Babalola (Pr.Sci.Nat, MASSAF, FTWAS, FAS, FAAS, FISC, FRSB, FAAM) was the Vice President of the Org. for Women in Sci. for the Developing World (OWSD) & TWAS VP. Baba, an NRF B-rated scientist with an MBA, sits on several editorial boards and acts as an International Advisor to a few others. She was with IITA (Nigeria), ICIPE (Kenya), Weizmann Inst. of Sci. (Israel), Univ of the Western Cape, and now North-West Univ (South Africa). She has 21 years of experience in rhizosphere research. She is passionate about capacity building & has trained 37 PhDs & 29 MScs. Many of her products are in academia in the UK, Italy, America, Canada, Australia, Sweden, & Africa. She authored 450 publications. She is an AAAS-TWAS science diplomacy alumnus, impacting the world in policymaking, diplomacy, and diplomatic engagement. Her international experience spans the Americas, Asia, Europe, and Oceania. She enjoys global partnerships, and her efforts have received many awards, including finalist status at GenderInSite 2020, Clarivate 2022 & 2023, & SAWISA 2024. Baba has an H-index of 90, more than 38,000 citations & 56 professional certificates. She is #1 in Africa for Soil Science & Plant Nutrition

Sayed is dean of engineering, École polytechnique fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland. He has served as distinguished professor and chairman of electrical engineering at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) where he founded the Adaptive Systems Laboratory (1996). Recognized as a highly cited researcher and a member of the US National Academy of Engineering, he served as president of the IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) in 2018-19. An author of over 570 scholarly publications and six books, his research involves several areas including adaptation and learning theories, data and network sciences, statistical inference, and multi-agent systems. His awards include: 2020 Norbert Wiener Society Award, 2015 Education Award from IEEE-SPS; 2014 Papoulis Award from European Association for Signal Processing; 2013 Meritorious Service Award and 2012 Technical Achievement Award from IEEE-SPS, 2005 Terman Award from American Society for Engineering Education, 2003 Kuwait Prize, and several Best Paper awards from scientific organizations. He is a fellow of IEEE, European Association for Signal Processing (EURASIP), and American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS).

Deen is a Distinguished University Professor, Senior Canada Research Chair in Information Technology and Director of the Micro- and Nano-Systems Laboratory at McMaster University, Canada. His current research interests include nano-/opto-electronics, nanotechnology and data analytics and their emerging applications in health and environment. His research records include more than 600 peer-reviewed articles and two textbooks “Silicon Photonics-Fundamentals and Devices” and “Fiber Optic Communications-Fundamentals and Applications”. He was awarded four honorary doctorate degrees in recognition of his exceptional research and scholarly accomplishments, exemplary professionalism and valued service, especially to the developing world. He is elected to Fellow status in twelve national academies and professional societies including the Royal Society of Canada (RSC), Chinese Academy of Sciences, National Academy of Sciences – India, IEEE, ECS and APS. He served as the elected President of the Academy of Science, RSC from 2015 to 2017. Most recently, he was elected to the Order of Canada (July 2018), the highest civilian honor awarded by the Government of Canada.