Oluwafemi Adebo is a professor in the Department of Biotechnology and Food Technology at the University of Johannesburg (UJ), in South Africa. He received both his master’s and doctoral degree (Food Technology) at UJ. In addition to teaching responsibilities, he leads the Food Innovation Research Group involved with the improvement of various traditional food processes, enhancing food-health-promoting constituents, development of nutrient-dense food products, and value addition to underutilized food sources using conventional, novel and innovative approaches including 3D food printing, all in an effort to ensure zero hunger as well as good health and well being. He has contributed to over 100 journal articles, 23 book chapters and lead editor of a book. He has received over 15 million South African rands in grant funding and won prestigious awards, including the 2019 Institute of Food Technologists Emerging Leader Award, 2021 National Research Foundation Emerging Researcher of the Year, 2021 UJ’s Vice Chancellor’s Distinguished Award as an Outstanding Young Researcher, and UJ's Faculty of Science Top Research Award (Lecturer/Senior Lecturer Category) in 2021, among others.

Mohammed Almahfali from Yemen is currently a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, Sweden. He holds a PhD (2014) in modern Arabic literature, Arabic Language and Literature Department, Faculty of Art, Cairo University (Egypt). From 2017 to 2019 he worked as a researcher at the Center for Middle Eastern Studies, Lund University, thanks to a fellowship received from the Institute of International Education, Scholar Rescue Fund SRF-IIE. In 2015 he served as the head of the Arabic Language Department, with the College of Education, Hadhramout University, Socotra Island, and was an assistant professor of modern literature and criticism. Almahfali authored and co-authored four books and more than 10 peer-reviewed scientific papers. His research interests include discourse analysis, capacity-building in higher education, and sustainable post-conflict recovery strategies to address the challenges in Yemen for the coming years. Particularly noteworthy is his dissemination activity: he is a regular contributor to the Arabi Website, where he deals with socio-political themes, human rights issues and war-related problems.

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.

Amer Ahmed Al-Qaaod is a collaborative physicist with more than eight years of international experience, who is researching in reactor physics, nuclear systems design, particle transport simulations, application in low energy neutron physics, dosimetry and radiation shielding-detection modelling. He completed his doctoral and post-doctoral training in nuclear physics in Cairo, Egypt, and then moved to the International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy, where he started a two-year postdoctoral fellowship in 2018. During his fellowship, he worked as a consultant in shielding design in the Nuclear Science and Instrumentation Laboratory, part of the Physical and Chemical Science Division at the International Atomic Energy Agency, before moving to the German National Metrology Institute (PTB), in September 2020. He is an expert in Monte Carlo simulation tools for modelling nuclear processes, Python programming language, and has a solid knowledge of radiation measurements equipment. He published more than 10 peer-reviewed publications and one scientific book in particle physics, and delivered oral and poster presentations at several international conferences.

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.

Mary Amoako (nee Adjepong) is a lecturer and dietician with the Department of Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), in Kumasi, Ghana. At KNUST, she teaches metabolism in health and diseases, nutrition through the human life cycle, and nutrition in emergencies. She holds a Bachelor of Sciences in biochemistry and biotechnology and a Master of Philosophy in human nutrition and dietetics, both from KNUST. She earned a PhD in human nutrition from Michigan State University, East Lansing (US) and a professional certification as a registered dietician with the Allied Health Professions Council, Ghana. She is interested in global nutrition, dietetics, child and maternal nutrition. She received the Borlaug Higher Education in Agricultural Research Development (2014), and the Borlaug Leadership Enhancement in Agriculture Program (2016), both from USAID. She is an early-career fellow of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. In 2023, she received the L'ORÉAL-UNESCO For Women in Science Young Talents Award, for Sub-Saharan Africa, and the Association of Commonwealth Universities Sustainable Development Goals grant.

Noushin Arfatahery is a dynamic researcher and advocate with a Doctor of Biology (PhD) from Freie Universität Berlin, Germany, in collaboration with the Alfred Wegener Institute and Charité University. She also holds a Master’s in Food Microbiology and a Bachelor’s in Medical Science from Tehran University of Medical Sciences, Iran. Her research focuses on aquaculture, microbiology, antibiotic resistance, and sustainable seafood production. She conducted advanced research on the symbiotic interactions of oysters and sea cucumbers during a fellowship at Vancouver Island University, Canada, with a focus on sustainable aquaculture. She presented her work at major international conferences, including the IAFP 2024 in the USA. Dr. Arfatahery was a John Maddox Prize nominee (2017–2019) and a 2022 Aquaculture Award finalist for environmental impact. She is a member of Aquaculture Europe and has published extensively on sustainable aquaculture and seafood safety. Her multidisciplinary expertise and advocacy for women in STEM and food sustainability make her a key contributor to advancing global scientific collaboration.

Susana Arrechea works at New Sun Road, a Californian start-up incubated at the University of California at Berkeley (UCB), where she develops solar electrification and connectivity projects for rural Guatemala. She is the Project Director of the Digital Community Centres Stellar Ixq-Saq´e, funded by the US Agency for International Development-Microsoft. She holds a Bachelor of Science in chemical engineering earned at the University of San Carlos of Guatemala (USAC). She received a scholarship from Fundación Carolina, which allowed her to earn a Master of Science and a PhD degree in Nanoscience and Nanotechnology from the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, in Spain. She described more than 14 new organic molecules derived from porphyrins with applications in solar devices. In 2015, she was a Visiting Researcher at UCB, under the Fulbright NEXUS Program aimed at generating renewable energy. From 2016–2020, she was a Research Professor at USAC. In 2017, she won the Galardón de Guatemaltecos Ilustres award and received the TWAS Fellowships for Research and Advanced Training. In 2020, she won the OWSD-Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early-Career Women Scientists in the Developing World.

Fekadu Gurmu Balcha is a Senior Researcher at the Ethiopian Institute of Agricultural Research in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. In 2016 he obtained his PhD in plant breeding from the University of KwaZulu-Natal, in Durban, South Africa. Through the first controlled crossing experiments in Ethiopia, he developed two vitamin A-rich orange-fleshed sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) varieties exhibiting farmers' desired traits (high dry matter content and high yield). The varieties were released in November 2019 and received good acceptance by farmers, seed producers and consumers. They are currently grown by the majority of the sweet potato producing farmers. In 2017, he received awards and letters of recognition from the Ethiopian former Prime Minister, His Excellency Mr. Hailemariam Desalegn, and from the former President of the South Regional State in Ethiopia, His Excellency Mr. Dessie Dalke, in recognition of his contribution to food and nutrition security through the development of bio-fortified sweet potato varieties, seed production and technology dissemination to end-users. In 2020, he was awarded as an outstanding researcher by the Southern Agricultural Research Institute.

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.

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.

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.

Rinlee Butch Cervera is a Professor and Head of the Energy Storage and Conversion Materials Research Laboratory at the Department of Mining, Metallurgical and Materials Engineering, College of Engineering, University of the Philippines Diliman (UPD). He is the current Program Director of the Energy Engineering Graduate Program (UPD) and the current Editor-in-Chief of the Philippine Engineering Journal. He received his Bachelor of Science, Master of Science and PhD all in materials engineering from UPD, Universiti Sains Malaysia, and the University of Tokyo, Japan, respectively. His research interests are in energy-related materials and devices such as lithium-based batteries, fuel cells and electrolysis cells, waste-to-energy, and renewable energy applications. In recognition of his achievements, he received several awards such as the 2018 Outstanding Young Scientist from the National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines; the 2018 Professional Degree Awardee for Materials Engineering by the UP Alumni Engineers; University of the Philippines Scientist I for the period 2019–2021; and the 2021 Outstanding Engineering Professor from the College of Engineering, UPD.

Dimobe is an Assistant Professor at the Insitute of Environmental Science and Rural Development, University of Dédougou, in Dédougou, Burkina Faso. Since January 2019, he has been working as a lecturer and researcher at the University of Dédougou. In 2020, he received the African-German Network of Excellence in Science grant for junior researchers. Dimobe earned a Master of Science in botany (2007), and in applied plant biology (2010), both from the University of Lomé, Togo, and a PhD in botany and plant ecology (2017) from the University Ouaga I Professor Joseph KI-ZERBO, in Burkina Faso, and Rostock, in Germany. From 2017–2020 Dimobe worked with the West African Science Service Centre on Climate Change and Adapted Land Use as a research scientist and member of the Earth Observation Applications Unit. His research interests include climate change, natural resources management, biogeography, conservation, and biomass modelling. He is involved in capacity building, especially in the use of open access earth observation data and software for addressing environmental change problems. In 2015, he spent six months at the University of Rostock, Germany, as a visiting scholar.

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.

Paula Echeverría-Galindo is a scientific researcher with the Institute for Geosystems and Bioindication at the Technical University of Braunschweig, in Germany. At the same institute, she earned a magna cum laude recognition for her PhD degree in natural sciences. 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.

Dr. Chika Ejikeugwu is a Fellow of the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH) in Germany and a Senior Research Fellow at the Helmholtz Centre for Environmental Research (UFZ), Leipzig, Germany. He is also the founder of the online microbiology platform, www.MicrobiologyClass.net. Dr. Ejikeugwu previously served as a DAAD Postdoctoral Fellow at the Federal Institute for Materials Research and Testing (BAM), Berlin, Germany. Dr. Ejikeugwu completed his first postdoctoral training on HIV-1 at the Laboratory of Infectious Disease Models, Institute for Frontier Life and Medical Sciences, Kyoto University, Kyoto, Japan (2018), under the MIF Postdoctoral Fellowship. He holds a PhD in Pharmaceutical Microbiology and Biotechnology from Nnamdi Azikiwe University, Awka, Nigeria. In addition to his research, Dr. Ejikeugwu is a senior lecturer and researcher at the Enugu State University of Science & Technology (ESUT), Nigeria, where he mentors both undergraduate and postgraduate students in microbiology and related fields. His research interests include antimicrobial resistance (AMR), soil health, One-Health, infectious diseases, bacteriology, and virology.