Whitelock is an astronomer at, and former director of, the South African Astronomical Observatory and an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She obtained her BSc and PhD at the University of London. Her primary research interests are the late stages of stellar evolution, mass-loss and variability. She also works on galactic structure, near-by galaxies and the cosmic distance scale. She is involved in astronomy education, astronomy for development, and international coordination and collaboration. She has served as president of the International Astronomical Union’s Division VII (Galactic Systems), is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, an honorary fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (UK) and an honorary member and fellow—and former president—of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP). She is the recipient of the 2018 de Beers Gold Medal of the SAIP and a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from Rhodes University in 2020.

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.

Zühlke is vice-president of the South African Medical Research Council, responsible for extramural research and internal portfolio and directs the Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit focusing on relevant pediatric heart diseases in Africa. She has authored more than 250 publications, including conference proceedings and book chapters, with an h-index of 58. She has more than 74,000 citations and was a finalist for South Africa in the Women in Science Award. In 2018, she received the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Award, the winner of the NRF award for Social Impact in Research, the International Metrodora Award for Public Health and Research and the UCT vice-chancellors Alan Pfifer Award for research. She was recently inducted into the prestigious University of Cape Town College of Fellows, the university’s highest academic honour, and is a member of the South African Academy of Sciences. She a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association. She is a B-1 rated researcher by the National Research Foundation, past-president of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa and the South African Heart Association.

Dajczer is professor of mathematics at the Instituto de Matematica Pura e Aplicada (IMPA), Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He has made several important contributions in Riemannian geometry. His work has dealt especially with many aspects of the rigidity and deformation problem for isometrically or conformally immersed submanifolds in Riemannian ambient spaces. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he has been a Guggenheim fellow and a fellow of the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science.

Chandrajith is working as a professor at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and has more than 30 years of teaching and research experience. He is mainly involved in research in the field of environmental geochemistry, with a particular interest in bridging chemical, biological and geological sciences to address diverse environmental problems, including hydrogeochemistry and medical geology. His current projects include freshwater geochemistry, the application of isotopes in low-temperature geochemical processes, the study of environmental relationships with human and animal health, and the reconstruction of Holocene climate changes using geochemical proxies. Chandrajith has published over 180 research papers in reputed international journals and written three books and 11 book chapters with a Google H-index of 43. He co-authored the book “Introduction to Medical Geology”, published by Springer, Germany. He received the prestigious Georg Forster Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany in 2022 and is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka.

Karunaweera is the chair, senior professor of parasitology, Faculty of Medicine, University of Colombo, Sri Lanka and honorary visiting fellow at the School of Public Health, Harvard University, USA. Trained as a medical parasitologist she has extensive teaching and research experience in tropical diseases, with special emphases on vector-borne diseases. Elected Fellow of National Academy of Sciences of Sri Lanka, she is the first Sri Lankan elected as an honorary member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and as a Distinguished International Fellow of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. She received several research grant awards, both international and local, including Tropical Medicine Research Centre Award, by National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, National Institute of Health, US. Fellowship awards received include Harvard University’s Senior Research Scholar Award (2005/6); Fulbright Advanced Research and Lecturing Award (2005). She is the founder president of Sri Lanka National Chapter of Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) and current president of Sri Lanka College of Microbiologists.

Munasinghe is founder chairman, Munasinghe Inst. for Development; Chairman, Presidential Expert Committee on Sustainable Sri Lanka 2030 Vision; distinguished guest prof., Peking Univ; and hon. senior adviser, Sri Lanka Govt. He has degrees in physics, engg. and economics from Cambridge U., UK; MIT, USA, and McGill and Concordia U., Canada. He was sr. energy adviser to the Pres. of Sri Lanka; advisor, US President's Council on Envir. Quality; sr. adviser/director, World Bank; vice chair, Intergov. Panel on Climate Change; chairman, Computer and Inf. Tech. Council, Sri Lanka; and chancellor, Int. Water Acad., Oslo. He shared the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize and won many major research awards, incl. 2021 Blue Planet Prize Laureate; Eminence in Engineering; award, Institution of Engineers, Sri Lanka, 2014; Lifetime outstanding achievement in energy award from President of Sri Lanka, 2016; Officer of French Legion of Honour decoration from French President, 2018; and highest national award "Deshmanya" from Sri Lanka President, 2019. He has authored over 120 scientific books and 350 papers. He is fellow of 10 science academies, and editorial board member of 21 journals.

El-Khozondar (PhD 1999, New Mexico State U., Postdoc 1999, Max Planck Institute, Germany) is professor, electrical engineering dpt., Islamic U. of Gaza. She got her B.Sc. in Physics and joined the Physics faculty at BirZeit U., Palestinian Territory in 1987. She is recognized for her research on the behaviour of optical fibre grating sensors under different stress effects, magneto-optical isolators, metamaterial devices, electro-optical waveguides, and the microstructural evolution of polycrystalline materials, with relevance to integrated optical devices and the performance of metals and ceramics. Her honours include Fulbright Scholarship, DAAD award; Alexander von Humboldt Scholarship; Erasmus Mundus; senior member at ICTP; Islamic U. Deanery Prize for applied sciences and the Arab U. Union Award, TWAS medal lecture 2015 and ISESCO Prize in Science and Technology 2014.

Saad (PhD, 1987, University of Zürich, Switzerland) is Professor of cell biology and immunology at the Arab American University in Jenin, Palestine (AAUP), and past President of the Al-Qasemi Academic College, Baga Algharbiya, Israel. He was: Scientific Director of the Research and Development Regional Centre - The Galilee Society, Israel; Dean of Scientific Research at AAUP, Dean of Scientific Research Center at Al-Qasemi Academic College, Israel; Dean of the Faculty of Sciences and Research Centre at Al-Qasemi Academic College, Head of the Higher Education Council of Al-Qasemi Academic College, and member of the Palestinian Council for Higher Education. His prizes include the Best Research Award of the Swiss Surgical Society for the development of versatile biodegradable biomaterials, the Best Research Award of The Israeli Society for Complementary Medicine, and the Hijawi Awards of AAUP for best undergraduate research projects, and Best Researcher at AAUP. He is a member of the Middle East Cancer Consortium (MECC).

Hassan is currently president of Sudanese National Academy of Sciences. He was professor and dean of the Faculty of Mathematical Sciences, University of Khartoum; chairman of the International Advisory Board of the Centre for International Development, Germany; president of the InterAcademy Partnership; founding executive director and president of TWAS; president of the African Academy of Sciences; founding president of the Network of African Science Academies; chairman of the Council of the United Nations University; chairman, Honorary Presidential Advisory Council for Science and Technology, Nigeria. Among his honours: comendator, Grand Cross, and National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; and officer, Order of Merit of the Italian Republic. He is a recipient of G77 Leadership Award and the Abdus Salam Medal for Science and Technology. He is a member of several merit-based academies of science, which include Pakistan Academy of Sciences; Academy of Sciences of South Africa; the Pontifical Academy of Sciences; Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology; the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; and the Royal Society.

Salih is a professor of Civil engineering at Khartoum University, Sudan. After his PhD and DIC at Imperial College, London, he returned to Sudan in 1973 and has since worked in various teaching, research and consulting capacities at the University and abroad. These positions include the deputy vice chancellorship of the University; UNESCO's environmental adviser (Arab Region), deputy secretary of the IHP and director of Cairo and Tehran Offices and director of Water Sciences Division in Paris. He initiated regional and international networks on water resources management in arid zones and served as a jury member of many international water prizes. He is a fellow of the African Academy of Sciences and the International Water Resources Association. He is a member of many International Scientific Associations (IAHR, IAHS, etc.).

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.

Rosswall is former Executive Director of the International Council for Science (ICSU). He has been Rector of the Swedish University of Agricultural Sciences (SLU) and is professor emeritus of water in environment and society at SLU. His research has focused on microbial regulation of nitrogen and carbon cycling from the micro- to the global scale. He has played an important role in the development of global change research as Executive Director of the International Geosphere-Biosphere Programme (IGBP).He was the inaugural Director of START, the capacity building component of the global change research programmes. His memberships include: Academia Europaea; Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences; Royal Swedish Academy of Agriculture and Forestry; and The World Academy of Arts and Science. He is, among many appointments, past Chair of the Scientific Advisory Board of the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency (Sida) and past member of the Steering Committee of the High-level Expert Panel (HLPE) of the UN Committee on World Food Security (CFS)..

Chergui (PhD, 1981, Université Paris-Sud, Orsay) is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry at the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. He studied and worked in the UK, France and Germany. His research focuses on the fundamental aspects of photo-induced dynamics in molecules, proteins, solids and nanosystems, using novel ultrafast spectroscopic tools, which he pioneered, in the deep-ultraviolet and in the X-ray spectral domains. He has been a user of synchrotron radiation, ultrashort pulse lasers and more recently of X-ray free electron lasers. Chergui received, among others: Humboldt Research Award, Kuwait Prize for Physics, Earle K. Plyler Prize from American Physical Society (APS), Edward Stern Prize for Lifetime Achievements (International X-ray Absorption Society), Liversidge Award from Royal Society of Chemistry (RCS), the Khwarizmi International Award, and the Ahmed Zewail Award in Ultrafast Science and Technology (American Chemical Society). He is a Fellow of APS, Optical Society of America, RCS, European Physical Society, American Crystallographic Association, European Academy of Sciences, among others, and a Foreign Correspondent of the Spanish Royal Academy of 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).

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.

Chang [M.D., 1974, National Taiwan University (NTU)] is Distinguished Chair Professor, NTU; past-president, Federation of the International Societies of Pediatric Gastroenterology, Hepatology and Nutrition; member of Hepatology and Pancreaticobiliary Working Group, Internal Medicine Topic Advisory Group for the 11th Revision of the International Classification of Disease, WHO. She provided the first evidence for hepatitis B vaccine as the first effective cancer preventive vaccine in human. Her prizes include Distinguished Achievement Award of American Association for the Study of Liver diseases (AASLD); The World Academy of Sciences Prize; ISI Citation Classic Award; Sheila Sherlock Award of the International Association for the Study of the Liver; Canadian Association for the Study of Liver / Canadian Liver Foundation Sass-Kortsak Award; Asian Pacific Primary Liver Cancer Expert Prof. JL Sung’s Award; Academician of Academia Sinica; Fellow of AASLD.

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.

Chou obtained his PhD at UC Santa Barbara in 1971 and was a postdoc. at Toronto Univ. in 1972. He is chair prof. and dir. of the Research Center for Biodiversity, China Medical U. He was: Dir., Inst. of Botany, Academia Sinica, and dir., Life Sci. Research Promotion Center for NSC, 1989-1996; vice-pres. and Natl. chair prof., Natl. Sun Yat-Sen U., 1999-2002; pres. and chair prof., Natl. Pingtung U. of Sci. and Tech., 2002-2006; and vice-pres., IUBS, 1997-2000, PSA, 2011-2015; Vice-Pres. and EC member, SCOPE. His honors: Academic Award in Agriculture, MOE; Distinguished Research Award, NSC; Highest Award of International Academic Cooperation, Russian Academy of Science, 1999; and Life Time Achievements Award 2009, by Inter. Allelopathy Foundation. Life Time Contri. to Biol. Sci. Award, and Life Time Achiev. Award of Bot. Soc. of Taiwan. He is an Academician, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, 1994.