Tenenblat obtained her MSc (1969) at the Univ. of Michigan and PhD (1972) at the Instituto de Matemática Pura e Aplicada, Rio de Janeiro. She has served in various capacities at the Univ. de Brasilia, Brazilian Mathematical Society, Ministry of Education, Ministry of Science and Technology (Brazil) and other organizations and committees. She is professor emeritus of mathematics at the Univ. de Brasilia. An expert in differential geometry, she has advanced understanding of the interaction between differential geometry and partial differential equations. With S.S. Chern and other collaborators, she helped develop the classification of systems of differential equations that describe pseudo-spherical surfaces. Her membership includes: Brazilian Mathematical Society; American Mathematical Society; Brazilian Academy of Science; and Brazilian Society for the Advancement of Science. She received the Comendador de Ordem Nacional do Merito Cientifico from the President of Brazil in 1996.

Viana is professor of mathematics at IMPA, Rio de Janeiro, where he has been a researcher since his doctorate in 1990. He has written over eighty research papers and books, covering several topics of dynamical systems and ergodic theory, and supervised thirty six doctoral students. He was plenary speaker, International Congress of Mathematicians, Berlin, 1998; invited speaker, ICM, Zurich, 1994; plenary speaker, International Congress of Mathematical Physics, Paris, 1994; plenary speaker, Latin American Congress of Mathematicians, Córdoba, 2012. He was awarded the TWAS Award in Mathematics; Latin American Mathematical Union Award; Grand Croix of Scientific Merit, President of Brazil; Ramanujan Prize, ICTP/IMU; Grand Prix Scientifique Louis D. Institut de France. He is member of the Brazilian, Portuguese and Chilean Academies of Sciences, and was the Scientific Coordinator of the Latin American Mathematical Union (UMALCA), the president of the Brazilian Mathematical Society and a vice-president of the International Mathematical Union (IMU). He is the director of IMPA and the head organizer of the International Congress of Mathematicians ICM 2018.

Wang currently holds the C.N. Yang Professorship of Institute for Advanced Study at Tsinghua University. She is President of Chinese Association for Cryptologic Research (CACR), Vice-President of Chinese Mathematical Society, academician of Chinese Academy of Sciences, and International Association for Cryptologic Research (IACR) Fellow. She has been dedicating herself to cryptology and cryptologic mathematics. Main contributions were published in over 60 papers, many of which were in international top conferences in cryptology, including Crypto, Eurocrypt, Asiacrypt, Conference on Fast Software Encryption, etc. Her honours and awards include first prize of Chinese National Science and Technology Progress Award (2020), 2005 Test-of-Time Award for Crypto (2020), Levchin Prize for Real-World Cryptography (2020), Future Science Prize in Mathematics and Computer Science (2019), Special Prize for Cryptographic Innovation of CACR (2014), the Su Buchin Prize (2010) by China Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, second class prize of Chinese National Natural Science Award (2008), Tan Kah Kee Science Award (2006), and Qiushi Outstanding Scientist Award (2006).

Yang received his PhD degree in 1993 from the University of California, Davis, United States. After a post-doctoral fellowship at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, he joined the City University of Hong Kong in 1994 and was promoted to chair professor of mathematics in 2007. He was the president of Hong Kong Mathematical Society (2016-2020). Yang is a member of the European Academy of Sciences, Hong Kong Academy of Sciences, and a foreign member of Academia Europaea. He is also a fellow of American Mathematical Society.

Yassemi is Professor of Mathematics at the University of Tehran. He completed his PhD in 1994 under supervision of Hans-Bjoern Foxby at the University of Copenhagen-Denmark. He is the Head of School of Mathematics, Statistics and Computer science at the University of Tehran (2014-2020). He was the Head of the School of Mathematics at the Institute for Research in Fundamental Sciences (2007-2009). In 2009 he received the KHWARAZMI international award in basic sciences and in the same year he received the COMSTECH international award. He was associated member of the Abdus Salam ICTP, Trieste-Italy (1996-2004). He visited prestigious institutes, Max-Planck Institute for Mathematics, Bonn-Germany, Institute des hautes etudes scientifiques, Paris-France and Tata institute of fundamental research, Mumbai-India, several times. In 2019 he was named Chevalier of the Ordre des Palmes Académiques for distinguished effort on extended multi-dimensional cooperation, including scientific research projects (Jundi-Shapur), student-and professor- exchanges, and several schools and conferences.

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.

Professor Olanike Adeyemo pioneered scholarship and leadership in “One Health”, an innovative transdisciplinary research that cuts across traditional boundaries and paradigms to create novel conceptual, methodological, and translational innovation at the environment-livestock-wildlife-human interface. Her findings from studies on environmental pollution, food safety /anti-microbial resistance, and emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases provides credible transdisciplinary research-backed evidence on the complex linkage between Environmental, Animal and Human Health with significant policy implication for Nigeria, the African Continent and indeed the rest of the world. Among other preferments, she is a Fellow of International Science Council (2022), Fellow, the Nigerian Academy of Science (2016), Fellow, African Academy of Sciences (2012). She was featured in “Women in Science - Inspiring Stories from Africa”, “Black Achievers in Science and Technology” and recently recognized as “Scientist of the Year 2020” in the “Natural Sciences category” of the Open International Competition by the International Achievements Research Center, Chicago, IL, USA.

Ahmed (PhD, 1987, Mines ParisTech, France) is Retired Professor, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad, India. An earth scientist, he worked extensively on groundwater hydrology in his 37 years’ career at CSIR- National Geophysical Research Institute, Hyderabad. Later he was Chair Professor in Jamia Millia Islamia, New Delhi. He led a large number of national and international projects on Earth science including the National Aquifer Mapping, India using heli-borne geophysics. He has about 200 SCI publications and supervised 40 doctoral students. He is Secretary of the Asian-GWADI. His awards include National Geoscience Award, International Prize for Water Sciences, National Mineral Award, INC-IAH Excellence Award, NGRI-AHI National Lecture Award, IGU-Annie Talwani Memorial Prize, Young Scientist Award. He is Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences of India. Ahmed has led the Indo-French Centre for Groundwater Research in Hyderabad for almost two decades as its founder head. He has been visiting Fellow to the Aligarh Muslim University and visiting professor to Kashmir University, India. Presently he is Consultant in Islamic University of Science and Technology, Kashmir

Armienta is a senior researcher at the Geophysics Institute of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM). Her investigations have unraveled groundwater contamination sources and determined the geochemical processes involved in the environmental mobility of arsenic and heavy metals. She developed methods to remediate contaminated water with native rocks. Results of her studies were applied by authorities to solve pollution problems. She identified chemical species in water related to the activity of hazardous volcanoes, to be used for volcanic risk assessment. Armienta is a member of the Scientific Advisory Committee of Popocatépetl volcano. She has authored more than 180 scientific publications in international journals and books. She was the Mexican coordinator of the Iberoarsen network aimed to solving arsenic problems in Latin America and the Iberian Peninsula. She is a National Research Level III (highest) by Mexican National Science Council; she was awarded Juana Ramírez de Asbaje merit by UNAM, Academic and Research Trajectory recognition by the Mexican Association of Geohydrology, and Earth Sciences Teacher of the Year award by the Mexican Geophysical Union.

Artaxo is professor of environmental physics at the Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. He obtained his MSc and PhD in physics also at USP. He has previously worked at NASA, Harvard University (USA), Antwerp, Stockholm and Lund Universities. His main interest is in global climate change with a focus on the role of aerosol particles in the radiative balance as well as on environmental issues in Amazonia. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science and member of the IPCC. He has been honored on several occasions: In 2004 he received a Senate vote of approval for his Brazilian scientific work on Amazonian environment, and awarded a Doctor of Philosophy Honoris Causa in 2009 at the University of Stockholm, Sweden. He is one of the most cited Brazilian researchers with more than 480 papers, with 51,300 citations in Google Scholar, with an h-index of 105. Has 24872 citations in the Research ID with an h-index of 83. Published 27 papers in the Science and Nature family of journals. He received the prize of "Most Influential Researcher" from Clarivate in 2014, 1015, 2018 and 2019.

Prof. Chaibi (PhD Agriculture Engineering and Climate Technologies, Swedish U. of Agriculture Sciences) is Research Dir., Natl. Research Inst. for Agricultural Engineering, Water and Forestry in Tunisia. His major accomplishments include the development of autonomous and integrated complex systems for supporting sustainable livelihood in areas poor in fresh water, thus providing communities with basic needs such as water food and energy. He was appointed in 2015 as GIZ senior advisor for the academic affairs and International affairs, and from 2008 to 2015 to serve the African Union in developing and coordinating processes in science, technology and innovations policy in Africa. He was elected Member, Governing Council, African Acad. of Sciences (AAS) representative of North Africa Region (2010), Fellow, AAS (2006), Fellow; IAS (2017). He served in various capacities as associate member of the Environmental Security panel under the NATO Science for Peace and Security and the EC Frameworks Programs.

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 160 research papers in reputed international journals and written three books and 11 book chapters with a Google H-index of 39. 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 is member of CAS, professor and director of Institute of Tibetan Plateau Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). He is the president and fellow of China Geography Society. He obtained his PhD in 1990 at Lanzhou University. He is vice-presidents of IGU Environment Evolution Commission, China Society on Tibetan Plateau, Chinese Quaternary Science Associate. His prizes include China National Excellent Scientist in 2005; National Science Foundation for Distinguished Young Scholars in 2003; China Youth Science and Technology Award in 1996; Second award of National Natural Science in 2007 and 2018; five awards of Natural Science by Ministry of Education of China. He has published more than 690 papers in peer-reviewed journals of both English and Chinese with more than 420 papers published in SCI journals such as Nature, Science, NCC, NC, PNAS, QSR, which are cited more than 19900 times by papers of SCI journals with H index of 69.

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.

Cordani is emeritus professor, Institute of Geosciences, University of São Paulo (USP), Brazil. He was trained in geochronology at UC Berkeley (1963) under the guidance of John Reynolds, and obtained his DSc (USP) in 1968. In the 60’s he established a geochronological laboratory that gained international recognition. At the USP he was director of the Institute of Geosciences (1987-1991) and Institute of Advanced Studies (1994-1997). He was president of the International Union of Geological Sciences (1988-1992) and the 31st International Geological Congress (Rio de Janeiro, 2000). He has published ca. 280 scientific articles, and received many awards, among which the Great Cross of Scientific Merit (Brazil), the José Bonifacio Gold Medal (Brazilian Geological Society), and the TWAS medal lecture. He is member of the academies of science of Brazil, Argentina, France and Portugal.

Diab is Emeritus Professor of Environmental Sciences at the Univ. of KwaZulu-Natal, the former Executive Officer of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) and currently serves as Special Advisor to GenderInSITE. She obtained her PhD from the University of Virginia, USA, in 1983. She is a fellow of the University of KwaZulu-Natal, the South African Geographical Society, the African Academy of Sciences and TWAS, and a member of ASSAf. She was a Fulbright Senior Scholar and has served on numerous international committees such as the International Ozone Commission. She currently chairs the Gender Advisory Committee of TWAS. She serves on the African Union High-Level Panel on Emerging Technologies and was recently Co-Chair of an OECD Expert Group on Reducing the Precarity of Young Researchers’ Careers.

Eltahir is H. M. King Bhumibol Professor of hydrology and climate, and professor of civil and environmental engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Eltahir made significant contributions defining the role of land surface processes in climate system. He has been actively engaged in projecting future impacts of global climate change at local and regional scales, with the objective of informing and hence enabling proactive adaptation by local communities. Examples for topics of his projections include: water in Nile basin, malaria in Africa, droughts over Mediterranean, and extreme heatwaves in Asia. Eltahir is the director of the UM6P-MIT Research Program at MIT with a focus on sustainable development in Africa. He is also the lead principal investigator in a large Climate Grand Challenges Project at MIT with the goal of reinventing adaptation to climate change. He was recently elected Member of the US National Academy of Engineering. Eltahir is a recipient of the Kuwait Prize in Applied Science in 2000, an elected Fellow of the American Geophysical Union (AGU) in 2008, and a recipient of the Hydrologic Sciences Award in 2017, from AGU.

Fu (PhD, 1989, in physical geography, Peking University) is professor at the Research Centre for Eco-Environmental Sciences (RCEES) of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), Beijing, China. He worked at RCEES as an assistant professor (1989-1990) and associate professor (1991-92) before his post-doctoral research training at the Institute for Land and Water Management, Catholic University of Leuven, Belgium (1992-94).He became full professor of RCEES in 1994, and deputy director in 1996. Fu was the director general of Bureau of Natural Resources and Environment, CAS 2001-2008. Since 2009 he is a Professor and Chair of Steering Committee in RCEES. He is an elected member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in 2011, elected International Honorary Member of American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2019 and Corresponding Fellow of the Royal Society Edinburgh UK in 2015. He is Vice President of International Geographical Union in 2018-2026 and Member of Science Advisory Committee of IIASA in 2017-2022. He is recipient of the National Natural Science Prize of China in 2005 and 2020, and The Alexander von Humboldt Medal of European Geoscience Union in 2020.

Aster Gebrekirstos (PhD, Gottingen University, Germany, 2005) is senior scientist and head of the dendrochronology lab, World Agroforestry (ICRAF), Nairobi, Kenya, and affiliated with Erlangen University, Germany. Her research is in the area of forest ecology, dendroclimatology, climate change, applications of stable isotopes, land restoration. She led and participated in research projects across Africa and Asia. She set up dendrochronology labs in Ethiopia (2009) and in Nairobi (2013). She taught at Alemaya and Wondo Genet University, Ethiopia; as visiting professor at WASCAL, and Dresden University in Germany. She trained 20+ PhD students, published 80+ journal articles and book chapters. Her awards include: African Climate Award for excellence in climate change research (2014), Special Award for Groundbreaking Science (2009). Fellow of African Academy of Science (AAS), International Academy of Wood Science, conferred Eleonore Trefftz Visiting Professorship Dresden University. She is a vice-president of International Union of Agroforestry, chair of Environment Committee at AAS, member of science leadership at Past Global Changes (PAGES) and Mountain Research Institute (MRI).

Goswami is SERB Distinguished Fellow of Government of India at Cotton University in Guwahati. He obtained his PhD from PRL, Ahmedabad, and did postdoctoral research at MIT, Cambridge, USA, and at NASA/GSFC, USA. Returning to India, he worked at CAS/IIT, Delhi and CAOS, IISc, Bangalore between 1985 and 2006. He was Director of IITM, Pune between 2006 and 2014. He was visiting professor at the University of Maryland and Princeton University. He has received the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award; Hari Om Ashram Prerit Vikram Sarabhai Award; Kamal Kumari National Award for Science and Technology;National Award in Atmospheric Science and Technology by MoES and the Kalpathi Ramakrishna Ramanathan Medal by INSA. He is a Fellow of the Indian Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences, Indian National Science Academy and Indian Meteorological Society, and member of several national and international commissions and committees.

Gupta is a Professor of Geology at the Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur. He obtained his Ph.D. in 1987 at Banaras Hindu University, Varanasi and joined Department of Geology and Geophysics, Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur as Lecturer in same year. He was Head of the Department of Geology and Geophysics, IIT Kharagpur (2006-09) and Head, Center for Oceans, Rivers, Atmospheric and Land Sciences (2018-2021). Gupta was Director, Wadia Institute of Himalayan Geology, Dehradun (2010-17). He has been a Research Associate at LSU, Baton Rouge, USA; Senior JSPS Fellow at Shimane University, Japan; and NRC, USA Senior Research Fellow to NOAA, Boulder. He was Vice President of the Indian Geophysical Union. His honors include ISCA 1990 Young Scientist Award, National Mineral Award 2000, India; Prof. T.M. Harris Medal – 2004; Dr. J. Coggin Brown Memorial (Gold) Medal; TWAS Prize 2010; Prof. S.N. Bhalla Gold Medal for 2016 of the Palaeontological Society of India. He is J.C. Bose Fellow since 2012. Gupta is fellow of all Science Academies of India and Life Fellow of Indian Geophysical Union. He was Review Editor for Chapter 5 of AR5 of IPCC.

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.

Lacerda (PhD, Biophysics, 1983) is Titular Professor, Federal U. of Ceará in Fortaleza, Ceará and Fluminense Federal U. in Niteroi, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. He is a CNPq-National Research Council of Brazil Senior Researcher (1A) and a Member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He is a Member of the FEC-Academy (Future Coasts Academy) and of ISME (International Society for Mangrove Ecosystems); under these institutions and UNESCO-UNEP he has coordinated global research programmes on mangrove conservation and coastal zone management in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. He received the Excellence Award in Environmental Contamination and Toxicology, U. of Florida (1995); the BUNKA-SUMITOMO Prize of Scientist of the Year (1999); and the Bunge Prize 2011 in Oceanography. In 2018 received the National Order of Scienctific Merit from the Federal government. Lacerda has authored over 290 journal papers, 80 book chapters and 21 books and majored over 100 PhD, MSc and Postdoc researchers.

Lu is a Chair Professor of Xiamen Uni., former Co-Director, Res. Center for Eco-Environmental Scs., Chinese Acad. of Scs.. He is a foreign member of Academia Europaea, and Russian Academy of Sciences; Fellow of Int. Sci Coucil; 10-Member Group of UN Technology Facilitation Mechanism for SDGs; Pres., Pacific Science Association; Past Pres., Scientific Committee on Problems of the Env. (SCOPE); Sc. Advisor, IUCN; UNEP Intl. Resource Panel member; and was a member of ICSU Committee on Scientific Planning and Review. He has authored +360 papers in envl. ecology and envl. management related peer-reviewed journals, including Nature, Science, Science Advances, PNAS and authored 17 books. He is a highly cited international scientist. He is founding Editor-in-Chief of Ecosystem Health and Sustainability, Assoc. Ed. of Sc. Advances, founder and Assoc. Ed. of Envl. Dev., and an editorial board member of several peer-reviewed journals. He has served on several expert consultation groups on Sc. and Tech., and envl. decision-making at various levels. Lu has obtained numerous awards and honours including the 2nd Natl. Prize for Advancement of Sc. and Tech., and SCOPE Dist. Achievement Award.

Mu (Phd 1985, Fudan U.) is an academician and researcher, working in the Key Laboratory of Ocean Circulation and Waves (KLOCW) – Inst. of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (IOCAS). He worked as a postdoctorate researcher at Inst. of Atmospheric Physics (IAP), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS). His main contributions are on predictability of weather and climate and stability of geophysical fluid motions. He proposed and applied a new method called CNOP to study predictability, ensemble forecast and adaptive observations of ENSO, thermolhaline circulation of oceans, tropical cyclone, blockings, Kuroshio etc. He established a series of nonlinear stability criteria of atmospheric and oceanic motions. He is a member of CAS (2007); First Class Prize of Nature Scientific Award, CAS (2001); Natl.-wide Excellent Post Doc, Ministry of Personnel (2005); and Ho Leung Ho Lee Sc. and Tech. Prize (2010).