Josephine Ngunjiri from Kenya holds a MSc in applied parasitology (2011) from the University of Nairobi, Kenya, and a PhD in tropical and infectious diseases from the same university (2015). She is currently a lecturer in biological sciences at the University of Embu, Kenya. Her field of expertise is in applied parasitology, infectious diseases and Global Burden of Disease (GBD), with their socio-economic impact especially on children and women; other interests cover resource poor communities, the impact of two parasitic diseases: schistosomiasis and tungiasis. Ngunjiri is also a teacher in biological units, in charge of supervising students, research and training. She investigates the GBD, promoting measures to improve health and access to education. Because of the Coronavirus pandemic, she is now collaborating with the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation, monitoring the effect of social distancing measures enacted by Kenya’s government. She is the recipient of the 5th call National Commission for Science, Technology and Innovation research grant and Deans Committee Research Grant, University of Nairobi (2014).

A native of Zimbabwe, Tatenda Dalu is a Senior Lecturer in the School of Biology and Environmental Sciences, University of Mpumalanga, South Africa. His field of specialization is in aquatic ecology, with particular emphasis on diatoms: a sector that offers useful applications, with great potential for future development regarding water quality and benefits for humans. In 2008 Dalu earned his BSc in Biological Sciences (with honours), in the Department of Biological Sciences at the University of Zimbabwe, Harare. In 2015 he obtained his PhD in Marine Biology at Rhodes University, South Africa. His research has added new insight to our understanding of how substrate type, flood occurrence and allochthonous inputs contribute to diatom community dynamics in temperate freshwater and estuarine systems. Dalu is a member of three South African scientific academies and of two international societies. He has been appointed as an Honorary Research Associate at the South African Institute for Aquatic Biodiversity (SAIAB), and has received a 2016 Bronze Medal Award from the Southern African Society for Aquatic Scientists and research excellency awards from UNIVEN, ZimAchievers and UMP.

Lisa Claire du Toit is an associate professor of pharmaceutical chemistry and senior researcher at the Wits Advanced Drug Delivery Platform (WADDP) research unit, Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, University of the Witwatersrand (UW), Johannesburg, South Africa. du Toit started her research career in 2005, at the Department of Pharmacy and Pharmacology, UW. She completed cum laude her Master’s degree, and earned her PhD at WADDP, focusing on drug delivery system design. Her major areas of interest and expertise include ocular drug delivery, nanosystems for drug delivery, and tissue engineering technologies with a stimulus-responsive focus. She is interested in the design and prototyping of marketable advanced drug delivery and tissue engineering systems to enhance drug bioavailability and tissue repair. du Toit has over 200 publications in reputable ISI accredited journals, and is the principal investigator on two patents. She has been awarded a Wits Innovators Forum First-Time Inventor Award for having disclosed a first patent, and has established international collaborations in developed and developing countries, such as Japan, USA, India, Tanzania, Egypt, Mauritius.

Nowsheen Goonoo, a native of Mauritius, earned her PhD from the Centre for Biomedical and Biomaterials Research (CBBR), University of Mauritius, in 2015. In 2015, Goonoo was selected from a pool of over 2000 applicants to attend the prestigious 65th Lindau Nobel Laureate Meeting in Germany. In 2017 she completed her post doctoral fellowship at the University of Siegen, Germany, and then joined CBBR as postdoctoral fellow. In 2018, through a Return for Research Grant from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation & the University of Siegen she visited the Physical Chemistry laboratory in Siegen again, for a two months research stay. Goonoo works in the field of engineering of nanoscaffolds for regenerative medicine, but her research is located at the interface between soft matter nanoscience and applied biomedical research. She has excellent track record in the area of (bio)polymers, electrospinning of (bio)polymer blends and their biomedical applications. Goonoo has received international recognition via prestigious awards, most notably the 2013 Carl-Klason Prize (at POLYCHAR 21 in Gwangju, South Korea). She is an affiliate member of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).