Mirabbos Hojamberdiev is currently serving as a visiting scientist at the School of Materials Science and Engineering, Xi’an University of Technology, China. He obtained his MSc and PhD in materials science from Tashkent Institute of Chemical Technology, Uzbekistan. He has made several short- and long-term research visits to various laboratories in the world to develop advanced materials for energy and environmental applications and established an excellent international scientific network. His main research activity centers at the fabrication, characterization, and application of visible-light-active photocatalytic materials for energy and environmental applications. For his outstanding research work, he was awarded with the President’s Award of the Republic of Uzbekistan in 2004, TWAS Prize for Young Scientists in Developing Countries in 2010 and Atta-ur-Rahman Prize in Chemistry for Young Scientists in 2015. He is a member of various international professional societies, including Global Young Academy.

Sushila Maharjan is a research director and founding member in Research Institute for Bioscience and Biotechnology (RIBB), Nepal. She earned her MS in chemistry from Tribhuvan University, Nepal, in 2003 and her PhD in biochemistry from the department of life science and biochemical engineering at Sunmoon University, Korea, in 2011.Her research in biotechnology involves discovery of novel antibiotics/drugs from Streptomyces. Her scientific interests range from the development and application of engineered biomaterials for drug or vaccine delivery and tissue engineering. She has authored 25 scientific publications in peer-reviewed journal, two book chapters and two filed patents. She has sound teaching experience and has supervised graduate and undergraduate students. Maharjan was awarded the Elsevier Foundation Awards for Early Career Women Scientists in the Developing World, 2016.

Dr. Warshi Dandeniya is a senior lecturer and presently the Head of the Department of Soil Science, Faculty of Agriculture, University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. She has a B.Sc. in Agriculture, M.Phil. in Soil Science and a Ph.D. in Soil Science. Her research focuses on understanding the effects of environmental perturbation on soil microorganisms and soil microbial community dynamics on nutrient cycling in cropping systems. Dr. Dandeniya's lab group is presently engaged in developing botanical nitrification inhibitors to reduce fertilizer wastage, formulating biofertilizers to reduce inorganic fertilizer requirement in paddy sector of the country, assessing the effect of poultry farming on distribution of antibiotic resistance determinants in the environment and documenting the diversity of bacteria and fungi in forest soils of Sri Lanka using a metagenomic approach. Her research programs have been funded by National Research Council of Sri Lanka, Biodiversity Secretariat of Sri Lanka, Peradeniya University Research Grants, and International Foundation for Science (IFS) - Sweden.

Arpita Patra is an Assistant Professor at Indian Institute of Science. Her area of interest is Cryptography, focusing on theoretical and practical aspects of secure multiparty computation protocols. She received her PhD from Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Madras and held post-doctoral positions at University of Bristol, UK, ETH Zurich, Switzerland and Aarhus University, Denmark. Her research has been recognized with an SERB Women Excellence award, an INAE Young Engineer award and associateships with various scientific bodies such as Indian Academy of Sciences (IAS), National Academy of Engineering (INAE ), The World Academy of Sciences (TWAS). She is a council member of Indian Association for Research in Computing Science (IARCS) since December 2017.

Dr. Basanta Raj Adhikari is working as a Director at the Centre for Disaster Studies, Institute of Engineering, Tribhuvan University, Nepal. He is also a visiting/Guest professor at Sichuan University, China and Keio University, Japan. His main research interests are on tectonics of the Himalayas, climate change, hill-slope movement and human interaction, Himalayan sediment flux generation, landslide Early Warning System, Multi-hazard risk assessment, community-based disaster risk reduction and nature-based solutions. With over 50 scientific papers and book chapters to his name, he has been recognized for his contributions to the field of earth science. Dr. Adhikari has received accolades such as Young Scientist (Integrated Research on Disaster Risk) and "Young Affiliates" (The World Academy of Sciences). He actively contributes to policy documents for disaster risk reduction at national and international levels.