Whitelock is an astronomer at, and former director of, the South African Astronomical Observatory and an honorary professor at the University of Cape Town. She obtained her BSc and PhD at the University of London. Her primary research interests are the late stages of stellar evolution, mass-loss and variability. She also works on galactic structure, near-by galaxies and the cosmic distance scale. She is involved in astronomy education, astronomy for development, and international coordination and collaboration. She has served as president of the International Astronomical Union’s Division VII (Galactic Systems), is a member of the Academy of Sciences of South Africa, an honorary fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society (UK) and an honorary member and fellow—and former president—of the South African Institute of Physics (SAIP). She is the recipient of the 2018 de Beers Gold Medal of the SAIP and a Doctor of Laws (honoris causa) from Rhodes University in 2020.

Pun (PhD, 2003, Middlesex University United Kingdom) is Professor, Faculty of Engineering, and past Campus Coordinator, School for Graduate Studies and Research, University of the West Indies, Trinidad and Tobago. He is Chinese engineering educator, Chartered Engineer, UK, Registered Professional Engineer, Australia and Trinidad and Tobago, European Engineer. He is Fellow of Institution Engineering Technology (UK), Institution Engineers Australia, Hong Kong Institution Engineers; he is Chair, Technology and Engineering Management Society Chapter, the IEEE Trinidad and Tobago Section; Chair, Local Member Community of the American Society for Quality, Trinidad and Tobago; Visiting scholar, Hong Kong Polytechnic University and Baptist University of Hong Kong, China. His work includes designing self-assessment scoring methods and developing process framework for manufacturing enterprises. Received the Most Outstanding Researcher Award, the IEOM Outstanding Service Award, the Vice-Chancellor's Award for Excellence, the Emerald Literati Network Award.

Salam, a pioneering Pakistani theoretical physicist, earned his PhD in Cambridge, UK. He made significant contributions to the field of particle physics and his groundbreaking work in electroweak unification theory earned him the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1979, shared with Sheldon Glashow and Steven Weinberg. He played a crucial role in developing Pakistan’s scientific infrastructure, including founding the Space and Upper Atmosphere Research Commission (SUPARCO) and the Theoretical Physics Group. In 1964, he established the International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, to support scientists from developing countries, and served as its director until 1993. In 1983, Salam also founded TWAS—the Third World Academy of Sciences, as it was originally known—and was a leading figure in the creation of a number of international centres dedicated to the advancement of science and technology. He was a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and also a member of many other prestigious academies and societies in the world, among which the Royal Society (UK), the USSR Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Sciences (USA), and the Accademia dei Lincei (Italy).