Dr. Dilfuza Egamberdieva is Head of the Centre of Biotechnology, National University of Uzbekistan. She received her PhD in agricultural sciences from the Humboldt University of Berlin, Germany. She pioneered research on the soil and plant microbiome. She conducted her postdoctoral studies at the Helsinki University of Finland, University of Florence, Italy, at the Manchester Metropolitan University, UK, and Leiden University of Netherlands. Her remarkable contributions to science in the field of microbiology received the UNESCO-Carlos J. Finlay Prize for Microbiology (2023), SCOPUS-2019 Regional Award. “Top Scientist of the Year”, TWAS (The World Academy of Science) Award in Agricultural Sciences (2013). TWAS-TWOWS-SCOPUS Young Women Research Award (2009), L’OREAL-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science (2006), American Society of Microbiology, (ASM) Morrison Rogosa Award (2006), and UNESCO-Man and Biosphere (MAB) Award (2005). Dilfuza served as member of The High-Level Panel of Experts on Food Security and Nutrition (HLPE), The Committee on World Food Security, and also acts as the Country Ambassador for the American Society for Microbiology (ASM). She is a member of the Global Y

Mukhamedov got his MSc in pure mathematics from the National University of Uzbekistan in 1996, and his PhD at the Institute of Mathematics (Tashkent), in 1998. In 1999–2005, he worked as an Associate Professor at the National University of Uzbekistan, where he then successfully defended his Doctor of Science degree (Habilitation). From 2005 to 2007 he held a postdoctoral position at the University of Aveiro (Portugal). He then joined the Faculty of Science, International Islamic University Malaysia, initially as an Associate Professor, and later as a Professor (2012). In 2016 he joined the Department of Mathematical Sciences at the United Arab Emirates University as Professor. Moreover, he was a grantee for several international congresses for mathematicians. From 2009 to 2015 he was a Junior Associate at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics. His research interests relate to operator theory, dynamical systems, non-commutative ergodic theory, p-adic analysis etc. He has published over 300 papers, and seven books/edited books, one of which is published by Springer. Since 1996, he has been teaching many different undergraduate and graduate math courses.