Lu is a Chair Professor of Xiamen Uni., former Co-Director, Res. Center for Eco-Environmental Scs., Chinese Acad. of Scs.. He is a foreign member of Academia Europaea, and Russian Academy of Sciences; Fellow of Int. Sci Coucil; 10-Member Group of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism for SDGs; Pres., Pacific Science Association; Past Pres., Scientific Committee on Problems of the Env. (SCOPE); Sc. Advisor, IUCN; UNEP Intl. Resource Panel member; and was a member of ICSU Committee on Scientific Planning and Review. He has authored +360 papers in envl. ecology and envl. management related peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Science Advances, PNAS and authored 17 books. He is a highly cited international scientist. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, Assoc. Ed. of Sc. Advances, founder and Assoc. Ed. of Envl. Dev., and an editorial board member of several peer-reviewed journals. He has served on several expert consultation groups on Sc. and Tech., and envl. decision-making at various levels. Lu has obtained numerous awards and honours including the 2nd Natl. Prize for Advancement of Sc. and Tech., and SCOPE Dist. Achievement Award.

Magdy Madkour (PhD University of Wales 1977, UK) is Prof of biotechnology, Arid Lands Agricultural Research Inst., Ain Shams University, Egypt, and Editor in Chief, Journal of Agriculture and Food Security, BioMed Central. He was the Chairman, Executive Committee, Agriculture Research for Development Fund (ARDF), Min. of Agric and Land Reclamation, Egypt; Senior Advisor, Bibliotheca Alexandrina, Deputy Director General,ICARDA. Madkour was Prof of Plant pathology, Alexandria University. He served on the Technical Advisory Committee of CGIAR, the Board of Trustees of ICARDA and IPGRI (Bioversity). In 1990 he established the Agricultural Genetic Engineering Research Institute (AGERI-Egypt). In 2007 he received Egypt’s Presidential Gold Medal for Science & Technology, three AOAD awards for scientific excellence; FAO World Food Day recognition; TWAS Arab Regional Prize. He holds three patents, authored 140 peer reviewed publications and contributed with chapters in 9 international books.

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.

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).

Parkin (PhD, 1981, Cambridge, UK) is Director, Max Planck Institute for Microstructure Physics and an Alexander von Humboldt Professor, Martin Luther University, Halle, Germany. He is elected Fellow, Royal Soc.; Roy. Soc. Eng.; Am. Phys. Soc.; Materials Res. Soc. (MRS); Inst. of Physics (London); Inst. of Electrical and Electronics Engineers; Am. Assoc. for the Adv. of Science; Am. Acad. of Arts and Sciences; Gutenberg Res. College; Leopoldina. He is elected Member, Natl. Acad. of Scs. (NAS), and Natl. Acad. Eng. (NAE) USA; Hon. Fellow Indian Acad. Sciences. His honours include: Gutenberg Res. Awd.; Humboldt Res. Awd.; Am. Inst. of Physics Prize for Industrial Applications of Physics; European Physical Soc.’s Europhysics Prize; Am. Physical Soc.’s Intl. New Materials Prize; MRS Outst. Young Invest. Awd.; MRS von Hippel Award; Charles Vernon Boys Prize and Swan Medal, Inst. of Phys. London; Millenium Technology Prize (2014). He has authored >600 papers and has more than 120 issued patents.

Sampathkumaran was a Distinguised Professor in Natural Sciences Faculty at TIFR, Mumbai, and was also a Honorary Professor, JNCASR, Bangalore and Emeritus Professor at UGCDAE-CSR. After obtaining his Ph.D in 1982 at TIFR, he carried out his post-doctoral research at Free University of Berlin at the invitation of Humboldt Foundation. At early stages of his career after Ph.D, he received INSA medal for Young Scientists and was also an Associate of Indian Academy of Sciences. His prizes include Materials Research Society of India Award, Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, and JC Bose Fellowship. He is an elected Fellow of all science academies in India (Indian Academy of Sciences, The National Academy of Sciences, and Indian National Science Academy) as well as an elected Member of Asia-Pacific Academy of Materials. His membership in the Editorial Board of journals include Solid State Communications, JMMM and Pramana. He was a JC Bose Fellow and is a DAE Raja Ramanna Fellow.

Professor Tawfik is founding director of the Egyptian Center for Theoretical Physics (ECTP), founding director of the World Laboratory for Cosmology And Particle Physics (WLCAPP), and research director at "ICSC-World Laboratory" in Erice, Italy. Professor Tawfik is serving in several committees and panels for education, scientific research, and development. In 1999, He has earned Dr.rer.Nat at Philipps Universität Marburg, and in 2012 Doctor of Science (D.Sc.) in “physics and mathematics” at Uzbekistan National University. Tawfik has accomplished successive academic posts at Marburg, Stuttgart, Trier, Bielefeld (Germany), Hiroshima (Japan), MTI, Nile, and Future universities (Egypt). He was elected as a Fellow of the E African Academy of Science (AAS) and the Egyptian Academy of Scientific Research and Technology (ASRT).

Teixeira (MD) is full professor at the Department of Biochemistry and Immunology at the Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG). He obtained his PhD in 1994 at the National Heart and Lung Institute, University of London. He was president of the Brazilian Society of Pharmacology (SBFTE, 2011-2014), Brazilian Society of Inflammation (SBIN, 2018-2020), Member of the Brazilian Academy of Science (currently vice-President responsible for Regions Minas Gerais and Center-west) and Commander of the National Order of Scientific Merit. He is currently Vice President of the International Association of Inflammation Societies (IAIS, 2023-). Teixeira demonstrated the crucial role of the microbiota and microbial-derived products in controlling inflammatory and behavioural responses, and the relevance of inflammation in mediating tissue damage and lethality during infectious diseases, especially arboviral infections. This knowledge has led to mechanistic molecular studies which have led to new targets for anti-inflammatory drug development. Special focus is given to molecules which bind and block the function of 7-TM chemotactic receptors and induce the resolution of inflammation.

Amatore is Emeritus Director of Research at the Centre national de la recherche scientifique, and a Professor at the École Normale Supérieure and the Sorbonne University Pierre and Marie Curie, France. He obtained his Doctorat d’Etat ès Sciences from the Paris Diderot University. He is a Member of the French Académie des Sciences, where he served as an Academic Delegate for Education and Training; Member of the Academia Europaea, based in London; Foreign Member of The Chinese Academy of Sciences and of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences; Honorary Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, also based in London, and of the Chinese Chemical Society; Fellow and President of the International Society of Electrochemistry, based in Lausanne, Switzerland; Fellow of the Electrochemical Society, based in Philadelphia, US; and Honorary Member of the Israeli Chemical Society. He is Honorary Professor and Doctor honoris causa of eight major universities worldwide. He served as one of the 20 members of the High Council of Science and Technology, an advisory body to the French President. He received many awards and prestigious medals and is Knight of the French Legion of Honour.

Dr Abraham Aseffa is a Senior Scientist (formerly Director) at the Armauer Hansen Research Institute in Ethiopia. He graduated in Medicine from Addis Ababa University (1984) and studied Microbiology at the University of Leipzig, Germany (Dr. med, 1990, summa cum laude). He taught Microbiology at Gondar College of Medical Sciences (Ethiopia) until 1998 when he joined the WHO Immunology and RT at the University of Lausanne, Switzerland for postdoctoral research. He moved to AHRI in Addis as senior scientist in 2001. Dr Aseffa has conducted several studies on infectious disease microbiology, immunology and epidemiology in collaboration with national and international partners (>300 publications). He has keen interest in postgraduate student training. He works closely with the Min of Health in Ethiopia on capacity building for clinical and operational research and on translation of research findings into practice. Dr Aseffa has also been active on strengthening regional partnership particularly in clinical trial capacity building and health research ethics. He has served in several WHO/TDR, WHO and EDCTP advisory bodies. He is a member of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences (EAS).

Azevedo is full professor at the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, University of São Paulo (USP) in Piracicaba. He obtained his PhD in 1992 at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. He is Fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since 2010. Azevedo supervised 18 Master and 30 PhD students and 24 post-doctoral fellows. Azevedo has held positions as Coordinator of two Post-Graduate Programs, other administrative positions at USP, and Member of the Botany Advisory Committee at Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), among others. Azevedo is strongly involved with scientific editing and was a member of the Editorial Board of several journals. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Applied Biology (Wiley). He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Scientia Agricola. He was Vice-President of the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors. He has published over 210 papers.

Barreto completed his Medical Studies and a Master in Public Health at Federal University of Bahia, Brazil. He was awarded a PhD from the University of London. He's a Professor at UFBa and a Senior Investigator at Oswaldo Cruz Foundation. He leads a multidisciplinary research group studying poverty-related infectious diseases, allergy and asthma, the environmental and social determinants of health, health inequalities, and the impact of population-based health and social interventions on health. Recently he set up the Center for Data and Knowledge Integration for Health-CIDACS where is housed the “100 million Brazilians cohort” aimed to evaluate the impact of social programs on health. He was a lead organizer of the Lancet Series on Brazil, published in 2011. He has published over 400 peer-reviewed papers and has supervised 25 successful PhD thesis. He is an elected fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the World Academy of Sciences and an Honorary Professor at the LSHTM

Berkovits obtained his Bachelor and Masters degrees in Physics at Harvard Univ. in 1983, and his PhD in Physics at the Univ. of California at Berkeley in 1988. He moved to São Paulo in 1994, and is a citizen of Brazil since 2002. Berkovits is currently a full professor at the Instituto de Física Teórica of São Paulo State University (UNESP) and Director of the ICTP South American Institute for Fundamental Research (ICTP‐SAIFR). He was awarded the 2009 TWAS Physics prize for his significant contributions to superstring theory and its covariant quantization and the 2021 APS John Wheatley Award for exceptional leadership in fundamental physics research in South America. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, the São Paulo State Academy of Sciences, and the International String Theory Advisory Committee.

Chattaraj is a Professor at BIT Mesra. He was an Institute Chair Professor at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Kharagpur, India. He received his PhD from IIT Bombay where he is now a Distinguished Visiting Professor. A former research associate of UNC Chapel Hill and FAU, Erlangen-Nürnberg. Received University Gold and Bardhaman Sammilani medals; INSA (Young Scientist) medal; CRSI Bronze and Silver medals; IAAM medal ; Associate, Indian Academy of Sciences; BM Birla Science Prize; BC Deb Memorial award ; Acharya P.C.Ray Memorial Awards (ICS and NASI); Prof. S. Basu Memorial Lecture Award, INSA; Prof. R.P.Mitra Memorial Lecture, DU; Prof. S.K.Siddhanta Memorial Lecture,BU. He is a member of the Indian Natl. Science Academy; Indian Academy of Sciences; National Academy of Sciences, India; West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology; Royal Society of Chemistry, UK and FWO, Belgium. He is Sir J.C. Bose National Fellow. He is a member of the Science Education Panel of the Indian Science Academies. He was Convener, CTS , Convener, Kharagpur Local Chapter, INSA, council member of CRSI, Dean (Faculty) and Head of the Chem. Dept., IIT Kharagp

Chen is professor at Sun Yat-Sen University (SYSU). He obtained his BSc and MSc degrees from SYSU in 1983 and 1986, respectively, and PhD from The Chinese University of Hong Kong, in 1989. He was elected to Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2009. He served as dean of the School of Chemistry and Chemical Engineering at SYSU and vice-president of the Chinese Crystallographic Society. His prizes include Thomson Reuters Highly Cited Research (2014), TWAS Prize in Chemistry (2012), Thomson Reuters Research Fronts Award (2008), National Natural Science Prize of China (2007), and Distinguished Young Scientist Award by Qiu Shi Science and Technologies Foundation (1999).

Anwar Gilani (PhD, 1985, Uni. of Sydney), a distinguished Pharmacologist, worked at Aga Khan University, Karachi for 30 yrs, Dean, Health Sci at Mekelle Uni, Ethiopia, CEO of Pakistan Council for Sci & Technology and Vice Chancellor, Uni of Haripur, Pak. A natural product pharmacologist, Gilani has discovered himbacine as a prototype of cardio-selective antimuscarinic drug and showed presence of synergistic and side-effects neutralizing combinations in natural products. He carries the title of Distinguished National Professor, Fellow & Council member of Pakistan Acad. of Sciences. His h-index is 86 and his awards include: TWAS Abdus Salam Prize; Ibn-al-Haytham Prize; Aga Hassan Abedi Medal; Boehringer Intl. Research Award; Life-time Academic Achievement Award and three civil awards by the President of Pakistan (Pride of Performance, Sitara-i-Imtiaz & Hilal-i-Imtiaz). He served as advisor to WHO and IFS, and member of editorial boards of several journals of intl. repute including Phytotherapy Research and J Ethnopharmacology.

Gojobori (PhD, Kyushu U., Japan) is a Distinguished Professor, King Abdullah U. of Science and Technology (KAUST), Saudi Arabia, and Project Professor, Natl. Inst. of Genetics (NIG), Japan. He received Salvatore Gold Medal from Italy, Medal with Purple Ribbon from Japan. He is foreign honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science; Academician of the Pontifical Academy of Science; member of Academia Europaea. He is Vice-President of CODATA. He is: section editor, BMC Genomics; founding editor, Genome Biology and Evolution; editor, GENE and FEBS Letters; and associate editor, Molecular Biology and Evolution and PLoS Genetics. He has more than 400 publications in peer-reviewed international journals. He contributed to the DDBJ/GenBank/EMBL database and the H-Invitational human gene database.

Dr. Jikun Huang is Professor at School of Advanced Agricultural Sciences and Honorary Director of China Center for Agricultural Policy (CCAP) and Director of New Rural Development Institute in Peking University, Fellow TWAS, Honorary Life Member of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), and Fellow of Agricultural and Applied Economics Association (AAEA). He is vice-president of Chinese Association of Agro-technology Economics. He received his BS degree from Nanjing Agricultural University in 1984 and PhD in agricultural economics from University of the Philippines at Los Banos in 1990. His research covers a wide range of issues on China's agricultural economics, policies and rural development. He received Award for China’s Outstanding Youth Scientists in 2002, Outstanding Achievement Award for Overseas Returning Chinese in 2003, Fudan Prize for Eminent Contributor to Management Science in 2008, and IRRI’s Outstanding Alumni Award in 2010. He has published more than 600 journal papers, including the papers published in Science, Nature and many leading journals in development economics. He is co-author of 20 books.

Jagadish is a distinguished professor and the head of the Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group at the Australian National University. In 2021, he has been appointed president of the Australian Academy of Science, the latest of a long list of prestigious leadership activities. He has covered important editorial position in over 10 scientific journals. He published more than 650 journal papers, holds five US patents, and contributed, as co-author or co-editor, to over 15 books. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; a distinguished Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; a visiting professor at Oxford University, UK; a distinguished chair professor for research at the National Taiwan University, among many other positions. Among his awards are: the Lloyd Rees Memorial Lecture by the Australian Academy of Science (2020); the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal by the Australian Academy of Science (2019); and UNESCO Medal for contributions to the development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2018). In 2025, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK).

Kellner (PhD 1996, Columbia U., New York, American Museum of Natural History) is prof. and researcher at the Museu Nacional/Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro since 1997, investigating paleobiodiversity and development of ancient ecosystems. Described +60 species, published +200 original studies (publications total +800). Advised +50 master, PhD students and postdocs. Organized field activities to remote areas of Brazil, Iran, China, Chile and Antarctica. Headed several scientific meetings and is involved in communicating science, through publications, documentaries and exhibitions such as During the Time of the Dinosaurs (1999-landmark in Brazil), exhibitions in Japan and New York. Among awards and honors: TWAS Prize 2010 and Ordem Nacional do Mérito Centífico (Brazil, 2010). Elected to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) and TWAS and honorary member of other organizations.

Khan (PhD 1980, Indian Agric. Res. Inst.) is principal scientist and leader of the widely-reputed push-pull programme at the Intl. Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (icipe) in Kenya. He is Thomas Odhiambo Dist. Res. Fellow of icipe. He is a fellow of the African Acad. of Sciences, the Entomological Soc. of America and the Honorary Fellow of the Royal Entomological Soc., UK. He is an adjunct prof. of entomology at Cornell U., USA, and extraordinary prof. at the North-West U. in South Africa. Khan is a council member of the Intl. Congress of Entomology. In 2010 he received the Nan-Yao Su Award for Innovation and Creativity in Entomology and the ESA Distinguished Scientist Award, and in 2011, the TWAS Prize in Agricultural Sciences and in 2015 Louis Malassis International Prize for Outstanding Career in Agriculture for his contribution in the field of agriculture and food

Kumar has a B.Tech. degree from the Indian Institute of Technology at Kanpur, and a PhD from Cornell University, both in Electrical Engineering. He was with Bell Laboratories, Holmdel, N.J., USA, for over 6 years. Since 1988 he has been with the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, where he is a Professor, and also the Chair of the Electrical Sciences Division. From 1988 to 2003 he was the Coordinator at IISc of the Education and Research Network Project (ERNET), India's first wide-area packet switching network. He has been elected Fellow of the IEEE (the Insitution of Electrical and Electronics Engineers), the Indian National Science Academy (INSA), the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE), the Indian Academy of Sciences (IASc), and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). He received the IISc Alumni Award for Excellence in Engineering Research for 2008.

Lacerda (PhD, Biophysics, 1983) is Titular Professor, Federal U. of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará and Fluminense Federal U. in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a CNPq-National Research Council of Brazil Senior Researcher (1A) and a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is a Member of the FEC-Academy (Future Coasts Academy) and of ISME (International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems); under these institutions and UNESCO-UNEP he has coordinated global research programmes on mangrove conservation and coastal zone management in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He received the Excellence Award in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, U. of Florida (1995); the BUNKA-SUMITOMO Prize of Scientist of the Year (1999); and the Bunge Prize 2011 in Oceanography. In 2018 received the National Order of Scienctific Merit from the Federal government. Lacerda has authored over 290 journal papers, 80 book chapters and 21 books and majored over 100 PhD, MSc and Postdoc researchers.

Lee (PhD 1991, Northwestern U.) is Dist. Prof. and Vice President for Research, Korea Advanced Inst. of Sci. and Tech. (KAIST), Daejeon. He is hon. prof., U. of Queensland, Shanghai JiaTong U., Wuhan U., Beijing U. of Chem. Tech., Chines Acad. Sci., and Chairman of Global Future Council on Biotech., World Econ. Forum. His honours include: Natl. Order of Merit; Natl. Sci. Medal; Ho Am Prize; POSCO TJ Park Prize; Citation Classic Award; Merck Metabolic Engg. Award; Marvin Johnson Award; Highly Cited Researcher. He is Fellow, AAAS; Am. Acad. of Microbiology; Soc. for Industrial Microbiology and Biotech.; Am. Inst. of Chem. Engg.; Am. Inst. of Medical and Biological Engg.; Korean Acad. of Science and Tech.; Natl. Acad. of Engg. of Korea; and International Member, Natl. Acad. of Engg. USA; Natl. Acad. Of Sci. USA. Foreign Member, Royal Society UK. He is editor-in-chief of Metabolic Engg., and editor of many intl. journals. He was Chairman of the Global Agenda Council on Emerging Tech and also Biotech. World Econ. Forum and Founding Chairman of World Councel on Indust. Biotech. He has published more than 710 journal papers and holds more than 800 patents

Liu has been a Distinguished Research Fellow at the Research Center for Environmental Changes, Academia Sinica, Taipei, China since 1999. He is the founding Director of the Center. Liu has made fundamental contributions in atmospheric chemistry, air pollution and climate change. He has published more than 160 papers which have received more than 6500 citations. He is one of the first few Chinese geoscientists in the prestigious ISI Highly Cited Researchers list. He was elected as an Academician of Academia Sinica in 2012. He was elected a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union in 1994. He is also a Fellow of the Chinese Meteorological Society. In addition, Liu served as Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Geophysical Research-Atmospheres (JGR) from 1988 to 1991.