Jiajun Xu is the associate professor and principal investigator of the Public Development Finance Research Programme at Peking University, China. Xu earned a PhD from the University of Oxford, and master's and bachelor’s degrees from Tsinghua University. Her research focuses on public development finance, ageing finance, and global governance. She is the initiator of the first global database on public development financial institutions worldwide, and has published her original research in peer-reviewed journals. In recognition of her intellectual contributions to finance and development, she was invited to join the Executive Committee of the Finance in Common Summit as well as the International Commission of Experts on Financing for Development at the United Nations. She serves at the editorial board of the leading journal World Development. Her academic monograph Beyond US Hegemony in International Development was published by Cambridge University Press in 2017. The book won the 8th Peikang Chang Development Economics Outstanding Achievement Award in 2020, and was listed by the Bretton Woods Project’s selection of the best books on the World Bank and IMF from 2016.

New is an associate professor with the School of Pharmacy, University of Nottingham Malaysia (UNM). She obtained a Bachelor of Science (Hon.) in industrial chemistry from the Universiti Teknologi Malaysia, and earned her PhD degree from the National University of Singapore. She then worked as a research scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering, A*Star, Singapore before taking up her current job at UNM. Her main research interest is in developing DNA-based nanosensors to detect different analytes, such as cancer biomarkers and viral DNA. With computational aid, her group designs DNA probes using simulation algorithm, and then tests them at the bench. Such an approach has reduced random ill-attempts and overall costs, easing sensors customization for different types of targets. She was a Highly Commended Finalist of Women of the Future Southeast Asia, Science, Technology & Digital Category (2020), and received the L’Oréal-UNESCO Fellowship for Women in Science (2021). New is a Young Scientist Network-Academy Science Malaysia affiliate, a member of the Malaysian Institute of Chemistry and of the Committee of Royal Society of Chemistry Malaysia Chapter.

Paul Kuman is a researcher and lead consultant at the Center for Climate Change and Sustainable Development, University of Papua New Guinea (UPNG), where he conducts research, and teaches marine geosciences, climate, and environmental sciences. He holds a Bachelor of Science majoring in chemistry at UPNG, and a Master of Environment Advanced majoring in environmental protection at Griffith University, Australia. His PhD research is in Marine Geoscience with the University of Queensland, Australia. He is involved in the Northwest Pacific Ocean and Climate Experiment program initiated by the Institute of Oceanology, Chinese Academy of Sciences . He investigates marine sedimentary components and their impact on climate reconstruction in the Bismarck Sea. He is developing program and courses about chemical oceanography and paleoclimate studies to be taught at UPNG, providing technical advisory services to various organizations, including the Government of PNG newly established Ocean Office on strategic development plans, and policy formulation in coastal and deep-sea governance and management. He received the Australian Award and EU Scholarship award in 2014 and 2017, respectively.