Grossi de Sa (PhD, 1987, U. Paris VII) is the head of the Plant-Pest Molecular Interaction Group, EMBRAPA Genetic Resources and Biotechnology (1989-) and professor, Catholic U. of Brasília (2004-). She was president, Brazilian Soc. of Biotechnology; coordinator, Area of Biotechnology (2008-13) and member, CTC-ES, CAPES, Brazil (2008-14). Currently, she is member, Internatl. Advisory Committee, CAPES, and full member, Brazilian Acad. of Sciences. She is a recipient of the Scopus Award 2010 (Elsevier/Capes). Her research emphasizes on plant biotechnology, acting on themes, which include plant defense proteins (proteinase inhibitors, alpha-amylase inhibitors, lectins, defensins, osmotins), insecticidal proteins, plant-pests molecular interaction, development of GM plants for tolerance/resistance to biotic stress and abiotic stress and development of biopharmaceuticals.

Yunus Daud Mgaya (B.Sc., 1986, University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania; M.Sc., 1989, University of British Columbia, Canada; PhD, 1995, National University of Ireland - NUI Galway, Ireland) is Professor of Fisheries and Aquaculture, Department of Aquatic Sciences and Fisheries Technology, University of Dar es Salaam; Fellow, Western Indian Ocean Marine Science Association (WIOMSA); Fellow, Tanzania Academy of Sciences; Fellow, The African Academy of Sciences. He is presently (since October 2018) the President of Tanzania Academy of Sciences and Chancellor of Kampala International University in Uganda. I served as Director General of the National Institute for Medical Research (NIMR) from December 2016 to September 2022.

Mukhi (PhD, 1981, Stony Brook) is Raja Ramanna Chair, Indian Institute of Science Education and Research (IISER), Pune. After acquiring his Ph.D. in Theoretical Physics from Stony Brook University, he spent two years as post-doctoral fellow at the International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Trieste in the group of Prof. Abdus Salam. He went on to join the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai, where he worked for 28 years and held the offices of Dean, Graduate Studies and Chair, Theoretical Physics. He has published extensively in the areas of Quantum Field Theory, Supersymmetry, Conformal Field Theory and String Theory. He has spent sabbaticals at the Institute of Advanced Study Princeton (where he is also a trustee of the Association of Members), CERN, Geneva, and Trinity College, Cambridge. His awards include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar prize for Physical Sciences and the J.C. Bose Fellowship, and he is an Editor of the Journal of High Energy Physics. He has a keen interest in Academic Ethics and has chaired Ethics Committees at the Tata Institute, IISER Pune, the Indian Academy of Sciences and presently at TWAS.

Mutabingwa (MD 1979 University of Dar-es-Salaam, MSc. Communicable Diseases 1984 London University, PhD 1993 University of Amsterdam) is a professor at Hubert Kairuki Memorial University (HKMU), Dar-es-Salaam; Founder and president of Tanzania Non-Communicable Diseases Alliance, Founder and past-president of the East Africa Network for Monitoring Antimalarial Treatment. He was: WHO/Technical Expert Group (TEG) member on malaria chemotherapy, malaria prevention in pregnancy (IPTp) and in infants (IPTi), and is still a WHO Clinical Monitor. Was a Board member: Malaria Clinical Trials Alliance (MCTA), Malaria in Pregnancy Consortium (MiPc), and Board member, World Antimalarial Resistance Network (WARN). Recipient of NIMR Best scientist and International Society of Infectious Diseases travel awards. Founder and coordinator of Master of Science in Public Health degree at HKMU since 2012. Member of the Editorial Board of malaria and treatment Journal.

N’Guerekata (Ph. D. Montreal Canada 1980) is a University Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Associate Dean, School of Computer, Mathematical and Natural Sciences, Morgan State University, Baltimore, Maryland, USA. Former Vice Rector of the University of Bangui, Deputy Minister for Scientific and Technical Research and Senior Advisor to the Head of State, N'Guerekata is a Fulbrighter, and an African Academy of Science Fellow, The World Academy of Sciences Fellow, American Mathematical Society Fellow. He received numerous honors and awards in the US, France, India, and Central African Republic. Founder and Chief Editor of the International Journal of Evolution Equations and the Journal of Nonlinear Evolution Equations and Applications, he is also a member of editorial boards of over 18 other international mathematical journals. Dr. N'Guerekata is (co) author of over 286 mathematics publications including 12 books.

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.

Ron (PhD, 2007, University of Texas) professor, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador, Quito. Founding member and current secretary of the Ecuadorian Academy of Sciences. Young Affiliate of TWAS (2008–2013) and member of the Global Young Academy (2010–2013). He is curator of amphibians at the Museum of Zoology, Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador. His research focuses on two main venues: evolution and conservation. In his work on evolution he has contributed to the field of systematics and taxonomy of Neotropical amphibians. In the field of conservation, he has studied to global phenomenon of amphibian population declines. He is Director of the ARCA initiative, a large-scale study to inventory and characterize genetically the Ecuadorian biodiversity. He is editor in chief of FaunaWebEcuador, a web portal that publishes general information of Ecuadorian fauna.

Dr. Chandrima Shaha is a biologist, currently, JC Bose Chair Distinguished Professor at the Indian Institute of Chemical Biology, Kolkata. She is the immediate past President of the Indian National Science Academy and Former Director of the National Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. Her research interests center around the elucidation of the processes that influence cell death programs under varying physiological conditions in diverse organisms. She is an elected fellow of the World Academy of Sciences, the Indian Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences, and the West Bengal Academy of Science and Technology. She served as Vice-President of International Affairs of the Indian National Science Academy and as a member of the Councils of all three National Academies. Notable awards include the Ranbaxy Science Foundation Award for basic sciences; the J.C. Bose National Fellowship; the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Medal of INSA, Shakuntala Amir Chand Award of the Indian Council of Medical Research, Prof. Archana Sharma Memorial Award of the National Academy of Sciences, Life Time Achievement Award of Biopharma Honors and the Chandrakala Hora Memorial Medal and others.

Srinivas (Ph.D., 1982, University of Chicago) is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Mathematics at the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research. He was a member of the Executive Committee of the International Mathematical Union for two terms, and is presently Chairman of the National Board for Higher Mathematics, India. His awards and recognitions include the S.S. Bhatnagar Prize, India, the TWAS Mathematics Prize, a Humboldt Research Award, and an Einstein Visiting Fellowship from Berlin. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, the Indian National Science Academy, the National Academy of Sciences, India, and of the American Mathematical Society.

Tieniu Tan is currently Professor and President of the CPC Council of Nanjing University, and Director of the New Laboratory of Pattern Recognition (NLPR) of Institute of Automation, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China. He received his BSc in electronic engineering from Xi'an Jiaotong University, China in 1984, and his MSc and PhD degrees in electronic engineering from Imperial College London, UK in 1986 and 1989 respectively. He worked at the University of Reading, UK (1989-97) until he joined the Natl. Lab. of Pattern Recognition (NLPR), CAS Institute of Automation, as full professor. He served as Dir. Gen. of the Institute (2000-07), Director of NLPR (1998-2013), Dep. Sec.-Gen.(2007-2015) and Vice President (2015-2016), CAS. His current research interests include biometrics, image and video understanding, and information forensics and security. He is a Fellow, CAS; Fellow, TWAS; Internatl. Fellow, UK Royal Academy of Engineering; Corresponding Mem., Brazilian Aca. Sci.; Fellow, IEEE; Fellow, Internatl. Assoc. of Pattern Recognition.

Tsai (Ph. D. 1978, Purdue) is Distinguished Research Fellow, Institute of Biological Chemistry, Academia Sinica. He is President of Taiwan Biophysics Society, and former president of Taiwan Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology and Taiwan Magnetic Resonance Society. He was the Kimberly Professor of Chemistry at The Ohio State University until 2006. From 2006-2014 Tsai served as Director of the Institute of Biological Chemistry of Academia Sinica. His honor includes an Alfred P. Sloan Fellowship (1983-1985), the Camille and Henry Dreyfus Teacher-Scholar Award (1985-1990), the Distinguished Scholar Award of The Ohio State University (1992), Elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1992), and Distinguished Alumnus Award (Purdue College of Pharmacy). He also serves as an Associate Editor of Biochemistry since 2010. He was elected to Academician of Academia Sinica in 2012.

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).

Abdool Karim, is a leading South African infectious diseases epidemiologist whose seminal contributions have shaped the global HIV prevention landscape, notably in prevention technologies for women. She demonstrated that ARVs prevent sexually transmitted HIV, which laid the foundation for HIV pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP); and has provided insights in Africa and globally on the impact of Covid-19 on HIV and in the evaluation of Covid-19 vaccines and therapeutics. She is a member of the National Academy of Medicine (US), a Fellow of the Royal Society of South Africa, the Academy of Science of South Africa, and the African Academy of Science. Her research contributions have been recognized nationally and internationally with over 30 honours, including the 2014 TWAS-Lenovo Prize, the John Dirks Canada Gairdner Global Health Award, the 2020 Christophe Mérieux Prize, and the 4th Hideyo Noguchi Africa Prize for Medical Research. She is the associate scientific Director of CAPRISA; professor in clinical epidemiology, Columbia University, and pro-vice chancellor for African Health, University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. In 2025, she was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK).

Wasim Ahmad is a Tenured Professor at Quaid-i-Azam University Islamabad, Pakistan. He obtained his PhD from Cambridge University UK in 1990. He did Post-doctorate from London University UK and Columbia University New York USA. He has made important Contribution in Human Genetics by identify several genes involved in hereditary disorders of skin, hair, skeletal, neurological and hearing impairment. His awards include COMSTECH award in Biology, Sitara-e-Imtiaz by Govt. of Pakistan, Distinguished Scientist and Gold Medal by Pakistan Academy of Science (PAS), National Distinguished Professor by Higher Education Commission (HEC). His membership includes fellow Pakistan Academy of Science and Third World Academy of Science (TWAS).

Ajayaghosh is the Director of the CSIR-National Institute for Interdisciplinary Science and Technology, Thiruvananthapuram, India and Professor of Academy of Scientific Innovative Research, CSIR, India. He obtained his Ph.D in Chemistry in 1989 at University of Calicut, India. He has made significant contributions in molecular assemblies, fluorescent materials, organogels, molecular probes and photoresponsive materials. His awards includes INSA medal for young scientists, S S Bhatnagar prize, Khwarizmi International Award, Infosys prize, TWAS prize, CRSI Silver Medal and J.C.Bose National Fellowship. His membership includes: Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and the TWAS fellowship.

Chen (PhD 1992, Joh.-Gutenberg-U., Mainz, Germany) is currently Chair Professor at University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He is an internationally renowned climate researcher with important contributions to the understanding of regional climate changes and their impacts in Sweden and China. His research includes Earth System Science, global environmental change, climate dynamics and modeling, and atmospheric circulation. He works on recent and future regional climate changes and their impacts on water, ecosystem, environment, and agriculture. He currently focuses on climate and environmental changes over the Third Pole (Tibetan Plateau) region. He has served as Executive Director of the International Council for Science (ICSU), Director of the Gothenburg Atmospheric Science Centre, and Science Director of the Beijing Climate Center. He is an elected member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences and the Royal Society of Arts and Sciences in Gothenburg, as well as TWAS Fellow. He has served on numerous international and national committees and boards, advising various governmental, intergovernmental and international non-governmental organizations as well as research funding agencies.

Guanrong Chen is the Shun Hing Education and Charity Fund Chair Professor in Engineering and the Founding Director of the Centre for Complexity and Complex Networks at the City University of Hong Kong. He was elected IEEE Fellow in 1997, received the State Natural Science Awards of China in 2008, 2012 and 2016 respectively, awarded the 2011 Euler Gold Medal from Russia, and conferred Honorary Doctor Degrees by the Saint Petersburg State University, Russia in 2011 and by the University of Normandy, France in 2014. He is a Highly Cited Researcher in Engineering in the past decade. In 2014, he was elected a Member of the Academia Europaea. In 2025, he was elected a Fellow of the Network Science Society.

Prof. Jian Ding is a renowned Chinese cancer pharmacologist and Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, and he’s made extraordinary contributions to research and development of new drugs. He is currently a researcher at the Shanghai Institute of Materia Medica, and was Director of SIMM(2004-2013). Prof. Ding serves as the editor-in-chief of Acta Pharmacologica Sinica and editorial board member of several international academic journals such as Eur J Pharmacol and Mol Pharmacol. Focusing on biomarkers and drug resistance mechanisms of anti-tumor drugs, Prof. Ding is the co-inventor of more than ten innovative drug candidates, and all of which are currently at clinical trials with one of them has been conditionally approved in China and Japan and 4 of them running additional clinical tests in U.S, Japan & Australia. More than 340 papers have been published in journals including Cell、Cancer Cell etc. Over 150 patents have been authorized. Multiple awards have been bestowed to Prof. Ding to acknowledge his tremendous contribution to the area of cancer treatment, including but not limited to, 2 Second degree of National Natural Science Award.