Ouhabaz studied at the University of Marrakesh in Morocco and got his PhD in France in 1992. Early in his career, he was Researcher at the Technische Universität Berlin, and a member of the Max-Planck group at the University of Potsdam, Germany. Back to France, he was Associate Professor at the University of Marne-la-Vallée, next to Paris. He is currently Professor at the Institut de mathématiques de Bordeaux, University of Bordeaux. He is a member of the Scientific Council of the Institut national des sciences mathématiques et de leurs interactions (INSMI), Centre national de la recherche scientifique (CNRS). He was a scientific delegate at the Haut Conseil de l'Evaluation de la Recherche et de l'Enseignement Supérieur (HCERES) and corresponding member of the Hassan II Academy of Science and Technology, Morocco. He was the Head of the CNRS research group Functional Analysis, Harmonic Analysis and Applications, and Deputy Director of the Institut de Mathématiques de Bordeaux. He is the author of a book published by Princeton University Press and has written more than 68 research articles.

Lehn, at the University of Strasbourg, France, is Professor at the Institute of Advanced Study, Chair of Chemistry of Complex Systems, and Hemeritus Professor. He is also Honorary Professor at the Collège de France, Paris, where he has been since 1979. From 1970 to 1979, he was Professor of Chemistry at the Université Louis Pasteur in Strasbourg. In 1987, he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry, together with Donald Cram and Charles J. Pedersen, for his studies on the chemical basis of molecular recognition, which also plays a fundamental role in biological processes. His work led to the definition of a new field of chemistry, which he defined as 'supramolecular' chemistry and deals with the complex entities formed by the association of two or more chemical species held together by non-covalent inter-molecular forces. He is author of more than 990 scientific publications and is a member of many academies, institutions and several industrial bodies. He received numerous international honours and awards.

Ciarlet graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1961; got his PhD in Mathematics in 1966 at Case Institute of Technology, Cleveland; and his Doctorat d'Etat-es-Sciences at the University Pierre et Marie Curie, Paris, in 1971. He was a professor at the University Pierre et Marie Curie from 1974-2002. From 2002-2011, he was Chair Professor at City University of Hong Kong, where he is currently University Distinguished Professor. His honours include: Grand Prize from the Academy of Sciences in Paris; von Humboldt Research Award; Shanghai Prize for International Cooperation in Science and Technology; and eight honorary degrees from universities in Romania and China. He is a member of the French Academy of Sciences, French Academy of Technologies, Academia Europaea, European Academy of Sciences, Romanian Academy, National Academy of Sciences of India, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Academy of Sciences of Hong Kong.

Lê is emeritus professor, University of Aix-Marseille, France. He was educated at Lycée Voltaire and Lycée Louis-le-Grand, Paris and Paris University. His subsequent positions included: Assistant, Faculty of Sciences, Paris University; attaché de recherches; chargé de recherches, and maître de recherches, CNRS; vice chairman and chairman, Mathematics Department, University of Paris 7; maître de conférences, Ecole Polytechnique, Palaiseau, France; professor, University of Paris 7; directeur de recherches, CNRS, Marseille, France; and professor, University de Provence, Marseille. He was also head of the mathematics group at the Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics in Trieste, Italy. He is editor of the International Journal of Mathematics, Journal of Singularities and Acta Mathematica Vietnamica. He was awarded the Prix d’Aumale by the French Academy in 1990.

Lépine is professor at the Instituto de Astronomia, Geofísica e Ciências Atmosféricas, University of São Paulo. He obtained his PhD in 1977 at Université de Paris VII, and became full professor at the University of São Paulo in 1999. He made important contributions to Astronomy, like the discovery of the first water vapor extragalactic megamaser, and the study of a Cassini-like ring in the Galactic disk with a minimum of stellar density and also of gas density, at the corotation radius. Lepine was the Director of his Institute from 2001 to 2005, and President of the Brazilian Astronomical Society for 2 years in the past. He is now the coordinator on Brazilian side of the joint Brazilian-Argentinean LLAMA project, which is installing a 12 m radiotelescope for sub-mm waves in the Andes, at 4800 m altitude.