Dr. Jean Claude Autrey, CSK, BSc (London), MSc, PhD, DSc (Exeter), FTWAS, FMAST, FRSB, CBiol, was previous Director of the Mauritius Sugar Industry Research Institute where his career spanned over 40 years. He is the Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, Past President of the Mauritius Academy of Science and Technology, General Secretary of the International Society of Sugar Cane Technologists and Chair of ACP Sugar Research Programme and Chair of the ACP Scientific Advisory Group on Sugar, Chair Board of Directors, Bonsucro Ltd, London. He has served on various national and international bodies many of which he has chaired. He is a Member of The World Academy of Sciences for the advancement of science in developing countries (TWAS). He is an appointed member of the Conservatoire Board since May 2015.He is Commander of the Order of the Star and Key of the Indian Ocean (CSK) and Paul Harris Fellow of Rotary International.

Babalola (Pr.Sci.Nat, MASSAF, FTWAS, FAS, FAAS, FISC) is the Vice President of the Org. for Women in Sci. for the Developing World. Baba, a National Research Foundation-rated scientist with MBA, sits on several editorial boards and acts as an International Advisor to a few others. She was with Int. Inst. of Tropical Agric (Nigeria), ICIPE (Kenya), Weizmann Inst. of Sci. (Israel), Univ of the Western Cape, and now North-West Univ (South Africa). She has 21 years of rhizosphere research experience. She is passionate about capacity building & has trained 35 PhDs & 25 MScs. Many of her PhD. products are in academics in the UK, Italy, America, Canada, Australia, Sweden, & Africa. She authored 400 publications. She is an AAAS-TWAS Science diplomacy alumnus, impacting the world in policymaking, diplomacy, and diplomatic engagement. Her international experience spans the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. She enjoys global partnerships, and her efforts have received many awards, including the finalist, GenderInSite 2020, Clarivate 2022 & 2023, SAWISA 2024. Baba has an H-index of 71, 23,997 citations & 56 professional certificates. She is #1 in Africa for Soil Science and Plant Nutrition

Badran (MSc and Phd. at Mich State U.) is Chairman Board of Trustees U. of Jordan, Chancellor U. of Petra, with more than 120 pubs., including 46 books and 4 patents. He was awarded honorary doctorates from, Sungkyunkwan U., Seoul; an Honorary Doctorate in Science from Michigan State U.; West Watkins distinguished Lectureship Award and Hall of Fame Alumni Award from Oklahoma State U. USA; Honorary Professorship from Eurasian National U. Kazakhstan; Honorary Doctorate in Business, Yarmouk U., Jordan. Awarded Arab Thought Foundation for best Arab Scientist in higher education research; TWAS Regional Prize for Building Scientific Institutions; Asia award for Outstanding Contribution to education. Badran is a former Prime Minister of Jordan (2005), Minister of Agriculture, Minister of Education, Former Deputy Director General of UNESCO Paris 1990-1998, President Arab Academy of Sciences and AFED.

Baharvand (PhD, 2004, Khwarizmi University) is a Professor, Founder, and Director of Royan Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Technology, Tehran, Iran. His prizes include Mustafa Prize, TWAS Prize in Biology, UNESCO-Equatorial Guinea International Prize, Islamic Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (ISESCO) Prize in Biology, three Razi Research Awards from Iran Ministry of Health and Medical Education, two Khwarizmi International Awards from Iran Ministry of Science, Research and Technology, two Dr. Hadavi’s Awards from Academy of Medical Sciences of Iran, Prominent Professor in 3rd term of Allameh Tabatabaei’s Award from Iran Vice Presidency for Science and Technology and National Elite Foundation, etc. He is a member of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, the International Society for Cell and Gene Therapy, International Society for Extracellular Vesicles. He is currently the editorial board member of eight international journals (e.g., Journal of Biological Chemistry and Scientific Reports from Nature Publishing Group).

Balasubramanian is Distinguished Scientist and Director of Research-Emeritus, L.V. Prasad Eye Institute, Hyderabad, India. After his PhD at Columbia Univ. and postdoctoral research (Univ. of Minnesota), he joined the IIT, Kanpur in 1967. In 1977, he moved to the Univ. of Hyderabad as Professor and later Dean. In 1982, he joined the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, where he was Director (1992-98). He is Fellow of all science academies of India, the German Acad. of Sciences Leopoldina, the Mauritian Acad. of Sciences, the African Acad. of Sciences, and of AAAS, US; member, Intl. Molecular Biology Network and World Innovation Foundation; winner, TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences; Khwarizmi Award, Iran; Bhatnagar, FICCI, Ranbaxy, Goyal and Bhasin Awards, India; UNESCO KALINGA Prize; Indira Gandhi National Award of India, Popularization of Science; Padma Shri; and Chevalier de l'Orde National du Merite, France. His field of research is: the biology of the eye

Basu was educated at Presidency College and Univ College of Science, Kolkata. He obtained his MSc (1964) and PhD (1968) in biochemistry. He is currently JC Bose Chair Professor of the Natl Academy of Sciences India at the Natl Inst of Science Communication and Information Resources, New Delhi. His previous positions include: Faculty associate, Dept of Microbiology, Michael Reese Med Ctr, Chicago; instructor and asst professor, Southwestern Med School, Dallas; asst director, Indian Inst of Chem Biol, Kolkata; deputy director, acting director and director, Inst of Micro Technol, Chandigarh; professor, Jawaharlal Nehru Ctr for Adv Scientific Research, Bangalore; director and professor of eminence of the Natl Institute of Immunology, New Delhi. He is elected member of the Indian Natl Science Acad; Indian Acad of Sciences; Natl Acad of Sciences India; and Amer Soc of Biochem and Mol Biol.

Beyene earned his PhD in prehistory in 1992 from the Muséum national d'Histoire naturelle, Paris, France. He is researcher at the Ethiopian Heritage Authority and affiliated with the French Center for Ethiopian Studies in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Beyene is Fellow of the Ethiopian Academy of Sciences, and International Member of the American Academy of Sciences. He is recipient of the Order of Academic Palms from the French Ministry of Education, France. He is corresponding member of the Institut de paléontologie humaine (Paris, France) and of the Center for Academic Research and Training in Anthropogeny (CARTA), University of Sandiago, CA, USA. He is actively leading and co-leading paleoanthropological research programmes in Ethiopia. He represented Ethiopia in the World Heritage Committee at UNESCO between 2009 and 2012. He initiated and prepared the nomination file for the Konso Cultural Landscape on UNESCO’s World Heritage list (nominated in 2011). He also led the field research and preparation of the dossier for the nomination of the Gedeo Cultural Landscape for UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Bhattacharyya is senior professor, Department of Biochemistry, Bose Institute, Calcutta. After obtaining his PhD from Calcutta University, Bhattacharyya worked at the National Institute of Health, Bethesda, Maryland, for his postdoctoral training. He returned to India and joined the Bose Institute in 1978. He is a recipient of Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Prize in Biological Science, CSIR; PS Sharma Memorial Prize, Society of Biological Chemist (India); Foundation Day Award, Bose Institute; and BC Guha Memorial Award. He is a fellow of the Indian National Science Academy, New Delhi; Indian Academy of Science, Bangalore; and National Academy of Science, Allahabad.

Blundell is Professor Emeritus and Director of Research in Biochemistry, Cambridge, UK, having been Professor of Biochemistry and Head, School of Biological Sciences, until 2009. He obtained D.Phil at Oxford University in 1967, and held positions at Oxford, Sussex and London before moving to Cambridge in 1996. He is a member of Academia Europaea; Fellow of Royal Society, Academy of Medical Sciences, Indian Natl. Academy of Science and Chilean National Academy; and has hon. doctorates from 16 universities. He was member of advisory group to Prime Minister; founding CEO, Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council; Chair, Royal Commission Environmental Pollution; President, Biosciences Fed., Biochemical Society and Science Council. He co-founded Astex Pharma, sold recently for USD886M.

Buschiazzo holds a BSc degree in Biology (Universidad de La Plata, Argentina), and a PhD degree in Chemistry (1999, Institute Leloir, Universidad de Buenos Aires). He later specialized in protein crystallography as a postdoc at the Institut Pasteur (IP) in Paris (Department of Structural Biology and Chemistry), where he obtained a tenured position in 2003. Since 2006 he has been head of the Lab of Molecular and Structural Microbiology at IP Montevideo (a member of the IP International Network) in Uruguay. Maintaining this double appointment, in 2016 he was promoted to associate professor in the Department of Microbiology (IP, Paris). His science is focused on microbiology, aimed at understanding molecular mechanisms of key proteins. A special interest is dedicated to pathogenicity determinants in Leptospira and other bacterial pathogens. Buschiazzo leads a team with strong expertise in the structural biology and biochemistry of bacterial signaling systems. His lab has uncovered how proteins change their shape and conformation in very specific ways, enabling bacteria to sense their environment and internal milieu, and trigger adaptive responses.

Castellanos Serra obtained her Doctorate in Chemistry in 1978 from U. of Paris XI (France), and in 2008 her 'Habilitation'. She is one of the founders of Cuban Biotechnology, first at the Center for Biological Research, and next at the Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology in Havana, as group leader in Protein Chemistry and Proteomics, Div. of Phys. Chem. and Snr Prof., Fac. of Chem. Engg. and the Fac. of Chem. at the U. of Havana. Her main contributions are in the field of development of new methods in Protein Chemistry and Proteomics. She also trains and advises young scientists in the craft of scientific publishing. Her honours include: Cuban Natl Prize in Chemistry; Natl Award in Sciences Carlos J. Finlay; Natl Forum on Sci. and Techn. Award; and Sophia Kowalewskaya Award (USA). She has been incorporated into the Cuban Directory of Relevant Professors of XXth Century.

Cazzulo is professor of protein biochemistry at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnologicas, Universidad Nacional de General San Martin, and Investigador Superior, National Research Council, Argentina, since 1997. His previous positions include: Head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry of Parasites at the Fundacion Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires (1986 – 1997), Head of the Research Department, Instituto Nacional de Parasitologia Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben, Argentinian Health Ministry, Buenos Aires (1980 – 1985), and Professor of Biochemistry, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmaceuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario (1970 – 1980). He has directed or co-directed 28 Ph.D. Thesis. His work has focused on the metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causing agent of Chagas' Disease. His honours include: Doctor Honoris Causa (Medicine), University of Uppsala, Sweden; Medal of the Rector, Universidad de Chile, Santiago; and Dr. A.O.M. Stoppani Prize in Biochemical Parasitology, Argentinian National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences. He is a member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences, since 1987, and the Argentinian National Academy of Sciences, since 2017.

Chakrabarti is senior professor, Department of Biochemistry, and Bioinformatics Centre, Bose Institute, Kolkata. He obtained his PhD from the Indian Institute of Science (1981), did postdoc. research at ETH, Zürich, Purdue Univ., UCLA and Caltech, USA, then worked at the National Chemical Lab., Pune (1990-97). Finding patterns in sequence and structure and deriving the underlying factors stabilizing the native fold of proteins and macromolecular interactions have been the hallmark of Chakrabarti’s work, which spans biophysics and bioinformatics. He is also involved in structural studies on proteins from Vibrio cholera, and the understanding the biological activity of nanoparticles. He is a fellow of all 3 science academies of India, and recipient of the JC Bose Fellowship. He is the President (2013-16) of the Asian Crystallographic Association.

Chaudhary is an Emeritus Professor at Tribhuvan University (TU), Kirtipur, Nepal. He has 40 years' experience in teaching, research and academic administration. He was Executive Director of one of TU research institutes; served as a member of the National Planning Commission of Nepal; Chair of the Board of Governors of the International Centre for Integrated Mountain Development; Trustee of the National Trust for Nature Conservation; team leader of national, regional (Bhutan, China, India, Nepal) and international (Italy, Norway, USA) programmes. He contributed to policy formulation for the Government of Nepal in the fields of biodiversity and environment; widely travelled on foot in mountains of Nepalese Himalaya; visited 10 major herbaria (France, Germany, Norway, Sweden, Russian Federation, UK, USA); received 28 awards and medals; led 28 research projects; supervised five PhD and over 60 Master’s theses. He also established in his name a Gold Medal Award at TU, and a science scholarship in a secondary school in the village where he was born and received his primary education. A new plant species from Nepal, the Saussurea ramchaudharyi (Asteraceae), was named after him.

Chetsanga (PhD Univ. of Toronto, 1969; postdoc fellow, Harvard Univ., 1969-72) is prof. of Biochemistry at the Univ. of Zimbabwe, Harare since 1983 and former chair of the Zimbabwe Council for Higher Education and the Zimbabwe Research and Intellectual Exposition Program (2009-2016). Previous positions include: inaugural Dir. Gen., Scientific and Industrial Research Centre (1993-03); pro-vice chancellor, Univ. of Zimbabwe, Harare (1991-93); member, UNESCO Exec. Board (1996-99); pres., Zimbabwe Acad. of Sciences (2004-2010); prof. of Biochemistry, Univ. of Michigan (1972-83). He is a member of African Academy of Sciences and American Society of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology. His honours include: President’s Award for Distinguished Contribution to Science and Technology (1990); honorary D.Sc. degrees (2000, 2010).

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.

Colli, a biochemistry professor at the U. of São Paulo (USP), received his PhD under the supervision of Isaias Raw and did postdoc work at PHRI, NYC, USA with M. E. Pullman (1966-1968) and M. Oishi (1968-1969). Returning to Brazil in 1970, he established a group, at the Ins. of Chem. (IQUSP), to work with Molecular Parasitology, particularly with Trypanosoma cruzi, the agent of Chagas' disease. He was dean of IQUSP twice, and of the Butantan Inst. (the Snake Farm). He was pres. (2006-2009) of the Brazilian Technical Committee on Biosafety (CTNBio). He received the title of Doctor (h.c.) from the U. of Buenos Aires, the Great Cross Medal of the Natl. Order of Scientific Merit from the Brazilian govt. and is a member of the Brazilian Acad. of Sciences. In 2014 he was awarded the Almirante Álvaro Alberto Prize for Science and Techn., the most prestigious scientific prize in Brazil. Since 2003 he is an Associate to the Science Director of FAPESP for the areas of Health and Biology.

Crewe is a Senior Research Fellow, Centre for the Advancement of Scholarship, U. of Pretoria (UP); Em. Vice-principal of UP; former pres., Acad. of Science of South Africa; fellow, Royal Soc. of South Africa; fellow, African Acad. of Science, and Royal Entomological Soc. of London. He obtained degrees in chemistry and biochemistry at the U. of Natal in Pietermaritzburg. He obtained his PhD in entomology at the U. of Georgia where he developed his interest in chemical communication and social organization in social insects. He was director of the Communication Biology Research Group, U. of Witwatersrand, for 10 years; dean, Science Faculties at both the univ. of Witwatersrand and Pretoria, and pres., Entomological Society of Southern Africa. He has been awarded the Gold Medal, Zoological Society of South Africa, the Gold Medal, Acad. of Science of South Africa and Ordre National du Mérite rank Chevalier.

Datta was educated at the University of Kolkata, India (PhD, 1968, and DSc, 1974). He is Distinguished Professor, Natl. Institute of Plant Genome Research (NIPGR), New Delhi. His previous positions include: Vice chancellor, Jawaharlal Nehru University; General President, Indian Science Congress (2003-2004); founder director and Professor of Eminence, NIPGR; and President, National Academy of Sciences (2009-2010). His honours include: SS Bhatnagar Prize; Guha Memorial Award; GD Birla; BR Ambedkar; RD Birla; Sir Amulya Rattan Oration Award; Om Bhasin; TWAS Award; Adhar Chandra Mookerjee Award, Goyal Prize in Life Sciences; Ranbaxy Award; Padma Shree; Padma Bhushan; Indira Gandhi Priyadarshini, G. M. Modi Science award, Bharat Ratna Mother Teresa Gold Medal Award, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru Gold Medal Award, Bharat Vikas Award, Glory of India Award, Best Citizens of India and Bharat Jyoti Puraskar. His membership includes: INSA; Indian Academy of Sciences; National Science Academy, India; and New York Academy of Sciences.

del Pino is emeritus professor of biological sciences at the Pontifical Catholic University of Ecuador (PUCE). After obtaining her PhD at Emory University, del Pino returned to Ecuador in 1972 and has since worked at PUCE. Her honours include: an Alexander von Humboldt Fellowship (1984-85), a diploma from the World Wildlife Fund for the Education for Conservation in the Galapagos Islands (1986); the L'Oreal/UNESCO Award For Women in Science (2000); the Sheth Distinguished International Emory Alumni Award (2003); the TWAS Medal (2005); the Eugenio Espejo Prize in the Sciences, Govt. of Ecuador (2012), and the 2019 Prize of The Latin American Society for Developmental Biology (LASDB). She is hon. foreign member of the American Society of Ichthyologists and Herpetologists, member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences, hon. foreign member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, foreign associate of the US National Academy of Sciences and founding member of the Ecuador Academy of Sciences.