Gunatilaka (PhD and DIC 1970-74, Imperial College, London) is professor and director of the Natural Products Center, School of Natural Resources and the Environment, U. of Arizona (UA). His was previously: Academic visitor, Imperial College, London; research associate at Stanford, USA; professor and head, Dept. of Chem., U. of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka; visiting professor and Snr. research scientist at Virginia Polytechnic Inst. and State U., USA. His awards include: Bikaji Framji Kahn Gold Medal for Academic Excellence, U. of Ceylon; Inst. of Chem. (Ceylon) Gold Medal; Sri Lanka President's Gold Medal for Scientific Achievement, UA Asian American Assoc. Outstanding Faculty Award, and UA Leading Edge Researcher Award for innovative research. He is a fellow of the Natl .Acad. of Sciences, Sri Lanka. He has published +250 peer-reviewed papers and delivered +100 invited lectures in 18 countries.

Murenzi (PhD Louvain, Belgium) has been professor at Worcester Polytechnic Institute since 2024. He was Executive Director of TWAS from 2011-2023, with a year interruption across 2016-2017 when he served as Director of the Division of Science Policy and Capacity Building in UNESCO's Natural Sciences Sector (July 2016). He previously was Minister of Science, Technology and Scientific Research in Rwanda and Director of the Center for Science, Technology and Sustainability at the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Washington, DC; he was also visiting Professor at the University of Maryland. He was Chair and Professor in the Department of Physics at Clark Atlanta University, USA. He was also designer of the two-dimensional continuous wavelet transform. In 2012 he was elected as a Fellow of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS). He chairs the UN Secretary General's High-level Panel of Technology Bank and Science, Technology and Innovation Supporting Mechanism dedicated to the Least Developed Countries; he is a Member of the ITU/UNESCO Broadband Commission for Digital Development and of the Carnegie Mellon University President’s Global Advisory Council.

Sur is Newton Professor of Neuroscience and Director of the Simons Center for the Social Brain at MIT. He studies the cerebral cortex of the brain, and has discovered fundamental principles by which cortical circuits are wired during development and change during learning. He received his BTech from the Indian Institute of Technology, Kanpur, and his PhD from Vanderbilt University, Nashville. His awards include: Charles Judson Herrick Award, American Association of Anatomists; A.P. Sloan Fellowship; McKnight Neuroscience Development Award; Sigma Xi Distinguished Lectureship; Distinguished Alumnus Award, IIT, Kanpur; Distinguished Alumnus Award, Vanderbilt University. He has been elected to the Royal Society, UK; National Academy of Medicine, USA; American Academy of Arts and Sciences; National Academy of Sciences, India; Indian National Science Academy; Neurosciences Research Program, USA; and Rodin Academy, Sweden.

Wong is professor of chemistry at Scripps Research Institute and National Taiwan U. and past president of Academia Sinica, Taipei, Taiwan (2006-16). He received his BS and MS from National Taiwan University, and PhD (chemistry, 1982) from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He taught at Texas A and M University for 6 years, then became professor and Ernest W. Hahn Chair in Chemistry at Scripps Research Institute (1989-2006) and director of the Genomics Research Center, Academia Sinica, Taipei (2003-2006). He is a member of Academia Sinica, Taipei, American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and US National Academy of Sciences. His research interests are in bioorganic and synthetic chemistry and biocatalysis, including development of chemo-enzymatic, synthesis of complex carbohydrates, glycoproteins and small-molecule probes for the study of carbohydrate-mediated biological recognition.

Molina was educated in Mexico, Germany and the USA and he obtained his PhD from UC Berkeley (physical chemstry, 1972). He is professor of atmospheric chemistry, dept. of chemistry and biochemistry, University of California, San Diego and president of the Mario Molina Center in Mexico City. His previous positions include: institute professor at MIT; associate professor at UC Irvine; and senior research scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory. His awards include Tyler Ecology and Energy Award; American Chemical Society Esselen Award; NASA Medal for Exceptional Scientific Achievement; Nobel Prize in Chemistry; National Medal of Freedom, USA, and the Walker Prize, Boston Museum of Science. His membership includes: National Academy of Sciences, USA; National Academy of Medicine, USA; Academia Mexicana de Ingenieria; Academia Mexicana de Ciencias; Pontifical Academy of Sciences.

Ruffolo is a professor at Mahidol U. He obtained his PhD in 1991 at U Chicago, USA. He developed a classic transport equation for solar energetic particles and precision modeling of their observed distribution in space. He created new theories of turbulent transport of cosmic rays, including an explanation of solar particle dropouts in terms of solar wind turbulence and topological trapping, and explanations of switchbacks and in situ turbulence generation in the solar wind. He led the establishment of a neutron monitor in Thailand, which detects galactic cosmic rays at the world's highest geomagnetic cutoff energy. He has twice served as a rapporteur of the International Cosmic Ray Conference. He was awarded the Golden Eagle Award from the American Academy of Achievement; 2017 Outstanding Scientist Award of Thailand; 2022 Outstanding Researcher Award of Thailand; and in 2025, Fellow of the American Geophysical Union.

Sorooshian is dist. prof. and dir., Departments of Civil and Env. Eng. and Earth System Science, U. of California Irvine, USA. He is renowned for contributions to hydrometeorology and development/application of remote sensing for operational hydrology and water resources management. He is a member of the US Natl. Acad. of Eng. (NAE) and Intl. Acad. of Astronautics (IAA) and fellow of the American Assoc. for the Advancement of Science (AAAS); American Geophysical Union (AGU); American Meteorological Soc. (AMS); and Int. Water Resources Assoc. (IWRA). He serves on advisory committees, including NASA, NOAA, WMO and UNESCO. Recent honours include: Ven Te Chow Award, American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) (2017); Robert E Horton Medalist, American Geophysical Union (AGU) (2013); American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) Life Member Award (2013); Prince Sultan Bin Abdulaziz Intl. Prize for Water Resources Management and Protection (2010); Honorary professorship, Beijing Normal University (2010); Walter Orr Roberts Lecturer in Interdisciplinary Sciences Award (AMS) (2009); UNESCO Great Manmade River Water Prize (2007); and NASA Dist. Public Service Medal (2005).

Terrones (Phd Birkbeck College, U. of London) is Rayleigh Endowed Chair Prof. in Physics at Rensselaer Polytechnic Inst. in USA. After holding a postdoc position in the dept. of chem., U. of Cambridge (UK), he returned to Mexico to the Inst. of Physics, UNAM, where he spent 8 years as a researcher. He moved to San Luis Potosi, Mexico, to start a new institute with the main idea of working in multidisciplinary research and to decentralize science outside of Mexico City. Main awards include: Mexican Acad. of Sciences Prize in Exact Sciences (2000), UNAM Prize for Young Scientists in Exact Sciences (2000), El Potosi Prize from IPICyT (2004). He is a member of the Mexican Acad. of Sciences. He has been invited prof. in UCL (Belgium), UFC (Brazil), Penn State (USA), Shinshu (Japan) and ORNL (USA). He has contributed to the theory and experiment of 2-D materials, such as graphene and TMDs.