undergraduate students, and a postgraduate scholarship from the Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research in Yemen. She was selected as a TechWomen emerging leader representing her country in the USA in 2014. She had worked as an assistant lecturer at the University of Science and Technology in Yemen. Now, she is looking to pursue her scientific journey as a researcher in stem cells and tissue regeneration in a safe environment where she can improve her technical skills, gain knowledge, and make a positive impact on her community as well as the host institute.

Noushin Arfatahery is a PhD researcher at Free University of Berlin, Germany, in collaboration with the Alfred Wegner Institute for Polar and Marine Research Wadden Sea Station in Germany and Charite University's Department of Molecular Microbiology in Berlin, Germany. She holds a Bachelor of Medical Science and a Master of Food Microbiology at Tehran University of Medical Science in Iran. Her research interests include aquaculture, microbiology, immunology, antibiotic resistance, and seafood production in order to contribute to a sustainable food supply. She was nominated in 2017–2018 and 2019 for the John Maddox Prize by Standing up for Science. She is also currently a member of Aquacultur Europe. She was a finalist for the 2022 Aquaculture Award for Environmental Impact in the UK.

Alexander Birbrair received his bachelor’s degree in biomedicine from Santa Cruz State University in Brazil. He completed his PhD in neuroscience at the Wake Forest School of Medicine. Then, he joined as a postdoc in stem cell biology at Albert Einstein School of Medicine in New York. His laboratory is interested in understanding how the cellular components of different tissues function and control disease progression. His group explores the roles of specific cell populations in the tissue microenvironment by using state-of-the-art techniques. In 2018, Alexander was elected affiliate member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and, in 2019, he was elected member of the Global Young Academy, and in 2021, he was elected affiliate member of TWAS. He is the Founding Editor and Editor-in-Chief of Current Tissue Microenvironment Reports, and Associate Editor of Molecular Biotechnology. Alexander also serves on the editorial boards of several other international journals.

Dr Blair is a policy adviser for S&T and R&D, applying her expertise and skills in academia and government to assist various triple helix R&D organisations for the advancement of research and innovation, knowledge management, S&T education, and international cooperation. She is an interdisciplinary professional with degrees in Environmental Studies & Anthropology (B.A., St. Lawrence University), Environmental sciences (MSc, University of Arkansas), Freshwater Systems Science (MSc, University of Glasgow), and Earth Sciences (PhD, University of Glasgow). Her PhD research was to describe and model the behaviour of microplastics in fresh- and wastewater systems and to inform policy, publishing her original work in three peer-reviewed journals before the end of her PhD. She has worked as Chief Science Officer creating the R&D Unit and developing institutional processes for the Ministry for Science, Technology and Innovation in Honduras; and later, was Adviser for S&T for the Government of Honduras. Currently, she is Policy Officer for the Scottish Government's Hydro Nation Strategy and also guest editor for a special issue on microplastics pollution in the journal Frontiers.

Eric Djomo Nana is a Senior Researcher/Assistant Professor and Head of the Wildlife Research Unit at the Institute of Agricultural Research for Development in Cameroon. He is also currently a Research fellow in the Department of Biology at the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Zoology and a Master of Science in environmental impact assessment from the University of Dschang in Cameroon and a Taught Masters in Parasitology from the University of Yaoundé I in Cameroon. He earned a PhD in ecology from Charles University in Prague, in the Czech Republic. His research interests are in wild meat use and trade and how that affect threatened species, local livelihoods, and facilitate spill over of highly pathogenic viruses. He has published several articles in peer-reviewed impact factor journals and has won several research grants and awards. He is an affiliate of the African Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences since 2021. He is the current President of Cameroon's chapter of the Society for Conservation Biology. He is also an adjunct professor at the Higher Institute of Environmental Science in Yaounde, Cameroon.

Sabrina Moriom Elias is an Assistant Professor at the Department of Life Sciences at the Independent University, Bangladesh. Her teaching focuses on genomics, bioinformatics, biostatistics and plant biotechnology. She holds a bachelor’s and a master’s degree in biochemistry and molecular biology from the University of Dhaka, Bangladesh. She earned a PhD focusing plant genomics and quantitative genetics from the University of Dhaka. Her research interests are focused on functional genomics studies using gene editing and cloning technologies for development of climate-resilient crops. She worked as a postdoctoral fellow in a continuation of the PhD project and was chosen for the Beachell Borlaug International Scholar impact award from Bayer in 2020. She worked as a researcher in National Jute genome project, Plant Biotechnology Laboratory at Australian National University, as a guest faculty in University of Dhaka, and cBLAST—an online bioinformatics course platform. She is a member of the Global Young Academy and current Secretary of the National Young Academy of Bangladesh.

Hanadi Ibrahim created her own business providing technical and managerial consulting. She holds a bachelor’s degree in pharmacy and a master’s degree and PhD in analytical chemistry from the University of Paris-Sud in France. She is a seasoned researcher with a multidisciplinary skill set and a passion for biomarkers and drug discovery. She led four collaborations at Simon Fraser University, Canada, and one at The University of Western Ontario, Canada. She has a comprehensive academic and industry experience in Nucleic Acids—RNA and DNA—methodologies, gene cloning, protein expression and purification, antibiotic resistance, lipid analysis, structure-activity relationship, bioconjugation and quality control. Ibrahim guided and mentored several undergraduate and graduate students and helped them to maintain a critical attitude towards experiments and results and to reach their potentials.