Toledo, a Bolivian biologist who earned a PhD in 2010 from Wageningen University and Research, The Netherlands, is a professor, researcher, and laboratory coordinator in the Biology Department at Gabriel René Moreno University in Santa Cruz, Bolivia. She held the position of botanist in the BOLFOR project, research coordinator in the Bolivian Institute of Forest Research, and executive director at Noel Kempff Mercado Museum of Natural History. Toledo studied the vegetation diversity and structure, and the plants used by indigenous peoples in the Bolivian lowlands. From her participation in several projects, she obtained many publications, including book chapters, books, and scientific papers. She also presented results at (inter)national congresses and has made contributions to human resource development by supervising graduate students and training local people. She was chief editor of the Journal of the Bolivian Botany Society and the Kempffiana Journal. Currently, Marisol Toledo is a member of the Academy of Sciences of Bolivia; National Advisory Committee of the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund; and in international research networks ( RAINFOR, 2ndForests).

Jean-Pierre EZIN is Emeritus Professor of mathematics of Université d'Abomey-Calavi. He held doctorat d'Etat in Geometric Analysis at Université Lille I, France. He has been Professor at Université Nationale, Bénin since 1982 ; senior lecturer at Université Lille I (1973-1982). He has been researcher at Abdus Salam ICTP,Trieste, Italy (1986-1988).He also was Commissioner of Economic Community of West African States for Education,Science and Culture from 2014-2016 and Commissioner of African Union for Human Resource,Science and Technology from 2008-2013. He is Founding Director of Institut de Mathématiques et de Sciences Physiques, Bénin from1988-2008. In between he was Recteur Université Nationale, Bénin (1990-1992).As other implications, he was member of Board of Council Office of International Science and Engineering (OISE) of NSF, USA, and of Board of Council International Science Programme (ISP), Sweden from 2010-2013 and from 2011-2015 Chairperson of Agence Inter-établissement de Recherche pour le Développement (AIRD),France. He is initiator and founding member of Bénin Academy of Science. In 2014 he was honored by TWAS special Award " for building science capacity in Africa".

M. N. Hounkonnou is a full Professor of Mathematics and Physics at the University of Abomey-Calavi, Benin. He serves as a member of editorial boards for renowned book series and journals in mathematics and mathematical physics. He was awarded a series of Prizes for the excellence of his works, including most recently the 2023 Yang-Hui Award for seminal contributions to the deformed quantum algebras, the AIP 2023 Tate Medal for leadership in building and maintaining an enduring transnational African mathematical physics research and education community, ... He is the Past President of the Network of African Science Academies and of Benin National Academy of Sciences, Arts and Letters. His membership extends to the International Association of Mathematical Physics, American Mathematical Society, London Mathematical Society, Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics, Academy of Sciences, Arts, Cultures of Africa and African Diasporas, Academy of Science of South Africa, Hassan II Academy of Sciences and Technology, Morocco, African Academy of Sciences, The World Academy of Sciences, etc. He is Doctor Honoris Causa of the University Toulouse III Paul Sabatier, France

Em. Prof. Baron Marc Van Montagu (PhD, Organic Chemistry/Biochemistry, Ghent) is Chairman of the VIB - Intl. Plant Biotechnology Outreach and Pres. of PRRI. He discovered, with J. Schell, the Ti-plasmid and invented the Agrobacterium transformation technology, now used worldwide to produce GM plants. He made major contributions on fundamental plant sciences and on biotech agriculture, such as GM plants resistant to insects or tolerant to more environmentally friendly herbicides. He was Founding Member and Member of the Board of Directors of the biotech companies Plant Genetic System (PGS) and CropDesign, spin-offs from his laboratory. He has received numerous honours, including the Japan prize (1998), and the World Food Prize (2013). He is member of seven scientific academies worldwide, and Goodwill Ambassador for Agribusiness at UNIDO. He has produced +1000 publications, h-index 125.

Ali is the honorary chief scientist and advisor of the Pothikrit Institute of Health Studies (PIHS) in Dhaka, Bangladesh, and the chair of Pothikrit Foundation, a PIHS parent nonprofit organisation working for socioeconomic development and liberal cultural environment. He earned his PhD in 1990 from Uppsala University, Sweden. He was a professor of medical biochemistry and cell biology in institutes at Dhaka University, vice-chancellor at Bangladesh University of Health Sciences, president of the Bangladesh Society of Medical Biochemists, secretary-general of the Bangladesh Endocrine Society, a public health advisor of the government during COVID-19 pandemic, and a reviewer-designer of the 4th and 5th health sector programmes. As a short-term consultant, he has served various organizations like WHO, UNICEF, and USID. He is now an expert member of the Primary Health Care Forum of WHO-SEARO, and a distinguished visiting scientist of COMSTECH-OIC. He has been honoured by organizations like the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, Islamic World Academy of Sciences, Indian Public Health Association, and Indian Association for the Study of Asian Traditional Medicine.

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.

Bhuiyan obtained his PhD in 2010 from the University of Gothenburg, Sweden. He serves as senior scientist and head at enteric infections and vaccines under Infectious Diseases Division at icddr,b. The primary goal of his studies is to understand the T-B cell interaction, and the type of T cells that are mainly responsible for B cell help. He is also actively involved in oral cholera vaccine clinical trials, where his team is evaluating humoral and adaptive immune responses in different age groups of participants of Bangladesh. He is currently a Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences. During COVID-19 pandemic, his research area focused on measuring antibody responses in cases and contacts of Bangladeshi population to know the seroprevalence and the acquired information greatly assisted policymakers in planning and rolling out COVID-19 vaccination programs in Bangladesh. He is actively working at icddr,b for capacity building of the young researchers, and collaborating with scientists at Harvard Medical School, Johns Hopkins University, University of Gothenburg, University of Utah and University of Washington, including different institutes of Africa.

Professor Shah Faruque works in the School of Life Sciences at Independent University Bangladesh (IUB). Previously he was a Professor of Microbiology and Biotechnology in BRAC University. He was also the director of the Genomics Centre at International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), and formerly director of the Centre for Food and Waterborne Diseases in icddr,b. He maintained a research team in Life Sciences for over two decades, and while staying in Bangladesh conducted cutting edge research. He obtained research grants from prestigious institutions including the US National Institutes of Health (NIH), Harvard Medical School, USAID, Swedish International Development Agency, and the Wellcome Trust. Prof. Faruque obtained BSc (Hons) and MSc degrees in Biochemistry from Dhaka University, and a PhD. in Molecular Biology from the University of Reading in the UK. Prof. Faruque has authored numerous original research papers, reviews, and book chapters, and has edited a number of text books. His works have been published in top ranking international journals, including Nature, PNAS and Lancet. He was awarded the TWAS Prize in Medical Sciences in 2005.

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 41000 times as per Scopus with an H-index of 99 (as of July 2026). 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).

Prof. Md Tofazzal Islam is the Dean of Faculty of Graduate Studies and Founding Director of the Institute of Biotechnology and Genetic Engineering (IBGE) at GAU, Bangladesh. He holds a PhD from Hokkaido University and completed prestigious fellowships including JSPS, Humboldt, Commonwealth, and Fulbright. A pioneer in climate-smart agrobiotechnology, he secured over $20M in grants to establish state-of-the-art research facilities. Dr. Islam gained global acclaim for leading the rapid response to the 2016 wheat blast outbreak using field pathogenomics and open science. His team developed a CRISPR-based diagnostic tool for the fungus and recently decoded the genome of year-round fruiting jackfruit. His discovery of 50+ novel bioactive metabolites offers new paths for disease management. With ~15,000 citations and an h-index of 62, he is a Fellow of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences, American Phytopathological Society (USA), BAAG, and TWAS. His honors include the BAS Gold Medal and the Commonwealth Innovation Award. His research, funded by the Gates Foundation, IAEA/FAO, BBSRC, and World Bank, continues to address global food security through frontier genomics and genome editing.

Jahiruddin (PhD, 1986, Aberdeen University) is a Professor of Soil Science, former Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture and former Associate Director of Central Laboratory at Bangladesh Agricultural University. He obtained BAS Gold Medal Award 2009, Global Research Impact Award 2017, BAAG Gold Medal Award 2018 and Soil Care Award 2018. He is a Fellow of Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS). Professor Jahiruddin has a very high record of research publications in relation to Micronutrient problems, arsenic contamination and conservation agriculture. He worked as a team leader for research priority setting in agriculture and development of vision document -2030 and beyond in Bangladesh: Land and Soil Resource Management.

Kabir earned his MSc in biochemistry in 1983 from the Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology (BMB), University of Dhaka (DU), Bangladesh and his PhD in nutritional biochemistry in 1990 from the Laboratory of Nutrition, Department of Applied Biological Chemistry, Faculty of Agriculture, Tohoku University, Japan. He then held a postdoctoral position under a joint fellowship with the United Nations University and the Japan Society for the Promotion of Science (JSPS) at the National Food Research Institute, Tsukuba, Japan (April 1994-April 1995). He currently serves as an Academic Advisor (Professor) at Bangladesh Maritime University. He was a former Professor at the Department of Biochemistry & Molecular Biology (BMB), University of Dhaka (DU) (December 1997- January 2023); Associate Professor, BMB, DU (December 1991–December 1997); Assistant Professor, BMB, DU (April 1990–December 1991); and Lecturer, BMB, DU (April 1984–March 1990). He was a visiting scientist as a JSPS Fellow at Tohoku University (December 2003–May 2004) & JSPS-Bridge Fellow (Oct. 2012–Nov. 2012), Japan; and at Federal Research Institute of Nutrition and Food, Karlsruhe, Germany (August 1998–March 1999).

Mahtab is a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland, the Indian College of Physicians, and the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences (BAS). He is a former member of the strategic and technical advisory group on viral hepatitis, HIV, and sexually transmitted infections of the WHO South-East Asia Regional Office (WHO-SEARO). He has conducted clinical trials and served as principal investigator for phase I, II, and III clinical trials of NASVAC, a novel therapeutic vaccine for chronic hepatitis B, and as principal investigator in a clinical trial of an mRNA vaccine candidate against SARS-CoV-2 developed in Bangladesh, as well as a phase I clinical trial in humans. He has authored 429 peer-reviewed publications, delivered 550 conference presentations, and authored or edited six books: Liver, Comprehensive Textbook on Hepatitis B, Fatty Liver Disease, Textbook of Hepato-Gastroenterology, Practical Hepato-Gastroenterology Prescriber, and Hepatology. His honors include the Orden Carlos J. Finley, conferred by decree of the President of Cuba in 2024; the Premio Nacional, awarded by the Cuban Academy of Sciences in 2019; and the BAS Gold Medal Award 2021 in Biological Sciences.

Mamun obtained his BSc (Honours) and MSc (Thesis) from Jahangirnagar University, and secured 1st class 1st position in both the examinations. He received his PhD degree from the University of St. Andrews (UK) under the Commonwealth Scholarship. Mamun was awarded the Alexander von Humboldt (AvH) Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (Germany), the Commonwealth Post-Doctoral Research Fellowship (UK), the Max Planck Research Fellowship (Germany), among others. Mamun received the AvH the Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel Research Award in 2009. He was awarded the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences Gold Medal in 2004, the TWAS Prizes for Young Scientists in Developing Countries in 2006, among other recognitions. He has published over 400 research articles in peer-reviewed international journals, and has written a textbook published by the Institute of Physics (London).

A medical doctor with 30 years of health research experience in Bangladesh, including a research track record in disease epidemiology, population studies and health systems research, Naheed joined the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b) in 1994 after earning a degree in medicine from the University of Dhaka (1992). She began a research career in infectious disease epidemiology after obtained a Master of Public Health degree from the Johns Hopkins University (US), in 2002. After obtaining a PhD from Tulane University (US) in 2012, she focused on noncommunicable diseases and, after postdoctoral training from the University of Melbourne, Australia (2015), focused on health systems research. She served as the head of the Initiative for Noncommunicable Diseases at the Health Systems and Population Studies Division at icddr,b for eight years (2015–2022) where she is currently a senior scientist with the Nutrition Research Division. She received the Bangladesh Academy of Science Sultan Ahamed Choudhury Science and Technology Gold Medal Award in 2021, and in 2022 was elected to the fellowship of the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences.

Dr. Saleh Hasan Naqib is currently serving as a Grade-1 Professor at the Department of Physics, University of Rajshahi, where he is leading the theoretical condensed matter research group. He served as the Vice Chancellor of University of Rajshahi during 2024-2026. In terms of scientific productivity, his group ranks among the top in Bangladesh, and has been consistently producing high-quality publications in the fields of computational condensed matter physics and superconductivity. Prof. Naqib obtained his PhD from Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK, in 2003. He had postdoctoral experience both at the Quantum Matter Group, Cavendish Laboratory, University of Cambridge, UK and at the MacDiarmid Institute for Advanced Materials and Nanotechnology, New Zealand. His research interests include superconductivity in high-Tc cuprates, high-Tc hydrides, strongly correlated electronic systems, DFT study on MAX and MAB phases, novel low-Tc superconductors, and topological insulators, semimetals and superconductors. He has published over 200 papers in Scopus indexed journals of international repute so far. His papers have been cited over 7200 times with an h index of 49.

Qadri (PhD 1980, Liverpool) is Senior Scientist, Intl. Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Res., Bangladesh (ICDDR,B). Her work on infectious diseases and vaccines is carried out in collaboration with intl. and natl. organizations. She began her career (1981) as Asst. Prof., Dept. of Biochem., U. of Dhaka. She joined ICDDR,B in 1986 as a Post-doctoral Fellow and has remained there. She is overseeing a large feasibility study for introducing cholera vaccine in high risk people in the country. She has published +334 papers in peer-reviewed journals. Her honours include: Gold medal from the Bangladesh Academy of Sciences for outstanding research in Biological Sciences for 2006. Prof. C.N.R. Rao Prize for Sci. Res., TWAS; Hon. Intl. Fellow, ASTMH; Ambassador, Am. Soc. for Microbiology (ASM) for Bangladesh; Christophe and Rodolphe Mérieux Found. Grand Prize, French Acad. of Sci.; Fellow, Bangladesh Acad. of Sci.; Member of the UN Secretary-General's High-level Panel on Tech. Bank for the LDCs.

Raqib, received her MSc degree in Biochemistry and Molecular Biology from Dhaka University and her degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Faculty of Medicine from Karolinska Institute, Sweden (1990-1995). She then returned to Bangladesh in 1995, to join as assistant scientist the International Centre for Diarrhoeal Disease Research, Bangladesh (icddr,b), where she was promoted associate scientist and then scientist in 2002 and 2006, respectively. Raqib received post-doctoral fellowship award from the Ellison Medical Foundation in 2005. She was appointed as the head of the Nutritional Biochemistry Lab in 2008 and was promoted to senior scientist in 2010, and to international senior scientist the next year. Raqib developed an immunological method to diagnose active tuberculosis which was patented in the USA (co-inventor David Sack). Her work on host directed therapy in infectious diseases with Agerberth and Guðmundsson generated first human data of successful clinical recovery, leading to two patents. Her studies on arsenic-mediated immune modulation generated new human data. She has published over 153 peer reviewed articles and mentored several MSc, PhD and post-doctoral students.

Seraj has been teaching molecular biology and working on ways for producing salt tolerant rice for Bangladesh using molecular biological and biotechnological approaches. She helped fine-map salt tolerant loci from Pokkali for introgression in a marker-assisted backcrossing approach into commercial rice. She has characterized many Bangladeshi rice landraces as salt tolerant and elucidated the mechanism of Horkuch, whose loci have been introgressed into commercial rice using fluorescent markers. She is working on the only halophyte which can set rice-like grains and which is endemic to the whole coastline of Bangladesh. Several genes from this Oryza coarctata have been cloned into salt sensitive rice. She is doing genome editing of commercial rice to increase photosynthetic efficiency and increase salt tolerance. She has established tissue culture independent transformation in rice. She is the founder director of a center under Dhaka University for conduction of online bioinformatics classes from January 2017. She has supervised 11 PhD students and over 70 Masters students. She has organized many conferences and workshops in Molecular Biology. She has been appointed as UGC Professor.

Shahnaz, Senior Members of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), Fellow of Institution of Engineers, Bangladesh, received her PhD degree from Concordia University, Canada, as a winner of the Canadian Common Scholarship. She has been a professor, Department of Electrical and Electronic Engineering, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology since 2015. She was a recipient of Bangladesh Academy of Science Gold Medal for her contributions in science and technology. Recently, her nomination has been approved and she has been inducted into IEEE-Eta Kappa Nu as a Professional Member into the Eta Chapter of the board of governors. She has been elected as 2022 IEEE Women in Engineering (WIE) Committee chair-elect and she is serving as the 2023–24 IEEE WIE committee chair. She has been appointed as 2022–23 member, IEEE New Initiative Committee; 2021–23 Member, IEEE History Committee; liaison between IEEE History Committee and IEEE WIE. She has served as 2021–23 chair, IEEE Signal Processing Society (SPS) Women in Signal Processing; 2021–23 liaison between IEEE SPS and IEEE WIE; 2021–22 member, IEEE Educational Activities Board Faculty Resource Committe.

Gingrich is a full professor emeritus at the Department for Social and Cultural Anthropology at the University of Vienna. Real member of the Austrian Academy of Sciences (ÖAW) and Director emeritus of the Institute for Social Anthropology of the ÖAW. Foreign Member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. Member of the Publishing House Committee of the ÖAW. He obtained his PhD in 1979 at the University of Vienna. He has served as a Delegate in the Assembly of the Austrian Science Fund. He was a founding member of the European Association of Social Anthropologists (EASA) and he was a Panel Chair for the European Research Council, Advanced Grant SH2. His awards include the Wittgenstein Prize, City of Vienna Award in the Humanities, Social Sciences, Cultural and Legal Studies.

Bhargava is a world-renowned multidisciplinary scientist with decades of leadership in the academia and industry. His contributions in nanotechnology, catalysis and metallodrugs for cancer treatment are outstanding. His award-winning Global PhD programme with the laboratories of the Council of Scientific and Industrial Research of the Ministry of Science and Technology broke new ground and established a unique connection between his native India with his adopted Australia. Regarded as the topmost researcher in mercury pollution control, Bhargava's achievements place him among the top 1 per cent scientists in mines and mineral engineering. He has co-authored over 600 highly-cited refereed journal articles, two books, 14 book chapters, 12 relevant patents, more than 120 lectures. He is known as a solution-provider to many industries. Holding distinguished professorships at top universities in six countries, he is an outstanding ambassador of Australian higher education around the world. An inspirational figure to many, he pushed boundaries and developed innovative ways for how universities should collaborate with industry, creating jobs and changing lives.

Jagadish is a distinguished professor and the head of the Semiconductor Optoelectronics and Nanotechnology Group at the Australian National University. In 2021, he has been appointed president of the Australian Academy of Science, the latest of a long list of prestigious leadership activities. He has covered important editorial position in over 10 scientific journals. He published more than 650 journal papers, holds five US patents, and contributed, as co-author or co-editor, to over 15 books. He is a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Science; a distinguished Fellow of the Chinese Academy of Sciences; a visiting professor at Oxford University, UK; a distinguished chair professor for research at the National Taiwan University, among many other positions. Among his awards are: the Lloyd Rees Memorial Lecture by the Australian Academy of Science (2020); the Thomas Ranken Lyle Medal by the Australian Academy of Science (2019); and UNESCO Medal for contributions to the development of Nanoscience and Nanotechnology (2018). In 2025, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society (UK).

Professor Kadambot Siddique obtained his PhD in 1985 from The University of Western Australia. Currently Hackett Professor of Agriculture Chair, and Director, The UWA Australia Institute of Agriculture. He is Fellows of The World Academy of Sciences, Pakistan Academy of Sciences, African Academy of Sciences, Indian National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Agriculture Institute of Australia and Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering. He was designated by United Nations FAO as special ambassador for the International Year of Pulses 2016. Highly Cited Researcher in 2019-2023 in Agricultural Sciences and double Hi Ci in 2021-2023 in Agricultural Sciences and Plant & Animal Science (Thomson Reuters/Clarivate Analytics). Professor Siddique is the recipient of national and international awards. In 2025 was bestowed Doctor of Science (Honoris Causa) by Kerala Agricultural University, India and 2024 Crawford Fund Medal in recognition of considerable and continued contribution to international agricultural research through the Crawford Fund’s programs and related activities. Awarded Western Australian Scientist of the Year 2023.

Singh earned his PhD in 1986, from Punjab Agricultural University Ludhiana, India. He is a distinguished researcher, educator, and Fellow of leading scientific academies, including the American Society of Horticultural Science, the National Academy of Agricultural Sciences and the Indian Academy of Horticultural Science. With over three decades of achievements, he has advanced horticultural research, innovation, and capacity building, particularly in developing countries. His work has earned numerous national and international honours, including recognition from the Indian Council of Agricultural Research, UNESCO, and the International Society of Horticultural Science. Also, he has been named Western Australian Innovator of 2017. His research has enhanced crop productivity, reduced postharvest losses, and contributed to global food security. Singh has worked across institutions in Australia, the UK, Italy, and India, publishing 468 papers, developing industry-relevant technologies, and inventing two ethylene antagonists. A strong advocate for global collaboration, he has led major initiatives to strengthen scientific capacity worldwide. His work has received 11,426 citations.

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.

Prof. Rajeev Varshney is an agricultural research scientist specializing in genomics and molecular breeding with 20+ years of service in developing countries in sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. He is serving Murdoch University as a Director, Centre for Crop & Food Innovation; Director, State Agricultural Biotechnology Centre: and International Chair in Agriculture & Food Security with the Food Futures Institute. Prior to joining Murdoch University, Prof Varshney served International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) for about 16 years in various science and leadership roles and Leibniz Institute of Plant Genetics & Crops Plant Research, Germany for 5 years as a Research Scientist. Prof. Varshney is a globally recognized leader for his work on genome sequencing, cataloguing and utilizing genetic diversity, genomics-assisted breeding and capacity building in developing countries. He has made centrally important contributions towards improving food and nutrition security in India and several countries in Africa & Asia by assembling genomes, developing genomic resources and integrating genomic technologies in crop improvement programs in many tropical crops.

Balseiro has research positions at the Atomic Energy Commission (CNEA) and National Research Council (CONICET), Argentina. He is professor at the Instituto Balseiro, Universidad Nacional de Cuyo, where he obtained his PhD in 1978. He works in condensed matter theory, in particular charge density waves and superconductivity, the electronic structure of high T superconductors and of strongly correlated systems as well as electronic and spin transport in nanostructures. His awards include: Guggenheim fellow; Hussay prize from CONICET; Teofilo Isnardi prize from the National Academy of Sciences (ANCFyN); and Konex Prize. He is a member of the National Academy of Sciences, Argentina.

F. J. Barrantes (MD, 1968; PhD, 1973, Univ. Buenos Aires). Current position: Head, Lab. Mol. Neurobiol., BIOMED, UCA-CONICET. Former joint head, Memb. Biophys. Unit, Barrantes-Neher-Sakmann, Max-Planck Inst. Biophys. Chem., Göttingen, Germany; dir., CONICET-Bahía Blanca, Arg.; dir., Inst. Biochem. Res., Arg.; full prof., Natl. Univ. Sur; UNESCO chair Biophys. & Molec. Neurobiol.; adj. faculty, NCBS, Bangalore; top-ranking res., CONICET, Arg.. Awards include: TWAS (Biol. 1988); John Simon Guggenheim Mem. Found.; Hum. Frontier Sci. Progr.; Royal Soc., UK; De Robertis Medal, Arg.; Alexander von Humboldt Awd., Germany; Premio Uniao Latina, Portugal; Konex Awd., Arg.; Sarojini Damodaran Intl. Trust, India; Consecration Awd., Natl. Acad. Sci. Arg.; TWAS Medal, 2013: Ciencia Sem Fronteiras, Brazil, 2015; 2016 B. Houssay Award, CEDIQUIFA; UCA Award; 2017 Arg. Biochem. Assoc. Prize; 2021 G. Weber Award, Biophys. Soc. USA; 2021 Master of Medicine, Arg. Memberships: Natl. Acad. of Medicine and Natl. Acad. of Scs., Arg.; ABC, Brazil; Eur. Acad. Sci.; INSA, India; Lat. Am. Acad. Sci. Council member of ACAL, IUPAB, TWAS and ISN.

Cazzulo is professor of protein biochemistry at the Instituto de Investigaciones Biotecnologicas, Universidad Nacional de General San Martin, and Investigador Superior, National Research Council, Argentina, since 1997. His previous positions include: Head of the Laboratory of Biochemistry of Parasites at the Fundacion Instituto Leloir, Buenos Aires (1986 – 1997), Head of the Research Department, Instituto Nacional de Parasitologia Dr. Mario Fatala Chaben, Argentinian Health Ministry, Buenos Aires (1980 – 1985), and Professor of Biochemistry, Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmaceuticas, Universidad Nacional de Rosario (1970 – 1980). He has directed or co-directed 28 Ph.D. Thesis. His work has focused on the metabolism of Trypanosoma cruzi, the causing agent of Chagas' Disease. His honours include: Doctor Honoris Causa (Medicine), University of Uppsala, Sweden; Medal of the Rector, Universidad de Chile, Santiago; and Dr. A.O.M. Stoppani Prize in Biochemical Parasitology, Argentinian National Academy of Exact, Physical and Natural Sciences. He is a member of the Latin American Academy of Sciences, since 1987, and the Argentinian National Academy of Sciences, since 2017.

Sandra Díaz is Professor of Ecology at Córdoba National University, senior member of the Argentine National Research Council and Visiting Professor at the School of Geography and the Environment, Oxford University. She is interested in plant functional traits and syndromes, their effects on ecosystem properties and their interactions with global change drivers. She has advanced theory and practical implementation of the concept of functional diversity and its effects on ecosystem properties and benefits. She combines her ecology studies with interdisciplinary work on how different societies value and reconfigure nature. She founded Núcleo DiverSus on Diversity and Sustainability, and co-founded the Global Communal Plant Trait Initiative TRY. She co-chaired the Global Assessment of the Intergovernmental Platform on Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services. She is a member of the Academies of Sciences of Argentina, USA, France, Norway, Latin America and the Developing World, and Foreign Fellow of the British Royal Society. Her awards include; Margalef Prize in Ecology, Gunnerus Award in Sustainability Science, Kew International Medal and BBVA Frontiers of Knowledge.

Erra-Balsells (PhD, 1979, University of Buenos Aires, UBA, Argentina) is consultant full professor, Departemento de Quimica Organica, Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales, UBA and visiting prof. Faculty of Agriculture, Ehime University, Japan, and investigator (superior), Argentine National Research Council. She is member of the IMSF office board, representative of Central and South America. She was: vice-president and president, Argentine Society of Mass Spectrometry; secretary, vice-president and president, Argentine Organic Chemistry Society; editor and editor-in-chief, Journal of the Argentine Chemical Society (AQA). Her awards and honors include: AQA, Dr. P.A. Berdoy prize; AQA, Dr. L.C. Guglialmelli prize; Institute of Ibero-American Culture & Ministry of Education of Spain; V Centenary 1492-1992 Award; Japan Society for Promotion of Sciences, international research fellow; Konex foundation (Argentina) Konex Diploma in Organic Chemistry. She is fellow of the Latino-american Academy of Sciences (ACAL). Research interests: chemistry and photochemistry of MALDI matrices. Design of new MALDI matrices for biosystems analysis. Intact single cell MS analysis, at real time.

Litter is Doctor in Chemistry from the Buenos Aires University, Argentina (1974) with Postdoctoral stage at the University of Arizona, USA (1983). She is Senior Researcher of the National Research Council (CONICET) and Full Professor at the University of General San Martín, Argentina. She was Principal Researcher and Head of the Environmental Chemistry Remediation Division at the National Atomic Commission. Main research interests: treatment of organic and inorganic contaminants in water and air by innovative advanced technologies, especially heterogeneous photocatalysis and use of iron nanomaterials. She authored more than 250 scientific publications in international journals, books and chapters of books. She received the Mercosur Prize twice in 2006 and 2011. She was President of the Organizing Committee of the 5th International Congress on Arsenic in the Environment in Buenos Aires, Argentina, 2014. She was designated pioneer on photocatalysis in Argentina (2016). She received the Eduardo Charreau Prize 2021 Edition