Zhang (PhD, 1995, U. of Reading) is a UNEP senior staff and Director, UNEP-International Ecosystem Management Partnership (UNEP-IEMP), a joint center between the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and UNEP. She is leading the implementation of a UNEP flagship programme focusing on the nexus of climate change, ecosystem services and sustainable development. She used to be a professor and Deputy Director at Center for Chinese Agricultural Policy (CCAP), Chinese Acad. of Sciences (CAS). Most of her previous research has concentrated on policy-relevant studies on rural development in China, particularly on poverty alleviation. In recent years, her team has also focused on action research in rural health, nutrition and education to assess effectiveness of policies and interventions. She has published more than 300 papers in natl. and intl. journals, and presented more than 30 policy suggestions to government. She received numerous awards, incl. Fudan Management Excellence Award (2014), TWAS Celso-Furtado Prize in Social Sciences (2013), "Ten Most Outstanding Women in Science" award, CAS (2012), "100 Talent" award, CAS (2007), "Outstanding Young Scientist" Award, NSFC (2003).

Zhang is professor at Tsinghua University. He received his B. S. (1978) from Peking University. He studied Solid State Chemistry and Materials Science in University of Bordeaux I (France) and received a PhD in 1993 in France. He makes great contributions to the fundamental research and application of rare-earth functional materials. His awards include: The 2nd Class of National Natural Science Award, China; Outstanding Youth Scholar Award by Hong Kong Qiushi Scientific and Technological Foundation, Hong Kong; and Gold Kangaroo World Innovation Award, Australia. His membership includes: Chinese Academy of Sciences; Chinese Chemical Society; American Chemical Society; Royal Society of Chemistry, UK; and Chinese Society of Rare Earths.

Zhang (PhD, 1989, Hohenehim University) is professor and Dean of the Institute of Green Agricultural Development; President of National Academy of Agriculture Green Development, China Agricultural University. He is member of Chinese Academy of Engineering and International Eurasian Academy of Sciences. His prizes include National Award of Nature Science, National Award of Science and Technology Advance, Science and Technology Award of Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation, TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sciences; IFA International Crop Nutrition Award; Outstanding Achievement Award of Hohenheim University and GCHERA World Agriculture Prize. He holds honorary degrees, scientist appointments and professorships from 15 universities, including Wageningen University and Lancaster University. He is a member of International Plant Nutrition Council,Scientific Panel for Responsible Plant Nutrition, International Society of Root Research, Chinese Society of Soil Science, Global Partnership of Nutrient Management Steering Committee-UNEP, Chinese Society of Plant Nutrition and Fertilizer Science.

Zhang is known for his research in rice genomics and biotechnology. He holds a PhD (genetics, 1985) from UC Davis. He is prof. and dir., Natl. Key Lab. of Crop Genetic Improvement, Huazhong Agricultural Univ. (HAU), Wuhan, China, since 1999; and dir., Natl. Ctr. of Plant Gene Research, Wuhan. His honors include King Baudouin Prize, Intl. Found. for Science, Sweden, 1993; Award for Significant Contributions to Agric. Science in China, Chinese Found. for Agric. Science and Education, 1997; Young Scientists of China, Central Govt. of China, 1998; Award for Advancement in Science and Technology, Ho Leung Ho Lee Found., Hong Kong, 2003; and Cal Aggie Alumni Assoc. Emil M. Intl. Award, UC Davis, 2005. In 1999 he was named Cheung Kong professor by the Ministry of Education, China. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and for. assoc., US Natl. Academy of Sciences.

Zhang is a professor at University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB, China). He obtained his PhD degree on metal physics in 1993 from USTB. He was awarded the National Outstanding Young Scientist Fund in 2003, and elected as academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. He currently serves as the director of State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Materials and Technologies, and dean of the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Technology at USTB. Zhang has been nominated as chair scientist of major national scientific research programmes, member of the general expert group of the National Key Research and Development Programme on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, member of the Materials Science and Engineering Group of the disciplinary appraisal panels in the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, deputy director of Materials Department of Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Education of China, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, chairman of the Chinese Society of Stereology, as well as executive council member of the Chinese Society of Metals.

Zhao is a chair professor at University of Hong Kong (HKU), and a Changjiang chair professor at Northwest University, China. He earned BSc and MSc from Jilin University in 1985 and 1988, respectively, and a PhD from Curtin University in 2000. Zhao’s research fields are metamorphic petrology, Precambrian geology and supercontinents. He has published 460 papers, cited for 64,814 times (h-index 137). Zhao has received many awards and honors, including State Natural Science Award (Second Class, 2014), Highly Cited Researchers (2014-2022), 29th Khwarizmi International Award (First Class; 2016), Chair Professorship of Changjiang Scholars Program (2017), and TWAS Prize in Earth, Astronomy and Space Sciences (2018). He is a fellow of the Geological Society of America (2014), a Member (Academician) of the Chinese Academy of Science (2019), Fellow (Academician) of The World Academy of Science for the Advancement of Science in Developing Countries (2020), and HKU Distinguished Research Achievement Awards (2021). He was the Editor-in-Chief of Precambrian Research (2010-2021) In the 2023 Best Scientists Ranking (Research.com), he stands No.10 in the world and No.1 in China in earth sciences.

Zheng is professor of geochemistry, U. of Science and Technology of China, Hefei, and director, Key Laboratory of Crust-Mantle Materials and Environments, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He graduated in 1982 from Nanjing U., China, obtained Dr. rer. nat. in 1991 from U. of Göttingen, Germany, and did postdoctoral research during 1991-1993 in U. of Tübingen, Germany. He is specialized in isotope geochemistry and geochronology, with focus on chemical geodynamics and fluid regime of subduction zones. He won the National Natural Science Award of China in 2004, and was elected Fellow of the Mineralogical Society of America in 2005, Member of CAS in 2009, and Fellow of the Geochemical Society in 2017. He is Chief Editor of 'Science China: Earth Sciences', Associate Editor for 'Geochemical Journal', and editorial board member for 'Chemical Geology' and 'Lithos'.

Zhou is director of the Xi'an AMS Center, China. She has also been director of the Institute of Earth Environment and the State Key Laboratory, Chinese Academy of Sciences. She obtained her PhD in geology and was awarded The First National Prize for the One Hundred Most Outstanding PhD Theses by the Ministry of Education, China. She has pioneered the development of chronostratigraphic and geochemical tracer techniques using loess 10Be and 14C for Quaternary studies and revolutionized the understandings of north-south hemisphere interactions and geomagnetic excursion or reversal processes. She has been awarded two National Prizes (numbers 2 and 3) in Natural Science and five number 1 State Prizes in Advanced Science and Technology. Her international experience includes associate editor, Radiocarbon Journal(now editorial member), and panel member, PAGES/CLIVAR working group (2004-08).

Zhu received B.Eng. degree from Zhejiang University in 1982 and PhD degree from McMaster University, Canada, in 1991. He joined Department of Chemical Engineering at McMaster University as a faculty member in 1994 and served as department chair from 2009 to 2014. He has served as a vice-president of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen since 2017. Zhu works on polymer reaction engineering and materials, advanced polyolefin products, and smart polymers. He has trained 140 graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, published 378 papers, received 13900 SCI citations, given 300 invited seminars. He was elected to Canada Research Chair in 2001, as a fellow to Chemical Institute of Canada in 2009, to Canadian Academy of Engineering in 2010, to Engineering Institute of Canada in 2011, and to Royal Society of Canada in 2014. He was bestowed the highest honor Distinguished University Professor by McMaster University in 2015 and awarded the primary R.S. Jane Memorial Award by Canadian Society of Chemical Engineering in 2016. He is a member of the Editorial Advisory Board of several academic publications. He is an active consultant for polymer industries.

Zhu (PhD, 1999, Donghua University), member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, is currently the director of the State Key Laboratory for Modification of Chemical Fibers and Polymer Materials at Donghua University. She has served as the vice-president for Chinese Materials Research Society (C-MRS) since 2016 and the Chinese Association of Women Scientific Workers since 2019. She is recognized as a pioneer in the discovery and development of melt spinning process theory of polymer-based nanocomposite fibers in China. She published over 600 SCI papers, 10 books and chapters. Over 300 Chinese Invention Patents were filed and granted. Her honors and awards include Second Prize of National Award for Technological Inventions (2020), National Innovation Competition Award (2017), First Prize of Shanghai Natural Science Award (2018), First Prize of Shanghai Award for Technological Invention (2015), the Cheung Kong Scholars (2013), Shanghai Science and Technology Elite (2011), Second Prize of National Award for Progress in Science and Technology (2006).

Zhu is a distinguished professor of Institute of Geology and Geophysics (IGG), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing. He served terms as Director of IGG-CAS and State Key Laboratory of Lithospheric Evolution. He is an author of more than 300 journal articles. He has pursued several distinct lines of research in paleomagnetism and geodynamics, including geomagnetic field reversal, paleointensity, magnetostratigraphy, and environmental magnetism. For example, his pacesetting work in magnetostratigraphic dating of early human settlements has dated the earliest human occupation in mainland East Asia at ~1.7 Ma, providing new insights into early human evolution. His efforts in exploring destruction of the North China Craton enable a significant advance in the understanding of continental evolution and plate tectonics. He was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union, an academician of CAS, and a Fellow of TWAS. He was awarded the National Natural Science Award, the TWAS Prize in Earth Sciences, the Scientific and Technological Progress Prize of HLHL Foundation (Hong Kong), and the Young Scientist Award of China.

Zhu is a Boya Chair professor, former dean of College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and founding director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau, Peking University. He has made exceptional contributions to fundamental research in atmospheric chemistry and science-based air pollution control in developing countries, by identifying sources, revealing physical and chemical mechanisms, and assessing health impacts of atmospheric pollution. His findings have greatly supported China’s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, which drastically improved the air quality over the past decade in China. His research on the health effects of air pollution and climate change has greatly promoted the interdisciplinary research and education of environmental health. A member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union for his “exceptional contributions to advancing fundamental atmospheric chemistry and assessing impacts of megacity air pollution on human health and climate”.

Zhu, academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), professor of biogeochemistry and environmental soil science, is the science director of the Institute of Urban Environment, CAS. Zhu is a leader in taking multi-scale and multi-disciplinary approaches to soil and environmental problems. He obtained his PhD in environmental biology from Imperial College, London in 1998. He is currently the co-editor-in-chief of Environment International (Elsevier), founding editor of Soil Ecology Letters, and an editorial member for a few other international journals. He is a scientific committee member for the International Science Council (ISC) programme on Human Health and Wellbeing in Changing Urban Environment, and served for nine years as a member of the Standing Advisory Group for Nuclear Application, International Atomic Energy Agency (2004-2012). Zhu is the recipient of many merit awards, among them including the TWAS Prize in Agricultural Science 2013, and the National Natural Science Award 2009. Zhu has published over 400 papers in international journals. He is an ISI highly cited researcher.

Zhuang is a research professor at the Institute of Microbiology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) and professor at the University of CAS. She graduated (PhD 1988) from and served as a postdoctoral fellow (1990) in the Department of Plant Pathology at Cornell University, USA, and jointed the Department of Mycology, Institute of Microbiology, CAS, Beijing in 1981. She was elected as a member of CAS in 2009. Her research is focused on the morphological and molecular approaches to systematics and phylogeny of certain groups of Ascomycota, species diversity of fungi from different areas of China, DAN barcoding of selected groups, and natural resources of fungicolous ascomycetes.

Caicedo is emeritus professor of mathematics at the Universidad de los Andes and was associate catedra professor in the department of mathematics of the Universidad Nacional de Colombia, Bogotá, until 2010. A dedicated researcher and respected teacher, he has been responsible for the development of the field of mathematical logic in Colombia, and continues his excellent work on the model theory of extensions of first order logic and on algebraizable and modal logics. A fellow of the Academia Colombiana de Ciencias Exactas, Fisicas y Naturales, and of the Academia de Ciencias de America Latina y el Caribe, he has won the Colombian Academy's prize for the sustained work of a scientist, the Universidad Nacional Medal of Merit, and the Colombian Mathematical Society National Prize.

Poveda (PhD, 1998, Water Resources) is full Professor, Universidad Nacional de Colombia at Medellín, Colombia. Member of: Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), Academies of Sciences of Colombia and Spain. Scientific steering committees: Global Energy and Water Cycles Research Program of the Global Climate Research Program, Scientific Panel for the Amazon, Global Change and Human Health Program. He was part of the 2019 International Mission of Experts convened by the Colombian government to develop the road map for science, education and technology in Colombia for the XXI century. He has been elected as visiting fellow at: Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences, University of Colorado, Boulder, USA (2001-2002), Centre for Hydrology and Ecology, Wallingford, UK (2005), National Center for Atmospheric Research, Boulder, Colorado (2010 and 2019), and Max Planck Institute for Biogeochemistry, Jena, Germany (2019). He is the author and co-author of 9 books, and more than 200 peer-reviewed papers published on hydrology, meteorology, oceanography, hydroclimatology, climate change, human health and water resources engineering.

Stashenko is the director of the National Research Center for the Agroindustrialization of Tropical Medicinal and Aromatic Plants, CENIVAM. She has directed the research work of more than 300 new professionals in Chemistry, at undergraduate and graduate levels, which have been the basis for her publication of over 250 scientific articles. She has coauthored 11 patents. Research topics include the application of chromatographic and mass spectrometric techniques to the study of secondary metabolites from aromatic plants, to the determination of pesticide residues in various materials, and to petrochemistry and organic geochemistry. Stashenko founded the National School on Chromatography where she has taught over 150 specialized courses on separation sciences to practicing professionals from research labs and industry.

Altshuler Alvarez graduated summa cum laude from the Physics Faculty, University of Havana, Cuba in 1986, and got his PhD in 1994. Among his research interests are superconductivity, complex systems, granular matter and porous materials. Altshuler is Professor at the Physics Faculty, University of Havana. He has been Invited Researcher at the Texas Center for Superconductivity (USA), the Ecole supérieure de physique et de chimie industrielle (ESPCI) Paris (France), the Norwegian Academy of Sciences and Letters (Norway), and the Rockefeller University (USA) among others. Altshuler is Editor in Chief of the Cuban Journal of Physics, and an editorial board member of Granular Matter and Physical Review Applied. He has authored several books, such as Guerrilla Science: Survival Strategies of a Cuban Physicist (Springer, 2017). Among his hobbies are guitar playing (and composition), cartoon drawing, writing of short stories, elderly caregiving, snorkeling, plumbing, car fixing, tasteless cooking, and a dangerously long etcetera performed with different levels of love, audacity and mediocrity. He is also an avid science communicator–where a vitriolic sense of humor often plays a key role.

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.

Bello Pérez has a strong academic foundation in computer science, complemented by doctoral studies in mathematics. A member of the Cuban Academy of Sciences, Bello Pérez serves as a faculty member in the Department of Computer Sciences, where they lead the PhD Programme in computer sciences and informatics. He teaches courses in artificial intelligence (AI) at both undergraduate and postgraduate levels, and has authored over 300 scientific papers published in national and international journals, as well as several books. Their ongoing research focuses on advancing the field of AI, with current interests focused on explainable AI (XAI), responsible AI, and other emerging AI methodologies.