Padmanabhan, Distinguished Professor at IUCAA, Pune, has authored about 270 research papers and eleven books including eight graduate-level textbooks published by Cambridge University Press. His research, providing an alternative perspective of gravity, in which gravity arises as an emergent phenomenon has far reaching implications for quantum gravity and has won prizes six times from the Gravity Research Foundation, USA including the First Award in 2008. He is an elected Fellow of all the three Academies of Science in India. He was the President of the Cosmology Commission of the International Astronomical Union (2009-2012), Chairman of the Astrophysics Commission of International Union of Pure and Applied Physics (2011-2014) and a Sackler Distinguished Astronomer of the Institute of Astronomy, Cambridge. The national and international awards received by him include, the Presidential medal of honor, Padma Shri (2007), Inaugural Infosys Prize in Physical Sciences (2009), TWAS Prize in Physics (2011), Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1996), INSA Vainu-Bappu Medal (2007), Millennium Medal (2000), J.C.Bose Fellowship (2008-), Miegunah Award of Melbourne University (2004).

Prof. Mehmet Öztürk completed his undergraduate studies at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Gazi University (Turkey) and his PhD at the Faculty of Pharmacy, Paris XI University (France). He become Assistant Professor at Harvard Medical School (USA), Research Director at INSERM (France) and Professor at Bilkent University (Turkey). His seminal research work is on genetic causes of human cancer, including inherited and carcinogen-induced genetic mutations causing childhood cancers and liver cancer, respectively. His high impact research, including over 100 articles, referenced more than 9100 times (H-factor: 44), and nearly 10 patents, have made him a world known scientist. Prof. Öztürk was presented with the ‘Cecile Cerveux Cancer Award’ in France. He also received ‘Golden Mortar Award’ and ‘TÜBİTAK-TWAS Science Award’ in Turkey. The Department of Molecular Biology and Genetics that he created at Bilkent University received ‘Vehbi Koç Award’. Prof. Öztürk is an elected member to several science academies including EMBO, TWAS and Turkish Academy of Sciences.

Owolabi is the director of the Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the American Neurological Association, the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Neurology, the Nigerian Academy of Science, the African Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a global leader in brain and global health, with over 460 scientific publications, more than 204,000 citations, and a Google Scholar h-index of 109. Widely recognized for his contributions to neuroscience and clinical research, he introduced the conceptual innovations of “stroke quadrangle” and “brain quadrangle”, which have helped shape novel approaches for stroke care and brain health. Ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally (2024), he was the recipient of the 2021 World Stroke Organization Global Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Stroke Research. He is a leading voice in the promotion of brain health. He chairs the Lancet Commission on neurorehabilitation, developing pragmatic solutions to improve the quality of life of over 3.4 billion people with neurological conditions globally.

Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS, is professor of neurology and associate dean at the University of California, San Francisco. His primary research involves translation of evidence-based interventions into clinical practice and community settings, to improve stroke outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations around the world. He currently leads several studies of stroke in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Ovbiagele has published over 600 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 89) in the areas of stroke prevention, risk factors and outcomes. His work has been recognized with the Pessin and Wartenberg Awards of the American Academy of Neurology; Penn Award of the American Neurological Association; Mridha Humanitarian Award of the American Brain Foundation; Feinberg and Stroke Council Awards of the American Stroke Association; Haddock International and Distinguished Scientist Awards of the American Heart Association, and Meritorious Achievement Award of the National Medical Association. He chaired the International Stroke Conference (2016-2018) and is current editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Heart Association. He serves on the board of the World Stroke Organization.

Ouknine is a full professor of mathematics at Cadi Ayyad University, Marrakesh, Morocco. His work focuses on probability theory and stochastic calculus. He has published more than 167 scientific articles in reputed international peer-reviewed journals such as Annals of Probability, Annals of Applied Probability, Stochastic Processes and their Applications, Electronic Journal of Probability, Electronic Communications in Probability, and Journal of Theoretical Probability. He has been a referee and co-editor of several scientific journals ranking high at the international level. He is also one of the initiators of international meetings in stochastic analysis and probability theory as well as several training schools in stochastic process theory in Morocco. He has been a resident member of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, in Morocco, since 2006.

Ouhabaz studied at the University of Marrakesh in Morocco and got his PhD in France in 1992. Early in his career, he was Researcher at the Technische Universität Berlin, and a member of the Max-Planck group at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Back to France, he was Associate Professor at the University of Marne-la-Vallée, next to Paris. He is currently Professor at the Institut de mathématiques de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions (INSMI), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). He was a scientific delegate at the Haut Conseil de l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (HCERES) and corresponding member of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Morocco. He was the Head of the CNRS research group Functional Analysis, Harmonic Analysis and Applications, and Deputy Director of the Institut de Mathématiques de Bordeaux. He is the author of a book published by Princeton University Press and has written more than 68 research articles.

Ou-Yang has worked at the Institute of Theoretical Physics (ITP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) in Beijing since 1989 and has served as director from 1998-2007. He is also adjunct professor at the Center for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University, Beijing. He made distinguished contributions to soft matter physics and biophysics., e.g. the Ouyang-Helfrich shape equation for vesicles of spontaneous curvature, the theory of vesicle-to-tube shape transition of bipeptide aggregates, and the new theory of icosahedron shape of virus capsid and nano-aggregates, the elastic model of double-strand DNA which has been acknowledged as one of the most important early theoretical works on DNA. His honours include: Asia Achievement Prize(1993), Overseas Chinese Physical Society; First Award in Natural Science(1995), CAS, Beijing; Second Award, Chinese National Prize for Natural Sciences(1999); Ho Leung Ho Lee Foundation (HLHL) Prize for Progress in Science and Technology (2004); The National Outstanding Scientific and Technological Workers, by China Association for Science and Technology (2010). He has became an academician of CAS since1997.

Prof. Osumi graduated Tokyo Medical and Dental University, was given PhD thesis from the same university, and now is a professor of Tohoku University School of Medicine since 1998. She was one of the 25 Distinguished Professors in Tohoku University from 2008 to 2011, and has become Vice President of Tohoku University as well as Director of Tohoku University Libraries from 2018. Her research background is developmental biology, and she has interest in brain development, evolution, and disease. More recently, she has much interest in gendered research focusing on sex differences in the brain. She was a representative of CREST project (2005-2010) supported by JST, and Global COE project (2007-2012) as well as Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research on Innovative Areas (16H06524) “Integrative Research toward Elucidation of Generation of Brain Systems for Individuality”. Currently, As the Director of Gender Equality Center at Tohoku University, Dr. Osumi is promoting the policy of diversity in academia, providing various information through the website and social media, and organizing various events networking female researchers.

Osier's expertise is in malaria, where she believes we can "Make Malaria History" through vaccination. She previously led two core teams of over 25 scientists in Kenya and Germany, that focused on creating highly effective malaria vaccines through vaccine candidate discovery, identifying immune correlates of protection and unravelling important mechanisms underlying antibody-dependent protection. They designed an innovative protein microarray KILchip©, a first of its kind in Africa. Through the SMART partnership, they assembled 10,000 samples from across Africa to probe their chip, the largest study of this nature. They created a paradigm shift in the understanding of the mechanisms that underpin protective immunity to malaria. Osier is past president of the International Union of Immunological Societies (> 60,000 members globally)—the first African and only second woman in this role. She has won prestigious prizes including: Royal Society Pfizer; Sofja Kovalevskaja; and UK Medical Research Council - UK Department for International Development African Research Leader. She was honored with the prestigious British Society of Immunology Honorary Lifetime Membership Award (2022).

Omirov graduated in mathematics and applied mathematics from Novosibirsk State University (1993). From 1993 to 1996 he taught in Namangan State University as a Lecturer. Then he studied at the graduate school of the Institute of Mathematics of the Academy of Sciences of the Republic of Uzbekistan (1996–1999). PhD and Doctor of Sciences theses were successfully defended at the Institute of Mathematics (Tashkent) in 2000 and 2006, respectively. From 2005 till 2016 Omirov worked at the Institute of Mathematics as Leading Scientific Fellow. Since 2016 he has been the Head of Department of Algebra and Functional Analysis at the National University of Uzbekistan. Omirov won the Postdoctoral Fellowship of the International Association for the promotion of cooperation with scientists from the independent states of the former Soviet Union (INTAS), Belgium (2005–2006). He was awarded the Diploma of Professor of Algebra (2013) by the Supreme Attestation Committee of the Republic of Uzbekistan. He was a Visiting Scholar at University of California, San Diego, USA, for 10 month in 2019–2020, thanks to a Fulbright Scholar grant.

S. Omar (PhD, 1990, California, Berkeley) is Principal Research Scientist at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Director General (2016-2021). She is Research Fellow for Agriculture in TWAS and former Treasurer. She was Executive Board Member and Vice President of the Arab States of OWSD, Regional Councilor for West Asia Region, IUCN, and former Member of Board of Director Asia Region of the Society for Ecological Restoration International (SER), USA. She has fifty years of Research and Development, managerial, strategic planning, technical experience and project leadership for 27 contractual research projects. She is advisor and consultant to many local, regional and international organizations. She has been awarded by TWAS and many international organizations. She holds a PhD in Wild Land Resource Science, MS in Range Management and BSc in Botany and Chemistry.

Goulart graduated as a pharmacist at Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brazil, where she then got her PhD in Science (1983). She did postdoctoral studies in London, Münster, and Paris. She was a Visiting Professor at Ecole Normale Supérieure, Département de Chimie, Paris (2004–2005, 2007, 2008). She is now a Full Professor at the Federal University of Alagoas, Institute of Chemistry and Biotechnology (UFAL); a researcher 1B at Brazilian Research Council (CNPq); and full member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (ABC), since 2015. She has published 210 articles, nine patents, 12 book chapters. She received several awards: Young Scientist Award by CNPq (1985); Foreign Young Chemist Award (1997) at International Symposium-Electroorganic Synthesis ’97, Japan; National Award Marie Curie - Distinguished Women on Chemistry by the Brazilian Society of Chemistry (SBQ) (2011); Jabuti Award (2012); Award Roberto Alves de Lima, by UFAL (2018); Prêmio Inovadores by Inova, Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP) (2020); and Brazilian Women in Science, Scientific Leadership by SBQ/American Chemical Society (2021). She supervised 31 MSc, 40 PhD students and 10 postdoctoral fellows.

Oliva is a prof. at the Inst. of Physics of São Carlos, U. of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in Protein Crystallography and Structural Bio. at the U. of London in 1988. He was the key leader in the establishment of Protein Crystallography res. in Brazil, including the development of the first protein crystallography beamline at the Braz. Natl. Synchrotron Lab., and has served as pres. of the Braz. Natl. Council for Scientific and Techn. Development - CNPq (2011-2015). He is member of the Braz. Acad. of Sci., the Natl. Order of Scientific Merit of Brazil, Intl. Scholar of the Howard Hughes Medical Inst. (1997-2001), Fellow of Birkbeck College (2014-) and was profiled by the American magazine Time and CNN (1999) as one of the 50 Latin-American Leaders for the New Millennium. His main res. interests are in structural bio., drug discovery and development against tropical infectious diseases.

Okoh holds a PhD in microbiology from Obafemi Awolowo University in Nigeria, with over 30 years of experience in the university system. He was the head of the Department of Biochemistry and Microbiology, University of Fort Hare, South Africa for seven years, leader of the Water Research Niche Area, deputy dean, and acting dean, as well as director of a research centre of excellence of the South African Medical Research Council, University of Fort Hare, South Africa. His research interests regard applied and environmental microbiology. He has published over 500 journal articles and graduated 59 PhD and 70 Master’s students. He is a recipient of the Gold Scientific Achievement Award of the South African Medical Research Council, amongst others. He also served as the president of the South Africa Society for Microbiology (2011–2013) and is a member of the board of trustees of the Biotechnology Society of Nigeria and a Fellow of seven national and international societies and academies. In the recent World Scientist and University ranking 2025, in the discipline microbiology, Okoh was ranked #1 in the University of Fort Hare, #2 in South Africa and Africa, and #125 globally.

Okereke is a professor of global climate governance and public policy at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK. He is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and a senior academic visitor at the University of Oxford. He was previously the director of the Center for Climate Change in Alex Ekuweme Federal University, Nigeria, co-director of the Center for Climate and Justice, and co-director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme, both at the University of Reading. He also served as the director of the Center for Climate Change and Development at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, at the University of Oxford. A globally recognized leading scholar on global climate governance and international development, Okereke was the coordinating lead author of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group 3.

Olago is Professor of Geology, Chairman of the Department of Earth and Climate Sciences, and Research Director, Institute for Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Nairobi. He has BSc and MSc degrees in Geology from the University of Nairobi and a DPhil degree in Physical Geography from the University of Oxford (Kenya Rhodes Scholar for 1990). His research interests are broadly in Quaternary and environmental geoscience, water resources and climate change. Olago has been involved in multi-disciplinary research, training and capacity building activities on global environmental change in sub-Saharan Africa for over 25 years. He has also contributed, as lead author, to the fourth and sixth Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Reports. He is a fellow of the Kenya National Academy of Sciences, the Geological Society of Kenya, and the African Academy of Sciences.

Obayya is an internationally recognized scientist who holds fellowships from several leading scientific societies, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Optical Society of America, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, American Physical Society, African Academy of Sciences, Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society, Higher Education Academy, Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the Institute of Physics. He joined Zewail City of Science and Technology (ZC) in 2012, where he served as vice-chairman and currently holds the position of director-general of research institutes. Prior to joining ZC, Obayya spent 15 years at leading universities in the United Kingdom, including serving as chair professor of photonics at the University of South Wales. His outstanding contributions have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Continental Award for Scientific Excellence; Africa’s highest scientific honor (2021), the OPTICA Diversity and Inclusion Advocacy Recognition Award (2023), and the distinguished title of UNESCO Chair-Holder for Sustainable Development in Africa (2019).

Nussenzveig Lopes (PhD, 1991, UC Berkeley, USA) is full professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; prior to this she was a professor at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Her research area is fluid dynamics and partial differential equations. She served as editor-in-chief for the Brazilian Math Society publishing company and on several mathematics journals editorial boards; she is managing editor for Orbita Mathematicae, the new journal of the Unión Matemática de América Latina y el Caribe. She was second vice-president of the Sociedade Brasileira de Matemática Aplicada e Computacional. She served on the scientific council of the Centre International des Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées - CIMPA and is currently President of CIMPA. She is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. She was inducted to the Order of Scientific Merit, Comendador class, and she was an invited speaker at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians. She received the TWAS Award in Mathematics in 2022.

Ntusi, president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, is a distinguished leader in medical research. Prior to this role, he served as chair and head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Groote Schuur Hospital. His groundbreaking research has significantly advanced the understanding of heart failure and cardiomyopathy, the cardiovascular phenotype and pathophysiology of autoimmune inflammatory heart disease, as well as HIV-associated cardiovascular disease across diverse global clinical settings. More recently, he led pioneering studies on the biology and immunology of COVID-19, with impact extending beyond South Africa’s borders. A member of the South African Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the UCT College of Fellows, Ntusi's accolades include the prestigious South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal, the Walter Siegenthaler Medal and Memorial Lecture from the University of Zurich, and the University of Oxford's Oppenheimer Fund Academic Exchange Award.

Ngo Viet Trung is professor of the Institute of Mathematics, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. He earned a PhD degree from Martin-Luther University Halle-Wittenberg, Germany in 1978. He was a research fellow of the International Matsumae Foundation of Japan and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation of Germany. In 2007-2013 he was director of the Institute of Mathematics, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology. In 2013-2018 he served first as a member and then as chair of TWAS Membership Advisory Committee in Mathematical Sciences. In 2016-2018 he was a member of TWAS Election Committee. He has published several papers in leading mathematical journals such as Inventiones Mathematicae, Advances in Mathematics, Mathematische Annalen and is well-known for his contributions to the interactions between algebra, combinatorics and geometry. In 2017 he was awarded Ho Chi Minh Prize, the highest prize of Vietnam for his achievements and contributions to the development of science. He is the current president of Vietnam Mathematical Society and chair of the Scientific Committee of the National Foundation for Science and Technology.

Ngila (PhD,1996, University of New South Wales) holds MSc in Chemistry (1992), Bachelor of Education in Science (1986), Kenyatta University (KU). Her research is in water quality monitoring and nanotechnology for water treatment. She taught at KU (1989-1997); University of Botswana (1998-2006); University of KwaZulu Natal (2006-2011); and University of Johannesburg (2011-2017) as a Full Professor of Analytical/Environmental Chemistry. She was Head of Applied Chemistry Department (2013- 2016) and Ag. Director of the Water Node of the Nanotechnology Innovation Centre (2015) at the University of Johannesburg; Deputy Director at Morendat Institute of Oil and Gas, (April 2017- Feb 2020) and Deputy Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Riara University, Kenya (Feb 2020-current). She has over 200 journal articles. She trained over 30 Doctoral Students, 33 Masters and 22 Honours Students and 18 Postdoctoral Research Fellows. Awards include 2017 African Union Kwame Nkrumah and 2016 South Africa Distinguished Women in Science. Member of Academy of Science of South Africa; African Academy of Science. Currently Co-Chair of the 2021 Commonwealth Science Conference hosted by Royal Soc. and AAS.

Nathan earned a PhD in DNA Repair (1989–1993), and a Master of Science with distinction in molecular biology and genetic manipulation (1988–1989) both from University of Sussex, UK, and a Bachelor of Science with first class honours in biochemistry (1984–1988) from Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Malaysia. Her research focuses on dissecting the pathogenesis of the bacterium Burkholderia pseudomallei and the host defence against its infection. She has major research collaborations with Stanford University (US), University of Sheffield (UK) and King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (Saudi Arabia), which have contributed to advance understanding of the bacterium’s virulence and pathogenic mechanisms, as well as the failure of the host immune response. Her findings have resulted in the publication of over 150 research papers, review articles, and book chapters, earning her invitations to speak at national and international conferences and review grant applications for funders from Malaysia, UK, Switzerland, Austria, and Italy. She successfully trained over 50 graduate students, and is a regular peer reviewer for international journals in the field.

Nath was founder Head and Senior Prof. of Dept. of Biotechnology and has served in various capacities on the faculty of the All India Inst. of Med. Sciences (AIIMS), New Delhi. After retirement she was SN Bose Research Prof., Ind. Natl. Science Acad.; Dean, of the School of Med. of the Asian Inst. of Med. Sci. and Techn., Sungai Petani, Malaysia; Dir., Blue Peter Research Centre (LEPRA), Hyderabad, Raja Ramanna Fellow of DST; She obtained her MBBS, MD(Pathology) from AIIMS, MRCPath, FRCPath (London). Her notable honours include: DSc (h.c), Pierre and Marie Curie U., Paris 6; SS Bhatnager Awd.; L'Oreal-UNESCO Awd. for Women in Science. Her civilian honours include: Padmashri (India) and Chevalier of Natl. Order of Merite (France). She is fellow of 4 national science academies and the Natl. Med. Acad. of India. Research areas are Immunology, leprosy. Current international activities include responsible research, biosafety and biosecurity and one health issues.

Nasim was president of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences. He obtained his PhD (biochemical genetics, 1966) at the University of Edinburgh. He was science advisor to the COMSTECH Secretariat; chairman, National Commission on Biotechnology (NCB), Pakistan; and founding president of Federation of Asian Biotech Associations (FABA). His previous positions include senior research officer at the National Research Council of Canada and principal scientist of the Molecular Genetics Group at King Faisal Specialist Hospital and Research Centre in Riyadh, Saudia Arabia. His awards include: Pride of Performance in Molecular Genetics, President of Pakistan, and Sitara-e-Imtiaz in Molecular Genetics, Pakistan. He is also fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and Islamic Academy of Science.Nasim

Narayan is the Thomas Dudley Cabot Professor of the Natural Sciences at Harvard Univ., U.S.A. He obtained his PhD in 1979 at Bangalore Univ., India. He has made numerous contributions in many areas of astrophysics, notably in the field of black holes. His work spans theory, observations, and numerical simulations. His membership includes: Royal Society (London); National Academy of Sciences (USA); American Association for the Advancement of Science; and Honorary Fellowship of the Indian Academy of Sciences.

Naqib is currently serving as a Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Rajshahi, where he is leading the theoretical condensed matter research group. In terms of scientific productivity, this group ranks among the top in Bangladesh, and has been consistently producing high-quality publications in the fields of computational condensed matter physics, and superconductivity in hole doped cuprates. Naqib obtained his PhD from Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, in 2003. He had postdoctoral experience both at the Quantum Matter Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, and at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, New Zealand. His research interests include superconductivity in high-Tc cuprates, magnetic and transport properties of strongly correlated electronic systems, DFT calculations on MAX phase nanolaminates, superhard materials, novel low-Tc superconducting systems and topological insulators, semimetals and superconductors. Naqib has published 130 papers in Scopus indexed journals of international repute so far. His papers have been cited over 2200 times.