Ibrokhim Y. Abdurakhmonov received his BS in Biotechnology from the National University, Uzbekistan, in 1997, an MS in Plant Breeding from Texas A&M University in 2001, and a PhD in Molecular Genetics and DSc from the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 2002 and 2009, respectively. He became a full professor at the same university in 2011. He founded the Center of Genomics and Bioinformatics of Uzbekistan in 2012. He received the 2010 TWAS prize and ICAC Cotton Researcher of the Year 2013 for his outstanding contribution to cotton genomics and biotechnology. Dr Abdurakhmonov was elected as a fellow of The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS) in 2014 and a member of the Academy of Sciences of Uzbekistan in 2017. He served as the Minister of Innovative Development of Uzbekistan during 2017-2022. He was honoured as the 2022 Ambassador of Silk Road Friendship (Individual) by the China International Culture Exchange Center (CICEC) and Global People Magazine. He was appointed the Minister of Higher Education, Science, and Innovations of Uzbekistan in 2023.

Ahmad (PhD, OSU) is Principal Investigator of Biosaline Research Projects since retiring as Professor of Botany and Dean, Faculty of Sciences, U. of Karachi. He has been awarded certificates of appreciation for research from the USDA in 1987; US AID, 1990; BOSTID-Natl. Acad. of Sciences, USA, 1994, CSIRO Australia, 1996 and Univ. of Karachi. He was president of the Pakistan Botanical Society from 1968-1970; Regional Director of Halophyte Biotechnology Center, U. of Delaware, 1995; and member of the Expert Committee for Establishment of the Intl. Center of Biosaline Agriculture (ICBA) in Dubai, UAE, up to 1990. He is currently a member of the Pakistan Acad. of Sciences and was elected as Secretary and Vice-President of PAS, Sind Chapter (2000-2004). He has been presented a shield for achievements and contribution in the field of Botany by faculty members of the U. of Karachi, 2014. He was most recently awarded with the Lifetime Achievement Award at the 6th International and 15th National Botanical Conference at Sardar Bahadur Khan University of Quetta (2017). His research work is concerned mostly with afforestation and agriculture at sandy deserts using saline water in irrigation.

AlMomin is a Senior Research Scientist at the Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research (KISR) and Vice President of TWAS for the Arab partner since 2020. She contributed to the establishment of a Kuwaiti national biotechnology program and leads a Government initiative to establish a National Centre of Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology. She initiated the inclusion of KISR as an affiliated centre with the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB), being also Kuwait's Liaison Officer at ICGEB. AlMomin is a certified risk management professional from the International Federation of Biosafety Association (IFBSA) and is a member of several entities, including the Commission of Science and Technology for Sustainable Development, the International Council for the Life Sciences, the Organization for Women in Science for the Developing World. Her research interests are genetic engineering, diagnostics, population genetics, biodiversity and biosafety. She led several pioneer projects and introduced several scientific innovations in her country and MENA region. She serves as a chair and member of several national and international committees.

Arruda is a full professor, Department of Genetics, Institute of Biology, State University of Campinas (Unicamp). He received his PhD in genetics from Unicamp and has pioneered the field of plant molecular biology and plant genomics in Brazil. His research interests are on the understanding the regulation of gene expression in plants and its impact on amino acid metabolism and plant response to biotic and abiotic stresses. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He has received honours including the National Order of Scientific Merit, Brazil; Scientific and Technological Merit Award, State of São Paulo; and 2001 RedBio Medal, Red Latino-Americana de Biotecnologia (FAO) for his contribution to the development of plant biotechnology in Latin America and Caribe. He was co-founder and scientific director of the plant biotechnology company Alellyx Applied Genomics.

Azevedo is full professor at the Escola Superior de Agricultura Luiz de Queiroz, University of São Paulo (USP) in Piracicaba. He obtained his PhD in 1992 at Lancaster University, United Kingdom. He is Fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences since 2010. Azevedo supervised 18 Master and 30 PhD students and 24 post-doctoral fellows. Azevedo has held positions as Coordinator of two Post-Graduate Programs, other administrative positions at USP, and Member of the Botany Advisory Committee at Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq), among others. Azevedo is strongly involved with scientific editing and was a member of the Editorial Board of several journals. He is currently the Editor-in-Chief of Annals of Applied Biology (Wiley). He is also a member of the Advisory Board of Scientia Agricola. He was Vice-President of the Brazilian Association of Scientific Editors. He has published over 210 papers.

Badrie is professor of food microbiology and safety at the West Indies at St. Augustine, Trinidad and Tobago. She has served as Deputy Dean of Research and Innovation and Head of Dept. She is a past pres., Caribbean Inst. of Food Science and Techn., vice-pres. and dir. of publication, Caribbean Agro-Economic Soc., and public relations officer, Caribbean Acad. of Sciences. Her awards include: NIHERST Reudranath Capildeo gold medal winner in applied science and tech.. EU/CARPIMS scholar, Fulbright Researcher/Scholar; UNU fellow; TWAS/CARISCIENCE Young Female Scientist; European Union Lome IV-CULP-UWI fellowship; USAID Internatl. Dev.; Short-term Vis. Intl. Scholar; Assocn. of Commonwealth U. fellow, Intl.. She serves on the editorial board of three intl. journals.

Akissa Bahri is currently Professor at the National Agricultural Institute of Tunisia. She was the Coordinator of the African Water Facility ‘2010-2015), the Director for Africa at the International Water Management Institute, based in Accra, Ghana (2005-2010), and prior to that, Director of Research at the National Research Institute for Agricultural Engineering, Water and Forestry in Tunisia. She has academic and professional experience in water resources management and the agricultural use of marginal waters, biosolids and their environmental impacts. She has received international honors from the Guinness Foundation (1984), the International Foundation for Science (1993), the Kuwait Foundation for the Advancement of Sciences (1996), the 2009 "Prof. C.N.R. Rao Prize for Scientific Research", and the 2018 IWA Women in Water Award. She was a Fulbright Scholar at the University of California at Davis in 2005. She holds an Agricultural Engineer degree from the Ecole Nationale Supérieure d'Agronomie de Toulouse, France, a Doctor-Engineer degree from the Institut National Polytechnique de Toulouse, France, and a Ph.D. in Water Resources Engineering from Lund University.

Founding Executive Director, University of California, Davis; President Emeritus, Donald Danforth Plant Science Center, St. Louis, MO; Professor, Department of Biology, Washington Univ., St. Louis. Former director Natl. Inst. of Food and Agriculture, US Dept. of Agriculture. Education: BA in biology (1966) Goshen College, Indiana; PhD in plant pathology (1973) Michigan State Univ., East Lansing. Previous academic positions: Washington Univ., St. Louis, Missouri; Scripps Research Institute, La Jolla, CA. Member, US National Academy of Science; Fellow, AAAS and Academy of Microbiology; Foreign Fellow, National Academy of Sciences of India and Indian National Science Academy. Awards include the Wolf Prize in Agriculture; Dennis Robert Hoagland Award, American Society of Plant Biologists; Scientist of the Year, R and D Magazine; and Ruth Allen Award, American Phytopathological Society.

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.

Bharat Chattoo is a professor in the department of microbiology and biotechnology centre, MS University of Baroda, coordinator of the Biotechnology Programme and director of the Centre for Genome Research. He is the founder vice chancellor of Shri Mata Vaishno Devi University. He obtained his PhD from the University of Delhi. Subsequently, he worked at the University of Rochester Medical Centre and has been a visiting scientist/professor at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Israel, National Institute of Bioscience and Human Technology, Rice Genome Programme in Tsukuba, Japan, and Ciba-Geigy in Basle. He was a staff scientist at the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad, and also worked at the Friedrich Miescher Institute, Basle. He serves on several committees of the Government of India and Gujarat state and has published extensively.