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.

Obayya is an internationally recognized scientist who holds fellowships from several leading scientific societies, including the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Optical Society of America, Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers, American Physical Society, African Academy of Sciences, Applied Computational Electromagnetics Society, Higher Education Academy, Institution of Engineering and Technology, and the Institute of Physics. He joined Zewail City of Science and Technology (ZC) in 2012, where he served as vice-chairman and currently holds the position of director-general of research institutes. Prior to joining ZC, Obayya spent 15 years at leading universities in the United Kingdom, including serving as chair professor of photonics at the University of South Wales. His outstanding contributions have been recognized with several prestigious awards, including the African Union Kwame Nkrumah Continental Award for Scientific Excellence; Africa’s highest scientific honor (2021), the OPTICA Diversity and Inclusion Advocacy Recognition Award (2023), and the distinguished title of UNESCO Chair-Holder for Sustainable Development in Africa (2019).

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.

Nunes is a professor of chemical and environmental science and engineering at King Abdullah University of Science and Technology (KAUST) in Saudi Arabia, where she also served as vice provost for faculty and academic affairs. Prior to joining KAUST, she led the Department of Membranes for Renewable Energy at the Helmholtz Association, in Germany and was previously an assistant and associate professor of physical chemistry at the State University of Campinas in Brazil, following a postdoctoral Humboldt Fellowship in Mainz, Germany. In recognition of her contributions to physical sciences (chemistry), Nunes was named the international 2023 L’Oréal-UNESCO For Women in Science Laureate for Africa and the Arab States. She is a Fellow of the São Paulo Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Chemistry (UK), the North American Membrane Society, and an honorary member of the European Membrane Society.

Qin has dedicated more than 40 years to research in laboratory animal science and comparative medicine. She established the China’s first international repository with multiple species and strains—the National Repository of Animal Models of Human Diseases. Her work includes the development of animal models for major disease outbreaks such as SARS and COVID-19, which played a key role in the early evaluation of emergency therapeutics and vaccines. Qin is a strong advocate for advancement of laboratory animal science, but also a committed supporter of animal welfare and ethics. She led the design of national standards for laboratory animals in China, contributing to improved animal welfare and the standardized training of laboratory personnel. She has authored 183 scientific papers as first or corresponding author, including eight papers on Cell, Nature, and Science. She is the editor in chief of six national unified textbooks for Laboratory Animal Science and Medical Laboratory Animal Science, and has published 31 monographs. She was selected as a highly-cited scientist by Clarivate (2022–2023), and won several national-level awards of China.

Rahman, a professor and researcher at Universiti Putra Malaysia, is recognized internationally for her expertise and pioneering work in microbiology, which led to the naming of a new bacterium, Geobacillus zalihae, in her honor. She has made notable contributions to space research, playing a key role in projects under the Malaysian Space Programme. In collaboration with the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency, she has facilitated the successful delivery of 24 protein samples to KIBO, the Japanese Experiment Module aboard the International Space Station (ISS). Rahman also contributes to higher education quality assurance as a member of the Malaysian Qualifications Agency’s programme evaluation panel, and serves on the council of the Asia Pacific Protein Association. Her work has been recognized with numerous academic honours, including: Top Research Scientist Malaysia, Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and Knight Degree Conferment from the International Federation of Inventors' Associations.

Roque da Silva is a full professor in the field of electronic structure simulations of condensed matter systems, Institute of Physics, University of São Paulo, where he has been working since 1997. His research focuses on nanostructured materials and the exploration of both static and dynamic processes, in particular on charge transport calculations—a field in which he has pioneered methods for large, disordered systems. In 2009 he joined the Brazilian Centre for Research in Energy and Materials (CNPEM), serving first as the director of the Brazilian Synchrotron Light Laboratory and, since 2018, as director-general of CNPEM. His leadership has been instrumental in the development of Sirius, the state-of-the-art synchrotron light source in Brazil. He holds a bachelor's and master’s degree in physics from Unicamp, a PhD and postdoctorate from UC Berkeley, and a postdoctorate from UCLA. He is a full member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences and the Academy of Sciences of the State of São Paulo. In 2018, he received the National Medal of the Order of Scientific Merit, Commander Class, by the Presidency of the Republic, and in 2025 the Almirante Álvaro Alberto prize.

Ruas is a professor emeritus at the Institute of Mathematical and Computer Sciences, University of São Paulo, where she served as a professor (1981–2012). During her tenure, she served as head of the Department of Mathematics and deputy director of the institute, was a member of the University Council, and vice-chair of the University’s permanent evaluation committee. She also served in the advisory committees of CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel) and CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development). A founding member of the Brazilian Mathematical Society, she sits on its board of directors. A leading expert in singularity theory, Ruas has coordinated international research exchange projects including Brazil’s most prominent research groups in the field. Since 1990, her group has organized the internationally reputed workshop on real and complex singularities. Her scientific contributions to singularity theory include advances in the classification of singularities and their applications to geometry. A member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, she has received the Order of Scientific Merit by the Brazilian government.

Saldiva graduated from the Faculty of Medicine of the University of São Paulo (USP) in 1977, earned his PhD in 1983, and became full professor in the Pathology Department, Faculty of Medicine (USP) in 1996. He was the director of the Institute of Advanced Studies at USP (2016–2020) and was elected a member of WHO Air Quality Committee (in 2005 and 2021). He is also a member of the IARC panel that evaluated the carcinogenicity of ambient air pollution in 2013, and of the WHO panel for the development of the verbal autopsy instrument to improve global vital statistics. In the past six years he has developed an autopsy platform for public health studies, which was used during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since 2023, he serves on the TWAS committee on Urban Health and on the committee of the Public Policies Research Program of São Paulo’s State Scientific Agency. He is a member of the Brazilian National Academy of Sciences and National Academy of Medicine, the recipient of the Anchieta Medal (São Paulo Municipality), the Order of Scientific Merit awarded by the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and was included in Brazilian Forbes as one of the 50 most influential personalities (2024).

Sambanthamurthi was the founding director of the Advanced Biotechnology and Breeding Centre at the Malaysian Palm Oil Board. Inducted a Fellow of the Royal Society in 2025, she is also a Fellow of the Academy of Sciences Malaysia, and currently chairs its biological, agricultural, and environmental sciences discipline group. She led the groundbreaking Oil Palm Genome Project, producing the crop’s first publicly available reference genome, published in Nature. This milestone enabled scientific advances, including discovering the SHELL gene, the most important genetic determinant of oil yield. She also uncovered phenolic bioactive compounds in palm oil mill effluent and developed an innovative process for their extraction that led to the establishment of the first production facility in Mexico. She has published three papers in Nature and one in Nature Communications, and is the holder of over 40 patents. Her accolades include: the Malaysian Invention and Design Society Luminary Award, Lifetime Achievement Award from the Oils and Fats Congress 2022, and the Knight of the International Order of Merit of Inventors, from the International Federation of Inventors' Associations.

Shah is a professor and director of the International Centre for Chemical and Biological Sciences, and UNESCO chair on bioorganic medicinal and natural product chemistry at the University of Karachi, Pakistan. His research explores the intersection of supramolecular chemistry and nanotechnology. He has authored six books and edited four books (all with Elsevier), nine book chapters and more than 550 research articles with a cumulative impact factor exceeding 1,900. National and international agencies, including OPCW, IFS, ISECO-COMSTEC, TWAS-COMSTECH, DTRA US, HEC, PSF have provided financial support to his research, and 50 scholars have completed their PhD studies under his supervision or co-supervision. He is a Fellow of the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and the Islamic World Academy of Sciences. He received the Atta-ur-Rahman gold medal in 2006, and the Dr. Raziuddin gold medal in 2015, both from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences, as well as the civil award Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, conferred by the President of Pakistan (2015). He is a recipient of the Abdus Salam cash prize in chemistry, and serves as an editor of the Journal of the Chemical Society of Pakistan.

Soares is a senior researcher at the Gonçalo Moniz Institute, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, and a full professor at Senai Cimatec in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She earned her Bachelor of Science in genetics and her PhD in immunology from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, completing a visiting fellowship at Harvard University. She is a senior research Fellow of the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological Development, a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bahia, and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. Her research focuses on translational medicine, with the goal of developing new diagnostic tools, therapeutic drugs, and advanced therapeutic products. Her work primarily targets neglected and unmet medical needs, including Chagas disease, leishmaniasis, and spinal cord injury. A pioneer in the field of ATMPs in Brazil, Soares was an expert advisor with the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency and the Ministry of Health. In her career, she has led collaborative research with national and international institutions, mentoring a new generation of researchers and health professionals, making a significant contribution to scientific capacity-building in Brazil.

Sun graduated with a bachelor’s degree in biology from Yunnan University (1983), and earned his master’s degree (1988) and his PhD (1994) from the Kunming Institute of Botany (KIB), Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), under the University of CAS. He began his scientific career at KIB in July 1983, and was promoted to assistant researcher in December 1990, associate researcher in June 1995, and senior research Fellow in November 1997. In November 2023, he was elected a CAS Academician. He has participated in international academic exchanges, serving as a visiting scholar at Harvard University (April–July 1999) and conducting advanced studies at the Jodrell Laboratory of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew (January–July 2001). He held several leadership positions at CAS, including vice-president of the Kunming Branch (2002–2005 and 2012–2014), and served as director of the Kunming Institute of Botany (July 2014 to November 2023). His research focuses on phytotaxonomy, phylogeny, and biogeography. He has published 430 scientific papers, including 280 as first author or corresponding author, and contributed to 13 monographs as chief editor or co-chief editor.

Tan is a distinguished full professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering, and a university Fellow at De La Salle University. He is an academician of the Philippine National Academy of Science and Technology. His research focuses on the development and use of models to enhance the sustainability of industrial systems. Tan is internationally recognized as the co-developer of the carbon emissions pinch analysis algorithm. He serves as an editor-in-chief of Process Integration and Optimization for Sustainability, associate editor of Sustainable Production and Consumption, and is a member of the editorial boards of Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy, Chemical Engineering Transactions, and Cleaner Engineering and Technology. He has received numerous scientific awards from various Philippine organizations, has been listed in the Scopus database of the world’s top 2% of scientists since 2019, and is included in Reuters’ Hot List of the world’s 1,000 most influential climate researchers.

Tenório de Carvalho earned his PhD from Paris Dauphine University, in 1992, and is now a full professor at the Federal University of Pernambuco, Recife, Brazil. He received the Scientific Merit Award from the Brazilian Computer Society in 2021, and is now classified as a level 1A researcher—the highest category—by the Brazilian National Research Council. He is a Fellow of the following institutions: Science Academy of the State of Pernambuco-APC, Brazil (2020), Brazilian Academy of Sciences (2023), Core Academy (2024), Asia-Pacific Artificial Intelligence Association (2024). He was a visiting professor at many European universities and research centres. He supervised 25 master’s and 14 doctoral theses, and authored more than 240 articles in high-impact journals and conferences. Now his h-index scores at 35 (Google Scholar), 27 (Scopus), and 24 (Web of Science). He is in the range of 2% of the most influential scientists in the world in the area of Artificial Intelligence. He is also a member of the Computer Science Advisory Committee of CNPq (2017–2020 and 2023–2026), and a member of the council of the International Association for Statistical Computing (2009–2013).

Trindade is a full professor at the University of São Paulo, where he served as vice-director and director of the Institute of Astronomy, Geophysics and Atmospheric Sciences. He coordinates the USP-China Center, fostering institutional collaboration with Chinese partners. He holds a BSc in geology from the Federal University of Rio Grande do Norte (1995) and a PhD in geophysics from the University of São Paulo (1999). His research focuses on rock magnetism, paleomagnetism, and archeomagnetism, with emphasis on paleoenvironmental changes throughout Earth’s history, including the Neoproterozoic-Cambrian transition, Phanerozoic biotic crises, and recent geomagnetic field behaviour across the South Atlantic Magnetic Anomaly. He authored more than 200 peer-reviewed articles, and is among Brazil’s most cited geophysicists (h-index 50 on Google Scholar). He leads major national and international projects and has supervised more than 40 graduate and postdoctoral researchers. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, Secretary of the International Association of Geomagnetism and Aeronomy, and a voting member of the International Commission on Stratigraphy.

Tschinkel received his PhD from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1992. From 1992–95 he was a junior Fellow of the Harvard Society of Fellows, and from 1995–96 a Leibniz Fellow at the École Normale Supérieure in Paris. Prior to joining the Simons Foundation in 2012, Tschinkel was a faculty member at the University of Illinois at Chicago, a visiting associate professor at Princeton University, the Gauss chair of mathematics at the University of Goettingen, and professor and chair of the mathematics department at the Courant Institute, New York University. Tschinkel’s research lies at the interface of algebraic geometry and number theory. He is the author of 165 papers and editor of 20 books. He is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science. He is a member of Leopoldina, the German National Academy of Sciences, a foreign member of Academia Europaea, and a foreign member of the Bulgarian Academy of Sciences.

Turdikulova is a leading scientist in biotechnology, biochemistry, and human genetics. She holds a PhD in biotechnology (2001) and a Doctor of Sciences degree in biochemistry and cell biology (2008). She conducted postdoctoral research at UCLA (2002–2005) and earned a postgraduate diploma in organizational leadership from the University of Oxford, in 2025. A pioneer of human genetics research in Uzbekistan, she identified 1,450 genetic markers linked to 670 disease-susceptibility genes, and established a national DNA bank with 24,000 samples. She led the development of Uzbekistan’s first PCR test and co-led clinical trials of the ZF-UZVAC-2001 COVID-19 vaccine. She served as deputy minister of innovation and higher education (2021–2024) and currently directs the Center for Advanced Technologies. Since 2024, she has been vice-president of the Uzbekistan Academy of Sciences, leading national biotech and innovation programs. She is a recipient of the Order Dustlik for her service to science and society.

Venkataraman is a leading researcher in aerosol science, working at the intersection of technology and emissions, climate science, air quality, and engineering nanoparticles for drug delivery. Her group aims to use aerosol science to serve society, through a diversity of environmental and biomedical applications, with emphasis on locally relevant solutions. She has authored over 150 cited publications, a book and four patents, and has built academic and research programmes to advance climate and air quality studies in South Asia. She was the founding head of the Centre for Climate Studies, and led the multi-institutional COALESCE research network. She participates in global policy networks, as a member of the Science Advisory Panel of the Climate and Clean Air Coalition of the UNEP and the Global Burden of Disease working group. She has extensively mentored research students and supported the advancement of women in STEM. She is a Fellow of the National Academies of Science and Engineering in India, and has received a IIT Delhi Distinguished Alumni Award (2024), a Fulbright-Nehru Fellowship (2012), the Vikram Sarabhai Award (2006), and teaching excellence awards.

Wienhard is the director at the Max Planck Institute for Mathematics in the Sciences in Leipzig, an honorary professor at the University of Leipzig, and scientific chair of the Heidelberg Laureate Forum Foundation. Her mathematical scientific interests focus on geometry, group theory, and dynamics, and on the application of geometric methods in other sciences. Her career led her to Switzerland (ETH Zurich, Basel University) and the USA (IAS Princeton, University of Chicago, Princeton University, Caltech, MSRI/SLMath). As a professor at Heidelberg University and a group leader at the Heidelberg Institute for Theoretical Studies she was co-spokesperson of the Excellence Cluster STRUCTURES, and founding director of the Research Station Geometry and Dynamics. Among her honours are two ERC grants and the Hector Science Award 2022. She gave invited addresses at the International Congress of Mathematicians in 2018, and the European Congress of Mathematics (ECM) in 2016, and a plenary address at the ECM in 2024. She is a Fellow of the American Mathematical Society, member of the Heidelberg and the Berlin-Brandenburg Academies of Science (Leopoldina), and the European Academy of Sciences.

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.

Yusuf, a J.C. Bose National Fellow, is a senior professor at the Homi Bhabha National Institute, serving as director of the physics group at the Bhabha Atomic Research Centre, Mumbai. He was the director of the Institute of Physics, Bhubaneswar, held a postdoctoral fellowship at Argonne National Laboratory (US), and was a visiting scientist at the Institute of Materials Science in Spain. His research expertise lies in condensed matter physics. He has published nearly 400 original research articles, and obtained several patents. He serves as president of Asia-Oceania Neutron Scattering Association, and vice-president of the Materials Research Society of India. In the past, he was appointed as president of the Indian Physics Association, vice-chair of the Division of Condensed Matter Physics of the Association of Asia Pacific Physical Societies, president of the Neutron Scattering Society of India, and council member of the National Academy of Sciences, India. His honours include MRSI Distinguished Lectureship Award, the P.K. Iyengar Memorial Award, the Raja Ramanna Prize Lecture in Physics (JNCASR), the MRSI Medal, and the DAE Homi Bhabha Science and Technology Award.

Zhu is a Boya Chair professor, former dean of College of Environmental Sciences and Engineering, and founding director of the Institute of Tibetan Plateau, Peking University. He has made exceptional contributions to fundamental research in atmospheric chemistry and science-based air pollution control in developing countries, by identifying sources, revealing physical and chemical mechanisms, and assessing health impacts of atmospheric pollution. His findings have greatly supported China’s Air Pollution Prevention and Control Action Plan, which drastically improved the air quality over the past decade in China. His research on the health effects of air pollution and climate change has greatly promoted the interdisciplinary research and education of environmental health. A member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, he is a Fellow of the American Geophysical Union for his “exceptional contributions to advancing fundamental atmospheric chemistry and assessing impacts of megacity air pollution on human health and climate”.

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.

Abd Rahman obtained her PhD in organic synthesis from Cambridge University in 1990 and subsequently joined the Department of Chemistry at the University of Malaya. From 2006–2014, she was the director of the Institute of Research Management and Monitoring, and in 2015 she was appointed deputy vice-chancellor (research & innovation) of University of Malaya, until her official retirement in November 2021. In 2014, she was named a Fellow of the Malaysian Academy of Sciences (ASM) and was bestowed the Top Research Scientist Award (TRSM). In 2018, she was elected Fellow (ChM) of the Institut Kimia Malaysia and, in 2024, she was named a Fellow of The World Academy of Science. She chairs the Malaysian Open Science Alliance (MOSA) that oversees the implementation of the national open science initiatives (MOSP) since 2019. In 2024, she was elected as the Secretary-General of ASM.

Abdul-Ghani received a bachelor's degree in medical laboratory sciences from the Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University (Yemen), in 1998. He pursued his postgraduate studies at Alexandria University, obtaining a master of public health sciences in 2010 and a PhD in applied and molecular parasitology in 2014. He is currently a professor at the Department of Medical Parasitology, Faculty of Medicine and Health Sciences, Sana’a University. He served as a principal investigator/co-investigator on several research projects funded by TDR/EMRO and WHO, contributing to his professional expertise in study design, proposal development, research implementation, monitoring and evaluation, and statistical analysis. He published several original articles, reviews, perspectives, and editorials in internationally recognized journals, besides serving as a reviewer and editorial board member for several indexed journals. He served as a member of the WHO Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on In Vitro Diagnostics (SAGE IVD) from August 2018 to July 2022 and contributed to a number of WHO documents and reports.

Agarwal obtained his bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering in 1994, from Malviya Regional Engineering, Jaipur and his Master of Technology and PhD (both in energy, in 1996 and 1999 respectively) from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Delhi. After his postdoctoral fellowship (1999–2001) at University of Wisconsin-Madison (US), he joined IIT Kanpur in 2001. His interests are internal combustion engines, alternate and conventional fuels, optical diagnostics, laser ignition, fuel sprays, lubricating oil tribology, and large-bore engines. He has developed laser-fired hydrogen and compressed natural gas engines in automotive sizes, and the first electronic fuel injection system equipped with a locomotive engine for Indian Railways. Agarwal has published 525+ journal and conference papers, 63 books, 129 chapters, 17300+ Scopus Citations, and 26000+ Google Scholar citations. He is an editor of Fuel. He is a Fellow of NASI (2018), RSC (2018), AAAS (2020), and Combustion Institute (2022), and the recipient of many awards including Sir J C Bose National Fellowship (2019), and Clarivate Analytics India Citation Award-2017.

Araujo-Pardo has been the president of the Mexican Mathematical Society since 2022. She earned her PhD at the Faculty of Sciences at UNAM (2000) and had a postdoctoral position at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, Spain (2002). In 2020, she took a sabbatical year at the Université Libre de Bruxelles. Currently, she is a researcher at the Institute of Mathematics (Campus Juriquilla) and a member level III at the national system of researchers of CONAHCyT. Her area of expertise is discrete mathematics, specifically finite geometries and their relationship with graph theory. She has published approximately 70 research articles, supervised theses at all levels, and participated in more than 80 conferences, both nationally and internationally. She received the "Sofía Kovalevskaia Support" from the Mexican Mathematical Society and the Sofía Kovalevskaia Foundation in 2003. She has been a member of the Mexican Academy of Sciences since November 2013 and received the "Sor Juana Inés de la Cruz 2013" recognition from UNAM in the same year. She became a TWAS Fellow in 2024.

Banu's research focuses on mycobacterial infections, epidemiology, diagnostics, and therapeutics, all fields where she has fostered international and national collaborations. She is currently a senior scientist and head of the program for emerging infections under the Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b, where she has been working since 1991. Among her achievements are establishing the state-of-the-art BSL 2+ mycobacteriology laboratory at icddr,b; conducting the first-ever MDR-TB sentinel surveillance in Southeast Asia; bringing in new tools and technology in advancing TB diagnosis and management; research on TB prevalence and transmission in prison settings; standardizing stool processing method for Xpert MTB/RIF assay; and the successful development and implementation of an innovative social enterprise model for TB diagnosis and management in the private sector which has been incorporated in the National Strategic Plan. Banu is a fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, and serves as a member in several scientific/programme committees, and has over 120 publications in peer-reviewed journals.

Chandak, a physician scientist, is the former director of the Centre for DNA Fingerprinting and Diagnostics, and Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose Fellow at the CSIR-Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, Hyderabad. He received his Doctor of Medicine degree in biochemistry from the Institute of Medical Sciences, at Banaras Hindu University, and his PhD in biochemistry from Osmania University. He is a Fellow of all four National Science Academies in India. His research interests include understanding the genetic and epigenetic basis of complex disorders of pancreas, including chronic pancreatitis, type 2 diabetes, and intermediate traits associated with them, with a focus on the foetal origins of adult common diseases. His other passion includes reducing the genetic burden on the society through the development of robust, rapid and affordable genetic tests for common genetic disorders like hemoglobinopathies and musculopathies and extending prenatal diagnosis and genetic counselling to the common man. He has developed a whole blood-based screening-cum-confirmatory molecular test that can help in early identification and aid to eliminate sickle cell anaemia In India.

Chandrajith is working as a professor at the University of Peradeniya, Sri Lanka, and has more than 30 years of teaching and research experience. He is mainly involved in research in the field of environmental geochemistry, with a particular interest in bridging chemical, biological and geological sciences to address diverse environmental problems, including hydrogeochemistry and medical geology. His current projects include freshwater geochemistry, the application of isotopes in low-temperature geochemical processes, the study of environmental relationships with human and animal health, and the reconstruction of Holocene climate changes using geochemical proxies. Chandrajith has published over 180 research papers in reputed international journals and written three books and 11 book chapters with a Google H-index of 43. He co-authored the book “Introduction to Medical Geology”, published by Springer, Germany. He received the prestigious Georg Forster Research Prize from the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation in Germany in 2022 and is also a Fellow of the National Academy of Sciences, Sri Lanka.

Chen received her BSc in physics from the National Taiwan University in 1981, and her PhD in applied physics from Harvard University (1989). Then, she worked at the General Electric Corporate R&D, Schenectady, New York (1989–1994), joined the Center for Condensed Matter Sciences (CCMS), NTU in 1994, and became a professor with the Physics Department in 2021. Chen was the director of CCMS (2012–2018), and since 2018 has been the director of the Center of Atomic Initiative for New Materials, a research centre featured by the Sprout Project under the Ministry of Education (MoE) in Taiwan. Chen’s group is specialized in low-dimensional nanomaterials and their applications for optoelectronics and energy. She is a Fellow of both the Physical Society and the Vacuum Society in Taiwan, and the Materials Research Society in USA. She has received numerous honours that include a Laureate of the 22nd Khwarizmi International Award, the Outstanding Research Award by the National Science and Technology Council (twice), the MoE Academic Award, and the Taiwan Outstanding Women in Science. Chen was elected as an Academician of the Asia Pacific Academy of Materials and Academician of Academia Sinica.

Fontes is a professor at the Federal University of Viçosa (UFV), coordinator of the National Institute of Science and Technology in plant-pest interaction, and a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and the National Order of Scientific Merit by the Brazilian Presidency. She was the coordinator of graduate programmes at UFV, head of the Biochemistry and Molecular Biology Department, scientific director of the Arthur Bernardes Foundation, and member of the CNPq Genetics Advisory Committee and Fapemig Agricultural Advisory Committee. She is a member of the CAPES Evaluation Committee of Graduate Programmes in biotechnology and serves as a monitoring and associate editor for scientific journals. She received numerous prestigious awards, including the Marcos Luiz dos Mares Guia Award, senior researcher category by the Secretary of Science and Technology of MG, Capes Thesis Advising 2021 Award and Honorable Mentions, Nano Cell Institute Award, Winner of the II Scientists and Entrepreneur of the Year, Fundação Arthur Bernardes Award for research achievement and Peter H. Rolfs Medal of Merit in Research by UFV.

Gumel is a Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and the Michael and Eugenia Brin Endowed E-Nnovate Chair in Mathematics at the Department of Mathematics, University of Maryland, USA. He also holds the honorary Extraordinary Professor position at the University of Pretoria, South Africa. His research focuses on using mathematical approaches to gain insight and provide understanding on the transmission dynamics and control of emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases of major public health significance. He has authored over 170 peer-reviewed research articles, supervised many graduate students and postdoctoral fellows, and written four edited books. He is the editor-in-chief of Mathematical Biosciences, one of the premier journals for mathematical biology research, and the recipient of numerous awards and honours, including the 2021 Bellman Prize, and elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, American Mathematical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, African Academy of Sciences, Nigerian Academy of Science, African Scientific Institute. He presented the 2021 Einstein Public Lecture of the American Mathematical Society.

Hamid is a distinguished social scientist and a pioneering figure in gerontology, renowned for her contribution to gerontology education, research, and policy development in Malaysia and the surrounding region. She established a multi- and trans-disciplinary research institute at Universiti Putra Malaysia, in 2002, and was appointed as its founding director. The Institute was awarded the national status of Malaysian Research Institute on Ageing, in 2015, and Hamid remained as its first director until 2020. The institute spearheaded research programmes and established postgraduate programmes in social gerontology, medical gerontology, and gerontechnology, which attracted local and international students. As a professional in the field of gerontology, Hamid sits in several national and international committees related to population aging. She is a Fellow of the Academy of Science Malaysia and is actively involved in civil society organisations related to older persons and social welfare development in Malaysia. She was an independent director of the Private Pension Administration Malaysia (2020–2024), and was appointed as chairperson from 25 June 2024 until 2026.

Hasanuzzaman is a professor of agronomy at Sher-e-Bangla Agricultural University, in Dhaka, Bangladesh. He earned his PhD at Ehime University, Japan, and completed his postdoctoral research at the University of the Ryukyus, Okinawa, Japan. Subsequently, he became an adjunct senior researcher at the University of Tasmania. Hasanuzzaman has more than 400 Scopus-indexed publications, of which more than 250 in the Web of Science. His publications are cited over 31500 times as per Scopus with an H-index of 91 (as of June 2025). He is an editor and a reviewer for more than 80 peer-reviewed international journals and the recipient of Publons Peer Review Award (in 2017, 2018, and 2019). In 2014, he received the TWAS Young Scientist Award. He was also awarded the University Grants Commission Gold Medal, the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal Award, the Global Network of Bangladeshi Biotechnologists Award and the Society for Plant Research Young Scientist Award. He is a Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, the Royal Society of Biology, and the Linnean Society of London. He was named as a Highly Cited Researcher by Clarivate (2021, 2022).

Heilbron earned a Bachelor of Science (1980) and a Master of Science in geology (1984) from the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro, and a PhD in geosciences from São Paulo University (1993). She carried out postdoctoral studies at the Université du Québec à Montréal, working with Uranium–lead dating geochronology (2000–2001), and at Salzburg University, Austria (2018–2019), where she carried out Argon-Argon geochronology and tectonics. She completed her senior internships at Mainz University, Alberta University at Edmonton, ANU in Australia and Portsmouth University, UK. Presently, she is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Science and TWAS. In 1983, she joined the Geology Institute of Rio de Janeiro State University as a full professor. Besides teaching, she coordinated the postgraduate programme, and directed the Geology Institute (2003–2006). She served as the provost of postgraduate studies and research (2000–2015), and was appointed director of the International Office of UERJ in 2024. She is head of the GeoAtlantic Institute (CNPq) and of the Tektos Research Group developing research and applied projects.

Huang is a distinguished professor and founder of the College of Atmospheric Sciences, Lanzhou University, and director at the Collaborative Innovation Center for Western Ecological Safety, Lanzhou University. He is also a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences, Chinese Meteorological Society, and China National Committee for the International Association of Meteorology and Atmospheric Sciences. His research focuses on semi-arid climate change by combining observations, numerical modelling, and theoretical studies. He established the theoretical framework of a semi-arid climate change mechanism that emphasizes the effects of aerosol-cloud-precipitation, land-atmosphere, and ocean-atmosphere interactions on climate change in semi-arid regions. In recent years, Huang has pioneered a series of studies on the oxygen cycle and land cancer. Additionally, Huang is among the most highly cited researchers for three consecutive years in 2021, 2022, and 2023 according to Clarivate, with an H-Index of 73. He has received several awards for his research achievements, including the Second Prize of National Natural Science Award in 2013 and the First National Innovation Award in 2017.

Jia is an academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering, a professor, and an endocrinologist. She works in the Shanghai Sixth People's Hospital affiliated with Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine, as director of the Shanghai Diabetes Institute and of the Proactive Healthcare Institute, at Shanghai Jiao Tong University. She focuses on the prediction, prognosis, and care of diabetes and related metabolic disorders. She has revealed the prevalence of diabetes and its complications in China, identified diabetes-susceptible genes in Chinese, established reference values of CGM, discovered the associations of FGF21 with NAFLD in humans, innovated AI screening systems on diabetic retinopathy, and developed a diabetes integrated care model with digital medicine. She has published over 300 original articles in journals, including BMJ, Nat Med, Nat Metab, Cell Metab, Sci Transl Med, Lancet Diabetes Endocrinol, Diabetes Care and Diabetes. She has received the Xiaoren Pan Distinguished Research Award for Epidemiology of Diabetes in Asia, the Ho Leung Ho Lee Prize for Science and Technology, and the National Science and Technology Progress Award.

Khan, a leading figure in medicinal chemistry and drug discovery, boasts a remarkable career marked by prestigious accolades and ground breaking research. He holds a Doctor of Science degree from the University of Karachi. He has received many awards, including Gold Medals from the Pakistan Academy of Sciences and recognition from Elsevier Publishers. His contributions to science have been acknowledged nationally with civil awards and Research Productivity Awards from the Pakistan Council for Science & Technology. Khan's establishment of a cutting-edge laboratory at the University of Karachi's International Center for Chemical and Biological Sciences reflects his dedication to advancing research. Noteworthy achievements include pioneering work on enzyme inhibitors against diabetes, peptic ulcers, and leishmaniasis. He has advanced microwave-assisted synthetic chemistry in Pakistan, simplifying complex reactions. Khan's mentorship of young scholars and publication record demonstrates his commitment to fostering scientific excellence. With over 900 research papers published in reputable journals, his impact on medicinal chemistry is profound and far-reaching.

Kubota got his PhD in chemistry from the University of Campinas (Unicamp), Brazil, in 1993. He was a lecturer at São Paulo State University and moved to the Unicamp in 1994 as an assistant professor, becoming a full professor in 2009. He was the coordinator of the Central Laboratory of Analytical Chemistry at Unicamp (2002–2008), the research coordinator (2008-2014), and the director (2014–2018) of the Institute of Chemistry at Unicamp. Since 2008, he has coordinated the National Institute on Science and Technology in Bioanalytics. He became a member of the São Paulo State Academy of Science in 2007, the Brazilian Academy of Science in 2010, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Chemistry in 2014. He received several awards and honours, including the São Paulo State Governor Invention of the Year in 2000, the Zeferino Vaz Academic Recognition Award in 2004 and 2023, the National Order of Scientific Merit from the Brazilian Presidency Commander Class in 2011, and the Grã-Cruz level in 2018, and the Rheinboldt-Hauptmann Prize in 2023. He is a member of the editorial board of several journals like Sensors and Actuators B: Chemical, ChemElectroChem, and others.

Lopes-Cendes is a physician who earned her medical degree at UNICAMP, Brazil. She completed her specialty training in pediatrics before obtaining her Master of Science and PhD in neuroscience at McGill University, Canada. Her research focuses on neurogenetics, specifically epilepsies, with a keen interest in the molecular mechanisms underlying the disease. Using advanced multi-omics techniques, her team is renowned for its expertise in next-generation sequencing, bioinformatics analysis of complex genomic data, non-coding RNAs, and single-cell methodologies. For her scientific achievements, Lopes-Cendes has received numerous awards and distinctions including membership in the Brazilian Academy of Sciences, and TWAS. She founded the Brazilian Initiative on Precision Medicine (www.bipmed.org), launching Latin America's first public genomic database, and contributing to the development of LatinGen (www.latingen.org), a platform for sharing genetic and genomic information in the region. These projects have laid the groundwork for adopting genomic testing in Brazil. Beyond her research, she is an attending physician at UNICAMP University Hospital.

Mosyakin is the director of the M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, National Academy of Sciences (NAS) of Ukraine (Kyiv, Ukraine), as well as the head of the Vascular Plants Department. Since September 2011, he hes been the president of the Ukrainian Botanical Society; head of the plants subcommittee of the National Commission on the Red Data Book of Ukraine; editor-in-chief of the Ukrainian Botanical Journal; member of the editorial boards of Botanica (Lithuania), Biodiversity Research and Conservation (Poland), and other botanical periodicals. He is a corresponding member of the NAS of Ukraine (2012), holds a Doctor of Sciences degree in biological sciences (2003) from M.G. Kholodny Institute of Botany, and has been a professor of botany since 2006. He was awarded by NAS Ukraine “For Professional Achievements” (2011) and “For Scientific Achievements” (2021). The Ministry of Education and Science of Ukraine bestowed him for his educational achievements with the Petro Mohyla (2008) and Sofia Rusova (2005) awards. His main research interests include plant taxonomy, biogeography and ecology, botanical nomenclature, biodiversity conservation, and science education.

Nadeem is a tenured professor in the Mathematics Department at Quaid-i-Azam University. He is an outstanding researcher and teacher, skilled in administrative duties. His research areas include peristaltic motion, blood flow through stenosis arteries, computational techniques, Newtonian and non-Newtonian fluids, stretching and shrinking phenomena, stagnation flows, and analytical techniques to solve highly nonlinear differential equations. The main area of Nadeem's work is applied mathematics. He has considered highly nonlinear physical problems of applied nature obtaining their exact, analytical, and numerical solutions. He is an expert in analytical and numerical techniques. Nadeem has published more than 700 research papers in international journals of high impact factor. His impact factor is greater than 2,000 and his citations are over 30,000. He has received many awards including Sitara-i-Imtiaz, Tamgha-i-Imtiaz, Salam Prize, Best Young Researcher, Best Teacher, PAS Gold Medal, Raziuddin Gold Medal, PCST Awards, TWAS Young Affiliate, Fellow Pakistan Academy of Sciences, and Obada Prize, and has supervised 34 PhD and 120 Master of Philosophy Graduates.

Nagendra is the director of the School of Climate Change and Sustainability, Azim Premji University, in Bangalore, India. Her research covers forest conservation and urban sustainability. Her interdisciplinary work on forests combines remote sensing, biodiversity and institutional analysis, to elucidate the pattern-process link in human-dominated tropics. Her urban research spotlights city commons and ecosystems, to determine the resilience and wellbeing of the poor in the global South. Her awards include an honorary doctorate from Utrecht University in 2025, the 2009 US National Academy of Sciences Cozzarelli Prize, 2013 Elinor Ostrom Senior Scholar award, and 2017 Clarivate Web of Science award. She is a well-known public speaker and writer, whose books include Nature in the City: Bengaluru in the Past, Present and Future; Cities and Canopies: Trees of Indian Cities; Shades of Blue: Connecting the Drops in India’s Cities, and Bangalore Detectives Club series. She was a lead author of IPCC AR5, and is on the scientific committee of the Future Earth Program for Ecosystem Change and Society, and the Advisory Board of WRI Ross Cities, Future Earth Urban KAN, and EIT Climate KIC.

Okereke is a professor of global climate governance and public policy at the School of Policy Studies, University of Bristol, UK. He is a visiting professor at the London School of Economics and a senior academic visitor at the University of Oxford. He was previously the director of the Center for Climate Change in Alex Ekuweme Federal University, Nigeria, co-director of the Center for Climate and Justice, and co-director of the Leverhulme Doctoral Scholarship Programme, both at the University of Reading. He also served as the director of the Center for Climate Change and Development at the Smith School of Enterprise and the Environment, at the University of Oxford. A globally recognized leading scholar on global climate governance and international development, Okereke was the coordinating lead author of the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Sixth Assessment Report, Working Group 3.