Nísia Trindade Lima was the first woman to hold the position of Brazil’s Minister of Health (2023–2025) and to preside over the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz, 2017–2022). She holds a PhD in Sociology and a Master’s in Political Science. She is a Public Health researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, Fiocruz, a professor in the Graduate Program in the History of Science and Health, and a collaborating professor in the Graduate Program in Sociology at Institute of Social and Political Studies of the State University of Rio de Janeiro (IESP-UERJ). Her work focuses on Brazilian social thought, public health ideas, and state-building. As Fiocruz president, she led the COVID-19 response and joined international efforts such as Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations, the Lancet Commission on Global Health Threats, and the Global Council on Inequality, HIV and Pandemics. She launched the Fiocruz Strategy for the 2030 Agenda, aligning the UN SDGs with institutional planning. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, she was awarded the Knight of the Legion of Honor by France. Since May 2025, she holds the Olavo Setúbal Chair at the University of São Paulo.

Wang (PhD 1986, Inst. of Systems Sci., CAS) is a Changjiang Chair prof., Acad. of Math. and Systems Sci., Chinese Acad. of Sci. (CAS) in Beijing, chief economist and founding director of the Center for Forecasting Sci., CAS, and Dean of School of Economics and Management, University of Chinese Academy of Sciences. He is/was president of Intl. Soc. of Knowledge and Systems Sci., and pres. of China Soc. of Systems Eng., a vice pres. of the Chinese Acad. of Mgt. and an advisor of several ministries of China. His honours include research fellow, Dutch Royal Acad. of Sciences, 1987-88; Croucher Foundation fellow, Hong Kong, 1993; China Sci and Tech Prize for Young Scientists, 1994; Japan Sci. Promotion Soc. fellow, 1994; foreign prof. of Tsukuba U. Japan, 2000-01, 2003-04; Fudan Prize of Mgt., 2008; Chairmanship Award of Intl. Soc. of Multiple Criteria Decision Making, 2009; Academician, Intl. Acad. of Systems and Cybernetics Sci., Wien, 2010 and Scott Award, Moskow,2014.

Winkler is a professor in Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing, a research unit in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research explores the intersection of development, climate, social justice and economics, with future work focusing on equity and inequality between and within countries; just (energy) transitions and just adaptation; implications of the global stocktake; and low emission development strategies and nationally determined contributions. His over 100 academic publications can be accessed on Scopus. He has led transdisciplinary research on mitigation action plans and scenarios in several developing countries. Winkler is a member of both the South African Academy of Sciences and African Academy of Sciences, and serves on the South African delegation to the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has recently served as joint editor-in-chief of the international journal Climate Policy, a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and as a co-facilitator of the technical dialogue of the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement.

Yang (PhD) is a professor, Institute of Psychology, the Chinese Academy of Sciences. She has been working on psycholinguistics and comparative studies between language and music processing, with over 200 papers published on journals in the fields of psychology, linguistic sciences and cognitive neurosciences. She is a member of Standing Committee, and Fellow, Chinese Psychological Society; member of Division of Phonetics, Chinese Society of Linguistics; President, Society of Neurolinguistics, Society for Chinese Language Modernization (2020-2022). She was Director, Institute of Psychology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, 1997-2006; President of Chinese Psychological Society, 2009-2013; Chief-editor for Acta Psycologica Sinica, 2006-2009, and Advances in Psychological Sciences, 1997-2006. She received awards: National Excellent Scientist from China Association of Science and Technology, 2014; Life span achievements, 2015, and Achievements in academic development, 2016, from Chinese Psychological Society.

Yang obtained her PhD degree from the Institute of Systems Science of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), China, in 1999. She is the vice-president and professor at the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science, CAS, China; director of the Key Laboratory of Management, Decision and Information Systems affiliated to the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of CAS; and vice-director of the Centre of Forecasting Science affiliated to the Academy of Mathematics and Systems Science of CAS. She served as the vice-president of the International Input-Output Association (2013–2018; 2023–2024) and as the executive vice-president of the Chinese Input-Output Association (2016–present). Her awards include the TWAS Siwei Cheng Award in Economic Sciences, the National Award for Youth in Science and Technology (China), the National Natural Science Fund for Distinguished Young Scholars (China), and the Sun Yefang Economic Award, the most reputational award in economics in China, among many others.

Zeng (PhD, 1986, Brussels Free University; Post-doc 1986-1987, Princeton University) is tenured professor of National School of Development at Peking University, Honorary Director of Center for Healthy Aging and Development Study at Peking University. He is also tenured professor of Center for Study of Aging and Human Development and Geriatric Division, School of Medicine, and Director of Center for Chinese Population and Socioeconomic Studies, Duke University. He is a foreign member of Royal Netherlands Academy of Arts and Sciences, and Distinguished Research Scholar of Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research in Germany. Up to July 2021, he published 369 articles (196 in English,173 in Chinese) and 31 academic books (11 in English, 20 in Chinese); he submitted 51 policy reports to government agencies; his articles/books have been cited over 14,354 times in other scholars’ publications, his h-index is 54 and i10-index is 174; he was awarded 4 international academic prizes and 16 national academic prizes.

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).

Agarwal is professor at the Texas A&M U.. He was educated at Banaras Hindu U., India, and the U. of Rochester where he obtained his PhD in 1969. He retired from Oklahoma State U where he held the regents professorship and Noble Foundation chair. His previous positions include dist. scientist and director of the Physical Res. Lab. in Ahmedabad; Indian Natl. Science Acad. Albert Einstein research professor; and professor (1977-95), School of Physics, U. of Hyderabad. His awards include Bhatnagar Award; Max Born Award of the Optical Soc. of America; GD Birla award; RD Birla award; Humboldt Research award, Eminent Faculty award of Oklahoma State U and TWAS Physics Prize. His fellowships include: The Royal Society, UK; 3 science academies of India; American Physical Soc.; Optical Soc. of America. He is also the recipient of honorary doctorates. He is the author of nearly 700 research publications, edited books and monographs. His recent text book "quantum optics" was published by the Cambridge University Press. He is an authority in quantum optics as well in nano photonics and plasmonics.

Ahmedov (PhD, 1993, Inst of Nucl Phys, Tashkent; DSc, 2001, Natl Univ Uzb (NUUz), Tashkent; Member of Uzbekistan Acad Sci (2023); Fellow of Islamic Acad Sci, 2020. Head, Theoretical Astrophysics Dept. in Ulugh Beg Astronomical Institute and Professor at NUUz. The Researcher of the Year 2018 in Uzbekistan, by Scopus; Science Leader Web of Science award (2017) as highly cited author in Uzbekistan; Uzbekistan State Order Glory of Labor, 2012; Award of TWAS for Young Scientists in Physics in Uzbekistan, 2001; NATO Reintegration Grant, 2004-2007; Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) Regular Associate, Italy, 2005-2010; Volkswagen Stiftung Grant, Germany, 2013-2016; King Fahd University of Petroleum and Minerals, Saudi Arabia Grant 2020-2021, Erasmus+ Gant 2017-2019, DAAD (Germany) Grants 2017, 2012, 2009, 2006; UNESCO-TWAS Regular Associate at Tata Institute of Fundamental Research (Mumbai, India), 2012-2014, at Inter-University Centre for Astronomy and Astrophysics (Pune, India), 2010-2012, 2002-2004; Fudan Fellowship, China, 2017, 2019; Coordinator ICTP Affiliated Center, Network/Project, Chief Editor Uzbek J Phys, Editor Arabian J Math (Springer).

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

Andriambololona (PhD, CNRS, France, 1967) is former founding director general of the National Institute for Nuclear Sciences and Technologies (INSTN), Madagascar. He returned to Madagascar in 1968. He was former member of the Board of Governors of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA); scientific adviser to the President, Madagascar Republic; national coordinator for African regional Agreement (AFRA) in Nuclear Energy since 1989; and developer of INSTN (1992). He was awarded the Grand Croix de l’Ordre National Malgache and Commandeur de l’Ordre de Mérite de Madagascar. He is former founding vice president of the African Academy of Sciences, member of Académie Malgache, founding president TWAS Madagascar Chapter and part of many other professional associations including the IAEA and Intl. Radiation Protection Assoc. Executive President of Commission Raoelina Andriambololona pour la Nanotechnologie (CORANANO) (2013). Member of International Energy Foundation. Former member of Pan African-Pugwash Group. Member of Society of African Physicists and Mathematicians (Accra, Ghana).

Carlos Alberto Aragão de Carvalho (BSc, 1973, MSc, 1976, PUC/RJ; PhD Princeton, 1980): retired Professor of Physics, UFRJ (1994 - 2016); specialist in Quantum Field Theory & its applications. Currently: Director of Scientific and Technological Development, Finep/MCTI. Previously: Research Associate, CERN (1980-81); Research Associate, CNRS, University of Paris XI, Orsay (1981-82); Assistant Professor (1982-88) & Associate Professor (1985-93), PUC/RJ; Director of Innovation, Brazilian Agency for Industrial Development - ABDI (2005); Director of Scientific and Technological Development, Finep/MCTI (2005 - 2007); President, Brazilian National Research Council - CNPq (2010); Director-General, National Center for Research in Energy & Materials - CNPEM (2011-14); Director of Innovation & Technology, Inmetro (2014-2016); Technical Consultant, Naval Agency for Nuclear Safety and Quality - Brazilian Navy (2017-2023). Member: Brazilian Academy of Sciences and Brazilian National Academy of Engineering. Prizes: Medal & Great Cross, Brazilian Order of Scientific Merit; and Medal, Order of Naval Merit.

Aretxaga is a class-C researcher at the National Institute of Astrophysics, Optics and Electronics (INAOE), Mexico, a member of the Mexican National Researcher System (equivalent to Full Professor), and a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences (AMC). Since her arrival in Mexico in 1998, she has built her research group on galaxy formation and evolution and contributed to the development of the astronomy community. In 2011–2016 she was Head of Department of Astrophysics at INAOE. In 2006–2013, she coordinated the astronomy section of AMC. Since 2016, she has directed the International Schools for Young Astronomers of the International Astronomical Union, that bring education, development and networking opportunities to graduate students in isolated areas. The main focus of her research is to unravel the importance of massive star formation around supermassive black holes and their role in galaxy formation and evolution. She has coauthored over 140 research papers in Q1 journals, and has been invited more than 100 times to international conferences and other research institutes as a speaker. She also has an active outreach programme of talks, articles and pieces in social media.

Balseiro has research positions at the Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) and National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina. He is professor at the Instituto Balseiro, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, where he obtained his PhD in 1978. He works in condensed matter theory, in particular charge density waves and superconductivity, the electronic structure of high T superconductors and of strongly correlated systems as well as electronic and spin transport in nanostructures. His awards include: Guggenheim fellow; Hussay prize from CONICET; Teofilo Isnardi prize from the National Academy of Sciences (ANCFyN); and Konex Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Argentina.

Barma is Professor Emeritus with the Tata Institute of Fundamental Research at the TIFR Centre for Interdisciplinary Sciences, Hyderabad and former Director of TIFR. After PhD from the State University of New York Stony Brook (1974), he did postdoctoral work at Michigan State University and joined TIFR in 1976. He has worked in the areas of nonequilibrium statistical mechanics, phase transitions, and disordered systems. Between 2002-05, he served as chair of the IUPAP C3 Commission on Statistical Physics and is currently a vice president of IUPAP. Honours include: INSA Young Scientist Award; Bhatnagar Prize; Indian Science Congress SN Bose Centenary Medal; Goyal Prize. He is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy (New Delhi), the Indian Academy of Sciences (Bangalore), and the National Academy of Sciences (Allahabad), and a recipient of the JC Bose Fellowship. He was conferred the Padma Shri by the Govt. of India.

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.

Brandan is Professor of Physics at Instituto de Física, Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). She holds a BSc from Universidad de Chile and a PhD from the University of Wisconsin, Madison. Her research interests have been experimental heavy-ion physics (some years ago) and medical physics (more recently). Her present research focuses on thermoluminescent dosimetry for highly-ionizing radiation and physics of radiological images. Organizer in 1997 of the UNAM MSc (Medical Physics) programme and responsible for its academic guidance until 2017. She has received the 2000 UNAM Catedrático recognition, the 2003 Mexican Physics Society Award for the Development of Physics in Mexico and the 2013 UNAM Universidad Nacional Award for Research in Exact Sciences. Memberships include Mexican Academy of Sciences, American Physical Society (1997 Fellow of the Nuclear Physics Division), Mexican Physics Society (past-President of the Nuclear and the Medical Physics Divisions) and American Association of Physicists in Medicine (2018 Fellow). María-Ester Brandan chaired the International Solid State Dosimetry Organization and presently is a commissioner of ICRU.

Brito Cruz is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil and the Senior Vice-President Research Networks at Elsevier, UK. He graduated in Electronics Engineering and has a doctorate in Physics. He was a visiting researcher at the Quantum Optics Laboratory at the Universitá di Roma, at the Femtosecond Research Lab. at the Universitè Pierre et Marie Curie, and a resident researcher at the AT&T's Bell Laboratories, in Holmdel, New Jersey. He was the Director of Unicamp's Physics Institute, Pro-rector for Research, and Rector of the university. He was the President of the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP) and its Science Director from 2005-2020. He is a member of the Queen Elizabeth Engineering Prize Judging Panel and of the UN's 10-Member Committee for Technology for Technology Facilitation for the SDGs. Brito Cruz is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, received the Ordre des Palmes Academiques de France, the Order of the Scientific Merit from the Federative Republic of Brazil, and the Order of the British Empire, Honorary (OBE).

Cai (PhD, 1995, Fudan University, China) is professor and director, Institute of Theoretical Physics, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS); president, Gravity and Relativistic Astrophysics Division of the Chinese Physical Society; vice-president, Gravity, Cosmology and Astrophysics Division of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies (AAPPS); president, BRICS Association of Gravity Astrophysics and Cosmology. His prizes include the second place of National Natural Science Prize of China, Thomson Reuters global highest citation prize, the first place of Chongqing Natural Science Prize. He is a member of CAS. His research field is gravity and cosmology. In black hole physics, holographic properties of gravity, inflation model, dark energy, and gravitational wave physics, he has published more than 300 papers, these works received more than 20,000 citations and his h-index is 77.

Canuto (PhD, 1979, University of Uppsala, Sweden) is Professor at the University of São Paulo. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and Sao Paulo State Academy of Sciences. Co-editor-in-Chief of the Spectrochimica Acta A, member of the editorial board of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry, editorial board of the Chemical Physics Letters (2003-2009), Specialist Editor of the Computer Physics Communications (1987-1990, 2002-2006) and Associate Editor of the Brazilian Journal of Physics (2000-2009). Coordinator of Physics and Astronomy at CAPES-Ministry of Education (2011-2018). M. N. Saha Lecturer (2002) for the IACS (Calcutta, India), honored by the University of Havana (2005); official report for the Nobel Committee of Physics and Chemistry in connection with the Chemistry Nobel Prize (2013), member of the International Jury for Unesco-L’Oréal Prize Women in Science (2011, 2013, 2015, 2017). Vice-President for Research (Provost) of the University of São Paulo (2018-2022). Honored with a special issue of the International Journal of Quantum Chemistry (2011).

Cetto Kramis is a Research Professor at the Institute of Physics, a lecturer at the Faculty of Sciences, and the Director of the Museum of Light, at the National University of Mexico (UNAM). Cetto Kramis has contributed to the development of stochastic quantum mechanics and stochastic electrodynamics. She served as Deputy Director-General of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) from 2003 to 2010 and is founding President of Latindex. Her awards include: Golden Award, International League of Humanists; Prize for the Development of Physics and Prize for Research in Physics, Mexican Physics Society; Award Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz, UNAM; Mexico's Woman of the Year, 2003; Premio Juchiman de Plata, Mexico, and hon. doctorates from Tajik State National University and UNAPEC, Dominican Republic. She is a member of: Academia Mexicana de Ciencias; American Physical Society; Académie Royale des Sciences d'Outre Mer; OWSD; and World Future Council.

Chang is Emeritus Scholar Chair of Natl. Synchrotron Radiation Res. Center (NSRRC) and honorary chair professor, Natl. Tsing Hua U. (NTHU) in Hsinchu, Taiwan. He obtained his PhD in 1975 at Polytechnic Institute of Brooklyn. He was former director of NSRRC and former vice president (NTHU); president, Physical Society of R.O.C., director general (Natural Sciences), National Science Council; commission members IUPAP and IUCr. His honours include NSC Outstanding Research Award, Sun Yet San Academic Award, MOE Academic Award; Tung Yuan Award for Sci. and Tech.; B. E. Warren Diffraction Physics Award (Amer. Crystallogr. Assoc.); Ho Chin-Duei Outstanding Honorary Award. Member/Fellow: Academia Sinica; Asian Pacific Academy of Materials Science; American Physical Society; Physical Society of R.O.C.; national chair professor; chair, Foundation for the Advancement of Outstanding Scholarship.

Chela-Flores was educated in Caracas and London. In 1969, he obtained a PhD in physics at the University of London. He has been a Visiting Scientist at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, since 2014, where he had previously covered other positions: Staff Associate (1996-2014), Scientific Consultant (1990–1996), Visiting Scientist (1982–1989) and Associate Member (1972–1976). He is Professor Titular ad honorem and a founding member of the Institute for Advanced Studies of Caracas, and was a Research Associate at the School of Theoretical Physics of the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies (1994–2019). He was Associate Researcher at the Venezuelan Institute for Scientific Research (IVIC) (1971–1978), and, at the University Simon Bolivar of Caracas, he was both Dean for Research (1979–1985) and Professor (1978–1990). He was awarded the Order Andres Bello by the Venezuelan Government. He is a member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences; and a Foreign Corresponding Member of the Venezuelan Academia de Ciencias Fisicas, Matematicas y Naturales.

Chen received her BSc in physics from the National Taiwan University in 1981, and her PhD in applied physics from Harvard University (1989). Then, she worked at the General Electric Corporate R&D, Schenectady, New York (1989–1994), joined the Center for Condensed Matter Sciences (CCMS), NTU in 1994, and became a professor with the Physics Department in 2021. Chen was the director of CCMS (2012–2018), and since 2018 has been the director of the Center of Atomic Initiative for New Materials, a research centre featured by the Sprout Project under the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Taiwan. Chen’s group is specialized in low-dimensional nanomaterials and their applications for optoelectronics and energy. She is a Fellow of both the Physical Society and the Vacuum Society in Taiwan, and the Materials Research Society in USA. She has received numerous honours that include a Laureate of the 22nd Khwarizmi International Award, the Outstanding Research Award by the National Science and Technology Council (twice), the MoE Academic Award, and the Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science. Chen was elected as an Academician of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials and Academician of Academia Sinica.

Chen is a professor of Physics at University of Science and Technology of China, where he received his PhD in 1992. He is also an academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the director of the Key Laboratory of Strongly Coupled Quantum Materials of Chinese Academy of Sciences. His research is focused on high-temperature superconductors, strongly correlated electronic materials and other quantum materials. He has received several distinguished awards, including the First Prize of State Natural Science Award of China, the Bernd T. Matthias Prize in International Superconducting Materials and TWAS Prize in Physics. He has been an Advisory Board of Solid State Communications and Science Bulletin, and an associate editor of Science China Materials.