Zühlke is vice-president of the South African Medical Research Council, responsible for extramural research and internal portfolio and directs the Children’s Heart Disease Research Unit focusing on relevant pediatric heart diseases in Africa. She has authored more than 250 publications, including conference proceedings and book chapters, with an h-index of 58. She has more than 74,000 citations and was a finalist for South Africa in the Women in Science Award. In 2018, she received the MRC/DFID African Research Leader Award, the winner of the NRF award for Social Impact in Research, the International Metrodora Award for Public Health and Research and the UCT vice-chancellors Alan Pfifer Award for research. She was recently inducted into the prestigious University of Cape Town College of Fellows, the university’s highest academic honour, and is a member of the South African Academy of Sciences. She a fellow of the American College of Cardiology, European Society of Cardiology and American Heart Association. She is a B-1 rated researcher by the National Research Foundation, past-president of the Paediatric Cardiac Society of South Africa and the South African Heart Association.

Winkler is a professor in Policy Research in International Services and Manufacturing, a research unit in the School of Economics at the University of Cape Town, South Africa. His research explores the intersection of development, climate, social justice and economics, with future work focusing on equity and inequality between and within countries; just (energy) transitions and just adaptation; implications of the global stocktake; and low emission development strategies and nationally determined contributions. His over 100 academic publications can be accessed on Scopus. He has led transdisciplinary research on mitigation action plans and scenarios in several developing countries. Winkler is a member of both the South African Academy of Sciences and African Academy of Sciences, and serves on the South African delegation to the negotiations under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. He has recently served as joint editor-in-chief of the international journal Climate Policy, a coordinating lead author for the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, and as a co-facilitator of the technical dialogue of the global stocktake under the Paris Agreement.

Owolabi is the director of the Center for Genomic and Precision Medicine at the University of Ibadan, Nigeria, and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the American Neurological Association, the American Heart Association, the American Academy of Neurology, the Nigerian Academy of Science, the African Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Medical Sciences. He is a global leader in brain and global health, with over 460 scientific publications, more than 204,000 citations, and a Google Scholar h-index of 109. Widely recognized for his contributions to neuroscience and clinical research, he introduced the conceptual innovations of “stroke quadrangle” and “brain quadrangle”, which have helped shape novel approaches for stroke care and brain health. Ranked among the top 2% of scientists globally (2024), he was the recipient of the 2021 World Stroke Organization Global Award for Outstanding Contributions to Clinical Stroke Research. He is a leading voice in the promotion of brain health. He chairs the Lancet Commission on neurorehabilitation, developing pragmatic solutions to improve the quality of life of over 3.4 billion people with neurological conditions globally.

Ntusi, president and CEO of the South African Medical Research Council, is a distinguished leader in medical research. Prior to this role, he served as chair and head of the Department of Medicine at the University of Cape Town (UCT) and Groote Schuur Hospital. His groundbreaking research has significantly advanced the understanding of heart failure and cardiomyopathy, the cardiovascular phenotype and pathophysiology of autoimmune inflammatory heart disease, as well as HIV-associated cardiovascular disease across diverse global clinical settings. More recently, he led pioneering studies on the biology and immunology of COVID-19, with impact extending beyond South Africa’s borders. A member of the South African Academy of Sciences and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians, the Royal Society of South Africa, and the UCT College of Fellows, Ntusi's accolades include the prestigious South African Medical Research Council Gold Medal, the Walter Siegenthaler Medal and Memorial Lecture from the University of Zurich, and the University of Oxford's Oppenheimer Fund Academic Exchange Award.

Lewis is the dean of the Faculty of Engineering and the Built Environment at the University of Cape Town (UCT), where she previously served as head of the Department of Chemical Engineering. She is the first woman to hold the position of dean in the faculty's history. She holds a Bachelor of Science, Master of Science, and a PhD in chemical engineering, all from the University of Cape Town. During her academic career, she has supervised more than 200 master’s, PhD, and honours students. In addition, she is the co-author of more 160 peer-reviewed scientific articles. Lewis is a registered professional engineer (PrEng), an international member of the US National Academy of Engineering—one of only five African members—and a Fellow of both the Institution of Chemical Engineers (IChemE) and the UCT College of Fellows.Her many accolades include the Distinguished Woman Scientist award from South Africa’s Ministry of Science and Technology (receive in 2012 and 2015), the Rockefeller Fellowship (2018), and the Water Research Commission Legends Award (2021).