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.

Ramos is recognized for his studies on tectonic evolution of the South American basement and the Andes, in particular for his research in structural geology and tectonics. He is Emeritus Professor at the Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales of the Universidad de Buenos Aires (UBA), and a researcher of the Instituto de Estudios Andinos of UBA-Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). He is an honorary member of the Geological Society of America and of the Asociación Geologica Argentina, and a member of the national academies of sciences of Argentina, Chile, Brazil and the USA. He is also a member of many editorial boards of international journals and has received several natational and international scientific awards. His research includes topics like flat-slab subduction, collision of aseismic and seismic ridges in the Andes, as well as continental growth of South America. His major publications are related to the Andes.

Saldiva graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1977, earned his PhD in 1983, and became full professor in the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine (USP) in 1996. He was the director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (2016–2020) and was elected a member of WHO Air Quality Committee (in 2005 and 2021). He is also a member of the IARC panel that evaluated the carcinogenicity of ambient air pollution in 2013, and of the WHO panel for the development of the verbal autopsy instrument to improve global vital statistics. In the past six years he has developed an autopsy platform for public health studies, which was used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2023, he serves on the TWAS committee on Urban Health and on the committee of the Public Policies Research Program of São Paulo’s State Scientific Agency. He is a member of the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, the recipient of the Anchieta Medal (São Paulo Municipality), the Order of Scientific Merit awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and was included in Brazilian Forbes as one of the 50 most influential personalities (2024).

Shukla is Univ. Prof. and founding Dir. of Climate Dynamics, PhD., found chair AOES dept., George Mason Univ. Obtained his BSc, MSc and PhD from BHU, India, and DSc from MIT. Previously, he was: res. assoc., Princeton; vis. assoc. prof., MIT; sr. scientist, GSFC, NASA; prof., Univ. of Maryland; chairman, TOGA Panel, NAS, USA; chairman, Int. Advisory Panel for Weather and Climate, India; Founding dir., Ctr. for Ocean-Land-Atmosphere Studies. Honors and awards include: Honorary member, AMS; Prime Minister's Council on Climate Change, Padma Shri (India, 2012), IMO Prize, AGU Fellow, Rossby Medal, AMS; Walker Gold Medal, IMS; Exceptional Sci. Achiev. Medal, NASA. His membership includes: VA Governor's Commission on Climate; Joint Scientific Comm. and Chair of Modeling Panel, Climate Variability, WCRP; Fellow of IMS and AMS. Contributions include "Predictability in the Midst of Chaos." He is Founder of Gandhi College for the education of rural women in the village of his birth in India.

Sial is full professor (retired, 2012; Emeritus Professor, 2016) in the Department of Geology, Federal U. of Pernambuco, Brazil (UFPE). He obtained his PhD from UC Davis (1974) and did postdoctoral work at the U. of Texas at Austin (1977-78), U. of Georgia at Athens (entire 1983, entire 1988) and U. of Wisconsin (2001). He also trained in Portugal, Canada, Japan and Scotland. He founded a Laboratory for Stable Isotope Studies at UFPE, only one in South America with facilities to analyze O isotopes from silicates, and pioneered the use of isotope stratigraphy in S. America. He has received several honours including: Silver Hammer and José Bonifacio Golden Medals (Brazilian Geological Society); Centennial Medal, Engineering School, UFPE; National Order of Scientific Merit commendator and Grao Cruz classes (by President of Brazil decree); special foreign member, Society of Resource Geology, Japan; and foreign member, Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Lisbon Academy of Sciences, Portugal.

Singhvi (PhD Physics, IIT, Kanpur). He served as vice-president, International. Quaternary Union (INQUA) and as Vice President, Indian National Science Academy. He holds DST-SERB- Year of Science Chair Professorship at Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad, India. He was Av. Humboldt Fellow at the MPI für Kernphysik and Heidelberg U., Germany; Leverhulme Prof., Sheffield U., UK; DAAD Prof., Freiberg, Germany; and Ford Foundation Fellow, Oxford, UK and St. Louis, USA. His honours include: Krishnan and Decennial Medals, Ind. Geophys. Union; Natl. Mineral Award, India; Farouk El-Baz Award for Desert Sci. (2004), Geol. Soc. of America; and K. Naha Medal, Ind. Nat. Sci. Acad; Goyal Prize, Kurukshetra U. and B. Sahni Centenary Medal, Indian Science Congress. A fellow of all Indian science academies and Hon. Lifetime Fellow of the Geol. Society London, he served on Sci. Prog. Comm. of UN's IYPE programme. He served as on the editorial boards of several international journals.

Sokona (PhD, 1981, Ecole nationale supérieure des mines de Paris, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI, France), with over 40 years of experience addressing energy, environment and sustainable development in Africa, has been at the heart of numerous national and continental initiatives. He is currently a Vice-Chair of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) after serving as Co-Chair of IPCC Working Group III, following being a Lead Author since 1990. He has a proven track record of organizational leadership and management, for example as Inaugural Coordinator of the African Climate Policy Centre and as Executive Secretary of the Sahara and the Sahel Observatory. He is affiliated with numerous boards and organizations, including, as Honorary Professor at the University College London, member of the African Academy of Sciences, and of the Science Advisory Committee of the International Institute for Applied System Analysis. In short, Sokona is a global figure, with deep technical knowledge, extensive policy experience and an unreserved personal commitment to African led development.

Su obtained his MS in mechanical engineering from Virginia Polytechnic Institute in 1961 and his PhD in mechanical engineering from UC Berkeley in 1967. He is professor at the State Key Lab of Satellite Ocean Environment Dynamics, Second Institute of Oceanography, State Oceanic Administration, China; honorary director of the Second Institute of Oceanography. He is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences since 1992 and foreign member of the Russian Academy of Natural Sciences since 1999. He was Vice-Chairman of the Standing Committee of the Earth Sciences Division of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1992-1998 and 2002-2006; Chairman of the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC), 1999-2003; Principal Lead Author (1993-1996) and Convening Lead Author (1996-1997) of IPCC Second Assessment Report / Working Group II, Review Editor (1998-2000) of IPCC Third Assessment Report / Working Group II.

Taylor earned his PhD from the University of Maryland, College Park, USA in 1999. He is a professor of climate science and dean of the Faculty of Science and Technology at the Mona Campus of The University of the West Indies (UWI). He is a fellow of the Caribbean Academy of Science, and the co-director of the Climate Studies Group, Mona (CSGM), which is a center of regional thought and expertise in climate change science for small islands and the wider Caribbean. He has served on several national and regional (Caribbean) committees and advisory boards related to climate change science and its impacts on the Caribbean. Most recently, he was appointed to the climate change advisory board of the Government of Jamaica. He is a coordinating lead author for chapter 3 of the special report on 1.5 degrees of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). He has received the Silver Musgrave Medal for Science from the Institute of Jamaica and is the 2019 ANSA Caribbean Laureate for Excellence in Science.

Trindade is a full professor at the University of São Paulo, where he served as vice-director and director of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences. He coordinates the USP-China Center, fostering institutional collaboration with Chinese partners. He holds a BSc in geology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (1995) and a PhD in geophysics from the University of São Paulo (1999). His research focuses on rock magnetism, paleomagnetism, and archeomagnetism, with emphasis on paleoenvironmental changes throughout Earth’s history, including the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian transition, Phanerozoic biotic crises, and recent geomagnetic field behaviour across the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. He authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and is among Brazil’s most cited geophysicists (h-index 50 on Google Scholar). He leads major national and international projects and has supervised more than 40 graduate and postdoctoral researchers. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Secretary of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, and a voting member of the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

Prof. Upreti is an Academician of Nepal Academy of Science and Technology, former Head of Department of Geology and Dean of Institute of Science and Technology, Tribhuvan University. He is a Fellow and past Council Member (2016-2022) of TWAS and Foreign Fellow of the Zambia Academy of Sciences. He was a visiting professor in the universities and Institutes of China, France, Germany, India. Japan, Ethiopia and Zambia. He was a DAAD Fellow, Research Fellow at CRPG, France, and a JSPS Fellow. He was a professor (2015-2021) and Head, Department of Geology, School of Mines at the University of Zambia. Prof. Upreti has done extensive geological research in the Nepal Himalaya. Authored and edited many books and published about 100 research papers. Prof. Upreti was awarded with national honors such as Gorkha Dakshin Bahu and also the C.N.R. Rao International Prize for Scientific Research from TWAS. In addition, he is a Honorary Fellow of the Geological Society of America and Nepal Geological Society as well. His h-index is 34 and has 7000 citations. Prof. Upreti’s research interests are in structural geology. tectonics, engineering geology, paleoseismology, and disaster management.

Venkataraman is a leading researcher in aerosol science, working at the intersection of technology and emissions, climate science, air quality, and engineering nanoparticles for drug delivery. Her group aims to use aerosol science to serve society, through a diversity of environmental and biomedical applications, with emphasis on locally relevant solutions. She has authored over 150 cited publications, a book and four patents, and has built academic and research programmes to advance climate and air quality studies in South Asia. She was the founding head of the Centre for Climate Studies, and led the multi-institutional COALESCE research network. She participates in global policy networks, as a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of the UNEP and the Global Burden of Disease working group. She has extensively mentored research students and supported the advancement of women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in India, and has received a IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award (2024), a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2012), the Vikram Sarabhai Award (2006), and teaching excellence awards.

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 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 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.

Alouini is a Distinguished Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST), Thuwal, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. He received his PhD in Electrical Engineering from the California Institute of Technology (Caltech), Pasadena, California, USA, in 1998. Alouini is a Fellow of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) and Optica (formerly the Optical Society of America (OSA)). Other recognitions include his selection as Fellow of the African Academy of Science in 2018 and Member of the Academia Europaea in 2019. Over the last years, Alouini has been addressing the uneven global distribution, access to, and use of information and communication technologies by studying and developing (i) new generations of integrated space-air-ground networks as a solution to provide connectivity to far-flung, less-populated, and/or hard-to-reach areas and (ii) novel thrifty wireless networks to achieve digital inclusiveness for low-income neighborhoods.

Bandyopadhyay completed her BTech and MTech in Computer Science from Calcutta University and IIT Kharagpur, respectively. She joined the Indian Statistical Institute as a faculty member after completing her PhD from the same Institute. She is currently the Director of the Institute. Her areas of research interest include computational biology and Bioinformatics, soft and evolutionary computation, data mining and machine learning, where she has published more than 325 research articles in journals, conferences and edited volumes. She has published six authored/edited books from publishers like Springer, World Scientific and Wiley. She has worked in and delivered invited lectures in various Universities and Institutes world-wide. She has received several awards and fellowships, including the Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys award, TWAS Prize, DBT National Women Bioscientist Award (Young), INAE Silver Jubilee Prize, Young scientist/engineer medals of INSA, INAE and Science Congress, JC Bose Fellowship, Swarnajayanti Fellowship and Humboldt Fellowship. She is currently a member of the Science, Technology and Innovation Advisory Council of the Prime Minister of India.

Bauzer Medeiros is Full Professor at the Instituto de Computação of Unicamp, the Universidade Estadual de Campinas, in Brazil. She earned her MSc in 1979 from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro, and her PhD in Computer Science in 1985 from the University of Waterloo, in Canada. She received Brazilian and international awards for research, teaching, and work in fostering the participation of women in information technology. Her research is centred on the managing scientific data, including handling very heterogeneous data sources. She coordinated large transdisciplinary and multi-institutional projects in agro-environmental planning, biodiversity and health, involving, among others, sensor data streams, satellite images, photos, videos, sound, clinical data and all kinds of textual sources. As the President of the Sociedade Brasileira de Computação (2003–2007), she launched some of the first countrywide initiatives to attract women to computing. She is recognized in Brazilian and international forums for initiatives associated with public policies in science and technology and in open data, and coordinates open science activities at the Brazilian Acad

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.

Caballero Mota received more than 105 awards and distinctions: Finlay Order; 10 Cuban Academy of Sciences Awards; TWAS Regional Partner's Award for Young Scientists (Computer Science) awarded by the Cuban Academy of Sciences; Distinguished Foreign Expert Award in the 100 foreign experts plan from Hebei province, China; Distinguished Researcher of Hebei International Studies University, China; Sofia Kovalevskaya Award; 5 Special Distinctions by Cuban Ministers; National Award for Young Researcher in the Category of Technical Sciences; Pablo Miquel National Prize form the Cuban Society of Mathematics and Computing; National Vanguard of the Science Union; several National Prizes awarded by the Youth Technical Brigades, 20 provincial CITMA Awards, among others. She has participated in more than 200 congresses worldwide. She has over 140 scientific publications, several of them within the Web of Science and referenced databases. She participated in more than 30 research and development projects and has 33 software registrations in her name at the Cuban Copyright Center. 33 diploma projects, 64 master's theses, and 10 doctoral theses have been defended under her tutorship.

Chaudhuri is a K.N. Bajaj chair professor in the Department of Electrical Engineering at the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Bombay. He earned his Bachelor of Technology in electronics and communication engineering at IIT Kharagpur (1985), his Master of Science at the University of Calgar (1987) and his PhD (1990), both in electrical engineering, at the University of California, San Diego. For his research excellence, he has received major national awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Swarnajayanti Fellowship, J.C. Bose National Fellowship, G.D. Birla Award and the NASI-Reliance Award. Chaudhuri was honoured with the title of TUM Ambassador by Technical University Munich, Germany. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, Indian Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Engineering, National Academy of Science India, and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (US). He has been recognized as a distinguished alumnus of IIT Kharagpur and UCSD. He has received a Doctor of Science degree (honoris causa) by Burdwan University. His areas of research include computer vision, machine learning and computational haptics.

Eleuch is a professor of physics and a leader of the quantum information, quantum simulation, and quantum processing research group at the University of Sharjah, UAE. He received his PhD in quantum physics in 1998, from Kastler Brossel Laboratory at the École Normale Supérieure and the University Pierre and Marie Curie (Paris), France. He has visited and worked at several prestigious institutions such as Texas A&M University, Max Planck Institute, Princeton University, McGill University, the University of Auckland, and the University of Montreal. Eleuch has authored more than 300 papers and holds 19 US patents. He has received fellowships from the Fulbright Foundation, the Max Planck Society, and the International Center for Theoretical Physics. He is a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences, a member of Sigma Xi, the Scientific Research Honor Society (US), and the Mohammed Bin Rashid Academy of Scientists. He has been ranked among the top 2% of scientists, according to Stanford University's rankings, both in career-long and annual categorises, since 2019. In 2024, he received the Abdul Hameed Shoman Prize for Arab Researchers in Science.

Ghogho received his PhD in signal processing from the National Polytechnic Institute of Toulouse (1997). He was a research fellow at the University of Strathclyde (1997–2001) before joining the University of Leeds where he was promoted to full professor and head of the Signal Processing and Communications Group, in 2008. In 2010, still affiliated with the University of Leeds, he joined the International University of Rabat where he served as ICT research drector and dean of the College of Doctoral Studies. In March 2025, he joined the College of Computing at Mohammed VI Polytechnic University. He is a recipient of prestigious awards, including the Royal Academy of Engineering Fellowship (2000), IBM Faculty Award (2013), and was elected a Fellow of Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (2018), and American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics (2021). His work focuses on machine learning and statistical signal processing, with applications in wireless communications, robotics, cybersecurity, and healthcare. He has published over 450 papers, supervised over 50 PhD students, and led over 20 research projects, serving as editor for many journals.

Hasna earned a PhD in electrical engineering from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities (2003) and has over than 25 years of academic experience. At Qatar University, he served as head of Electrical Engineering Department, dean of College of Engineering, and vice-president and chief academic officer. Hasna was a founding member of the Society of Qatari Engineers, IEEE Qatar section, and co-established the Qatar Mobility Innovation Center at Qatar Science and Technology Park. As a prolific researcher, he has published more than 250 publications with a total of over 10,000 citations. He was the first from Qatar to be included in Thomson Reuters' highly-cited list of researchers, in 2015. His research focuses on wireless communication, including a project with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish an affordable network connecting the Comoros Islands. Hasna serves on senior committees: the National Education Excellence Award's Board of Trustees and the Energy and Industry Qatarization Awards Advisory Committee. He represents Qatar in the Arabian Gulf University's Board of Trustees since 2014.

Professor Huang has made fundamental contributions to dynamics of nonlinear systems, neuromorphic computing, intelligent control and smart grid. He was named Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate Analytics in 2019, and was a distinguished lecturer of IEEE Computational Intelligence Society 2022-2024. He is on the Stanford/Elsevier Top 2% Scientists List, and on the top 0.5% of scientists list for life time and recent 5 years both by ScholarGPS. He received the Outstanding Achievement Award from Asia Pacific Neural Networks Society, the Changjiang chair professorship awarded by China’s Ministry of Education, the Best Research Project Award presented by Qatar National Research Fund, and The Association of Former Students Distinguished Achievement Award for Research, the highest honor bestowed by Texas A&M University to its faculty. He is a Fellow of the Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (AAIA), IEEE, IAPR, an academician of the International Academy for Systems and Cybernetic Sciences, a Member of the European Academy of Sciences, and a Fellow of the World Academy of Sciences.

Jain earned his PhD in 1973 from The Ohio State University, USA. He is Distinguished Professor at Michigan State University. His area of research includes pattern recognition, machine learning, computer vision and biometrics. He was a member of Defense Science Board and of the Forensics Science Standards Board, both US institutions. He was a recipient of the Guggenheim Fellowship, the Humboldt Research Award, the Fulbright Fellowship and the King-Sun Fu Prize. He was Editor-in-Chief of the IEEE Transactions on Pattern Analysis and Machine Intelligence and is a fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery, the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and SPIE, the international society for optics and photonics. He is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering and a Foreign Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Engineering. Jain holds eight patents, US and Korean, and was named a fellow of the National Academy of Inventors. Jain and his students' work is focused on unconstrained face recognition and the development of fingerprint matching solutions, which have applications.

Karimipour began his studies in electrical engineering before switching to physics and earning his PhD from Sharif University of Technology, where he has been a faculty member since 1993, and is now a physics professor. His early research focused on quantum groups and integrable models, later expanding to exactly solvable models in statistical mechanics, particularly reaction-diffusion systems. As a contribution to this field, he developed an algebraic model for particles overtaking each other in a line and related it to traffic flow. Since 2001, he works in quantum computation and quantum information, mentoring many students who now work in Iran and abroad. His work covers various areas of quantum information theory, and is restricted to formal and mathematical aspects, like entanglement theory, and capacity of quantum channels. He was a regular associate of ICTP (1998–2013) and a Simons Associate (2015–2023). He served on the editorial board of the European Physical Journal D (2019–2024) and was named an outstanding referee by the American Physical Society, in 2013. Since 2007, he co-founded and co-organized the biennial IICQI conference series and contributed to ICTP schools.

Mitra is a Professor, Machine Intelligence Unit, Indian Statistical Institute, Kolkata. She was in the Rheinisch-Westfälische Technische Hochschule (RWTH), Aachen, Germany (1992–94) as a Fellow under the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). She was Visiting Professor at Computer Science Department, University of Alberta, Canada; Meiji University, Japan; and Aalborg University Esbjerg, Denmark. Mitra received the National Talent Search Scholarship (1978–1983) from National Council of Educational Research and Training, India; the University Gold Medal (1988); the Outstanding Paper Award (1994) by Transactions on Neural Networks, Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), for her pioneering work in neuro-fuzzy computing, the CIMPA-INRIA-UNESCO Fellowship (1996), and Fulbright-Nehru Senior Research Fellowship (2018–2020). She was the Indian National Academy of Engineering (INAE) Chair Professor 2018–2020. Mitra has been awarded the prestigious J. C. Bose National Fellowship, 2021. She is a Fellow of IEEE, Indian National Science Academy (INSA), International Association for Pattern Recognition (IAPR), Fellow of INAE, and of National Academy of Sciences, India (NASI).

Pal is a distinguished scientist and former Director of Indian Statistical Institute. He founded its Machine Intelligence Unit & the Natl. Center for Soft Computing in Calcutta. Currently, he is an ANRF Prime Minister Professor; ISI-President and Emeritus Professor; & AICTE-Distinguished Chair Professor. Obtained PhD (Sc) from Calcutta U. and PhD (Engg) & DIC from Imperial College, London. Worked at UC Berkeley; UMD, College Park; NASA JSC, Houston; and US Naval Research Lab, Washington, DC. His awards include: SS Bhatnagar; Padma Shri; GD Birla; OP Bhasin; J Nehru Fellowship; FICCI; Vikram Sarabhai; IETE-Wadhwa Gold Medal; INSA-Zaheer Medal; ISC-PC Mahalanobis Gold Medal; INAE Chair Prof.; INSA Distinguished Prof.; National Science Chair; INAE-SN Mitra; INSA-JNBC Lecture; JC Bose Natl. Fellow; DAE Raja Ramanna Fellow; Al-Khwarizmi Intl. 1st Prize; NASA Space Act Tech Brief; NASA Patent Appl.; IEEE Distinguished Speaker; IEEE NN Soc. Outstanding Paper; US NAS-NRC Senior Associate; and IEEE Editor. He is Fellow of all 4 Indian sci. and engg. academies, IEEE, IAPR, IFSA, IRSS & AAIA; and Member of European Acad of Sci & Arts. He has visited 45 countries as keynote/invited speaker.

Patnaik is INSA Senior Scientist and Adjunct Professor at the National Institute of Advanced Studies,and was Vice Chancellor, Defence Inst. of Advanced Technology (DIAT), Deemed Univ., Pune, India. He was previously Honorary Professor, Dept of Electronic Systems Engg, Prof., Dept. of Computer Science and Automation, and Convener, Computational Neurobiology Group, IISc. He obtained his PhD (1978) and DSc (1989) in computer science and engineering from IISc. He has been honoured with over 20 awards for contributions to electronics, communications, and information technology including the Technical Achievement Award (1999), Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), USA, Computer Society; Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Natl. Award for Engineering and Technology, 1999; and Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) Award for Innovation in Applied Research, 2002. He is a Fellow of IEEE and all 4 leading science and engineering academies in India.www.lmpatnaik.in.

Paulraj is Professor Emeritus in the Department of Electrical Engineering, Stanford University, USA. He obtained his PhD in 1973 at IIT (Delhi). He served in the Indian Navy from 1965 to 1991 where he led the development of military sonar systems. He also founded three national level research labs in India. He joined Stanford in 1992 where he pioneered MIMO (multiple input, multiple output) wireless technology that has revolutionized wireless performance and is incorporated into all Wi-Fi and mobile 4G./ 5G systems His recognition includes the 2024 RAE Prince Phillip Medal, the 2023 IET Faraday Medal, the 2011 IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, the 2014 Marconi Prize, the 2010 Padma Bhushan (Indian national award), the 2017 induction into the US Patent Office National Inventors Hall of Fame and the 2018 China Friendship Award. He is a member of nine academies, including the US National Academy of Engineering, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the Royal Swedish Academy of Engineering Sciences, Chinese Academy of Engineering and several Indian S&T Academies . He is a fellow of IEEE and AAAS.

Poor (PhD, 1977, Princeton) is the Michael Henry Strater University Professor of Electrical Engineering at Princeton University, where he served as Dean of the School of Engineering and Applied Science from 2006 to 2016. His research contributions are in the areas of communications and signal processing, particularly in wireless networking, smart grid, and related fields. His awards include: the IEEE Education Medal, the IET Fleming Medal, the URSI Booker Gold Medal, the IEEE Eric Sumner Award, the EURASIP Athanasios Papoulis Award, the AAES John Fritz Medal, the IEEE Alexander Graham Bell Medal, and honorary doctorates from five universities. His memberships include: U.S. National Academy of Engineering, U.S. National Academy of Sciences, U.S. National Academy of Inventors, Royal Society, U.K. Royal Academy of Engineering, Academia Europaea, Royal Society of Edinburgh, and the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Sayed is dean of engineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. He has served as distinguished professor and chairman of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he founded the Adaptive Systems Laboratory (1996). Recognized as a highly cited researcher and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, he served as president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) in 2018-19. An author of over 570 scholarly publications and six books, his research involves several areas including adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, and multi-agent systems. His awards include: 2020 Norbert Wiener Society Award, 2015 Education Award from IEEE-SPS; 2014 Papoulis Award from European Association for Signal Processing; 2013 Meritorious Service Award and 2012 Technical Achievement Award from IEEE-SPS, 2005 Terman Award from American Society for Engineering Education, 2003 Kuwait Prize, and several Best Paper awards from scientific organizations. He is a fellow of IEEE, European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).