Das studied at the University of Queensland, Australia, where he obtained his BSc (Hons.) in Chemistry in 1965, Dip Ed in 1966 and PhD in 1969. He was previously: Foundation Professor of Inorganic Chemistry, University of Malaya (UM) (1980-98); Head, Chemistry Department, UM (1987-90); Dean, Faculty of Science, UM (1990-98); Senior Professor & Director of Advanced Materials Characterization Allied Laboratories, UM (1998-99); Founding Vice-chancellor, Asian Institute of Medicine, Science & Technology University (2001-2007) and Founding Vice-chancellor, QUEST International University Perak ( 2007-2013). His awards include the National Science Award, 1988-89; the Gold Medal Award, Institute of Chemistry, Malaysia, 1993 and the Malaysian Scholarly Publications Council-Ministry of Education Award for his 2014 book "Tin in Applications: Meeting the green challenge". Now in a retired capacity, he volunteers his services as Emeritus Professor (UM), Senior Fellow or Academician (Academy of Sciences Malaysia), and Vice-President of the Malaysian Research & Development Organization (an NGO). In 2005, he was honored with the civil award of 'Dato Setia Di-Raja Kedah' from the State of Kedah.

Ramesh T Subramaniam is a material scientist well known for his outstanding scholastic contribution on solutions for energy storage and harvesting devices for clean energy and sustainable smart cities of tomorrow. He received the Pacifichem Young Scholar Award from the American Chemical Society, the Young Scientist Award from the International Union of Pure and Applied Chemistry, the Established Scientist Award by the Royal Society, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations - China Scholar Award, and the Science and Technology Award from the Malaysia Toray Science Foundation. He was selected as an InterAcademy Partnership Young Scientist, and is a member of the Global Young Academy. He is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry, UK, and a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia. He is also a recipient of the Fulbright Fellowship at Princeton University, USA, and of the International Senior Research Fellowship, and Visiting Senior Fellowship of the Institute of Advanced Studies, Durham University, UK, where he is also a distinguished Fellow. He was recognized as one of the world's top 2% scientists for career-long citation Impact.

Yusoff is a Senior Professor of microbiology at the Faculty of Biotechnology at the Universiti Putra Malaysia. In 2010, La Trobe University awarded her DSc (honoris causa). Her research on the Newcastle disease virus (NDV) won her many awards including the 2005 Carlos J. Finlay UNESCO Prize for Microbiology, the National Young Scientist Award in 1990 by the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, and the Malaysian Merdeka Award in 2015. Her current research interest is in the development of NDV as a therapeutic oncoviral vaccine through the use of reverse genetics. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia and Vice-President of TWAS for East and South-East Asia, as well as of the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. She also sits on the Council of Science Advisers of the International Centre for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology (ICGEB). She was formerly a Board of Trustee member for the International Livestock Research Institute and a member of the Board of Governors for SEAMEO-BIOTROP. She is the Acting Chairperson for Greentech Malaysia, and a member of the Board of Directors for VentureTech and the Steinbeis Malaysia Foundation.

Zakri is presently the Chairman of Atri Advisory, a consultancy company advising governments, regional bodies and international organisations on science and technology for sustainable development, conservation and sustainable use of biodiversity. Other current positions include being pro-chancellor, Multimedia University (MMU);pro-chancellor, Universiti Perguruan Sultan Idris (UPSI); Vice-Chair, Governing Council of the UN Technology Bank for Least Developed Countries (Turkey); member of the Scientific Advisory Board to the President of the Islamic Development Bank (Jeddah) (IsDB), and member, Governing Board, Science and Technology for Society Forum (Kyoto). He was also recently appointed the Ambassador and Science Adviser to the Campaign for Nature led by Wyss Foundation and National Geographic Society. Previously, he was the science advisor to the Prime Minister for Malaysia (2010-2018). Recipient of numerous awards include recently; Zayed International Prize for the Environment (2014); the Academy of Science of South Africa Distinguish Visiting Scholar Award (2015); Merdeka Award for the environment category (2015); Midori Price for Biodiversity Award (2018).

Cheong is a translational cancer scientist working on cancers that are prevalent in Asian populations, such as head and neck cancers. Her work integrates functional genomics, immunotherapy, and implementation within real-world health systems. She established one of the largest collections of Asian-derived oral cancer models and applied genome-wide CRISPR/Cas9 screens to identify essential genes and therapeutic vulnerabilities. She has advanced cancer vaccine candidates towards clinical translation, and co-led investigator-initiated trials evaluating treatment strategies suited to Asian and low-resource settings. She also developed MeMoSA, an AI-enabled platform for community-based oral cancer screening in underserved communities. Cheong is the chief scientific officer of Cancer Research Malaysia, leading more than 80 scientific staff. She has led multi-country grants and works closely with the Malaysian Ministry of Health on clinical trials and implementation. She is an adjunct professor at the University of Malaya, a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and chairs the Asia-Pacific Oral Cancer Network.