Delfina Hlashwayo is a faculty member and researcher in the Department of Biological Sciences at Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM), in Mozambique. She holds a Bachelor of Science in biology and health and a Master of Science in food safety, both from UEM. Hlashwayo earned a PhD in biosciences and public health from UEM, receiving the distinction 'excellent' for her thesis. Her research focuses on public health and One Health approaches. Passionate about science diplomacy, she collaborates with international organizations such as the World Health Organization and the United Nations. Hlashwayo is an experienced consultant for the European Commission and has been an academic editor for the Public Library of Science (PLOS) since 2022. In recognition of her contributions to science and development, Hlashwayo was a joint winner of the 2024 Policy and Deliberation Challenge at the UN World Food Forum, and was named a Fellow of the 2024 UN Youth for Biosecurity Fellowship. In 2022, she received the Rising Star Award for emerging HIV investigators from the San Diego Center for AIDS Research.

Samamalee Upekshi Kankanamge is a senior lecturer in the Department of Pharmacy, Faculty of Allied Health Sciences, General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka. With the same university, she held the head of the department position (2018–2021) in pharmacy. She holds a bachelor's degree in pharmacy (first-class honours) and a master's degree in industrial analytical chemistry, earned at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura (USJ), Sri Lanka, where she is currently pursuing her PhD in pharmaceutical science. Her research explores the potential therapeutic benefits of natural compounds and traditional remedies, looking for new compounds, formulations, or delivery systems for medications. She has a record of 42 research publications including 10 original articles, 7 review articles, and 25 conference papers. She won twice the title of best oral presentation awards for her PhD research findings, at the International Research Conference in Health Sciences (USJ) and Lincoln International Multidisciplinary Conference, Lincoln University College, Malaysia, in 2023 and 2024 respectively.

Suhair Sunoqrot is an Associate Professor of Drug Delivery and Nanomedicine at Al-Zaytoonah University of Jordan’s (ZUJ) Faculty of Pharmacy. She holds a BS in Pharmacy from the University of Jordan in 2007, and a PhD in Biopharmaceutical Sciences from the University of Illinois at Chicago in 2013. Her research focuses on the development of nanoscale solutions to tackle delivery challenges of poorly water-soluble drug candidates, with special interest in the valorization of plant polyphenols both as therapeutic agents and as nanomaterial building blocks. She has authored more than 40 peer-reviewed publications in reputable journals and currently holds the highest number of citations across ZUJ and the highest H-index at the Faculty of Pharmacy. Notably, she was a Fulbright Visiting Scholar at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Daniel Turnberg Fellow at King’s College London. She received the PhosAgro/UNESCO/IUPAC Green Chemistry for Life Award and the TWAS Prize for Young Scientists from Jordan in 2018. She is currently the only Jordanian member of the Arab-German Young Academy of Sciences and Humanities (AGYA) (2019-) and a TWAS Young Affiliate (2021-).

Mary Donnabelle Balela is a full professor at the Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering at the University of the Philippines (UP). She graduated with a bachelor’s degree in metallurgical engineering from UP in 2004, a master’s degree in materials engineering from the Universiti Sains Malaysia in 2008, and a PhD in materials science and engineering from Kyoto University in 2011. She leads the Sustainable Electronic Materials Group, which develops low-cost advanced functional materials for applications in electronics, the environment, and energy. She recently received the 2020 Encouragement Award, which is part of the Hitachi Global Foundation Asia Innovation Award, for her work on developing customizable sorbents based on kapok fibers. She is the runner-up in the 2019 ASEAN-US Science Prize for Women, 2019 Department of Science Outstanding Research and Development Awardee for Applied Research for her work on silver-based flexible electronic devices.

Mohammed Kadhom is an assistant professor in the Department of Environmental Sciences at Alkarkh University of Science in Baghdad, Iraq. He teaches courses on water and air pollution, basics in environmental pollution, and environmental awareness. He earned a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science degree in chemical engineering from the University of Baghdad, and a PhD in chemical engineering from the University of Missouri-Columbia, US. Kadhom's research and contributions encompass chemical and environmental engineering, with a focus on water treatment, desalination, adsorption, thin films, and nanomaterials. He served as a guest editor with three journals and participated as a reviewer with others. In 2016, he earned a certificate of merit from the American Chemical Society, securing various grants during his presence at the University of Missouri-Columbia. In 2021, he was awarded the Green Chemistry Summer School grant from the Green Sciences for Sustainable Development Foundation, Venice, Italy, receiving the best poster award. For his research achievements, he was awarded the Top Researcher Golden Medal (2024) from Alain University, Iraq for his scientific production.

Lai received his PhD in biomedical engineering from the Malaysia University of Technology and Ilmenau Technical University in Germany through the German Academic Exchange Service PhD Sandwich Programme. He is currently an associate professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University Malaya, and chief technology officer of BioSight Sdn Bhd. Lai was awarded a fellowship by the Association of Commonwealth Universities by the UK in 2021 for his research on recovered COVID-19 patients’ risk of hospital readmission. Later, Lai was conferred the Young Engineer Award 2021 by the Institution of Engineers, Malaysia. Lai was also awarded the IEEE-EMBS Early Career Achievement Award 2021 by the IEEE Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society Malaysia Chapter the same year. Lai was elected as Fellow of Engineers Australia and Fellow of Institute of Engineers Malaysia. In 2022, Lai was bestowed the Board of Engineers Malaysia Most Prominent Young Engineering Leader Award by the Prime Minister of Malaysia.

Lobna Said is an Associate Professor and Program Director of the Microelectronics System Design Master Program at Nile University in Egypt. At the same university, she teaches electric circuits and electronics courses. She holds a Bachelor of Science and a Master of Science in electronics and electrical communication from Cairo University, Egypt. She earned a PhD in electronics and electrical communication from Cairo University, Egypt. Her research interests are interdisciplinary, including modelling, optimization, linear and nonlinear circuits and systems, and chaos theory. In recognition of her contributions to science and development, Said was a winner of the 2019 State Encouragement Award for Engineering Science. In 2019 and 2020, she was the recipient of Dr. Hazem Ezzat Prize for the Outstanding Researcher. In 2020 and 2021, Her name was in the top 2 percent of scientists according to the Stanford Report. In 2021, she was awarded the IEEE Outstanding Branch Counsellor & Branch Chapter Advisor Award.

Fernando Zorto is a professor in the Department of Mechanical Engineering and director of the Research Institute of Applied Science and Technology, Faculty of Engineering at the National Autonomous University of Honduras (UNAH). At UNAH, he teaches heat transfer, design projects, and research methods to engineers. He holds a Bachelor of Science in mechanical engineering from UNAH and a Master of Science in project management from the Central American Technological University, also in Honduras. He is a PhD candidate in design, manufacturing, and managing industrial projects with Valencia Polytechnic University, in Spain. His research interests include atmospheric water harvesting, innovative projects, and aerospace systems. Since 2017, he has led the first satellite project in Honduras. He received the Honour of Merit of Engineering of the Pan-American Confederation of Mechanical, Electrical, and Other Fields of Engineering. In 2017, Zorto won the Best Essay about UNAH Scientific Research and Research Management at the XI Conference of Scientific Research UNAH.

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.

Paula Echeverría-Galindo is a scientific researcher at the Institute of Organic Biogeochemistry in Geo-Systems (OBG), RWTH Aachen University, Germany. She earned a magna cum laude recognition for her PhD degree in natural sciences from TU Braunschweig, Germany. Paula holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from the University of San Carlos of Guatemala, and a master’s degree in Limnology and Marine Sciences from the National Autonomous University of Mexico. She has over 10 years of experience as a teacher of biology, geosciences and climate change. Her research interests are in climate change and its impact on aquatic communities. Paula is focusing on modern ecology and paleolimnological reconstructions, using multiple aquatic microorganisms, sedimentology and geochemical approaches to understand how the systems adapt and respond to global warming. Her research work has been carried out in the neotropics and on the Tibetan Plateau. She was awarded with a grant to expand her research in the neotropics examining paleolimnological data from volcanic lakes in Guatemala. She has been involved in activities related to gender equality and scientific outreach.

Paul Kuman is a researcher and lead consultant at the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), where he conducts research, and teaches marine geosciences, climate, and environmental sciences. He holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry at UPNG, and a Master of Environment Advanced majoring in environmental protection at Griffith University, Australia. His PhD research is in Marine Geoscience with the University of Queensland, Australia. He is involved in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and Climate Experiment program initiated by the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences . He investigates marine sedimentary components and their impact on climate reconstruction in the Bismarck Sea. He is developing program and courses about chemical oceanography and paleoclimate studies to be taught at UPNG, providing technical advisory services to various organizations, including the Government of PNG newly established Ocean Office on strategic development plans, and policy formulation in coastal and deep-sea governance and management. He received the Australian Award and EU Scholarship award in 2014 and 2017, respectively.

Chenglai Wu is a professor with the International Centre for Climate and Environment Sciences at the Institute of Atmospheric Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He also serves as a graduate student supervisor at the University of CAS. He earned a Bachelor of Science in atmospheric science from Nanjing University, China, and a PhD in meteorology from the Institute of Atmospheric Physics (CAS) and the University of CAS. His research focuses on the development and application of earth system models by improving the dust emission, aerosol processes and aerosol-climate interactions, as well as adopting models for climate prediction and future projection to mitigate the impact of climate change and meteorological disasters. He is one of the key developers of the Chinese Academy of Sciences earth system model. In 2022, he was awarded as a young talent in computational geosciences by the Tsinghua University–Inspur Group. He has published more than 60 papers in peer-reviewed journals.

Zainun Mustafa is an early-career faculty member at the Fakulti Sains dan Matematik, Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris, Malaysia. She holds a Bachelor of Science (with honours) in biology with education and earned her PhD in science education from Universiti Sains Malaysia. With almost a decade of experience teaching in government schools, Zainun also has held research-related interim roles at the Centre for Science and Environmental Studies, and at the Institute of Islamic Understanding, as a research officer at Universiti Sains Malaysia’s Regional Centre of Expertise for Education for Sustainable Development, and at the National Child Development and Research Centre. Zainun served as a specialist in intergovernmental institutions, where she trained educators across Southeast Asia and the Global South. Besides serving as the education unit fellow at the Centre of Biodiversity and Conservation, Zainun is an early-career scholar for the programme 'Strengthening Human Rights and Peace Research and Education in ASEAN/Southeast Asia'. Her contributions to training and research in science education have been supported by grants from Saudi Arabia, Thailand, and Malaysia.

Elías Peraza has been the Technological and Educational Prospective Manager of Salvadoran Ministry of Education, Science and Technology, since 2022. He conducts studies in science, technology and innovation (STI), prioritizing those of interest to the education system, including emerging technologies. He graduated in business administration from the University of El Salvador in 2010 and earned a master’s degree in business management for innovation and internationalization from the University of Basque Country, Spain, in 2011. In 2019, Peraza received a PhD in economics with cum laude distinction from Universities of Burgos, Valladolid and Salamanca, Spain. He studied both his master’s and doctorate thanks to scholarships from the European Union. Peraza has published academic and diffusion articles about systems of innovation, STI policies, business innovation behaviour, and economic policy. He has participated in more than 15 international conferences, the most recent: Globelics 2023 (virtual) and "Nobel Prize Dialogue Rio and São Paulo 2024" (in person). As for awards, he received the Central American Rubén Darío Award for Academic Excellence in 2009.

Onjamirindra Sarobidy Rakotonarivo is a research fellow at the Department of Forestry and Environment at the University of Antananarivo in Madagascar. She holds a Bachelor of Science in agricultural sciences and a Master of Science in Sustainable Tropical Forestry. She earned a joint PhD in environmental and development economics from Bangor University, UK, and the University of Copenhagen, the Netherlands, in 2016. Her research interests are in nature-climate interventions in Africa, such as forest conservation, restoration, and climate-smart agriculture. She uses a mixed method approach, including field experiments and qualitative approaches, to study the political and socioecological factors that increase their effectiveness. By identifying what does and doesn’t work, and under what conditions, her research aims to support the design of policies that contribute to the long-term well-being of people and nature. She also has a track record of supporting evidence-based policy and working in multi-stakeholder engagement.

Jiajun Xu is the associate professor and principal investigator of the Public Development Finance Research Programme at Peking University, China. Xu earned a PhD from the University of Oxford, and master's and bachelor’s degrees from Tsinghua University. Her research focuses on public development finance, ageing finance, and global governance. She is the initiator of the first global database on public development financial institutions worldwide, and has published her original research in peer-reviewed journals. In recognition of her intellectual contributions to finance and development, she was invited to join the Executive Committee of the Finance in Common Summit as well as the International Commission of Experts on Financing for Development at the United Nations. She serves at the editorial board of the leading journal World Development. Her academic monograph Beyond US Hegemony in International Development was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. The book won the 8th Peikang Chang Development Economics Outstanding Achievement Award in 2020, and was listed by the Bretton Woods Project’s selection of the best books on the World Bank and IMF from 2016.

María Eugenia Cabrera Catalán is a professor with the School of Physical Sciences and Mathematics and a member of the Institute of Physical Sciences and Mathematics, at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC), in Guatemala City. She earned a bachelor's degree in physics from USAC, and a diploma in High Energy Physics from The Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics, in Trieste, Italy. She earned a PhD degree in physics from the Autonomous University of Madrid, Spain. She was a postdoctoral researcher at the Gravitation and Astroparticle Physics Amsterdam, in the Netherlands, and with the Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, Brazil. Her research interests are in particle physics. She studies theory and phenomenology of physics beyond the Standard Model, collider phenomenology, theory and phenomenology of dark matter searches. In recognition of her contribution to science, Cabrera Catalán was awarded the 2021 OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards in Physical Sciences for the Latin American and the Caribbean Region. She is a founding member of the Central American Network of High Energy Physics and Scientific Computing.

Nathalie Casanova-Morales is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Adolfo Ibáñez University in Santiago, Chile since 2020. She is specializing in experimental physics with an interdisciplinary approach, playing a pivotal role in establishing the local Interdisciplinary Physics Laboratory, easing and promoting access to physics tools from different areas. She holds a bachelor's degree in applied physics from the University of Santiago, Chile and a degree in engineering physics, both from the same institution. In 2012, she obtained a PhD from the University of Montpellier, France. She has implemented her academic competencies by working in several postdoctoral positions in Chile. Through the application of an interdisciplinary lens to physics, biology, and chemistry, she leverages her experimental expertise to employ physics techniques and innovative processes. This enables her to comprehend crucial parameters in bioprocesses within an interdisciplinary framework. Committed to expanding her expertise, she concentrates on biophysics, microbiology, parasitology, nanotechnology, and biochemistry, all disciplines that are vital for interdisciplinary research.

Tesfay Gebremariam Tesfahannes is an associate professor and PhD program coordinator at the Department of Physics, Faculty of Natural Sciences. He is also the community engagement coordinator for the Faculty of Natural Sciences at Arbaminch University, Ethiopia. At the same university, he teaches quantum states of light, advanced quantum optics, quantum information, and more. In 2018, he earned a PhD degree in theoretical physics from Dalian University of Technology in China. His research interests are in quantum optomechanics—the quantum features of optomechanical systems, including quantum entanglement and continuous-variable quantum information processing. In February 2020, he was awarded a letter of recognition from the Winter College on Optics: Quantum Photonics and Information at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Italy. In 2021, he won a letter of recognition from the Ethiopian Physical Society Annual Conference. In 2022, he received a letter of appreciation from the Ethiopian Physics Society for his participation in the North America Summer School Program.

Otabek Khakimov is an associate professor at the Laboratory of Algebra and its applications at the Institute of Mathematics named after V.I. Romanovskii in Uzbekistan. At the same institute he is a secretary of scientific seminar under scientific council on the awarding of scientific degrees. Khakimov is an editor of the electronic journal Bulletin of the Institute of Mathematics in Uzbekistan. He holds a bachelor’s and master’s degrees in mathematical sciences from the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek, also in Uzbekistan. He earned a PhD in physical and mathematical sciences from The Supreme Attestation Commission of the Republic of Uzbekistan based on the decision of the scientific council at the National University of Uzbekistan named after Mirzo Ulugbek. He also earned a Doctor of Science (the next degree after PhD in Uzbekistan) in physical and mathematical sciences from the Institute of Mathematics named after V.I. Romanovskii, in Uzbekistan. His research interests are in the theory of dynamical systems, probability theory and stochastic processes, non-Archimedean analysis and mathematical physics.

Diego Marques is a professor in the Department of Mathematics at the University of Brasilia, Brazil. At the same university, he teaches elementary and advanced courses on number theory for undergraduate and graduate students. He earned a Bachelor in Mathematics and a Master in Mathematics from the Federal University of Ceara, Brazil, and his PhD in mathematics from the University of Brasilia. Then, he worked as a postdoctoral fellow at the University of British Columbia, in Canada. With over a decade of experience, Marques has supervised more than ten doctoral theses, focusing mainly on transcendental number theory and its techniques. His research interests include transcendental number theory, the arithmetic behaviour of transcendental functions, Diophantine approximation, Diophantine equations, recurrence sequences, and elementary number theory. In 2010, for his contributions to research, he was bestowed the Young Researcher Award from the Federal District Research Support Foundation, in the Federal District, Brazil. In the same year, he was elected as the youngest affiliated member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, strengthening his position in the academic community.