Dionicia Gamboa Vilela (PhD, 2008, Institute of Tropical Medicine in Antwerp, Belgium, and University of Maastricht, The Netherlands) is professor at Faculty of Science and Engineering, Director of the Centro de Entrenamiento e Investigación Biomédica de la Amazonia (CEIBA) and member of the Institute of Tropical Medicine AvH from Universidad Peruana Cayetano Heredia. Her group carries out multidisciplinary studies about malaria transmission dynamics in the Peruvian Amazon region. She has published more than 100 original articles, and has supervised more than 40 under and postgraduate students who have graduated with a thesis in her lab. She has been a member of the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World (OWSD) since 1996. She received the L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship in 2003, the OWSD - Elsevier Foundation Award for Latin America & Caribbean (2013), and the L'Oréal - UNESCO - CONCYTEC - ANC National Award For Women in Science - Peru in 2015. She is a member of the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene and since 2013 and she is currently part of thePeruvian National Academy of Science board directory (2023 - 2027).

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.

Hung, PhD, is president for China Medical University in Taiwan. He was vice-president for basic research and professor and chair of the Department of Molecular and Cellular Oncology at the MD Anderson Cancer Center, The University of Texas. Hung is a basic scientist with a keen translational vision and especially his recent research effort has significantly contributed to understanding the biology of cancer and to developing combinational cancer therapies to overcome resistance. Up to date, Hung has published more than 679 peer-reviewed articles, of which over 194 were published in journals with impact factor 10 or above. His lifetime h-index reaches to 177 (Google Scholar). He is one of the members of the selection committee for Tang Prize in Biopharmaceutical Science category, and is one of the founding editorial members for Cancer Cell (2002–2020). He serves as Advisory Board/Editors for Molecular Cell, Cancer Research, Cancer and Metastasis Reviews, Molecular Carcinogenesis, Cancer Letters, JCI...etc. He recnetly received the JCA International Award (2023) and the Cell and Cancer Research Elite Award from PPSSC (2024).

Aini Ideris, a renowned scientist in avian medicine, pioneered animal vaccines development in Malaysia. Her research interest is in avian respiratory and immunosuppressive diseases. She plays an instrumental role in advancing efforts towards food security and sustainable food production in developing countries. As a distinguished scientist, Aini was elected to various fellowships, such as, Senior Fellow Academy of Sciences Malaysia (FASc), Fellow Islamic World Academy of Sciences (FIAS), Founding Fellow Malaysian College of Veterinary Specialists (FMCVS), Fellow The World Academy of Sciences, Fellow Malaysian Scientific Association (FMSA), and also elected as an Inaugural Member Hall of Honour, World Veterinary Poultry Association, for her contributions in scientific research and outstanding leadership. Aini has won various national and international awards. She sits on various councils. She has a wealth of experience in administration as well as an educator. She was the eighth Vice Chancellor of Universiti Putra Malaysia (2016–2020) and is currently the Pro-Chancellor of the International Medical University IMU, since 2021. She is also Council member of UCSI University since 2024.

Jayaraman is a biotechnology and plant-microbiology professor at The University of the West Indies (UWI), Trinidad and Tobago (TT). He has completed over 25 funded research projects and published over 125 refereed publications. He has received several awards including UNDP-CARUTA Research Award; UWI Vice-Chancellor's Excellence Award for Outstanding Research Accomplishments; Accreditation Council of Trinidad and Tobago Award, Government of TT for Outstanding Achievements in Applied and Academic Research; and Environmental Management Authority-TT- Greenleaf Award. He is a DST-BOYSCAST Fellow, and an elected Fellow of the Indian Phytopathological Society. He served as advisor to UNU-BIOLAC programme of the UN. He serves as plant protection advisor to programmes for several Caribbean states. A lead trainer for integrated disease/pest management (IDM/IPM) techniques for the Caribbean region, his research projects cover diverse topics focussing on sustainable agriculture including biological control, disease diagnostics, plant-microbe interactions, elicitor-biomolecules, induced disease resistance, seaweed-based products, genetic engineering of plants for biotic stress tolerance, etc.

Kabir earned his MSc in biochemistry in 1983 from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), University of Dhaka (DU), Bangladesh and his PhD in nutritional biochemistry in 1990 from the Laboratory of Nutrition, Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, Japan. He then held a postdoctoral position under a joint fellowship with the United Nations University and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan (April 1994-April 1995). He currently serves as an Academic Advisor (Professor) at Bangladesh Maritime University. He was a former Professor at the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB), University of Dhaka (DU) (December 1997- January 2023); Associate Professor, BMB, DU (December 1991–December 1997); Assistant Professor, BMB, DU (April 1990–December 1991); and Lecturer, BMB, DU (April 1984–March 1990). He was a visiting scientist as a JSPS Fellow at Tohoku University (December 2003–May 2004) & JSPS-Bridge Fellow (Oct. 2012–Nov. 2012), Japan; and at Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Karlsruhe, Germany (August 1998–March 1999).

Li obtained his PhD degree from Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences followed by postdoctoral training at Rockefeller University before joining Shanghai Institute of Biochemistry and Cell Biology in 2007. His research mainly focuses on stem cells and embryonic development. He has made fundamental contributions to the establishment of androgenetic haploid embryonic stem cells (also termed sperm-like stem cells or artificial spermatids) that can be used as sperm replacement for efficient production of semi-cloned mice (so called SC technology). Li has made great efforts to promote the applications of SC technology and shown that it can be used for complex genetic analyses in mice, including efficient generation of mouse models carrying defined point mutations related to human developmental defects; one-step generation mouse models that mimic multiple genetic defects in diseases; and targeted screening of critical genes or nucleotides of a specific gene involved in a developmental process. Recently, Li initiated a project to tag every protein in mice based on SC technology (genome tagging project, GTP), which may enable the precise description of protein atlas in mice.

Mazzafera is a full professor at the University of Campinas (Unicamp), São Paulo, Brazil. He graduated in agronomy and his main knowledge area is plant physiology. He started his career at Agronomic Institute of Campinas, working with coffee, a crop that is still his passion. He teaches plant physiology/biochemistry in undergraduate and graduate courses and supervised more than 120 MSc, PhD and postdoctoral students. Nowadays, his main research areas are lignin metabolism and crop nutrition in coffee, sugarcane, soybean and eucalyptus. He published over 300 refereed scientific articles, book chapters, and technical publications. During his career, he had intense administrative activity. He was head of department at Unicamp twice (1997-2003), director of the Institute of Biology (2006-2010), advisor to the dean of research (2003-2006), advisor to the rector (2011-2013) and director of the National Laboratory of Bioethanol Science and Technology (CTBE) (1985-1986). He is a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and of the Academy of Sciences of São Paulo. He is a level 1A researcher at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Momba is a citizen of the Democratic Republic of the Congo living in South Africa since 1991. She is a full research professor and holds the South African National Research Chair of Water Quality and Wastewater Management at Tshwane University of Technology. Her core research in these areas includes drinking water treatment, industrial wastewater and municipal wastewater treatment, health-related water microbiology, nanotechnology, environmental biotechnology, bioremediation and microbial ecology. After 31 years of specializing in the field of water research, she is a C1 rated scientist in South Africa, and an elected Member of the Academy of Science of South Africa. Her research has attracted global recognition as evidenced by numerous awards, publications in peer review journals, collaborations she has established with other universities beyond the borders of South Africa, and the number of students originating from many parts of Africa who obtained their master and PhD degrees under her guidance and mentorship. Momba is a member of 13 scientific committees and reviewer of about 15 refereed journals. She is a mother.

Prof. Sultana N. Nahar ot The Ohio State University (OSU), USA, a co-founder of atomic astrophysics field, studies the four dominant atomic radiative and collisional processes, such as, radiative transitions, photoionization, electron-ion recombination, electron impact excitation, in astrophysical plasma, X-ray spectroscopy for Bio-medical applications, spectroscopy of kilonovae emission, diagnostics for bio-signature elements in exo-planetary atmosphere, with high accuracy methodology. She has made fundamental contributions to these processes in characterizing resonant features, developed algorithm for theoretical spectroscopy, developed precise unified theory for electron-ion recombination process with A. K. Pradhan at OSU. Findings of their studies are accumulated in the textbook “Atomic Astrophysics and Spectroscopy” (Cambridge U press). Her results from large scale computations are archived in her database, NORAD-Atomic-Data, at OSU. She is active in STEM education and research globally through research training, lectures, introducing and sponsoring programs. She is the founder of the International Society of Muslim Women in Science with members from 33 countries.

Nussenzveig Lopes (PhD, 1991, UC Berkeley, USA) is full professor at the Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro; prior to this she was a professor at the Universidade Estadual de Campinas. Her research area is fluid dynamics and partial differential equations. She served as editor-in-chief for the Brazilian Math Society publishing company and on several mathematics journals editorial boards; she is managing editor for Orbita Mathematicae, the new journal of the Unión Matemática de América Latina y el Caribe. She was second vice-president of the Sociedade Brasileira de Matemática Aplicada e Computacional. She served on the scientific council of the Centre International des Mathématiques Pures et Appliquées - CIMPA and is currently President of CIMPA. She is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and of the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. She was inducted to the Order of Scientific Merit, Comendador class, and she was an invited speaker at the 2018 International Congress of Mathematicians. She received the TWAS Award in Mathematics in 2022.

Osier's expertise is in malaria, where she believes we can "Make Malaria History" through vaccination. She previously led two core teams of over 25 scientists in Kenya and Germany, that focused on creating highly effective malaria vaccines through vaccine candidate discovery, identifying immune correlates of protection and unravelling important mechanisms underlying antibody-dependent protection. They designed an innovative protein microarray KILchip©, a first of its kind in Africa. Through the SMART partnership, they assembled 10,000 samples from across Africa to probe their chip, the largest study of this nature. They created a paradigm shift in the understanding of the mechanisms that underpin protective immunity to malaria. Osier is past president of the International Union of Immunological Societies (> 60,000 members globally)—the first African and only second woman in this role. She has won prestigious prizes including: Royal Society Pfizer; Sofja Kovalevskaja; and UK Medical Research Council - UK Department for International Development African Research Leader. She was honored with the prestigious British Society of Immunology Honorary Lifetime Membership Award (2022).

Ovbiagele, MD, MSc, MAS, MBA, MLS, is professor of neurology and associate dean at the University of California, San Francisco. His primary research involves translation of evidence-based interventions into clinical practice and community settings, to improve stroke outcomes for underserved and vulnerable populations around the world. He currently leads several studies of stroke in the US and sub-Saharan Africa. Ovbiagele has published over 600 peer-reviewed articles (h-index 89) in the areas of stroke prevention, risk factors and outcomes. His work has been recognized with the Pessin and Wartenberg Awards of the American Academy of Neurology; Penn Award of the American Neurological Association; Mridha Humanitarian Award of the American Brain Foundation; Feinberg and Stroke Council Awards of the American Stroke Association; Haddock International and Distinguished Scientist Awards of the American Heart Association, and Meritorious Achievement Award of the National Medical Association. He chaired the International Stroke Conference (2016-2018) and is current editor-in-chief of the Journal of the American Heart Association. He serves on the board of the World Stroke Organization.

Pant obtained her MSc in botany from Tribhuvan University, and a PhD in biotechnology from Hiroshima University, Japan. Her major fields of research are application of plant tissue culture in threatened, endangered and economically important plant species in Nepal. She is currently a professor in Central Department of Botany, Tribhuvan University, and also leads Annapurna Research Centre, a non-governmental, and non-profit organization, as a research director. Since over two decades, her active leadership has contributed significantly in developing and promoting tissue culture technology for economic benefit for the people of Nepal through her groundbreaking research. Pant is one of the very few Nepali scientists who have passionately and consistently worked in this important field of research. She has made significant contributions to academics as well as in human resource development in her country by supervising PhD and master’s students. She has contributed to the establishment and development of biotechnology education and research in Nepal by her involvement in various activities.

Piao (PhD, 2004, Peking University, China) is Boya Distinguished Professor, director of Institute of Carbon Neutrality, deputy director of Department of Science, Peking University. He is a Member of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and a Member of Standing Committee for the fourteenth Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference. He served on the Scientific Steering Committee for Global Carbon Project and acted as lead author for the fifth and sixth assessment reports of Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change. His researches have focused on the relationships between terrestrial ecosystems and climate change, and he has made systematic scientific achievements in assessing the carbon sink of China's terrestrial ecosystems, and the response and feedback of terrestrial ecosystems to climate change. He has published over 100 papers as first or corresponding author in peer-reviewed international journals, including four articles in Nature, many in Nature-branded journals and PNAS. His researches were elected as one of the Top 10 News of Chinese Fundamental Research in 2009 and Top 10 Scientific and Technological Advances in Chinese Higher Education Institutions in 2013.

Prasad (PhD, Harvard University, 1989) has been chair professor, Indian Institute of Technology Bombay, Mumbai, India, since November 2018. He was distinguished professor (till April 2020) and dean, School of Mathematics (2011–2013), Tata Institute of Fundamental Research, Mumbai; president, Commission on Developing Countries of International Mathematical Union (2018–22); and president, Indian Mathematical Society (2022). He is an elected Fellow of the Indian Academy of Science (1995), and Indian National Science Academy (2003). He was awarded: Swarnajayanti Fellowship for Mathematics (1998–2003); JC Bose Fellowship (2010–2015 and 2015–2020); and Mega Grant, St. Petersburg, Russia (2018–2021). Prasad received the S.S. Bhatnagar Award for Mathematical Sciences (2002), and the TWAS Award in Mathematics (2019). Among his professional recognitions are: membership, Institute for Advanced Study, Princeton (1992–93, 2006–07); research professorship, Mathematical Sciences Research Institute, Berkeley, USA (2014); Chaire Jean Morlet, Centre International de Rencontres Mathématiques, Marseille, France (2016). He was an Invited speaker at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2018.

Primavera (PhD in marine science, University of the Philippines Diliman; MA in zoology, Indiana University, USA) taught at Mindanao State University, but a rebellion made her growing family flee to relative peace in Iloilo, central Philippines, where she worked at Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center, Aquaculture Department. Since her studies in the 1980s, she rang early warning bells on the perils of unplanned aquaculture. Her research shifted to the mangrove-penaeid shrimp connection and mangrove-friendly aquaculture for which she was conferred a PhD honoris causa by Stockholm University (2004). The citation read: … she has shown that mangroves are key areas for recruitment of fish and shrimp and that development of conventional shrimp farming may have far reaching negative economic and social implications… [To] create sustainable alternatives she is now doing research on … integrated farming of shrimp, fish, crabs and mangrove. She has published ~170 scientific papers, reviews, manuals, books and other publications, including the Handbook of Mangroves in the Philippines – Panay (2005 Outstanding Book Award by National Academy of Science and Technology, Philippines).

Qiao is academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, vice-president of the China Association for Science and Technology, executive vice-president of Peking University, director of Peking University Health Science Center, academician of American Academy of Arts and Sciences (International Honorary Member), and Honorary Fellow of Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. She has a high reputation in the field of reproductive medicine in China and worldwide. For more than 30 years, she has endeavored to unravel the profound mystery of human reproduction and achieved a number of theoretical and technical breakthroughs in the systematic study of gametogenesis and embryo development, infertility causes and clinical treatments, the protection and preservation of female fertility as well as developing a series of new pre-implantation diagnosis (PGT) methods, which greatly reduces the cost and improves the efficiency in identifying inherited diseases. She also continuously pays attention to the construction of the maternal and child public health system, and the health of women and children throughout their entire life cycle.

Rangappa has developed more than 7,500 synthetic small molecules and implemented some of them against therapeutically important proteins. He served as a postdoctoral fellow, research associate, and visiting professor in more than 10 countries. He is a Fellow of: Royal Society of Chemistry, London; National Academy of Sciences, India; Biotech Research Society of India; and Karnataka Science and Technology Academy, India. He has published over 650 research papers in peer reviewed journals, and holds 14 patents for small-molecule inhibitors of therapeutic targets. Three of his patented compounds namely DMBO, NPB, and AMPC have been sold commercially as pharmacological inhibitors of growth factors, BAD protein, TFF3, NF-κB, CXCR4, c-MET, human methionyl-tRNA synthetases, Wnt/β – catenin, EGFR, TGFβ, PI3K/AKT/mTOR, heparanase and many more therapeutically relavant proteins which are constitutively expressed in various human cancers respectively. His publications received over 17526 scientific citations, with an h-index of 69. He has guided 64 candidates for PhD degree.

Prof. V. Ramgopal Rao is the Group Vice-Chancellor of BITS Pilani, overseeing campuses in Pilani, Hyderabad, Goa, Dubai, and Mumbai. Before joining BITS in 2023, he served as Director of IIT Delhi (2016-2021) and was a Chair Professor at IIT Bombay & IIT Delhi. A globally recognized Nanoelectronics researcher, he has 500+ research papers, 50+ patents (20 US-issued), and 15 licensed patents, including IP used in millions of ICs. He co-founded two deep-tech startups, Nanosniff & Soilsens, with successful products. Prof. Rao played a key role in India's Nanoelectronics programs and is a Fellow of IEEE, TWAS, INAE, IASc, NASI, and INSA. He has supervised 52 Ph.D. students working globally. His 40+ awards include the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize, Infosys Prize, IEEE EDS Education Award, and three honorary doctorates. He also chairs multiple national committees on Education, Research, and Innovation. He is the BoG Chairperson of JNCASR & NIFTEM, two institutions of national importance in India..

Moslehian is a professor of mathematics at the Ferdowsi University of Mashhad, Iran. He was the President of the Iranian Mathematical Society for three years and is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Iran. His research areas mainly include operator theory, functional analysis, and linear algebra. He was a senior associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics - ICTP (Italy) for five years and a visiting professor at several universities in England, Sweden, and Japan. He is the editor-in-chief of the journals Banach Journal of Mathematical Analysis, Annals of Functional Analysis, and Advances in Operator Theory being published by Birkhäuser/Springer.

Shahnaz, Senior Members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, received her PhD degree from Concordia University, Canada, as a winner of the Canadian Common Scholarship. She has been a professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology since 2015. She was a recipient of Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal for her contributions in science and technology. Recently, her nomination has been approved and she has been inducted into IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu as a Professional Member into the Eta Chapter of the board of governors. She has been elected as 2022 IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee chair-elect and she is serving as the 2023–24 IEEE WIE committee chair. She has been appointed as 2022–23 member, IEEE New Initiative Committee; 2021–23 Member, IEEE History Committee; liaison between IEEE History Committee and IEEE WIE. She has served as 2021–23 chair, IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Women in Signal Processing; 2021–23 liaison between IEEE SPS and IEEE WIE; 2021–22 member, IEEE Educational Activities Board Faculty Resource Committe.

Zabta K. Shinwari is a distinguished Pakistani scientist, academic leader and internationally recognised scholar whose contributions span molecular systematics, agricultural biotech, medicinal plant ecology, bioethics, biosafety and sustainable development. He holds a D.Sc. from Kyoto University, Japan, and has served in senior academic and scientific leadership positions, including Vice Chancellor of Kohat University of Science and Technology, University of Science and Technology Bannu, Qarshi University Lahore, and Federal Urdu University of Arts, Science and Tech. He is Distinguished National Professor and Professor Emeritus at Quaid-i-Azam University and Vice President of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. A Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Islamic World Academy of Sciences and The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS), he has received international distinctions, including Tamgha-e-Imtiaz, Sitara-e-Imtiaz, UNESCO Avicenna Gold Medal for ethics in Science. HEC Best University Teacher Award and the Distinguished Scientist Award of the Chinese Academy of Sciences. His sustained contributions to responsible science, biodiversity conservation biotechnology, biosecurity

Ramesh T Subramaniam is a material scientist well known for his outstanding scholastic contribution on solutions for energy storage and harvesting devices for clean energy and sustainable smart cities of tomorrow. He received the Pacifichem Young Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society, the Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the Established Scientist Award by the Royal Society, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - China Scholar Award, and the Science and Technology Award from the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation. He was selected as an InterAcademy Partnership Young Scientist, and is a member of the Global Young Academy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. He is also a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship at Princeton University, USA, and of the International Senior Research Fellowship, and Visiting Senior Fellowship of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham University, UK, where he is also a distinguished Fellow. He was recognized as one of the world's top 2% scientists for career-long citation Impact.

Van Sluys (PhD in genetics and microbiology, 1989) is a full professor at the Universidade de São Paulo. Her research focuses on plant-microbe interaction relevant to agriculture and the natural environment, emphasizing genome evolution and how transposable elements may account for genetic diversity. She contributed to spreading biotechnology and genomics in Brazil and supervised over 50 students working in the field, now based in Brazil or abroad. Among other activities, she also contributed to organizing the Plant Molecular Biology research community in Brazil. She published over 100 papers, attended scientific meetings as a speaker, and organized multiple symposia and conferences. Van Sluys served as life-science adjunct panel member at FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) for 15 years, and at the Brazilian Research Council (CNPq) for 4 years. She served on international scientific panels, including the National Academies, USA. Van Sluys has been a member of the São Paulo Academy of Sciences (ACIESP) since 2015, presently Vice President and was elected to the Brazilian Academy of Sciences (ABC) in 2016. Acting on Strategic Committees from ABC, ACIESP, SBPC (Br) and IRD (Fr).

Wasay is currently Alicharan endowed professor of neurology at Aga Khan University (AKU); past president, Pakistan Society of Neurology and Pakistan Stroke Society; president, Neurology Awareness and Research Foundation; chairman, advocacy and awareness task force of World Federation of Neurology; editor, Pakistan Journal of Neurological Sciences; chief editor, Jahan e Aasab (neurology public awareness magazine); chair, seed grants research committee at AKU; and co-chair, Non-Communicable Diseases Think Tank at AKU. Wasay received several national and international awards for educational, research and advocacy activities, including Teachers Recognition Award (American Academy of Neurology), Distinguished Teacher Award (Pakistan Society of Neurology), Outstanding Teacher Award (AKU), Gold Medal for Research (Pakistan Academy of Medical Sciences), Advocacy Leader of the Year Award (American Academy of Neurology), Victor Rivera Award (UT Southwestern Medical Center, USA) and Lester R. Bryant Founders Award (Marshall University, Huntington, USA). He was awarded fellowship of the Pakistan Academy of Medical Science and Gold Medal in Health Sciences by the Pakistan Academy of Sciences.

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.

Yang is professor at the Institute of Genetics and Developmental Biology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IGDB-CAS). He obtained his PhD in 1994 from Wageningen University, the Netherlands. From 1994–2000, he did postdoctoral research in Wageningen University; Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, USA; and the Institute of Molecular Agrobiology, Singapore. In 2000, he joined the Temasek Life Sciences Laboratory in Singapore as senior scientist. Since 2003, Yang has been a principal investigator at IGDB-CAS. His researches focus on molecular mechanisms governing plant development and molecular mechanisms of nitrogen-fixing rhizobium symbioses. He has obtained a series of outstanding achievements in the field of plant development. He has published over 100 papers in top international journals, including Cell, Nature, and Science. He is an academic leader in the field of plant developmental biology in China, and has important international academic influence. Yang received many academic awards and honors.

Ye (PhD in mathematics, Moscow State University, 1991) is a full professor, Department of Mathematics, University of Science and Technology of China. He had a postdoctoral affiliation at International Centre for Theoretical Physics, Italy (1991–1993). He has been engaged in the research of topological dynamic systems, ergodic theory and its applications to combinatorial number theory for nearly 40 years. With his collaborators, he has carried out in-depth research on the structure and saturation theorems of dynamical systems, convergence of multiple ergodic averages, entropy theory, complexity of dynamical systems and its applications; and obtained a series of profound results. Ye received the 14th Shiing-Shen Chern Prize issued by the Chinese Mathematical Society in 2013, the Second Prize of National Natural Sciences in 2018, and the He Liang He Li Award for Progress in Science and Technology in 2020. He was elected as a Member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019.

Zhang is a professor at University of Science and Technology Beijing (USTB, China). He obtained his PhD degree on metal physics in 1993 from USTB. He was awarded the National Outstanding Young Scientist Fund in 2003, and elected as academician of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2019. He currently serves as the director of State Key Laboratory for Advanced Metals and Materials, director of Beijing Key Laboratory for Advanced Energy Materials and Technologies, and dean of the Academy for Advanced Interdisciplinary Science and Technology at USTB. Zhang has been nominated as chair scientist of major national scientific research programmes, member of the general expert group of the National Key Research and Development Programme on Nanoscience and Nanotechnology, member of the Materials Science and Engineering Group of the disciplinary appraisal panels in the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council, deputy director of Materials Department of Science and Technology Commission of the Ministry of Education of China, Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, chairman of the Chinese Society of Stereology, as well as executive council member of the Chinese Society of Metals.

Abd Rahman obtained her PhD in organic synthesis from Cambridge University in 1990 and subsequently joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Malaya. From 2006–2014, she was the director of the Institute of Research Management and Monitoring, and in 2015 she was appointed deputy vice-chancellor (research & innovation) of University of Malaya, until her official retirement in November 2021. In 2014, she was named a Fellow of the Malaysian Academy of Sciences (ASM) and was bestowed the Top Research Scientist Award (TRSM). In 2018, she was elected Fellow (ChM) of the Institut Kimia Malaysia and, in 2024, she was named a Fellow of The World Academy of Science. She chairs the Malaysian Open Science Alliance (MOSA) that oversees the implementation of the national open science initiatives (MOSP) since 2019. In 2024, she was elected as the Secretary-General of ASM.

Agarwal obtained his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1994, from Malviya Regional Engineering, Jaipur and his Master of Technology and PhD (both in energy, in 1996 and 1999 respectively) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. After his postdoctoral fellowship (1999–2001) at University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), he joined IIT Kanpur in 2001. His interests are internal combustion engines, alternate and conventional fuels, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, fuel sprays, lubricating oil tribology, and large-bore engines. He has developed laser-fired hydrogen and compressed natural gas engines in automotive sizes, and the first electronic fuel injection system equipped with a locomotive engine for Indian Railways. Agarwal has published 525+ journal and conference papers, 63 books, 129 chapters, 17300+ Scopus Citations, and 26000+ Google Scholar citations. He is an editor of Fuel. He is a Fellow of NASI (2018), RSC (2018), AAAS (2020), and Combustion Institute (2022), and the recipient of many awards including Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019), and Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017.

Gabriela Araujo-Pardo earned her PhD at the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM (2000) and had a postdoctoral position at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain (2002). In 2020, she took a sabbatical year at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Currently, she is a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics (Campus Juriquilla) and a member level III at the national system of researchers of CONAHCyT. Her area of expertise is discrete mathematics, specifically finite geometries and their relationship with graph theory. She has published approximately 70 research articles, supervised theses at all levels, and participated in more than 80 conferences, both nationally and internationally. Gabriela Araujo-Pardo was de president of the Mexican Mathematical Society between 2022 to 2026. She received the "Sofía Kovalevskaia Support" from the Mexican Mathematical Society and the Sofía Kovalevskaia Foundation in 2003. She has been a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences since November 2013 and received the "Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 2013" recognition from UNAM in the same year. She became a TWAS Fellow in 2024.

Banu's research focuses on mycobacterial infections, epidemiology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, all fields where she has fostered international and national collaborations. She is currently a senior scientist and head of the program for emerging infections under the Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b, where she has been working since 1991. Among her achievements are establishing the state-of-the-art BSL 2+ mycobacteriology laboratory at icddr,b; conducting the first-ever MDR-TB sentinel surveillance in Southeast Asia; bringing in new tools and technology in advancing TB diagnosis and management; research on TB prevalence and transmission in prison settings; standardizing stool processing method for Xpert MTB/RIF assay; and the successful development and implementation of an innovative social enterprise model for TB diagnosis and management in the private sector which has been incorporated in the National Strategic Plan. Banu is a fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, and serves as a member in several scientific/programme committees, and has over 120 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Chandak, a physician scientist, is the former director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, and Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose Fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in biochemistry from the Institute of Medical Sciences, at Banaras Hindu University, and his PhD in biochemistry from Osmania University. He is a Fellow of all four National Science Academies in India. His research interests include understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis of complex disorders of pancreas, including chronic pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, and intermediate traits associated with them, with a focus on the foetal origins of adult common diseases. His other passion includes reducing the genetic burden on the society through the development of robust, rapid and affordable genetic tests for common genetic disorders like hemoglobinopathies and musculopathies and extending prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling to the common man. He has developed a whole blood-based screening-cum-confirmatory molecular test that can help in early identification and aid to eliminate sickle cell anaemia In India.

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.

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.

Fontes is a professor at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology in plant-pest interaction, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and the National Order of Scientific Merit by the Brazilian Presidency. She was the coordinator of graduate programmes at UFV, head of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, scientific director of the Arthur Bernardes Foundation, and member of the CNPq Genetics Advisory Committee and Fapemig Agricultural Advisory Committee. She is a member of the CAPES Evaluation Committee of Graduate Programmes in biotechnology and serves as a monitoring and associate editor for scientific journals. She received numerous prestigious awards, including the Marcos Luiz dos Mares Guia Award, senior researcher category by the Secretary of Science and Technology of MG, Capes Thesis Advising 2021 Award and Honorable Mentions, Nano Cell Institute Award, Winner of the II Scientists and Entrepreneur of the Year, Fundação Arthur Bernardes Award for research achievement and Peter H. Rolfs Medal of Merit in Research by UFV.

Gumel is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and the Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed E-Nnovate Chair in Mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, USA. He also holds the honorary Extraordinary Professor position at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His research focuses on using mathematical approaches to gain insight and provide understanding on the transmission dynamics and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases of major public health significance. He has authored over 170 peer-reviewed research articles, supervised many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and written four edited books. He is the editor-in-chief of Mathematical Biosciences, one of the premier journals for mathematical biology research, and the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including the 2021 Bellman Prize, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Mathematical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, African Academy of Sciences, Nigerian Academy of Science, African Scientific Institute. He presented the 2021 Einstein Public Lecture of the American Mathematical Society.

Hamid is a distinguished social scientist and a pioneering figure in gerontology, renowned for her contribution to gerontology education, research, and policy development in Malaysia and the surrounding region. She established a multi- and trans-disciplinary research institute at Universiti Putra Malaysia, in 2002, and was appointed as its founding director. The Institute was awarded the national status of Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing, in 2015, and Hamid remained as its first director until 2020. The institute spearheaded research programmes and established postgraduate programmes in social gerontology, medical gerontology, and gerontechnology, which attracted local and international students. As a professional in the field of gerontology, Hamid sits in several national and international committees related to population aging. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Science Malaysia and is actively involved in civil society organisations related to older persons and social welfare development in Malaysia. She was an independent director of the Private Pension Administration Malaysia (2020–2024), and was appointed as chairperson from 25 June 2024 until 2026.

Hasanuzzaman is a professor of agronomy at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He earned his PhD at Ehime University, Japan, and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. Subsequently, he became an adjunct senior researcher at the University of Tasmania. Hasanuzzaman has more than 400 Scopus-indexed publications, of which more than 250 in the Web of Science. His publications are cited over 41000 times as per Scopus with an H-index of 99 (as of July 2026). He is an editor and a reviewer for more than 80 peer-reviewed international journals and the recipient of Publons Peer Review Award (in 2017, 2018, and 2019). In 2014, he received the TWAS Young Scientist Award. He was also awarded the University Grants Commission Gold Medal, the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal Award, the Global Network of Bangladeshi Biotechnologists Award and the Society for Plant Research Young Scientist Award. He is a Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Biology, and the Linnean Society of London. He was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate (2021, 2022).

Heilbron earned a Bachelor of Science (1980) and a Master of Science in geology (1984) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a PhD in geosciences from São Paulo University (1993). She carried out postdoctoral studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal, working with Uranium–lead dating geochronology (2000–2001), and at Salzburg University, Austria (2018–2019), where she carried out Argon-Argon geochronology and tectonics. She completed her senior internships at Mainz University, Alberta University at Edmonton, ANU in Australia and Portsmouth University, UK. Presently, she is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and TWAS. In 1983, she joined the Geology Institute of Rio de Janeiro State University as a full professor. Besides teaching, she coordinated the postgraduate programme, and directed the Geology Institute (2003–2006). She served as the provost of postgraduate studies and research (2000–2015), and was appointed director of the International Office of UERJ in 2024. She is head of the GeoAtlantic Institute (CNPq) and of the Tektos Research Group developing research and applied projects.

Huang is a distinguished professor and founder of the College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, and director at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Western Ecological Safety, Lanzhou University. He is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Meteorological Society, and China National Committee for the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences. His research focuses on semi-arid climate change by combining observations, numerical modelling, and theoretical studies. He established the theoretical framework of a semi-arid climate change mechanism that emphasizes the effects of aerosol-cloud-precipitation, land-atmosphere, and ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate change in semi-arid regions. In recent years, Huang has pioneered a series of studies on the oxygen cycle and land cancer. Additionally, Huang is among the most highly cited researchers for three consecutive years in 2021, 2022, and 2023 according to Clarivate, with an H-Index of 73. He has received several awards for his research achievements, including the Second Prize of National Natural Science Award in 2013 and the First National Innovation Award in 2017.