Roque da Silva is a full professor in the field of electronic structure simulations of condensed matter systems, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, where he has been working since 1997. His research focuses on nanostructured materials and the exploration of both static and dynamic processes, in particular on charge transport calculations—a field in which he has pioneered methods for large, disordered systems. In 2009 he joined the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), serving first as the director of the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory and, since 2018, as director-general of CNPEM. His leadership has been instrumental in the development of Sirius, the state-of-the-art synchrotron light source in Brazil. He holds a bachelor's and master’s degree in physics from Unicamp, a PhD and postdoctorate from UC Berkeley, and a postdoctorate from UCLA. He is a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo. In 2018, he received the National Medal of the Order of Scientific Merit, Commander Class, by the Presidency of the Republic, and in 2025 the Almirante Álvaro Alberto prize.

Tenório de Carvalho earned his PhD from Paris Dauphine University, in 1992, and is now a full professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. He received the Scientific Merit Award from the Brazilian Computer Society in 2021, and is now classified as a level 1A researcher—the highest category—by the Brazilian National Research Council. He is a Fellow of the following institutions: Science Academy of the State of Pernambuco-APC, Brazil (2020), Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2023), Core Academy (2024), Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (2024). He was a visiting professor at many European universities and research centres. He supervised 25 master’s and 14 doctoral theses, and authored more than 240 articles in high-impact journals and conferences. Now his h-index scores at 35 (Google Scholar), 27 (Scopus), and 24 (Web of Science). He is in the range of 2% of the most influential scientists in the world in the area of Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of the Computer Science Advisory Committee of CNPq (2017–2020 and 2023–2026), and a member of the council of the International Association for Statistical Computing (2009–2013).

Carlini earned her PhD from the Federal University of São Paulo, Brazil, in 1985. She was appointed professor at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro and the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul, and was a senior researcher at the Brain Institute of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul. After her retirement, in 2022, she worked as an invited professor at UFRGS and the Federal University of Health Sciences, Porto Alegre. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and a research productivity fellow of the Brazilian CNPq. Carlini was a pioneer in proving the non-enzymatic properties of ureases, including their insecticidal, antifungal, and pro-inflammatory, and neurotoxic effects in rodents. Now, she studies how the ureases produced by Helicobacter pylori and Proteus mirabilis might contribute to the onset of Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases. She was a referee for more than 60 international journals, science and technology funding agencies, and a member of the editorial board of Toxicon for 20 years, section editor of the Brazilian Journal of Medical and Biological Research. Since 2020, she is an executive editor of Current Neuropharmacology.

Soares is a senior researcher at the Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and a full professor at Senai Cimatec in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She earned her Bachelor of Science in genetics and her PhD in immunology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, completing a visiting fellowship at Harvard University. She is a senior research Fellow of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bahia, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on translational medicine, with the goal of developing new diagnostic tools, therapeutic drugs, and advanced therapeutic products. Her work primarily targets neglected and unmet medical needs, including Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and spinal cord injury. A pioneer in the field of ATMPs in Brazil, Soares was an expert advisor with the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency and the Ministry of Health. In her career, she has led collaborative research with national and international institutions, mentoring a new generation of researchers and health professionals, making a significant contribution to scientific capacity-building in Brazil.

Boldrin Zanoni is a full professor at the Institute of Chemistry, São Paulo State University (UNESP), Araraquara, Brazil. She earned her master’s degree and PhD in chemical sciences from the University of São Paulo in 1985 and 1989, respectively, specializing in environmental electrochemistry. She completed her postdoctoral fellowships in chemistry at the University of Loughborough, UK (1992–1994), and the University of Wisconsin, Madison, US (2002), and was an academic visitor at Oxford University, in 2008. From 2010 to 2018, she served as an advisor for research development at UNESP. She is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Brazilian Academy of the State of São Paulo. Since 2021, she has served as vice-president for graduate studies at UNESP. Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards and honours that confirm her outstanding contributions to chemistry. Her scientific expertise includes the detection and treatment of micropollutants and CO₂ reduction. To date, she has supervised more than 75 master’s, PhD, and postdoctoral researchers, and has published 321 papers, 5 books, and 14 book chapters.

Toledo Filho is a full professor of materials and structures at Coppe-Federal University of Rio de Janeiro (PEC/COPPE/UFRJ), Brazil. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, of the National Academy of Engineering, Researcher 1A with the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), and a senior scientist of the Carlos Chagas Foundation (FAPERJ), Rio de Janeiro State. He is the CEO of the Science Park of UFRJ, head of the Sustainability Center for Research and Education on Environmental Friendly Materials and Technologies (NUMATS) of the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, member of the INBAR construction task force and vice-president of the Brazilian Society for Non-Conventional Materials (ABMTENC). He has conducted extensive research on sustainable materials for construction, decarbonisation of the construction industry, vegetable fibre-reinforced cement composites, bamboo materials characterization, and structural use, cement replacement by bioashes and the use of waste materials in the construction industry.

Souza Filho was born in 1975, in Jucás, Brazil, and received his doctorate in physics from the Federal University of Ceará (UFC), Fortaleza, Brazil, in 2001. In 2000, he joined the group of Prof. Mildred Dresselhaus at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology as a PhD visiting student, where he worked on single carbon nanotube resonance Raman spectroscopy. He has authored and co-authored about 270 papers in refereed international journals including review articles, book chapters, and books. He is currently a full professor of physics at the Federal University of Ceará, Brazil. He was one of the recipients of the 2009 Sômiya Prize awarded by the International Union of Materials Research Societies (IUMRS) and elected fellow of the Brazilian Academy of Science in 2018. His main research interests are the electronic and optical properties of nanomaterials with emphasis on carbon nanostructures.

Rios-Neto is a visiting professor in the applied economics graduate programme at the Federal University of Ouro Preto. From April 2021 to December 2022, he served as the president of the Brazilian National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), and from May 2019 to March 2021 he was the director of surveys at IBGE. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, he was a distinguished Lemann Visiting Professor at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (2015–2016). In 2015, he retired as a full professor of demography at CEDEPLAR-UFMG, where he served from 1980. In 2010, he received the Brazilian Federal Government Medal of Scientific Merit, and in 2006 he was appointed as Tinker Professor at the University of Texas at Austin. From 2004–2011 he was president of the National Committee on Population and Development, and from 1999–2002 he was president of the Brazilian Population Association. From 1996–2000, he served as graduate training director in demography at CEDEPLAR. In 1996, he carried out postdoctoral research in demography at the University of Texas, Austin. He earned his PhD in demography from the University of California at Berkeley.

Lopes-Cendes is a physician who earned her medical degree at UNICAMP, Brazil. She completed her specialty training in pediatrics before obtaining her Master of Science and PhD in neuroscience at McGill University, Canada. Her research focuses on neurogenetics, specifically epilepsies, with a keen interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Using advanced multi-omics techniques, her team is renowned for its expertise in next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics analysis of complex genomic data, non-coding RNAs, and single-cell methodologies. For her scientific achievements, Lopes-Cendes has received numerous awards and distinctions including membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and TWAS. She founded the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (www.bipmed.org), launching Latin America's first public genomic database, and contributing to the development of LatinGen (www.latingen.org), a platform for sharing genetic and genomic information in the region. These projects have laid the groundwork for adopting genomic testing in Brazil. Beyond her research, she is an attending physician at UNICAMP University Hospital.