Kwok, MD, PhD, graduated at University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine. After residency in dermatology and postdoctoral training at Washington University School of Medicine, USA, he joined its faculty in 1993. He was Distinguished Fellow and Director of the Institute of Biomedical Sciences at Academia Sinica from 2017-2023, and Henry Bachrach Distinguished Professor at University of California San Francisco from 2002-2024. Kwok’s research focused on developing tools and strategies to study the human genome and the role of human variation in common diseases. He holds several patents on genomic analysis tools and played key roles in many large consortia, including the SNP Consortium, the International HapMap Project, the NSIGHT Consortium, and the CSER Consortium. He led the Taiwan Precision Medicine Initiative, where a reference database with genetic profiles and clinical data of 500,000 people was built to improve health through disease risk prediction and tailored heath management guidelines. Kwok is a Fellow of the AAAS and the recipient of the 2022 Chen Award for Distinguished Academic Achievement in Human Genetic and Genomic Research by the Human Genome Organization.

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.

Sadunishvili graduated from Tbilisi State University in 1975 with a diploma in biology/biochemistry at the Institute of Plant Biochemistry, Georgian Academy of Sciences. She obtained her degree of Candidate of Science (1980) and Doctor of Science (1995) in biology with studies on the structure, kinetics and regulation of nitrogen metabolism enzymes. Since then, working as Head of Laboratory at Durmishidze Institute of Biochemistry and Biotechnology (DIBB), her research topics have expanded by studying structure-function changes in plant cells under contamination stress, microbial diversity, development of bio and phytoremediation technologies based on selected plants and microbial consortia, phytopathogenic bacteria and their specific bacteriophages. In 2013, she was appointed as Full Professor and Head of Department of Plant Biochemistry and Biotechnology, Agricultural University of Georgia. In 2009, Sadunishvili was selected as Corresponding Member, and in 2015 Full Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences. She is an author of five monographs, and above 150 scientific publications, including reviews and book chapters.

Soboyejo is a materials scientist whose research focuses on the mechanical properties of materials. His work has explored the structure and properties of metals/alloys, intermetallics, ceramics, composites, porous materials, cancer cells/tissues, biomaterials, and materials for energy and the environment. He received his BSc in mechanical engineering from King’s College London in 1985, and a PhD in materials science from Cambridge University in 1988. He worked as a Research Scientist at the McDonnell Douglas Research Labs, USA (1988–1992). Since then, he has been a faculty member at The Ohio State University, MIT, Princeton, African University of Technology (AUST) and Worcester Polytechnic (WPI). Soboyejo served as President and Provost of AUST (2012–14). He then returned to Princeton (2014–16), before moving to WPI as the Bernard M. Gordon Dean of Engineering (2016–18). He was Senior Vice President and Provost at WPI from September 2018 to May 2022, when he was appointed as Interim President of WPI. He is the recipient of National Young Investigator Awards by National Science Foundation/Office of Naval Research. He is a Fellow of the US National Academy of Engineering.

Tao is the Inaugural Director of the JD Explore Academy and a Senior Vice-President of JD.com, China’s largest online retailer. He is also an advisor and Chief Scientist of the Digital Sciences Initiative in the University of Sydney. He mainly applies statistics and mathematics to artificial intelligence and data science, and his research is detailed in one monograph and over 200 publications in prestigious journals, and proceedings at leading conferences. He received the 2015 Australian Scopus-Eureka Prize, the 2018 Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) International Conference on Data Mining (ICDM) Research Contributions Award, and the 2021 IEEE Computer Society McCluskey Technical Achievement Award. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science, the American Association for the Advancement of Science, Association for Computing Machinery and IEEE.

Von Braun is Distinguished Professor (em.) for Economic and Technological Change at Bonn University, Germany, in the Center for Development Research (ZEF). His research is on economic development, science and technology policy, poverty reduction, food and nutrition security, agriculture, resource economics, climate, and trade. He is President of the Pontifical Academy of Sciences of the Vatican, and of various academies of science. In 2020 and 2021 he served as Chair of the Scientific Group for the Food Systems Summit 2021 of the UN Secretary General. From 2002 to 2009, he was Director General of the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) based in Washington DC, USA. He was elected as President of the International Association of Agricultural Economists (IAAE), and received several national and international honors and awards.

Sir Zumla was born in Chipata, Zambia in 1955. He is dually qualified in Medicine (MB.ChB) and Science (PhD). He nearly lost his life to meningitis when he was working as a junior doctor in London in 1982. He subsequently progressed to a meteoric, star-studded, and extremely successful career focussed on tackling killer infectious diseases. Sir Zumla's research, training, capacity development, advocacy and charitable contributions to World Health Organization's Research and Development Blueprint Priority Diseases of TB, TB/HIV, COVID-19, MERS, and other epidemic-prone Emerging and re-emerging infections, are an exceptional major body of work developed with an upward trajectory along these specific themes over three decades. As of Nov 2022, Sir Zumla has over 880 publications (inc. 760 PubMed; 22 medical textbooks; 67 book chapters, and 40 journal themed series). His Google Scholar H-index is 122, i10index is 560, with 68,200 citations. Sir Zumla has received over 28 prestigious accolades/prizes including: Knighthood from HM The Queen-2017; IUATBLD UNION MEDAL-2018; Mahathir Science Prize-2020; EU-EDCTP Pascoal Mocumbi Prize-2021; Roy.Soc.Trop.Med.Hyg Sir Patrick Manson Medal.