Bhattacharya is a Professor, Dept. of Organic Chemistry, Indian Institute of Science (IISc), Bangalore, India. He obtained his PhD from Rutgers University, New Jersey, USA, in bio-organic chemistry. He then worked as NIH Postdoctoral Research Associate at MIT, with Nobel laureate H. Gobind Khorana, focusing on the biology and chemistry of signal transduction involving membrane proteins. He subsequently moved to IISc Bangalore where he ultimately became full professor. He is a Fellow of the Indian National Academy of Sciences (INSA) and the Indian Academy of Sciences. He has won numerous awards including the Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award in Chemical Sciences, the TWAS Prize in Chemical Sciences in 2010, AV Rama Rao Endowment Lecture 2010, a J C Bose fellowship and GD Birla Award.

Majumder is the founding director of the National Institute of Biomedical Genomics in India, and concurrently holds professorships at the Indian Statistical Institute (ISI), Kolkata, and the John C. Martin Center for Liver Research & Innovations, Kolkata, India. He has made significant contributions to human-, statistical- and population genetics and genomics; developed statistical methodologies for mapping human disease genes, identified genomic factors underlying many diseases notably oral cancer, and reconstructed the evolution of Indian and Asian populations using genomics. Was a National Science Chair in India for 5 years until 30 June 2025. Fellow of all three science academies of India, served as President of Indian Academy of Sciences. Executive Board member of the Human Genome Organisation. Chairs of Working Groups of WHO. Selected awards and honours: G.N. Ramachandran Gold Medal (2021) of the Government of India; Barclay Memorial Medal (2020) of The Asiatic Society; Golden Jubilee Commemoration Medal (2018) of the Indian National Science Academy; Centenary Medal for Excellence (2014), School of Tropical Medicine, Kolkata; TWAS Prize in Biology (2009).

Chopra (PhD, Delhi School of Economics,1969). She was formerly director, Institute of Economic Growth, Delhi University, where she was professor (1980-2009). She has been on the editorial and policy boards of several international journals including Environment and Development Economics, and Ecological Economics, and was Senior Associate of the Ecological and Environmental Economics Programme hosted by the ICTP, Trieste, Italy (2002-2006). She was member, Assessment Panel of the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2001-2005) and co-chair of its Working Group on Response Options. She is a fellow of the Beijer Institute of Ecological Economics, Stockholm and of the South Asia Network of Development and Environmental Economics. She was President of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics (2010-2012 and 1998-2000) and President of the Indian Society of Agricultural Economics (2004). Currently, she co-edits " Ecology, Economy and Society: the Journal of the Indian Society for Ecological Economics